Seed Stockers Wedding glue auto in a cup !!!organics an microbes an stuff !!!!

[dankstyle J]

A learning experience for sure ,my first solo auto

 

[Olderfart]

A learning experience for sure ,my first solo auto View attachment 1409874

Learning is good, it is what keeps me interested in this mischief. If I may, I think the lesson here is that growing healthy plants in solo cups is pretty much a dedicated hydroponics exercise. At least it has to finish off that way. A solo cup of soil does not contain enough nutes to finish a happy plant.

Or so goes my current theory, with exactly zero finished solo cup grows. So, still stoner theory, and we know how that goes sometimes.

 

[Suki]

Learning is good, it is what keeps me interested in this mischief. If I may, I think the lesson here is that growing healthy plants in solo cups is pretty much a dedicated hydroponics exercise. At least it has to finish off that way. A solo cup of soil does not contain enough nutes to finish a happy plant.

Or so goes my current theory, with exactly zero finished solo cup grows. So, still stoner theory, and we know how that goes sometimes.

I feel like I'm having a decent time in soil *so far* but I'm also only 3 weeks in so there's a very real chance things may take a turn for the worse once she gets a little further along. I'm wondering if it may also have something to do with the water holding properties of soil vs coco, as from what I can tell a lot of the soil examples seem to look overwatered even when they really aren't. Idk just something I've noticed watching everyone in this grow. I've also gathered that this strain may be particularly extra hungry, and seems to like more of a "indirect" less intense light. Perks of my seeds taking a trip round the world, I've been able to see what has and hasn't worked for everyone along the way while I waited for mine.

 

[Olderfart]

I feel like I'm having a decent time in soil *so far* but I'm also only 3 weeks in so there's a very real chance things may take a turn for the worse once she gets a little further along. I'm wondering if it may also have something to do with the water holding properties of soil vs coco, as from what I can tell a lot of the soil examples seem to look overwatered even when they really aren't. Idk just something I've noticed watching everyone in this grow. I've also gathered that this strain may be particularly extra hungry, and seems to like more of a "indirect" less intense light. Perks of my seeds taking a trip round the world, I've been able to see what has and hasn't worked for everyone along the way while I waited for mine.

I am seriously new at solo mischief, but I think I have learned two things so far. First, you have to obtain adequate runoff at least every day if not every irrigation if you use salt nutes. If you let salts build up, shit will happen and quickly.

Second, especially as plants get bigger, they use up nutes/liquid remarkably quickly, and if you let them dry out, shit will also happen quickly.

What these two lessons (I am sure there are more lurking for me) mean for me so far is that getting the fertigation/irrigation sequence sorted can be a serious pain in the ass. My largest plant is not happy, and as of today I think I have figured out why. The problem seems to be that that one solo cup is so tightly plugged with roots, that the nute mix builds up in only six seconds to the point that it overflows the cup, losing the nutes that would otherwise result in needed runoff. None of the other plants are doing this, at least not yet. The difference in infiltration of nutes between plants is dramatic. The large plant requires multiple minutes of infiltration time before the nute mix all penetrates the surface of the coco. All other solos are clear of pooled nutes in a fraction of the time.

In order to fix this issue, I have now set the timer up to do four fertigations per day, each consisting of three six seconds bouts of pumping with ten minutes between them. Six seconds is enough to fill the solos to the brim, but not overflow much, and ten minutes is more than enough to make sure that it has a chance to work into and through the problem cup. The jury will be out for a couple days as to whether this fixes things.

In future, more headroom above the coco, and more perlite (currently only 20%) might help this issue, but I expect that the issue of nute penetration of tightly root bound pots will always be a problem for solo grows where plants get big. Stoner theory so far though, so feel free to ignore.

 

[Suki]

I am seriously new at solo mischief, but I think I have learned two things so far. First, you have to obtain adequate runoff at least every day if not every irrigation if you use salt nutes. If you let salts build up, shit will happen and quickly.

Second, especially as plants get bigger, they use up nutes/liquid remarkably quickly, and if you let them dry out, shit will also happen quickly.

What these two lessons (I am sure there are more lurking for me) mean for me so far is that getting the fertigation/irrigation sequence sorted can be a serious pain in the ass. My largest plant is not happy, and as of today I think I have figured out why. The problem seems to be that that one solo cup is so tightly plugged with roots, that the nute mix builds up in only six seconds to the point that it overflows the cup, losing the nutes that would otherwise result in needed runoff. None of the other plants are doing this, at least not yet. The difference in infiltration of nutes between plants is dramatic. The large plant requires multiple minutes of infiltration time before the nute mix all penetrates the surface of the coco. All other solos are clear of pooled nutes in a fraction of the time.

In order to fix this issue, I have now set the timer up to do four fertigations per day, each consisting of three six seconds bouts of pumping with ten minutes between them. Six seconds is enough to fill the solos to the brim, but not overflow much, and ten minutes is more than enough to make sure that it has a change to work into and through the problem cup. The jury will be out for a couple days as to whether this fixes things.

In future, more headroom above the coco, and more perlite (currently only 20%) might help this issue, but I expect that the issue of nute penetration of tightly root bound pots will always be a problem for solo grows where plants get big. Stoner theory so far though, so feel free to ignore.

I wonder if doing a root pruning and replacing with fresh soil would mitigate this, perhaps in early transition so as to cause dwarfing much in the same way as @arty zan's process of repotting around the same time the plant shows sex.

 

[Olderfart]

I wonder if doing a root pruning and replacing with fresh soil would mitigate this, perhaps in early transition so as to cause dwarfing much in the same way as @arty zan's process of repotting around the same time the plant shows sex.

There is one way to find out, but it won't be me that tries it. I expect that, at least with autos, this degree of manipulation in a solo cup will not accomplish a lot. If you pruned an auto's roots enough to make room for new soil, I expect that the plant will be stunted or at least will use up a chunk of the limited available time recovering. I think the answer (if I have asked the right question) is to figure out how to accomplish the necessary amount of runoff reliably even once the cup gets plugged tight with roots. Next time around, I will double the perlite, and increase the headroom left in the solo cup above the coco medium, the combination of which should at least reduce the problem a bit if not eliminate it.

Other than wasting nutes, I doubt that there is much downside to excess fertigation in a coco solo, but I suspect that too little fertigation, or especially too little runoff, is a recipe for quick trouble. I think the key is that you have to keep the coco moist, which can be hard to do once larger plants are drinking heavily, and at the same time, you also have to achieve enough runoff to make sure that quick drinking does not cause nute buildup/imbalance. The two requirements interact, and not nicely.

As to what this all means in soil, the main difference, I guess, would be the possibility of overwatering in soil. Even in a solo cup, soaked soil might reduce oxygen enough to cause a problem. As far as I can tell with my current attempt, this is a small or zero risk with coco/perlite. I have now given my solos several serious soakings while trying to figure out auto fertigation, and have not seen symptoms of overwatering, at least not that I can recognize.

The learning continues, I hope.

 

[Seedstockers-Mark]

For your first Solo Cup grow your doing fine mate

As you say it's a learning curve and I'm confident your next Solo Cup with be greatly improved

Have you had fun throughout the grow mate?

Keep the updates coming

Kind regards

Mark..

 

[dankstyle J]

Learning an my plants still alive ,it's been a valuable experience

 

[FarmerJake]

Nice blaze session spot outside your tent

 

[dankstyle J]

Really noticed the difference when I changed the viperspectra light an let her bask in the better grow lights ,she has a awesome citrus smell I really dig ,I've learned a lot about the solo I'm still no Skywalker tho lol