Root help/questions.

[Belle]

Hello, I just harvested my first plant. It was only about 9" tall. When I pulled the stem out, the root ball was tiny. As a seedling, I watered it in a circle a few inches from the stem trying to get the roots to use up the entire pot, but that obviously didn't work. What do I need to do to maximize the root size? Do I water more/less? At what point do I start watering until runoff?

 

[Trichome farmer]

Hello, I just harvested my first plant. It was only about 9" tall. When I pulled the stem out, the root ball was tiny. As a seedling, I watered it in a circle a few inches from the stem trying to get the roots to use up the entire pot, but that obviously didn't work. What do I need to do to maximize the root size? Do I water more/less? At what point do I start watering until runoff?

hey belle if you could give a few more details like pot size /medium / lights /nutes etc. it will give a better idea of whats going on

 

[Belle]

Sorry, that would help I guess. =)

5 gallon fabric pots, soil (fox farm happy frog on top, forest ocean bottom plus some amendments). A couple weeks into flower I added a top dressing Nature's Pride bloom. I had the light, an HLG 600H led, too close and high to the seedlings.

I don't know if the light alone stunted them or if I wasn't watering enough or too much. I'm trying to not repeat the same issues as my first run.

 

[Sleeper143]

Sounds like a seriously stunted plant if it only reached 9” after 70+ days (assuming its an auto and you pulled at completion). What was the strain? Are you growing in a tent? Airflow? Did you PH your water/feeds? Did you feed and if so what nutes? What were the temps like during the grow? So many variables that could have caused it to not grow properly. Without understanding the environment you tried to grow in and how you fed/watered etc it is very difficult to say what went wrong this grow.
Any pictures?

 

[Belle]

Hello @Sleeper143 It was a free Mephisto cross, I called it Cosmic Gold - 24k x CDLC. 5x5 tent, exhaust and a 6" ac infinity to control the heat. Did not pH the water the first few weeks as I was told that growing in living soil, it would buffer the water. When I finally got a pH meter, my water tests at 7.2 typically. Started lowering it to 7.0 with lemon juice. I read that it was a good natural way to do so. I fed with Nature's Pride bloom a couple weeks into flower. I have the high set at 85, started at 80 initially but was told a few times that autoflowers like 85. It got up to 88 or so a few days, well after they had been stunted, because I couldn't control the room temp very well. It's in a 2nd floor spare bedroom and as the season changes, the room is harder to keep at a reasonable temp. Will move to the basement when I can get a room built for it. Hopefully later this year. Low temps had been 65-70. Not 70 as a low is pretty typical. Manually watering via a pitcher. Started with circles of water a few inches from the stem. A few weeks later started watering until runoff every 3rd day.

Here are some pictures. https://www.autoflower.org/threads/aaaand-im-off-first-grow-organic-soil-with-mephisto-beans.76456/