First timer! 2 auto's under cfl

Hi forum, my first ever grow, 2 auto's, both from royal queen seeds, royal AK and white widow.
4 23w 6500k cfl's over each plant about 2-3 inches away (will switch to equivalent lights, but 2700k at around week 6 and will keep 2-3 6500k's as well), each growing in 9L of organic pro-mix vegetable&herb mix, 3L of perlite, 2L of worm castings. Soil has lime added and consists of mainly Canadian sphagnum peat moss.
Seeds sprouted sunday may 15 after roughly 30 hours in soil (planted with 1 inch taproot after germinating in a cup of water for 2 days).
I watered the 4 gallon container with a half a cup of water each around sprout as the soil was damp when I planted a few days prior. Temps were high for the 1st week and low humidity so I watered a few shot glasses worth each on day 3 as top of soil was completely dry! Gave first real watering on sat may 21 (600ml+ each until slight runoff). Sprayed with a half a teaspoon/gal Epsom salt foliar today.
I'll post pics of each, and temps do vary as its been unseasonably hot and now humid for a few days now. Last week was hot and dry. mid 80's and close to hundred with humidex the past few days.
Was wondering if a feeding will be due with next watering..perhaps in 2-3 days?..soil feels slightly damp 2-3 inches down by edge of container. For feeding..based on availability, I will be using either an MG liquid concentrate that's 12-4-2, or Plant-prod 30-10-10 at quarter strength for veg. Not sure if I should even add anything or wait for flowering. It's growing quite fast the past few days! Any suggestions?
Btw..as u see from the setup pic, the lights aren't positioned exactly the same..as two stores had no y splitters left lol..so I had to do it a different way with the one on the left, but it seems to be better than the one on the right!..I switched positions of plants on day 13 for second time since sprout. Will be getting another socket adapter shortly to change the one on the right.
Also..the nodes are stacked on each other..Ak is 4 inches tall and the other 3. I see shoots growing between the stems already and because nodes are so close..not much light can actually get in there. Will the nodes separate, should I be trying to lst already?

This is the bag of soil im using..and a pic of the simple setup. I know..its not pro..its my first time! lol I also have a fan blowing on it lightly during lights on.

Day 15 today. Watered for 2nd time (1.5L each) and first time feeding (quarter strength) with attached fert.

You should have some type of reflector for your lights.
You are wasting light by having the bulbs exposed - light radiates from the sides of the CFLs .

Budzbuddha said:

You should have some type of reflector for your lights.
You are wasting light by having the bulbs exposed - light radiates from the sides of the CFLs .

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Yes, I know im losing a lot of light. I would need too many it seems and I don't know how to fit it all in and close to the plant. When I tried the reflector at the store..didn't seem to make any difference at all, even the salesperson agreed lol. As for a diy one..im terribly inept at mechanical/construction things! lol. I honestly have no idea what im going to do once the plant, if it does, grow too high for the current 'setup' lol. I have mirrors around, kind of, I doubt it does anything at all. My only option it seems is too keep adding bulbs to increase the light.

Using something as simple as a basic clamp light with reflector would be much more effective.

Budzbuddha said:

Using something as simple as a basic clamp light with reflector would be much more effective.

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I know its simple..but definitely not cost effective! When each reflector costs 20$ and I only only squeeze 2 lights into it with a y-splitter..i would need 4 reflectors just for the 8 bulbs. All added up..at that price..im better off getting a single mh bulb and not have to worry about moving cfl's daily Hopefully for my next grow around winter..i will switch to mh and hps for flower!

My issue will be the plants themselves. I don't think its normal how they're growing lol. The ak is 5 inches high at best and already 25% done on its 5th set of true leaves in 2 weeks? There is no spacing between the nodes! I see plants with inches between nodes..these are stacked on top of each other..no vertical growth. The white widow, from the tip of the two biggest leaves (2nd set of true leaves), the plant is 10 inches across..yet the height is around 4.5 inches!

Just saw your pics budda..great plants! Is that how big regulars get so early? ..like your candy cane at day 16 is it? Im planning to get a few feminized non autos to start in the fall.

