This is when I usually screw things up. Stop me!

[Mañ'O'Green]

@FullMoonparty Wow, where do I start?

Why did you screen out the wood chips and bark, They provide drainage and nitrogen to the soil blend. The nitrogen is very slow but it is part of the profile.

You may be drying the pots too far and causing the soil to form hydrophobic pockets use a surfactant when you water/fertigate.

You need to learn how and when to water. 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 the roots and microbes will die there. 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. Slowly wet ALL of the soil until run-off begins. There is an art to watering. Make sure there is an air gap under your pot, you do not want runoff to be reabsorbed and if no air then anaerobic microbes can grow. This is a cause of root rot. Coco can be fertigate many times a day if you want to continually present fresh balanced nutrients to the roots. Begin fertigation 2 hours after lights on and end it 2 hours before lights out.

Your well water needs to be tested for agricultural use. Contact your local university ag extension and they will have a list of local labs or may even offer free testing.

For sure you do not want to use water from the filter systems you have described The water softener may remove some of the peroxide but it replaces it with salt, both are toxic to microbes and plants.

Your plants look a little elongated, this can be from not enough DLI or not enough blue in the spectrum. This is a minor issue.

There are to many variables listed above to try to zero in on what might be a deficiency We need to work on these environmental factors first.

Tag me with the water report.

 

[FullMoonparty]

Perfect. The help I was looking for, thanks. Let me answer your question about the wood chips and bark first. The soil blend I bought was for raised beds and had some large chunks of bark. I did start those three plants in the Auto Pot system but removed them when they looked like they were drowning. There is an inch of pumice at the bottom of each pot as per Autopot instructions.
Absolutely, my soil is dry and wet at the same time. I have slowed down the watering process like you have suggested to others. I need to follow your instructions to develop my watering skills. I say "skills" because the word "art" makes me feel like only the gifted can achieve this with years of practice. If I follow instructions my skills will improve with practice.

Water. I never got the free water test back from the HD. I should have my water tested before and after filtration. Actually, before I installed the iron filter would have been a better idea. Very important. I'll get that done. The rest of my vegetable garden is in larger containers with the same soil with no perlite. The plants don't mind the water, but that soil stays wet forever.

Thanks for the help. it's like showing a mechanic a picture of your engine and telling him what washer fluid you prefer and expecting him to fix all your problems. You are the best. Patient and informative.

Environment, 80f for most of the time when lights are on. It can drop to 70f on a chilly night but I think were past that for the year. The Humidity never changes. 50 - 55% all the time. Plenty of air circulation above and below when there is a canopy. A six inch exhaust fan to exchange the air.

Lighting, Mars Hydro 8 bar style light. Too much for autos at 100%?? I'm runnig it at 75%. I have new seedlings in there with them. Do I need a par meter or is there a way around it? I have the cheap lux meter from the zon. Any use for that?

 

[Jpkindbud]

Perfect. The help I was looking for, thanks. Let me answer your question about the wood chips and bark first. The soil blend I bought was for raised beds and had some large chunks of bark. I did start those three plants in the Auto Pot system but removed them when they looked like they were drowning. There is an inch of pumice at the bottom of each pot as per Autopot instructions.
Absolutely, my soil is dry and wet at the same time. I have slowed down the watering process like you have suggested to others. I need to follow your instructions to develop my watering skills. I say "skills" because the word "art" makes me feel like only the gifted can achieve this with years of practice. If I follow instructions my skills will improve with practice.

Water. I never got the free water test back from the HD. I should have my water tested before and after filtration. Actually, before I installed the iron filter would have been a better idea. Very important. I'll get that done. The rest of my vegetable garden is in larger containers with the same soil with no perlite. The plants don't mind the water, but that soil stays wet forever.

Thanks for the help. it's like showing a mechanic a picture of your engine and telling him what washer fluid you prefer and expecting him to fix all your problems. You are the best. Patient and informative.

Environment, 80f for most of the time when lights are on. It can drop to 70f on a chilly night but I think were past that for the year. The Humidity never changes. 50 - 55% all the time. Plenty of air circulation above and below when there is a canopy. A six inch exhaust fan to exchange the air.

