Greetings my friend! OK I know you have a ton of questions and concerns so I'm gonna try to keep it real simple and basic for you and then just hit me back with further questions. If you're like me when I started growing, I had a million questions so let's begin.... I'm gonna try to give you an over view of Autos first so you can understand them and how they grow and how we BEST grow them.
Autoflower 101
Autos grow by their LIFE cycle. NOT the LIGHT Cycle. With that being fact we find they best grow in 18/6 total. Personally I have not found any difference between 20/4 and 18/6. Only on my power bill! LOL but seriously they do benefit from 6 hours of darkness. Absolutely. They do a ton of production in the dark so keep in mind the dark is just as important than the light. Quick tip. Like Dede said... I think it's dede lol Name change? I recognize your avatar my friend. Ok back to topic. Dede recommended, this time of year with the heat, to change your 6 hours of darkness to occur during the hottest part of the day. You can also flip this during the winter to have them on during the coldest part of the day. Keep that in mind for the cooler, colder months as if you are using leds they will have a hard time keeping it warm in there with our winters. We'll worry about that when the time comes. OK, now next part...
Autoflowers are NOT like Photoperiods. We already know this but it's more than the light cycle vs. life cycle... Autoflowers DO NOT have recovery time like Photoperiods do. For example, when you grow a photo... you can veg it for however long you like. So if you get a poor start or top it, fim it, etc... you can keep it in veg until you get it to where it should be and then flip it to 12/12 and boom you're off in flower. Autos are not that forgiving... they flower when they flower and you have no control over that. So the point is here, you have to have the best start possible to get the most favorable outcome when comes to harvest time. So that brings me to part 3...
Feminized Auto vs Regular Auto seeds. Since we want the best possible start the best thing you can do is sow the seed in it's final home. Meaning no transplanting or stress free transplanting. What I do is if it's a feminized seed I plant it directly into my grow bags. I use 2 gallon grow bags so we'll use them as examples. If I have a feminized seed I sow it directly into my 2 gallons of dirt. Seedlings can be stressed very easily. This is why I don't use the paper towel to germinate or anything like that. I store my seeds in the freezer and when I'm ready to plant I take it out of the freezer and straight into the dirt. 3 days I have seedlings. When it's not moved or transplanted that is IDEAL for an auto. It's really ideal for any, photo or auto, but crucial for autos to have the less amount of stress in the first few days of life. This will ensure a great start. Because remember... You can't veg them out of it... you can't keep them in veg and allow them to veg longer. When they pop pistils they pop pistils and there's nothing that can stop them lol so again, we want to get the best start in order to not stunt and stress your seedlings. This is why I don't recommend Fox Farms or any ferted soils to new growers as well... I'll explain more as well...
When I have regular seeds or I'm breeding I do the Tier Transplant Method with a little twist. The tier transplant method is basically this. you take a cup, well in my method (and I didn't invent this I just picked it up) I use TWO cups. Take nothing less than a 32 oz cup. Preferably 44 oz. I love using 44 oz cups because I can generally get them to show sex (between 2-3 weeks) and they don't get root bound or stunted. Take the first cup and cut the bottom off of it so you have basically a cup with no bottom. Then take that second cup and put it over that cup. So you have two cups stacked together, the one on top is the one with no bottom and the second goes over it on the bottom. You then take those two cups and fill them with your grow medium and plant your seed. Then when it comes time to transplant it into it's final home there is little to no stress. What I do is transplant them when I feed so that the roots are wet and come off the cup easily and don't tear and cause stress. As I find when I did transplant them dry the roots tend to rip and we don't want that. We want them to be untouched so no stress.
So in conclusion we basically want little to no stress for the best start and I've outlined what we've found to be the best way.
Now I know you had some NPK questions and I'll answer those after this... I want to share with you what I always share when new growers ask my opinion on how to get the best out of their grows. The best way is to KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT AND SET UP. No two grow rooms are the same. Even in the same house. If you know your grow room and environment like the back of your hand and are dialed in you will succeed. You can't expect to grow the same way I do or Dede or anyone. Know your highs and lows with your temps and humidity, outside weather affects this 100%. If it's hot and humid outside that's what you're gonna get inside. So as long as you know what to expect and you just adjust how you need to. Like dede said... you only needed on light, so keep the other one off until you do need it... this will help keep temps and humidity down, etc.. stuff like that.. variables. If you know your variables you'll be set. this is very hardy plant. You'd be surprised how much they can handle but I've found they handle heat better than cold. For real. My temps are considered "high"... I hit 92/93 sometimes if it's in the 90's outside... I cruise at 86-88 mostly and still get good results. So basically once you are dialed in you can control and adapt better to changes and such... Also reading your plants is very important and you will learn how to with experience so that will just come with time my friend. We'll talk about that later on...
Now to your NPK questions... N P K are NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS, POTASSIUM... Taken from Waikee.com
Nitrogen: Leaf growth
Phosphorus: Development of roots, flowers, seeds, fruit
Potassium: Strong stem growth, movement of water in plants, promotion of flowering and fruiting
So that basically is the difference between grow and bloom nutes. grow nutes are geared for Nitrogen and some Phosphorus for leaf growth and root development, etc... Bloom nutes are basically little to no Nitrogen and heavy P & K for all mentioned above. Make sense now? So now you see why it's important to check your numbers because we don't want high numbers and that's why most recommend to start at 1/4 the strength dose if you do use nutes with high NPK because you will fry your plants and kill them at full strength.
Are you able to get Promix HP at this hydro store or any soil less medium other than their own mix? I use Promix HP and it's soilless and I get 60lbs for $37 and it will work well with any nute line really... What nutes are you using?
Now hit me with the questions so we can start moving forward!
Black cream reversed still alive showing lots of male pollen sacs! I hope i figure it out before i mess this plant up
