New Grower Northern Lights Auto Flower Grow

[KrazyDave]

Just had a catch up and this is great advice.... if you're growing in soil..... which you're not.

If the plant has sprouted and has been above ground for a few days I’d just do normal waterings... just pour however much water you need to saturate the soil and then repeat when the soil dries. You don’t want to baby the plants and keep them moist 24/7 you want the pots to dry out and to encourage more root growth to seek out the water ect. Once they’ve done sprouted that taproot starts going downwards though so it’s not like keeping a seed moist in the top later it’ll be fine if the top layer dries out some.


Worst comes to worst your plant droops a little bit from being thirsty and perks back up 30 min later after receiving the water. I most definitely prefer underwatering to overwatering because they bounce back much quicker. Overwatering can take a while to correct on the other hand.

Also typically aim for 10-15% runoff give or take...

when the plant is sprouting and still getting situated you do want to water the top layer more often to ensure it doesn’t dry out but like I said after a couple days above ground that taproots already working its way down.

Because you're using coco with added perlite, it's gonna be almost impossible to over water your plants. Coco is a form of hydroponics so you dont need to let them dry out at all. Don't keep the coco wet, but moist is okay and remember, if you're not feeding them any nutrients, they're getting nothing out of the coco at all. Start small, work your way up in strength and keep a look out for any signs of stress at all.

I'm actually quite surprised no one else picked up on this. Soil and Coco are two very different mediums. I learned that the hard way by treating coco like soil.

Sent from Fraggle Rock

 

[KrazyDave]

PS....

I'm using 10ltr of coco and giving mine 0.5 ltr of water every 3 days. The coco is still moist but the pot feels a lot lighter than if I'd just watered it and there is still some runoff coming out the bottom. When the runoff stops coming out I up the water to a ltr every 3 days.

I only learned this recently though and was giving them 0.5ltr every day which burned a plant slightly. Don't do that lol

Sent from Fraggle Rock

 

[Erich]

Wait... coco... what’s that?

I thought I had soil.

Isn’t root organic 707 formula soil?

 

[LedGuy74]

Wait... coco... what’s that?

I thought I had soil.

Isn’t root organic 707 formula soil?

You are without a doubt growing in soil... It has SOME coco in it but that’s it.. Coco is more along the lines of a hydro type grow or people also call it a soiless medium.... you feed the plants from seedling up until harvest because it’s a medium without added nutrients ect.. So you are in total control of what the plants intake ect... some like it me myself I’m focusing on switching over to entirely organic so I can get away from bottled nutrients and instead allow the plant to just pull up nutrients as it needs so while really only focusing on keeping microbes alive and well. In a fully organic grow all you do is top dress with ah worm castings are popular so is compost... and “brew teas” to help the soil life multiply. Also cover crops like clover are popular to grow alongside MMJ to replenish nitrogen into the soil easily and cheaply.

That’s why I was saying the soil you bought may be organic but as soon as you start feeding the plants salt based nutrients you will kill all the microbe life and it will no longer be organic. Which is perfectly fine nutrients are nutrients it’s just a preference type deal. So long as you are harvesting that’s all that matters especially when first starting then as you learn you switch up and see what you like best. I use salt based nutrients on some plants and others im growing organically for example...



P.S I’m fully aware of the difference between a soiless medium and a soil based medium....

 

[LedGuy74]

Just had a catch up and this is great advice.... if you're growing in soil..... which you're not.Because you're using coco with added perlite, it's gonna be almost impossible to over water your plants. Coco is a form of hydroponics so you dont need to let them dry out at all. Don't keep the coco wet, but moist is okay and remember, if you're not feeding them any nutrients, they're getting nothing out of the coco at all. Start small, work your way up in strength and keep a look out for any signs of stress at all.

I'm actually quite surprised no one else picked up on this. Soil and Coco are two very different mediums. I learned that the hard way by treating coco like soil.

Sent from Fraggle Rock

“it was designed for greater water holding capacity” yeah.... I think watering to often would be a terrible idea.


Roots organic is a quality soil medium that is loaded with nutrients and can feed plants for many many many weeks if not months. Definitely not coco.


Im surprised OP purchased roots organic to be honest... It’s a good soil (I generally hear people refer to it as a super soil) but expensive especially if purchased online... at that price point I’d rather buy the materials individually and mix them together to build my own organic soil. for 60-70$ you can get you a good 50-60 gallons of quality organic soil if you shop smart...

 

[KrazyDave]

“it was designed for greater water holding capacity” yeah.... I think watering to often would be a terrible idea.


Roots organic is a quality soil medium that is loaded with nutrients and can feed plants for many many many weeks if not months. Definitely not coco.


Im surprised OP purchased roots organic to be honest... It’s a good soil (I generally hear people refer to it as a super soil) but expensive especially if purchased online... at that price point I’d rather buy the materials individually and mix them together to build my own organic soil. for 60-70$ you can get you a good 50-60 gallons of quality organic soil if you shop smart...

Lmao wanna know what I've done?

I read a different thread where OP is using coco and perlite, then came here with that information and totally confused it all.

My bad dude. It's been a very long week.

So OP of THIS thread..... That IS in fact good info and you're NOT using coco [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

I'll grab my coat [emoji106]

Sent from Fraggle Rock

 

[Erich]

Figured something like that happened.

It’s my first grow so leave your coat for now ;-)

I chose to buy root organic 707 based on threads here about dirt.

Expensive yes but it was easier to get than a truck if dirt and mixing my own nutes in my little condo.

 

[Erich]

Day 4

Last night around 6pm the seed fell off the sprout but a tiny piece of the membrane between the seeds shell and sprout got stuck on the first 2 leafs and it was on the leaf like a glove.

I simple google search told me I had to get that off otherwise the leafs could not open and the plant would die.

We went into surgery around 10pm and the membrane was removed w/o issue.

This morning I woke up to a plant that doubled in size.

Temp 88
Humidity 70%

I also watered her last night - 2 teaspoons of normal 6.5 PH water and 1 teaspoon of of water that was pre mixed with 1/8th strength Tiger Farm Big Bloom -

Why did I give big bloom on day 3? Because I read that it is organic and can not burn the plant, I also read that my soil is light and does not provide much for nutes, and I also read that big bloom helps with root growth so I started them early on nutes even if it is a super diluted mixture of it to begin with.

 

[Erich]

Day 4

Temp 85
Humidity 70%

No nutes.

20/4 lights

 

[Erich]

Day 5

84 Degrees
80% humidity

Just watered again with 1/8 strength fox farms big bloom.

She continues to grow, this morning I noticed a new set of leafs - super tiny but you should be able to

see them in todays images.