My second windowsill grow. Hoping to learn from the mistakes of my first one...

Hi guys,

So, I'm attempting to grow some autoflowering seeds this time. I bought 3 seeds - Northern Dragon Fuel - & the company threw in a free Glueberry OG seed.
They were germinated in tissue paper, then transferred to separate pots 12 days ago & look like this at the moment...



I could've started a few weeks earlier but was out of town every now & then so I waited until late June. Then, typically for North West Europe, we had some crappy weather for 10 days so they haven't caught much strong sunlight.
They're on a south-facing windowsill, getting the sun from around 10am until 4pm. I'm also taking them onto our balcony around the back for a couple of hours of evening sun &, providing the forecast is good, I'm leaving them out over night so they get the first 90 minutes of sunlight, before the direct sunlight disappears around the side of our building.

So general thought & questions...

● They're a little small but we have 2 weeks of good weather coming so I'm hoping they'll pick up over the next few days.

● I was planning on topping them but they'll be grown in tall, narrow windowsills so maybe I should let them grow tall instead?
Each plant will be transplanted to 11 litre pots - 2 per window.

● I'm fully prepared for white fly, aphids & scales (which were a BIG problem first time around as I didn't know what they were & left them until it was almost too late). I have some gentle & harmless pesticide in a spray gun.

● I'll be using supermarket soil, but it's labelled as organic & peat free, for herbs & small plants. I also have a large bottle of Bio-Bizz for nutrients.

Any comments & tips would be very useful. It's good to be back



Oh, it's now legal to grow here & I'm on a 3rd floor, away from curious eyes.

NO

If legal why not put in the work??
At the least read up a little…

Billytheluther said:

If legal why not put in the work??
At the least read up a little…

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Because legally you can grow 50g....

Allsoo all those flies comes from the dirt you bough its usually infested if they leave it outside

Growing in a windowsill will only result in stretched and spindly plants with little bud.

Depends on the window allsoo its a free grow any grams are good grams

Billytheluther said:

NO

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Don't shout.

Billytheluther said:

At the least read up a little…

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I've actually read up a lot but figured I'd post a new thread on my exploits. I have no intention of using lamps, fans & tents. Just good old-fashioned soil & sun

I'm not a habitual smoker any more. The last single plant I grew, as much of a disaster as it was, kept me in homegrown for over a year, at the slow & occasional rate I was smoking it. I figure 4 plants, grown the same way but with better know-how, should work out nicely.

amneziaHaze said:

Depends on the window allsoo its a free grow any grams are good grams

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Exactly.

Don't top. Those plants will be small as is. You will just stunt them with topping when they don't have great conditions to recover. IMO.

HandyGringo said:

Don't top. Those plants will be small as is. You will just stunt them with topping when they don't have great conditions to recover. IMO.

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OK, that sounds like a far point. Thanks.

Perhaps I'll top one, just for experience & as an interesting comparison. We'll see.

You know how to LST?

amneziaHaze said:

You know how to LST?

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Yeah, I've watched quite a few videos on that. Do you think it'd be worthwhile, in the tall space that I have?
I suppose I could do it with the plant that gets topped (f I actually do it).

Depends if your window has empty spaces left and right with good sun...
How did your last grow go? How many g?

I didn't weigh it. Back then I didn't even have decent digital scales.

This was the full harvest, pre trimming & curing. It was from a non-auto seed that someone gave me.
It took 8 months to get there, April to December, and was a real labour of love.
The wooden crates next to the drying pole are each 16" tall, to give you a sense of scale...



It was very much a baptism of fire, dealing with a fairly damaging scales infestation (which I thought were lumps on the trunk & part of the plant!!!)
But, in retrospect I think I did OK...like 3/10? Heheheh!

The one on the right looks great.
Only bad thing it was 8months :/ look at my minigrow in the signature maybe something likw that would interest you

MonsterMagnet said:

I didn't weigh it. Back then I didn't even have decent digital scales.

This was the full harvest, pre trimming & curing. It was from a non-auto seed that someone gave me.
It took 8 months to get there, April to December, and was a real labour of love.
The wooden crates next to the drying pole are each 16" tall, to give you a sense of scale...

View attachment 5406136

It was very much a baptism of fire, dealing with a fairly damaging scales infestation (which I thought were lumps on the trunk & part of the plant!!!)
But, in retrospect I think I did OK...like 3/10? Heheheh!

Click to expand...

That’s actually quite amazing, props bro..
As for the flys, like amnezia haze stated.. it’s more than likely the soil..
you can try and top off your final container with a 1/2 inch of sand and maybe riggup some mosquito netting around the area to seal it off..

Billytheluther said:

That’s actually quite amazing, props bro..

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Thanks!

Another thing I’m wondering…

When’s the best time to transplant into bigger pots?
I’m waiting on trays for the large pots I have lined up (hopefully they’ll get here this week) but should I wait until they’re all more established?
They’re looking really happy at the moment & growing quite quickly, thanks to the strong sunshine.
I also bought some Mykorrhiza after watching a guy ranting about how great it was as an aid to the baby roots when you switch to bigger pots.

MonsterMagnet said:

Another thing I’m wondering…

When’s the best time to transplant into bigger pots?

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You generally don't transplant autoflowers. You pot them in their final pot right away. Since your growing time with an autoflower is on the clock, you don't want to set yourself back a week of growth by transplanting. If this is all true or not I have no idea, that's just the rationale for why people don't transplant autos.

This all might be broscience. I suggest you Google "transplant autos rollitup" and read the 100 threads about the topic, there's loads of discussions about it.

You could also experiment, like you would do with topping. Leave one in the same container, transplant the others, or transplant half, or whatever.

Last year I grew a photoperiod Sour Diesel plant in my window….got a quarter of high grade cannabis. I gave it a lot of love though….really good dirt, good nutrients, LST, defoliation. It can be done….i just wish it got more light in the fall….it took about 13-14 weeks to finish. Here’s some pictures at harvest….

That looks fantastic! How big was the pot & what were the soil "specs"?