I don't know WTF I'm doing here.....

Eastownclan said:

View attachment 4826207View attachment 4826208That’s the big one, I have a smaller one too. They smell sweet with a lemon astringent smell. I love growing these. I was thinking about ordering a few more. https://www.rollitup.org/t/auto-closet-grow-with-315-watt-cmh.1041373/page-3#post-16144582 This is my thread, check it out.

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Looks amazing! I can only hope I get an outcome like that

Eastownclan said:

View attachment 4826207View attachment 4826208That’s the big one, I have a smaller one too. They smell sweet with a lemon astringent smell. I love growing these. I was thinking about ordering a few more. https://www.rollitup.org/t/auto-closet-grow-with-315-watt-cmh.1041373/page-3#post-16144582 This is my thread, check it out.

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Wheres the frost?

Planning on doing the first top dressing on week four from seed. Below are the current dry amendments I have available.








Too much? Too little? Willing to listen to all reasonable opinions.

I always heard Chicago(Illinois) has the top tap in the country, and I have these cheap PH/EC devices sitting in the closet next to the ph up and down. (which are retired for this grow)

So still being curious I decided to open them up and do some testing.

Day 21(Since planted)
Hi RIU.
Day 21 and everything is looking nice to me.(But what do I know)


Remember the first grow thing right? So I wasn't sure of the light to plant distance and I think it affected some of the plants in a negative way.
I was sent this chart by a random person on Instagram. I was wayy off.



One of the two GGAs that sprouted lost her footing, and and fell into the pot.
I used some soft plant wire to help her out. Is this a result of lack of light?


Didn't have any air in the tent able to move the plants around, so I added a couple fans including a 12" hurricane fan directed at the center of the tent on low.


Not pretty but....whatever


Found my seeds and planted another LA. It'll be three or so weeks behind the other plants but whatever.



My plant tags for the Gorilla Girl XL Auto should read GGXLA and not GGAXL... Keep me in your prayers RUI...I mean RIU

Happy I haven't seen one bug!

My new concern is dwarfing one of the plants because I don't know WTF I'm doing here.

I would always see photos of growers with their hygro/thermo in one of their pots, but I've since learned that it gives inaccurate readings in the tent. So I decided to remove mine from the pot and place it elsewhere. Does this sound correct?

Below are just a couple of photos of the grow as of yesterday. No filters

How it started


Vs

How it's going

Have you started working the lights down a little closer? Do it little by little, an inch or two each day. My mothers like it about 14" to 16" above the canopy. Now that yours are putting on leaves, they'll start stretching for that light.

Tracker said:

Have you started working the lights down a little closer? Do it little by little, an inch or two each day. My mothers like it about 14" to 16" above the canopy. Now that yours are putting on leaves, they'll start stretching for that light.

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The distance between the lights and plants is where I'm making my current mistakes.


•Day 1 - 15 they sat at 36 inches at maybe 30% on the dial.

•Day 16-20 they sat at 36 inches at full power, with zero adjustment.

(Sought adjustment only after the GGA toppled.)

Day 21 - Current Sits at 28 inches at 100% on the dial.

Tracker said:

Have you started working the lights down a little closer? Do it little by little, an inch or two each day. My mothers like it about 14" to 16" above the canopy. Now that yours are putting on leaves, they'll start stretching for that light.

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What do you suggest?

Marq1340 said:

What do you suggest?

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I would keep inching them closer each day until you're about 16" from the tallest one. If they don't like the intensity, you'll see the leaves start curling over, folding up like taco, or twisting sideways like a corkscrew. If that happens back off a little. You should be good as long as you just get 1 to 3 inches closer each day. Also, I recommend you put your pots close together, as close to the center of the footprint of the light as you can. Keep them like that until they grow out and start touching each other, then spread them out little by little, as needed. the light intensity is significantly higher directly under the light compared to around the periphery.

I use Lux Light Meter app on my phone to get an idea of the light distribution across the canopy. Yes, I know it's not the best way, and PPFD and all that, but it's a free app and it tells you something useful. The sensor it uses on each phone is not calibrated the same, so the reading cannot be trusted in the absolute sense, but it can give you a good idea about relative intensities between lights and the spread of the light across your canopy.

I keep my light positioned over the mothers so that it's hitting about 25000 lux on the canopy directly below the center of the light. At that center measurement, the outer periphery will be around 17000 to 18000, so that's more than 20% difference between center and periphery. That will affect the performance of the plants around the edges with less light.

Good luck! Peace

Tracker said:

I would keep inching them closer each day until you're about 16" from the tallest one. If they don't like the intensity, you'll see the leaves start curling over, folding up like taco, or twisting sideways like a corkscrew. If that happens back off a little. You should be good as long as you just get 1 to 3 inches closer each day.

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I'll start this beginning tomorrow.

Tracker said:

Also, I recommend you put your pots close together, as close to the center of the footprint of the light as you can. Keep them like that until they grow out and start touching each other, then spread them out little by little, as needed. the light intensity is significantly higher directly under the light compared to around the periphery.

