First grow Crit purp and Haw. Auto

[Hot Joe]

Hey dudes and dudettes, long time enthusiast, first time grower here, I guess I decided to go with auto flowers my first time. It's hard to get smoke where I am. Three critical purples and one Hawaiian auto. My two other HA's didn't germinated. Using fox farms ocean forest so I imagine that's cause for the few spots on the leaves. Have the three fox farms ferts for all stages, big bud, and getting an organic root booster Friday to help out.
So I originally planted these in fox farms ocean forest so I think that's part of the leaf spots, but I have kept them on a 24/0 (24 light / 0 dark) scheduled. I've read this soil can burn seedlings so I'm wondering if the extra light cycle helps prevent that by using the excess nutrients? I'm not a rocket surgeon.
They're about a week old. I was going to get bags but I wanted to get them in their final container before their root set because I didn't want the down time and because I planted them originally in smaller pots that didn't drain. I was just super gentle and made sure the soil was moist. So family dollar store laundry hamper it is lol? I am know for being creative. Be gentle, I'm new.
Running 195 cfm with virgin charcoal on low mode. 4x2x4 mylar tent by zeny. Gvg grow lamps 600w with Samsung LEDs. Maybe have $400 including seeds. All bills paid.
Oh using distilled H2O. Waiting on a new pH meter to tackle deficiency problems as they arise.
I come from an engineering background.
Any advice or constructive comments are appreciated.
So far I think they look very healthy.
Edit: sorry for the lines, for some reason the grow lights do that to my phone camera.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Looking like a good start.

 

[Hot Joe]

THANK YOU. I'm glad at least someone replied. Am I wrong about the spots on the leaves? Probably just a little burn from the soil. I was a little worried about one of the seeds, when I germinated it, It was really slow, I had it in a little cold environment before I realized it.
I'm really just making this up as a go.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Using available cheap items is straight up stoner tech.....easy pH testing can be done with fish tank pH test drops...what I'm using now till I replace my Apera...just make sure it'll measure from 4 to 8 so you can dial in at 6 to 6.5

 

[Original Lowryder #12]

THANK YOU. I'm glad at least someone replied. Am I wrong about the spots on the leaves? Probably just a little burn from the soil. I was a little worried about one of the seeds, when I germinated it, It was really slow, I had it in a little cold environment before I realized it.
I'm really just making this up as a go.

They look great to me, those spots don't look like anything I would worry about yet. I start my autos in OF and grow in exclusively so far and have had no issues with it.

 

[Hot Joe]

Using available cheap items is straight up stoner tech.....easy pH testing can be done with fish tank pH test drops...what I'm using now till I replace my Apera...just make sure it'll measure from 4 to 8 so you can dial in at 6 to 6.5

HAHA I definately use the best bang for my buck. Yeah i have a new ph meter coming off of amazon. I saved my old calibration powders so hopefully it's pretty close. I have an analog one but meh...

 

[Hot Joe]

They look great to me, those spots don't look like anything I would worry about yet. I start my autos in OF and grow in exclusively so far and have had no issues with it.

yeah they don't look burnt to me. I did notice 2 of my crit purples have a spot on one of their leaves curling up, but not hardcore, looks like they're just being a little fussy about the temp, a few days ago it got up to 90, I was testing the air flow out. So i'm betting it's from that, and the low humidity.
Appreciate the feedback bud. My biggest concern is when to water and how much. Because i don't want the ph to get all messed up if I wait too long. I also don't want to over-water.

 

[Original Lowryder #12]

yeah they don't look burnt to me. I did notice 2 of my crit purples have a spot on one of their leaves curling up, but not hardcore, looks like they're just being a little fussy about the temp, a few days ago it got up to 90, I was testing the air flow out. So i'm betting it's from that, and the low humidity.
Appreciate the feedback bud. My biggest concern is when to water and how much. Because i don't want the ph to get all messed up if I wait too long. I also don't want to over-water.

Yeah that's the hardest balance, I've yet to master it myself but gotten pretty good. Best way that works for me is picking the pots up and feeling for weight. You can really start to tell how fast they are drying out like this.

 

[Hot Joe]

I should have used grow bags hind sight being 20/20. They are really taking off though. I put an extra fan in there as well to help with vent. It's just so freaking hot right now. They're in one of my closets but when it's a 100 degrees outside, the ac has a little trouble keeping up.
I was reading a forum on a guy that has his in 3 gal bags, they're in their 3-4th week of flowering and he only waters every 6th day.... isn't that a little bit of a stretch? They were photo I think, not auto.

 

[Original Lowryder #12]

I should have used grow bags hind sight being 20/20. They are really taking off though. I put an extra fan in there as well to help with vent. It's just so freaking hot right now. They're in one of my closets but when it's a 100 degrees outside, the ac has a little trouble keeping up.
I was reading a forum on a guy that has his in 3 gal bags, they're in their 3-4th week of flowering and he only waters every 6th day.... isn't that a little bit of a stretch? They were photo I think, not auto.

I would like to know what soil he's using. During flower I water almost daily in my 3 gallon pots.