My White Widows (2) are growing hydroponically indoors, they’re beautiful, vibrant bushy green, but are only 5" tall three weeks into the grow. Every site I’ve pondered over says something different about nutes for autoflowers… my ph is good, 22 hrs on/2 off, red/blue spectrum LEDs, and I’ve used an eyedropper to add 12-6-6 into my pot. How big a container, volume wise, do these need? I’ve obviously stunted them, but I don’t why. Hesitant to start new plants until I find out what I’m doing wrong. Throw some wisdom on me.
1 Like
height is good and as expected for an auto.
try 18/6
2 Likes
What kind of airflow in the nutes? What’s the temp of the solution? How far from the bottom of the net pot is your solution? What is the PH? All VERY important data points.
2 Likes
Thanks for your prompt reply. Your questions lead me to believe that I am behind the curve in all this. I’ve got a bucket with a rig to hold the plant itself above the water. The ph is good, 6.1 this morning. I use water from my pastor’ Kangen water filter, superb to drink, I figured it would be good for the gander. Temp in closet usually 72-73 degrees. No tent, just a small closet area lined with white board, I open the other end on occasion for air circulation. Oh, two plants. My first time out they finally jumped up in height but the harvest was poor due another issue I deduced on my own. Oh yeah, aquarium pump circulating the water. I did top them to bush, which they’ve done, is that a nono so early?
1 Like
Thank you, I’ll goose them a little. Over-fertilized first time out, rookie mistake, but hey, I’m a rookie with an impatient disposition. Trying to be more careful here. Jeez, some sites say they don’t need nutes at all. I’m easily confused with a tendency to drift off task if I see something shiny elsewhere.
You need air stones in your nutrient solution to provide oxygen to the roots. You need to have your reservoir level 1 to 2 inches below the net pot and the roots should dangle into the water. Water temps should not exceed 72F and the use of Hydroguard or similar is strongly recommended.
Purified water is not necessary but is HIGHLY recommended.
Basically; if you are going to run hydro you have to run a tight game. You can’t treat it like soil and expect any results. Done correctly it will far exceed anything soil can do.
How about pictures of your setup? Let’s see how much air is bubbling up in the water, how low it is with respect to the net pot etc.
Do you have a decent PH meter and TDS meter? Both very important in hydro.
1 Like
IF you have problems keeping up with soil…suggest you not try hydro. It’s a twice a day ph check. Takes time and attention. Btw…stay away from the cat toy section at the store…lol. Too many shiny fuzzy chasy toys.
Truly, It’s a “learn as you go” situation. Usually, like me from making a multitude of mistakes.
Painful lessons are remembered best.
1 Like