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while it's nice to have a 0-100 dimmer, at some point you do lose integrity of spectrum produced.
get a smaller light for early stages -- save even more money and maintain advertised spectrum tailored for photosynthesis.
or, stick to 50% + and raise light to 24 inches, may need to watch and react to dial it in. i used the fc4800 at 24-36" and 66 % -- slowly lower as the seedlings mature... your vege power will be oughly 66% over 18 hours vs 1hours for bloom... easy adjustment at flip.. simply bump light to 100% and maintain same height.
looks like you grow autoflowers, so you can increase height and increase coverage area and use at 100%. hours of use is a relative factor -- adjust 1:1 in aproportional way if all other factors remain the same, like distance from canopy. figure 50-60umol/s per sq foot will do you well.. use spec sheet to guesstimate area of coverage for 18hours/day using this info. adjust height of light to best cover this area (a cheap lux meter helps measure various locations to even it out)... 3'x4' might be doable. any smaller area will require some dimming at that height.
distance from canopy is an option to adjust such things, but it's better to use height to adjust area of coverage / even out coverage as best you can. a few inches either way is no problem, of course. only if it causes me to over-dim will i consider changing height. Seedlings are definitely one of those situations. so this is more for when things are rolling. with seedlings don't be too put off by what i said about spectrum integrity... i use a xs1500 at 10-25% on viyyomhd all the time, but with seedlings i don't need to drop below 50% at a decent height for coverage.
when you use a large light for small plants, it's a little sub-optimal. err on the side of slightly weak light and adjust to stretching quicly as needed. it's easy to stunt seedlings with a big light. can always 'fix' a slightly stretched seedling with xplant depth vs a stunted one that just takes time. if it ever grows out of it.
Leaves started curling down and one seedling it looks like the leaves are going yellow. Have no clue if I'm underfeeding or overwatering. Right now I don't know what is going on.
Definitely overwatering and maybe the light was too strong. Mixed nutrients and fed 50ml of solution to each plant. They looking much better.
Increased light height to 45cm and 35% power. Watering less and plants looking healthy but small. Will germinate 2 Bruce Banner Auto this weekend and hopefully learn from my mistakes.
Not sure why the plants leaves are curling downwards. Slight yellowing and red stem on one seedling. I havent fed much nutrients so I dont think its nutrient burn. Can anyone tell we what Im doing wrong? Assistance will be much appreciated
Can anyone please advise if my autoflowers are the right size for 2 weeks old? Want to start germinating another 2 seeds this weekend and would like to know if I am doing things correctly.
Yeah, they're pretty small but don't give up!
I would move your light up higher... 24" from the plants would be good... and give them 100% of the light (autos, once they've been "hardened off" to light, will take a lot of it without harmful effects.
They also need a lot of humidity around them at this stage - it's pretty much the only way they get water since the root system hasn't really gotten off the ground. I like to wrap a wet towel around them in a circle so the ambient humidity is very high ... After a week or so of that, and when they get another set of leaves on them, you can let them fend for themselves in the humidity the entire tent gets... which should be around 60-65%.
Don't start feeding them for at least another week but when you DO start feeding them, introduce the nutes slowly - i.e., at about 1/4 strength to start off.
The biggest piece of advice I would have for you is to introduce some microbes into the soil... these will help grow the root structure... once a week feeding of microbes is all it will take (don't give it to them more often than that at any stage of growth).
I think you'll start to see these little ones take off pretty soon and I wouldn't worry too much... make sure your water is pH'd properly, add some microbes, pull your lights up a bit, relax and enjoy the journey!
The plants are more than likely smaller than expected but they growing nicely. Going for 24 hour light cycle because we've been having load shedding(No electricity at different times of the day for two hours each usually three times a day). Increased the height of the light to 45cm and been increasing the power, at 50% now. Giving plants more nutrients to see what happens and how much growth over a week. Been a good experiment and definitely more growth.
Day 18 and these girls are taking off. So happy. Still a lot to learn but I'm getting there.
