New Grower 3x3 Auto journal. First time growing in 9 years and looking for advice

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Hey everyone just getting back into the world of growing after a long hiatus and recently updated my gear with a new 3x3 with the Spider Farmer 4000 teamed up with the T6 from Ac infinity. I have 2 stardawg autos from Fast Buds popped and on day 4 as well as 2 Hellbender seeds in germination from Gas Reaper. Running in soil with an Ocean Forest/Happy Frog mix. The one seedling has what looks like burnt tip, maybe from the ocean forest being to hot but was hoping the mix would help that issue. light is running at 40% 34 inches from canopy.

Some questions I have revolve around watering. Should i soak my soil before dropping in seeds or just give the seeds a nice lite watering? I am nervous about over/under watering at this stage. thanks for any tips or feedback along the way. I will try to keep the thread updated with the grow as it continues.

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Better image of damaged leave

 

[Need4Weed]

Next time around put the Ocean Forest in the bottom half of the pot and Happy Frog in the top half. Autoflowers are really sensitive to hot soil like OF. Also, I like to water the hole pot when planting ... but that's me. And ... good luck with your grow!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Morningstar_Gardens Welcome to AFNWe don't want to burn our babies but shyte happens. They are fairly resilient and usually pull through.

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and roots there will die. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

Have fun on your journey!

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Thanks a ton for the information guys definitely a new learning curve with the autos. My last run years ago were some autos a friend gave me. I think one was an auto mazar and a couple others that had a dragon in the name (Stoner memory not the best). Turned out decent but not as great as my photo runs did. Coming back into growing now and the autos have come so far in the past few years. The genetics seem to have caught up with photos pretty nicely and was the reason I wanted to give these another try.

Just planted the two Gas Reaper Hellbenders this morning before work and will get some pics once they pop. Grabbed a small humidifier also yesterday to get my levels at about 60 in my tent for the seedlings.

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Next time around put the Ocean Forest in the bottom half of the pot and Happy Frog in the top half. Autoflowers are really sensitive to hot soil like OF. Also, I like to water the hole pot when planting ... but that's me. And ... good luck with your grow!

I went with this method this morning with the hellbenders. I dropped a good amount of happy frog in the top of the pot so hopefully it's a little less harsh on the babies

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

The hellbender babies have broken surface today. The FB Stardawgs are starting day 7 and luckily no sign of new burn from the ocean forest. I'm hoping the happy frog topper on the hell benders is easier on those babies. Thanks for checking out the grow so far

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Saturday update. Hope everyone is having a great day so far. Last night the Stardawgs got a decent watering with 6.1 water. I've made the decision to no longer do an ocean Forrest happy frog mix with my autos. The ocean forest even mixed is still way to strong. My runoff ppms are crazy and I've only even given them pH water. Been doing some reading in many threads hear and getting some ideas for what I will be trying next. The biobizz stuff seems pretty decent but always open to suggestions. The Stardawgs are on day 8 and the Gas Reaper Hellbenders are starting day 3. The suggestion of toping the pots with just happy frog has seem to work wonders for the two hellbenders. They have taken off with no signs of burn and with much faster growth than the Stardawgs. Thanks as always for checking out the journal and for any suggestions/feedback

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Day 11 for the FB Stardawgs and they will be getting water tonight. Still not gonna be using any nutrients since the soil is probably pretty hot based off the ppms of the last run off. The Hellbenders had a slight stretch to them but nothing to crazy. They are currently on day 6 and seem to be doing pretty good in the HF topper.

 

[Morningstar_Gardens]

Day 15 for the fast bud Stardawgs and they are starting to really take off. They will be getting another round of ph'd water only tomorrow and I will be testing the run off ppms to gauge when I should start feeding. The Gas Reaper Hellbenders are moving along nicely also, the one had more stretch than the other so I'm giving it some support until it thickens up. Got the temps at a pretty constant 76-78 with about 55 percent humidity.