Strategies for delaying flowering in auto

Nutty sKunK said:
3 day old seedling. The tap root was visible yesterday.

Shows you just how fast they can find the limits of their containers!
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That's why peeps who just water a little around the base of their sprouts fail. That tap root ends up in the dry zone the day after it sprouts. They should always soak the pot so roots have moisture wherever they go.

Always meant to get some of those airpots but never found any at garage sales. ;)

:peace:
 
GoatSoup said:
I'm getting the feeling that light spectrum makes a difference in how quick a plant will mature
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It can certainly make a big difference in how well and fast it grows but won't really speed up flowering time if that's what you mean by mature. Can yield a lot more with better light tho. Hortilux SHPS for the win!

:peace:
 
OldMedUser said:
That's why peeps who just water a little around the base of their sprouts fail. That tap root ends up in the dry zone the day after it sprouts. They should always soak the pot so roots have moisture wherever they go.

Always meant to get some of those airpots but never found any at garage sales. ;)

:peace:
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Deffo! Pre moistening the soil and watering enough is vital. I find giving 10% volume of the container worth of water before planting works right for peat based soil.

Hopefully not too long. Get the real deal and not the knock offs. Big difference I’ve found.
 
Nutty sKunK said:
Deffo! Pre moistening the soil and watering enough is vital. I find giving 10% volume of the container worth of water before planting works right for peat based soil.

Hopefully not too long. Get the real deal and not the knock offs. Big difference I’ve found.
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And you never get damping off?
 
Nutty sKunK said:
It’s also vital to add the water evenly. Mix up the soil etc
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Ah, so don't pot the soil first, water then pot.

What do you do about lighting? I find that one of my biggest challenges for the first 5 to 10 days after sprout. I either give them too much and light burn the fuck out of the first leaves or not enough and they just get leggy. I use a lux meter to try to get the lumin range to what sites like RQS recommend for the seedling stage, but that doesn't help for that first week after sprout.
 
Nutty sKunK said:
Deffo! Pre moistening the soil and watering enough is vital. I find giving 10% volume of the container worth of water before planting works right for peat based soil.

Hopefully not too long. Get the real deal and not the knock offs. Big difference I’ve found.
Click to expand...

For about 15 years I've used ProMix HP as a base for plants grown in pots. Mostly moms so I could get clones for DWC which was my main grow method since 2001 when nobody was doing it. Was Sunshine Mix #4 before that but can't get that anymore around here. I like the HP better. Can just fill a pot with it, water with mild nutes and drop a plant, clone or seed in it and off you go.

The last few years I've been getting more into a semi-organic style of growing in pots. Adding manures and other organic stuff to the HP then supplementing with AN 3-part nutes as needed.

I recently bought 25 10L square pots that fit nicely into a 5x5 square just under 4' to a side to do a SoG grow with. Something I haven't tried before but like to experiment to keep my interest up since I grew my first buds in '78. All medicinal to me now so growing more kush and CBD plants these days and getting into autos for outside in the summer.

:peace:
 
windycheese said:
Ah, so don't pot the soil first, water then pot.

What do you do about lighting? I find that one of my biggest challenges for the first 5 to 10 days after sprout. I either give them too much and light burn the fuck out of the first leaves or not enough and they just get leggy. I use a lux meter to try to get the lumin range to what sites like RQS recommend for the seedling stage, but that doesn't help for that first week after sprout.
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When I'm mixing up my blends I'll do it in a Rubbermaid tub or if lots I'll buy a cheap 10x10 tarp and mix it all up on the floor. To moisten as I go along I just poke a bunch of pinholes in the cap for a 4L milk jug and use that to get lots of water spread out nicely on top, mix a bit, spray more, mix till it holds together like a snowball when squeezed. Then if it's got organics I'll leave that to 'cook' for a month before use or if mainly ProMix for immediate use just fill the pots and transplant etc right away.

For stretchy seedlings that want to fall over I like those little bamboo skewers. Just stick one in the pot beside it, tie a twist tie tightly to the skewer so it doesn't slide down and make a loop at the other end to hold the sprout up. Even better is once the sprout is up an inch or so and the stem is flexible just flick them around with a fingertip. They may look a little beat up at first but usually stand up after a half hour or so and it toughens up the stem fast.

I have one of those crappy 3-in-1 probes and use the light meter on that to see how strong the light is at the tops. It reads 0 - 2000 and I like to see around 300 for new sprouts but 1000 or higher for strong vegging plants. If I had lots of money to blow on fancy gizmos I'd buy a PAR meter but your average hobby grower doesn't need stuff like that. There are a lot of light frequencies in the PAR range that the plant doesn't use so if your light is high in those the PAR meter won't tell you that so intensity of light is more valuable to me as an indicator of where my plants need to be. I still use my DIY bank of 8 - 4' T12 fluoro tubes to start plants under. Hard to find the good Daylight Extra tubes these days so the wife uses it to get her tomatoes and peppers started early every year. Been working fine for over 20 years.

:peace:
 
windycheese said:
Ah, so don't pot the soil first, water then pot.

What do you do about lighting? I find that one of my biggest challenges for the first 5 to 10 days after sprout. I either give them too much and light burn the fuck out of the first leaves or not enough and they just get leggy. I use a lux meter to try to get the lumin range to what sites like RQS recommend for the seedling stage, but that doesn't help for that first week after sprout.
Click to expand...

For lighting I keep them about 3ft away from my 600w MH/CMH and from the 675w LED I tried.

What light you got? I find just keeping it on max from day one and let them grow into it is best
 
windycheese said:
Currently I'm using a Maxsisun PB1000 Pro. It's a 100 watt LED.
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I got a little COB light that pulls 207W from the wall about a foot over plants without any problems. About the same when they were sprouts. My DIY LED made with 11 - 9W 5000K bulbs with the globes popped off for side lighting. These plants were just about to be moved to the grow room in bigger pots and go under a 400W CMH.

WholeTent01.JPG

:peace:
 
GoatSoup said:
I'm getting the feeling that light spectrum makes a difference in how quick a plant will mature, Auto or Photo. I had to use my little Burple light to cover a plant that was overwhelmed by different pheno of the same strain and it is maturing my White Widow a lot faster that it's taller sister, which is under more full spectrum lights.
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"INCORRECT LIGHT SPECTRUM
How fast and how vigorously plants grow are influenced by the spectrum of light they receive. Make sure you use the correct type of light according to each stage of growth. For healthy vegetative growth, you want a cooler light with more blue in its spectrum, a so-called "vegging light". Lights with a warmer, more reddish spectrum are used for the flowering phase."
 
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