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Help with watering (no nutes till week 2/3)

Terry420
Terry420started grow question 4 years ago
Hiya guy Just started 3 auto Big Bang they are about 2 inch high in 1 gallon fabric pots I’m on day 4 and still have their baby leaves I’m using coco coir 80/20 perlite. 600w led 20/4 light cycle.Need help on watering amounts and how often. My first grow. Soil was moist at start
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Feeding. Schedule
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Spyder7
Spyder7answered grow question 4 years ago
I'm nearing the end of my first grow (in flush) and watering was one thing that I mastered pretty early, so this is how I work it (the advice of more experienced growers which worked for me): These plants can grow very slowly during the first week as they don't yet have much of a root system, so much of their water intake is from the air and the humidity in your tent should be fairly high the first week. 60-70-% seems optimal, with 65% being closer to the 'sweet spot' during the first part of the week, tapering to 60% by the end when the roots are fully developed; then in the 2nd week, lower the humidity slowly again looking to hit 55-60% by the end of the 2nd week as the roots become more established and you can drop it again to 55% for week 3 and keep it there for a few weeks until you're into real flower stage. With watering, its important to encourage the plant to produce its root network. Some mist, but I prefer not to as it isn't necessary if you have the humidity right and I prefer to water with something that can lightly stream water out (I poked a few tiny holes into a bottle cap and watered/fed my whole grow with 500 ml bottles); I found 250 ml (1/4 pint) good for the first few days for a 2 gallon pot. You're using a 3 so you want to use about 50% more water than that. I also watered a couple inches from the plant and gradually, through week 1 and 2, moved the flow of water further from the stem to encourage the roots to spread. Its important not to water the stem (which can lead to stem rot), the leaves (with an LED this will leave bleach spots), and to neither underwater nor over water. During the first week, if you're watering that amount you should be fine and you can place a finger tip into the soil near the edge of the pot to test when to water: if its moist or damp a knuckle down, you're fine and don't need to water. If it feels dry, then its time to water. Part of what you want to accomplish here is to slowly, every few days, increase the watering amount slightly while pushing the watering intervals further apart (without letting the soil dry out) as this will create "wet/dry" cycles which avoids "damping off" that leads to no more water uptake and stem rot. These fabric pots can dry out fairly fast, which is fine as that's one of the trade offs for the advantages: with my gallon pot, it needed watering every 36-48 hours and I did either that ''finger test' or the 'bag lift test:' when the plant is dry (especially as it grows and needs more water) and needs water it'll feel "light" and you'll develop a "feel" for when to water by lifting the bag before and after watering to compare how much difference it weighs dry versus wet. By the time roots are more fully formed, and you're properly into veg, the rule of thumb I used was 1/2 L (or 1/2 pint) per gallon of soil every 36-48 hours based on the finger/bag lift test. That was 1L for me, so 1.5 for you. And to touch on nutes: if growing in soil, you generally don't need any nutes for the first 14-21 days if growing in even decent potting soil. Some will add a touch of the main nute on day 15, and others wait til day 22 to start nutes (and then start at half for autos). That's a good rule to follow and its worth locking in a nute schedule and following it. I skipped and went very, very light on nutes and paid with deficiencies that showed up in weeks 7 and 8 especially (after that it ran out of sugar leaves to shed I think). Hope this helps.
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Terry420
Terry420answered grow question 4 years ago
Thank you both soo much. Really grateful for your help. May the bus be with you
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Green_Island_Grow
Green_Island_Growanswered grow question 4 years ago
Personally i fill and water my pots (i use soil) when i put the seeds to germinate in a paper towel. The soil is still moist for when i put the seeds in. I then maybe water them once more over the next 2 weeks. They really don't need anything at all in the first 2 weeks. Then I'll move onto my water and nutes schedule. Some can take more nutes than others so I would lower the recommended dose for the first one and see how they react over the next 48-72 hours. I still only water once a week in veg and then they start to drink like mad during flowering
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