1st Grow Ever, Coco, 6 Autos, 6 Strains

Week 3 stuff started happening. Following their first real feeding, growth was fairly explosive. Plants still seem short, no stretch, but 5 finger leaves are appearing on almost all of them on the 19th. Yesterday, the 18th, I opened the tent and was greeted by the faint, but definite smell of a light lemon scent. There was no mistaking it the next time I opened the tents; they are starting to smell. Coco still seems moist from sunday's feeding today on Wednesday, even the top, so wet dry cycle will continue. The plants got the full additive line as well (1/2 strength). In addition to the Photosynthesis Plus, Sm-90, Drip Clean, Roots Excelerator, and CalMagic, we have started using additives according to GH's "Expert Program" because I am an expert. 😇 I claim no such thing, I am lucky. If it is working, I am likely to keep doing so and maybe start to overclock it a bit, maximize potential. Actually, I originally was not going to use the expert stuff, but I kept reading people with colas the size of whiffle ball bats posting how the additives really took their grows to the next level, so I decided not to waste time and to jump right in the deep end. And deep it is, as after mixing 15 individual gallons of 13 different nutes & additives (if you count PH down as an additive, and I do although I may switch to white vinegar), I realized exactly how big an undertaking this is going to be. I do look forward to being able to tweak the recipe as I get experience; that seems like an amazing long term benefit. Anyway, we have added, at half strength, Floralicious Plus (perhaps why they started to smell 2 days later), Armor SI, and FloraBlend from GH. We have also added Xnutrients Ful-Potential at half strength. And honestly, I was expecting to have to triage a plant or 2 for Nute burn, but nope; they looked at me like they were daring me to give them more. I think I am going to give them a full schedule of early veg GH nutes next feeding, and potentially full strength additives too. I will likely keep additives on half if I go to full nutes to better diagnose bad reactions. If they eat the full nutes and beg for more, we will do full additives next feeding. If they love that, move onto late veg nutes maybe. I am not sure when to transition to late veg nute schedule, if anyone knows the correct indicators on autos, please comment and let me know. Thanks. One of the problems with my grow is that I stuffed the plants in the tent without any kind of symmetry, thinking they all wouldn't germ, or all be females, or not survive, backup plan hoping that the spread of the light would be sufficient. My Seemango does not like this plan, and as one of the plants off to a side, started to lean over quite a bit into a more central location. That did not work out so well for her. On monday, 1 day after the 1st big feeding, I came into the tent and my Seemango was laying down. Her leaves were still awesome looking, but she was totally laying down. I explained to her that she was an autoflower, and that she didn't have time to lay around, and that she needed to get up, and get back to work. I gently encouraged her by making a splint out of a twist tie and she seemed to appreciate it (and looked better by Wednesday morning). Now I am REALLY glad I decided to grab some Armor SI and I hope she uses some of it to make that stem a little thicker, not too thick too quick, because: It's time to start thinking about training, both mine and the plants, as far as LST! Not sure if they are tall enough. I raised the light about an inch and a half lTuesday night, they seemed to respond. might go up further and see if that helps Seemango too. I like this site. I looked at the feeding graphs after I plugged my own numbers in and duh, i SEE why they started GROWING after I gave them that feeding during week 3. Note to self, perhaps start FloraGro a week earlier next time. And to think, I almost didn't bother to plug my own numbers in. What a wonderful feature to include, graphing the nutes, and already proving this place superior to forums. Thanks growdiaries. So I think my sluggish growth is related to VPD There are some minor leaf twisting on a couple plant. I don't think it will damage them as there is no color issues and the time lapse clearly shows them growing, but unless I can figure out how to deal with this problem, it is going to limit my yields. I will post some specif pics shortly. I am going to sleep on this. I never even heard of VPD and I thought I was very well researched on potential problems. Since I live in a hot, DRY area, I specifically researched problems I might have and was preemptive with a humidifier. I thought that this would be a good thing eventually as it will prevent certain problems during flower, but this VPD issue threatens veg. I though 60% RH was great, but the VPD formula has broadsided me. I will take a couple pics to help others know what this looks like. In every other way the plants look great, so I know it won't kill my grow. But it has now become a limiting factor and time to veg might be running low. With an auto, its her decision to make when to put out, so there may not be much I CAN actually do due to the time constraints. Better the autos than the Durban, tho. Pics of leaf bending are up, but I may have been more dire than I needed to. It is fairly isolated on the plants. Summer looks to be much more mild aside from a couple challenging weeks, and the temps are measured via lasers on the underside of the leaf. when doing so (i am not sure why i actually had said laser besides it being cool when i bought it), the numbers were in a more realistic place. I likely will not be able to control vpd in the short term 24 hours a day, but i don't think it is as bad as i did last night I also noticed the stems were getting woody besides being short, so i just got over it and did an LST spike to bend the plants, well, all except the Seemango as she already tried to lay down. Seriously tho, she has recovered well and might be a candidate in a few days if she keeps up the pace. I will be monitoring the girls for stress today from the lst but they really feel healthy, so i am not too worried. time lapse will be effected for sure. i hope i did it right. pics later after they perk up a bit to close out week 3 as we celebrate their 3rd week birthday and the beginning of week 4. Well, about 8 hours after the LST the plants are sticking straight up again. I am not sure I got that auxin action happening, plus the anchor for the LST is the Coco which wont hold during watering. They arent ready for feeding yet (still heavy), so I might get a little benefit on long term a stem bend. I ordered some clips for the fabric bag to perhaps help. I am assuming since the internode spacing is so short, I might have to LST single branches for any effect. We shall see, it is a learning experience for sure. I did raise the lights last night before lights out to about 21 inches (suggested 18) to encourage some stretch, but I don't see it. I hope I didn't sabotagee myself moving the lights away. I also see some slight calcium deficiency in the Kush and Speed Bud #2. I will likely feed tomorrow even though the bags still feel somewhat weighty, but I am going to do a full or somewhat larger dose of CalMAgic. The 10 gallon mixing bucket has arrived, and even though the new measuring cup for the larger volume won't be in until the weekend, it should still be easier and more efficient feeding. I guess this wraps week 3 up. see you on week 4