Day 21. Light at 100%
With photoperiods, you want to wait until they have at least 4 nodes... with autos, wait until there's an issue you want to resolve be it spreading the plant out to get more width or getting more light into the middle of the plant. You don't HAVE the do any LST but it does help give bigger yields. Sometimes, just tucking the large fan leaves down and under is all the LST required.
I wouldn't worry at all about what you've done with her... it's a weed, after all, and they'll do fine! There's something to be learned with EVERY. SINGLE. GROW. you do... As I always try to tell folks, relax and enjoy the journey!
Might have nutrient burn. Flushed with water ph6.5. Will calibrate my ph meter and drop the dosage on nutes. All looking good though. Will begin another diary soon
Slight yellowing on new leaf tips. Doesn't seem like a big problem but I am monitoring it.
Leaves still yellow on the tips. Not changing too much, they look healthy. Starting LST. Not sure if its right but I am pulling them slowly everyday.
Watered till run off. 6.2PH water. About 2.5L each
LST going well.
Adding reflective material slowly when I get a chance.
Day 33. Big plant leaves are curling down. Not sure why
Day 34. Big plants leaves curling because of lack of water. Decreased nutrients and feeding 1L per day. Half in the morning and half at night.
Day 35. Been under watering. Starting to increase the dosage and the big plant is looking much better.
Without a picture or two of the issue, it is very hard to provide any suggestions.
However, burned tips is usually a sign of feeding too much or too often, or both, and after looking at your diary, you sure are feeding a lot of different nutrients. A baby plant needs baby feeding!
Also, 24/0 is really stressful for plants and 18/6 is the optimum schedule.
Plants NEED sleep to finish their photosynthesis cycle and have a correctly functioning metabolism.
A plant with an incorrectly functioning metabolism will never grow to its best potential.
24/0 could only be recommended by people who don't understand photosynthesis or understand how plants function either.
The myth that it is ok to grow a plant for weeks/months without sleep needs to be removed from history!
Everything on planet earth lives by a circadian rhythm, without one things go very wrong.
Fortunately, it is never too late to go to 18/6!
Your plants will love you once you give them the sleep that they NEED.
Hope this helps, Organoman.
Nutrient burn still there. Trying to get Ph and nutrients right is difficult but will figure it out.
Beginning to think I may have splashed nutrient solution on the lower leaves thats why they turned yellow?! Not sure
Encountering more than a few problems. Definitely been splashing solution onto plants lower leaves causing burn. Also been running my light too close and at maximum causing the plants to droop towards the evening. All has be rectified.
Big plant was drooping badly. Turns out I was underwatering it. Fed 2L of nutrient solution and basically the the solution ended up in the drip tray. After a day I noticed that the plant was actually sucking the solution from the drip tray. Odd that the roots are that long and that I was underwatering when I thought I was over watering at first. Seems to be a hungry plant.
Recommended is between 5.5 and 6.5 sweet spot being between 5.8 and 6.3 I recomend checking your ph runoff regularly to make sure your coco is in range.
Hi there. Try and vary ph between 5.8 and 6.3 for coco. I don't use your brand of nutrients but I do grow autoflowers. You are probably running a high Ec. With autos you tend to find they don't like to strong a solution. EC about 1.2 to 1.4 is usually where they like it, some a little more some a little less. Invest in a Ec pen and check your levels.
Nutrient solution seems to drain out into the drip tray and then be sucked up by the roots. Plant is looking much better now that I have got the hang of feeding.
Definitely been under watering because plant one is looking great. Also the tray fills up and the water gets finished within a day.
Plants are healthy for the most part. Have a few leaves that are yellow and curling not sure could be light stress.
Did some defoliation. Plants are healthy, trichomes are really looking awesome. Cant wait to cross the line now.
Leaves are going brown. Not sure if the light is too bright. The big plant is very thirsty, almost 2 litres of water a day. Mixing nutrients almost full strength, I'd say about 75% the recommended dosage.
Made a few mistakes with the first grow. Plants are healthy despite having yellow leaves. Will get better with time. Almost ready for flushing I think
Skyhi