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Except for the new lemon auto pot that was previously empty(sprouted today), it isn't much more room to move them in closer because of the saucers. I don't plan on purposely doing any run off, you think I would be able to get away with not using any saucers?

Tracker said:

I use Lux Light Meter app on my phone to get an idea of the light distribution across the canopy. Yes, I know it's not the best way, and PPFD and all that, but it's a free app and it tells you something useful. The sensor it uses on each phone is not calibrated the same, so the reading cannot be trusted in the absolute sense, but it can give you a good idea about relative intensities between lights and the spread of the light across your canopy.

I keep my light positioned over the mothers so that it's hitting about 25000 lux on the canopy directly below the center of the light. At that center measurement, the outer periphery will be around 17000 to 18000, so that's more than 20% difference between center and periphery. That will affect the performance of the plants around the edges with less light.

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I heard it wasn't really accurate but I say it's better than being in the dark.

Tracker said:

Good luck! Peace

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Thank you. Your input is always welcomed.

Marq1340 said:

Except for the new lemon auto pot that was previously empty(sprouted today), it isn't much more room to move them in closer because of the saucers. I don't plan on purposely doing any run off, you think I would be able to get away with not using any saucers?

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I use saucers. When I water/feed, usually the first big drink I give runs through the soil without fully saturating. The stuff that initially collects in the saucer will get sucked up by the dry soil in the bottom of the cloth pot. I give a healthy swig to each plant, then I cycle back through one or two more times giving more until it seems like they are saturated. I let the plants sit for a few minutes to see if they are going to absorb any more from the bottoms, then dump out the excess from the saucers. You're going to have to water enough to get runoff. You can let it get wet in the bottom of the tent and suck it out with a shop vac if you want, but for me, the saucers make it more manageable.

Marq1340 said:

I heard it wasn't really accurate but I say it's better than being in the dark.

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That is true. Different manufacturers use different sensors and each may have their own method for calibration. There may be a standard they follow, but I am unaware. The app is just interpreting the signal from the phone in relation to its sensor, which was designed for a use case other than displaying a light intensity value to the user (ie autoadjusting screen brightness or adjusting for photo brightness). BUT it can give you an understanding of differences of one light source relative to another, differences in distribution of light across your canopy and differences in intensity as you change distance from the light. It's been a handy tool for me.

Doubtful I'll be buying one of those expensive tools unless it's heavily discounted. This will work for now whenever its needed.

Tracker said:

You're going to have to water enough to get runoff

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For what exactly? To be sure it was watered well?

Marq1340 said:

Doubtful I'll be buying one of those expensive tools unless it's heavily discounted. This will work for now whenever its needed.


For what exactly? To be sure it was watered well?

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For now, the plants are small, and they don't have a large root system. Right now, they don't need so much food and water, and you don't need to water as much. As the plants get larger and the root system grows accordingly, they will suck up way more water, especially as they get to the height of veg growth and the first few weeks of flower. If they are getting everything they need, they grow like crazy. You want to be sure the roots get as filled out as possible, and they get all the food and water they want. Cloth pots are evaporating a lot from the sides, and the sides dry out faster. Regular pots don't behave that way. I try to get the whole root mass well watered.

Tracker said:

For now, the plants are small, and they don't have a large root system. Right now, they don't need so much food and water, and you don't need to water as much. As the plants get larger and the root system grows accordingly, they will suck up way more water, especially as they get to the height of veg growth and the first few weeks of flower. If they are getting everything they need, they grow like crazy. You want to be sure the roots get as filled out as possible, and they get all the food and water they want. Cloth pots are evaporating a lot from the sides, and the sides dry out faster. Regular pots don't behave that way. I try to get the whole root mass well watered.

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Noted. Thanks for the help.

Tracker said:

For now, the plants are small, and they don't have a large root system. Right now, they don't need so much food and water, and you don't need to water as much. As the plants get larger and the root system grows accordingly, they will suck up way more water, especially as they get to the height of veg growth and the first few weeks of flower. If they are getting everything they need, they grow like crazy. You want to be sure the roots get as filled out as possible, and they get all the food and water they want. Cloth pots are evaporating a lot from the sides, and the sides dry out faster. Regular pots don't behave that way. I try to get the whole root mass well watered.

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This being said, don't keep them constantly saturated. I water/feed mine every 3 to 4 days, depending on how much they are consuming. I judge it by the weight of the pots.

Tracker said:

This being said, don't keep them constantly saturated. I water/feed mine every 3 to 4 days, depending on how much they are consuming. I judge it by the weight of the pots.

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Yeah I've read a few watering threads and collected that a nice drench and then a couple days without watering works best. Maybe 2 waterings spread evenly in a weeks time.

Marq1340 said:

Yeah I've read a few watering threads and collected that a nice drench and then a couple days without watering works best. Maybe 2 waterings spread evenly in a weeks time.

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It really depends on how much the plant is asking for. For me, I always judge by the weight. I just got used to how fully saturated and dry enough to need water feel. You'll get used to it.