Lighting, Mars Hydro 8 bar style light. Too much for autos at 100%?? I'm runnig it at 75%. I have new seedlings in there with them. Do I need a par meter or is there a way around it? I have the cheap lux meter from the zon. Any use for that?

Photone app will get you close to DLI and PPFD but for the good version (full spectrum led) it costs 5.99 for lifetime use for that lamp or similar. Android or iPhone comparable but with iPhone you have to “make” a diffuser with printer paper and a small piece of tape.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Not sure why AutoPot still says to add a layer on the bottom. Guess it's what works for them. Seems more than a few of us just soil it up right on the copper sheet.

 

[FullMoonparty]

Not sure why AutoPot still says to add a layer on the bottom. Guess it's what works for them. Seems more than a few of us just soil it up right on the copper sheet.

My first run with the auto pots I inspected the roots after harvest. There were no roots in the slimy perlite layer. They were not cheap so I am growing cantaloupe in my XL pots. If I drown watermelon and cantaloupe I'm not doing it right.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

My first run with the auto pots I inspected the roots after harvest. There were no roots in the slimy perlite layer. They were not cheap so I am growing cantaloupe in my XL pots. If I drown watermelon and cantaloupe I'm not doing it right.

The XL are the big fabric pots right?.....I have the 4 gallon plastic pots in my setup of 6. Have grown up to 5/6 ft tall in them with landrace sativa autos.

 

[FullMoonparty]

The XL are the big fabric pots right?.....I have the 4 gallon plastic pots in my setup of 6. Have grown up to 5/6 ft tall in them with landrace sativa autos.

I have both versions. Fabric pot and the XL plastic pots. I had better results in the larger plastic pots. I've lightened up the soil considerably (in regular pots), and that seems to help big time. My first run mistakes in the auto pots were having too heavy soil and panicking. I'm not good with the trio of liquid organic nutrients and ph. up and down. Instant death to my plants. I removed the product line from the grow space. Do autoflowers need all that extra food? It seems like they are fine healthy plants up until they start to stretch. Then some fading of the lower leaves. Then I would make things worse.
Man o Greens watering advice is spot on. I'm seeing improvement in the over/under watered plants and some new ones. Thank you! I'm also starting to see better results by planting in larger pots with very lite, but rich in organics soil. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Jpkindbud]

Autos usually are fed less than photos. I use Megacrop one part and usually don’t go over 4 grams per gallon. Photos will take 6 gpg. Usually when flower commences there will be a noticeable change in the plant, needing less N but more PK. Lower leaves will fade or drop. Nothing new… but if it progresses up the plant then there is a problem. Unless you’re near the end then a good autumn fade is nice and means plant is using up available nutes. Some on here can grow a plant from start to finish with no fade… magicians lol. It can be done but knowledge of a certain cultivar make this possible. And copious amounts of notes to review and adjust to. Every plant is different and will uptake what it needs but over nute can and will damage a plant

 

[Talonxracer]

Do autoflowers need all that extra food? It seems like they are fine healthy plants up until they start to stretch. Then some fading of the lower leaves. Then I would make things worse.

Autoflower usually need half of the nutrients that a photo plant needs.

When the stretch starts a flowering/bloom top dressing is usually needed. The yellowing is the plant pulling some nutrients from those leaves. Also a few doses of Recharge during veg and bloom can make a world of difference. In soil the microbes break down the nutrients and provides them to the plant.

 

[FullMoonparty]

Autoflower usually need half of the nutrients that a photo plant needs.

When the stretch starts a flowering/bloom top dressing is usually needed. The yellowing is the plant pulling some nutrients from those leaves. Also a few doses of Recharge during veg and bloom can make a world of difference. In soil the microbes break down the nutrients and provides them to the plant.

Yep, about half of what I've been giving them is what I'm thinking. I top dressed with some Build a Soil top dressing and watered it in once or twice. The plants might need some time to fully recover. I added a layer of rice hulls for mulch to get ahead of the gnats. I've only seen a few so far. A layer of sand works good too. Both dry quickly and hold in the moisture at the same time.