What am I doing wrong 😬

[ebnyzord]

Honestly, if these were my plants, I would do a little selective defoliation (light defoliation, nothing crazy) on the bigger plants. If you take a picture straight down on the plant, I can tell you which leaves to CAREFULLY take. That would stimulate the plant a bit…. Plus it would give you something to do other than wait/worry

Alright, here we go

 

[Frankthetank]

Alright, gently take the leaves I’ve marked. When defoliating, start slow with only a few leaves. I personally do several rounds of defoliation throughout the grow.

When it comes to autos, a gentle touch is needed in veg, so as not to overly stress the plant.

The goal here is to expose the lower tops to the light, to encourage them to reach up. This is how you get a multi top bush.

So, take these ones, take another round of pics for me…. And then we’ll wait several days and reassess….

 

[hecno]

Your plants look nice and healthy , You are being mentored by 2 very experienced growers , so just take a deep breath and see the grow to the end , You will be fine ,

 

[ebnyzord]

View attachment 1679191View attachment 1679192View attachment 1679194Alright, gently take the leaves I’ve marked. When defoliating, start slow with only a few leaves. I personally do several rounds of defoliation throughout the grow.

When it comes to autos, a gentle touch is needed in veg, so as not to overly stress the plant.

The goal here is to expose the lower tops to the light, to encourage them to reach up. This is how you get a multi top bush.

So, take these ones, take another round of pics for me…. And then we’ll wait several days and reassess….

Thank you so much for your time i went straight to it after the little went went to bed here we go again: feels kinda wrong to cut them haha

 

[Frankthetank]

Alright, let’s give them three or four days and see how they do.

 

[St. Tom]

Thank you so much for your time i went straight to it after the little went went to bed here we go again: feels kinda wrong to cut them haha

See when I joined the site way back I had no knowledge and people like Frank and @hecno and so many others put up with so many questions and that's how I got were I am today so I'd sit back and be helped by some very knowledgeable folks as you won't find that on many other sites mate

 

[ebnyzord]

View attachment 1679191View attachment 1679192View attachment 1679194Alright, gently take the leaves I’ve marked. When defoliating, start slow with only a few leaves. I personally do several rounds of defoliation throughout the grow.

When it comes to autos, a gentle touch is needed in veg, so as not to overly stress the plant.

The goal here is to expose the lower tops to the light, to encourage them to reach up. This is how you get a multi top bush.

So, take these ones, take another round of pics for me…. And then we’ll wait several days and reassess….

See when I joined the site way back I had no knowledge and people like Frank and @hecno and so many others put up with so many questions and that's how I got were I am today so I'd sit back and be helped by some very knowledgeable folks as you won't find that on many other sites mate

Sure thing ! I seriously appreciate it and I already got lots of informations from all of you . As mentioned, I grew a few autos already but it’s been a while and I’ve never done it this way. I threw some seeds in fabric pots and let it happen . I’ve been totally out of the whole growing thing and today it feels like starting all over again. The last one i grew in my old setup was blackberry by fastbuds and I was super satisfied since the grew lighting fast and looked so so healthy. Guess I gotta stop comparing since every plant is different. I attached 3 pics since it was the funkiest color I’ve grown so far .

 

[JAB]

Sure thing ! I seriously appreciate it and I already got lots of informations from all of you . As mentioned, I grew a few autos already but it’s been a while and I’ve never done it this way. I threw some seeds in fabric pots and let it happen . I’ve been totally out of the whole growing thing and today it feels like starting all over again. The last one i grew in my old setup was blackberry by fastbuds and I was super satisfied since the grew lighting fast and looked so so healthy. Guess I gotta stop comparing since every plant is different. I attached 3 pics since it was the funkiest color I’ve grown so far .

Almost a perfect heart shape! Beautiful plant and end product

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

IMPO all your plants need is LITFA.

I don't defoliate, The leaves are the energy factories for the plant they convert light to sugar to feed the plant (over simplification). Why do we think we know better than the plant? Turn the lights to 100%. If the plants are short for their genetics (assumes you have grown it before) you need more red in the spectrum or just leave it the F#%$ alone it will be fine.

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.



Now for coco. Coco is a form of Hydroponics and you water with nutrients every time you water. It is called fertigation when nutrients are mixed in the water. The idea behind coco is a substrate that you cannot over-water. It simply drains out the bottom pulling air into the roots. This allows you to fertigate several times a day presenting fresh in balance nutrients to the roots all day. Do not fertigate sooner than two hours after lights on or after two hours before lights out. During the night the roots will be exuding substances to feed the microbes so they will produce more nutrients the plant is look for. If you fertigate too soon after the lights come on the plant will not have a chance to take in the nutrients the microbes made before you wash them out. Then at night the plants do not like to go to bed with wet feet . Just because it is hydro does not mean it does not have a rhizosphere it does. Always fertigate to 15% run-off every day in coco. Don't let the pot sit in that drainage remove it to waste (feed your outdoor plants with it).

You should always water the entire pot. If soil, peat or coco are allowed to dry out they can become hydrophobic (repels water). It makes it hard to re-wet the medium. You can end up with the dry pockets you mention. Use a surfactant in your fertigation if this happens to you. I run yucca powder as a basic item in my drip to waste hydro. It is a natural surfactant. Good for foliar feeds also.

 

[ebnyzord]

IMPO all your plants need is LITFA.

I don't defoliate, The leaves are the energy factories for the plant they convert light to sugar to feed the plant (over simplification). Why do we think we know better than the plant? Turn the lights to 100%. If the plants are short for their genetics (assumes you have grown it before) you need more red in the spectrum or just leave it the F#%$ alone it will be fine.

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.



Now for coco. Coco is a form of Hydroponics and you water with nutrients every time you water. It is called fertigation when nutrients are mixed in the water. The idea behind coco is a substrate that you cannot over-water. It simply drains out the bottom pulling air into the roots. This allows you to fertigate several times a day presenting fresh in balance nutrients to the roots all day. Do not fertigate sooner than two hours after lights on or after two hours before lights out. During the night the roots will be exuding substances to feed the microbes so they will produce more nutrients the plant is look for. If you fertigate too soon after the lights come on the plant will not have a chance to take in the nutrients the microbes made before you wash them out. Then at night the plants do not like to go to bed with wet feet . Just because it is hydro does not mean it does not have a rhizosphere it does. Always fertigate to 15% run-off every day in coco. Don't let the pot sit in that drainage remove it to waste (feed your outdoor plants with it).

You should always water the entire pot. If soil, peat or coco are allowed to dry out they can become hydrophobic (repels water). It makes it hard to re-wet the medium. You can end up with the dry pockets you mention. Use a surfactant in your fertigation if this happens to you. I run yucca powder as a basic item in my drip to waste hydro. It is a natural surfactant. Good for foliar feeds also.

Wow , thank you very much for the in-depth response ! I’ve never ever defoliated before but I thought „it’s not running that good this time so imma trust the experienced peeps over here and just do it . I will use fabric pots again next round since it worked out pretty well back in the days and they are easy to handle.