Blitz35 said:

Just saw your pics budda..great plants! Is that how big regulars get so early? ..like your candy cane at day 16 is it? Im planning to get a few feminized non autos to start in the fall.

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It's funny you mentioned the Candy Dream ... It originally came from meds bought at a dispensary. As i was rolling some J's - i broke up the nug and out popped a couple seeds.
I popped one a while back and after harvest ended up with a few more.

Now i popped two ( hempy perlite / vermiculite medium ) and that is the photo .
They are going into week 2 of flowering and are doing well. I was stoked that this strain i bought ( 1/8 ) ended being a strain that i can keep running ! It is a sativa dominate and goes longer , i flipped after 5 week veg ( because of height ) . So it looks like a Regular strain , even though i mostly run AUTOS.

So the candy cane is not a regular seed? It's an auto? That's even more impressive that it got that back so fast! My auto white widow is 40-40 and 20% ruderalis. The ak is 35Sat-40Ind and 25% ruderalis. The pics I see of the ak auto's..all look big lol. The white widow is not as advancd as the ak, but leaves are quite a bit bigger on the widow! Will be posting day 16 pics shortly

Btw, which one is in the pic u posted earlier in this thread? That one looks really nice!!! What kind of medium is in that blue bucket? The plant looks sooo thick at the base! Great work!

Day 16, temps are back to normal and humidity is around 50%, finally! Also raised lights by about 2-3 inches, trying to promote vertical growth instead of a bushy thing

Day 18. Noticed this morning some clawing on the white widow, tips are slightly greener...the other one is ok. The blotch on the white widow is possible from me dripping some water there as I watered?..not sure..maybe ph. Also found a little white thing crawling on the white widow leaf..killed it..cant see any others, I don't know what it was.

Day 20, added mylar paper around the containers..leaving a space open for fan to blow in during lights on. Its not a closet grow, its in an open room with plenty of ventilation. Ak on left and white widow on right..slight clawing still evident on white widow..hoping after next straight watering it will help flush some of the nitrogen out. The ak didn't show any problems with same feeding.

Plants added an inch since yesterday! Biggest vertical gain in one day. The mylar wrapping is making an enormous difference!!! So so much brighter all around the plants!

Found first spider mite today..a red one. Waiting for his friends to come out at some point lol. Hopefully they stay away for another 6 weeks lol.

End of week 3 today! Plants appear healthy other than the slight claw on the WW, but its in check. The spider mite was on the WW's pot today, the same as that tiny white thing I caught last week. I've inspected the underside of leaves extensively and see absolutely no evidence of eggs or webs or even the tiniest thing moving lol. Tops of leaves seem unharmed. The slight yellow spotting on the WW happened after first feed last week, not from the bugs sucking it out I misted the underside of leaves this afternoon as I read they don't like that. I read that higher doses of nitrogen in the plant will encourage crawlers especially mites..hoping that after next watering, tmr or Tuesday, will flush some of it out from the WW.
I tied or weighed down 3 fan leaves on the WW and turned three of the flowering spots on top of the fan leaf. The AK I just tucked, nothing to tie down for the moment, its growing much more 'openly' than the WW, smaller leaves and better spacing between them. The WW is very bulky

Pre flowers are visible on both plants. Watered each 2L today until about 10% runoff. Water in was 6-6.2, came out at 7.2-7.4. Will try to lst more as side branches grow out..for now mostly just tucking. Will be adding molasses to my water next week or a bit after. unsure about what flowering nute to get them. only gave fert once during veg and WW didn't like it too much..hence the slight claw still. I don't know if I can get GH florabloom in time. Otherwise I may get a Schultz cactus food. Liquid concentrate 2-7-7 for this grow. Will be adding something with next watering (im guessing in about 5-7 days).

Blitz35 said:

Btw, which one is in the pic u posted earlier in this thread? That one looks really nice!!! What kind of medium is in that blue bucket? The plant looks sooo thick at the base! Great work!

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Oh that one was an AUTO BUBBLEGUM - it is also a hempy grow.
But it was a cerebral like high ( kinda mellow - heavy focus on what you are doing ) but overall smooth.
I ended up with 2 full masons from that one !