First Timer - Amnesia Haze Auto

"I would've liked to have added perlite to the soil mix. Hoping to learn more about the possibility to add more to the existing mix before doing anything." Defintely.. perlite or similar should be 50% of volume. With coco, you can drop to 30% because coco holds less water per volume. A little less is no big deal, too. Best for roots and growth but will increase rate of irrigation. 2gallon pot may need more frequent irrigation at end, possibly daily, but doable. Better in a soilless context though.. toward end you may have to treat your soil like a soilless substrate and provide everything each irrigation for best results. pH in soil is usually easier to handle. it's good to pH balance anything you add, but many don't bother. They are probably lucky with some good tap water or RO system. 6.5-6.8 .. just keep it under 7, but even 7-7.5 won't be the end of the world in most cases. Still, keep it under 7 to be safe. Watering - change your perspective. this requires a little hindsight but after 1 cycle you can calculate it and mix up what you need with limited waste. Don't give a specific volume you choose. you give what it needs when it needs it, and you use the weight of the pot to determine when to irrigate. Allow top 1" to dry, feel weight of pot and irrigate until you get mnimal runoff to ensure the entire thing is wet. Dry pockets are no good over time. Repeat that process and be familiar with low-weight level... you'll find the volume on next irrigation that you can plan for per pot... then mix appropriate volumes based on that when fertilizing. You can irrigate more frequently (ie before "1" deep" dries), but always make sure some dryback occurs. if perpetually too wet it invites all sorts of problems. This is where the 50% perlite would pay off. With potentially big plants in small-ish pots, you'll know when you can get away with an early irrigation rather than let it sit overnight or something. As of day 6 that cfl seems to be doing well-enough. You can tell be internode distance -- length between growth nodes. If it stretches too much, you need more light. If it remains too compact, you need less light. Early on, you'll start low and ramp up as you observe the plant... While it won't be exactly the same for every plant, it'll be in the same ballpark. Take notes until it's memorized or comfortable observing/reacting. if far enough away and dimmed properly, can use the 100w sf light anytime you want. no matter what, you adjust to whet the plant dictates. This way you can really gas it when they ask for it and avoid damaging any that may take a bit more time to handle it.

Cannabis plants DO NOT take water "from the air", this is what the roots are for. Roots grow as soon as the seed sprouts, so if your plant is from a seed and alive, it has roots. Only clones don't have roots, at first. Misting clones and/or keeping them in high humidity prevents the leaves from drying out, but again, they DO NOT take water into the leaves from the air! Transpiration only works one way - water in through the roots, up the stem and OUT through the leaves........it does not work in reverse. Your lack of growth is probably down to inadequate lighting, - if you are only using 24 watt veg lights, this is barely enough to sustain life. Low temps and/or incorrect soil conditions will also slow growth. A pH of 7.8 is definitely a problem, your pH in soil should be between 6.2 and 6.8. A pH of 7.8 will prevent the availability of nearly all the vital elements in the soil that your plant needs to access for growth. I am also not a fan of dry amenmants this early in a grow, they need a lot of time (4-6 weeks) to break down and become bio-available to your plant and I much prefer to use liquid nutrients that are instantly accessible by your plant. The pellet type nutrients also need constant moist conditions to break down and become activated and one thing cannabis does not like, is being constantly moist. The fertilizer you are using might be fine for tomatoes (4/4/4) but you should really invest in some cannabis specific, liquid fertilizers. Unfortunately, since you are growing autos and they are already approaching 4 weeks of age, flowering won't be far off............so whether to continue or not is up to you...........but don't expect a bumper harvest. Next time, start with a balanced soil mix in the correct pH range (with less peat), use your LEDs from day one and invest in some proper cannabis nutrients and your grow should be much more successful and rewarding. I would also suggest growing feminized photoperiod plants next time, they are far more forgiving and YOU can determine when they flower, once YOU are satisfied with their size, health and vigor. Autos actually require a lot a skill to get the best results from and are not the best choice for new growers........despite what the marketing hype might be suggesting.............unfortunately. Hope this helps, Organoman.

It looks normal to me. You should be running a wet to dry cycle in soil. You may be watering too soon. If you continue it may lead to root rot. Just let it get dry not overly though.

If its dropping after watering its a sign its getting overwatered, or maybe it got under watered and is taking time to bounce back. One easy way to tell this is that the pressure in the leaf stems will remain flaccid when under watered and ridged when over watered while keeping the same limp looking leaves for both under and over watered. It is a bit dark and could use less Nitrogen but if its already in the mix just avoid adding extra or flush it out. a flush would prob not hurt at this point, might save you from other proglems down the line. The [better grow 20-14-13] is quite high in N and that's causing a lot of your toxicity issues. The Bloom booster at 11-35-15 is also not an ideal ratio. but is better then the first. You will want to look into something aorund 4-8-8 or 5-10-11 or 2-7-7 ... something with smaller N and equal or slightly larger K to P ratio. Can always mix and match some feeds to hit your desired target. Best Of Luck!