One_bell here, newbie and need advice on RDWC and auto's for 2nd run

[Aqua Man]

View attachment 97660
This the feeding schedule I started using after switching to TA nutes in early veg. These calculations are based on the following schedule from TA:

Should I skip the preflower and continu with the veg regime well into flower and switch to the flower then?

Think you are good following their charts for dosage… but i agree run preflower for 2-3 weeks before switching to flower ratios

 

[One_Bell]

Yes I am using RO water (home made but does measure 0ppm). I also have ph-up in store, but have not used it very often the first run. In comparison, the bottle of ph-down has only 1/4 left.
At the moment the ph is 5.9 as you can see on the graph:



Should I continue like this until I reach the 24 hours? Or adjust it again to 5.8?

 

[One_Bell]

Think you are good following their charts for dosage… but i agree run preflower for 2-3 weeks before switching to flower ratios

Yeah I am using half of what they suggest.

 

[Aqua Man]

Yeah I am using half of what they suggest.

Half is ok and probably a good idea… just monitor and adjust as needed.

 

[Aqua Man]

Yes I am using RO water (home made but does measure 0ppm). I also have ph-up in store, but have not used it very often the first run. In comparison, the bottle of ph-down has only 1/4 left.
At the moment the ph is 5.9 as you can see on the graph:

View attachment 97768

Should I continue like this until I reach the 24 hours? Or adjust it again to 5.8?

So 0.1 drift up in 24 hrs? If so thats great let it rise to about 6.1 then adjust back down. In early veg i prefer 5.6 and let it rise to 6.0 but you will be fine doing what you are and no need to change if you don’t feel like it

 

[Rootsruler]

Welcome! Dirt farmer here.

You are in good hands with Moe and Aqua.

 

[One_Bell]

So 0.1 drift up in 24 hrs? If so thats great let it rise to about 6.1 then adjust back down. In early veg i prefer 5.6 and let it rise to 6.0 but you will be fine doing what you are and no need to change if you don’t feel like it

That is a good idea, I will try that with the next adjustment. Spreading the ph range also means that more nutrients that differ in adoption ragrding ph will get their turn.
So far the ladies seem to like it, can say compared to round #1 they drink a lot more and seem to grow faster. #1 I was around double EC now.

Welcome! Dirt farmer here.

You are in good hands with Moe and Aqua.

Thanks! Haha spot on, already recognised the username from a neighbour forum lol. Super glad guru's helping me out with my second round. First round seemed to be great until the last three weeks, they were pure hell as I did not understood properly what was happening.

 

[One_Bell]

So this happens when I don't adjust the pH to 5.8:





I made the last adjustment yesterday morning around 08:30, have not touch it since and it is ruler flat.

 

[CannaGranny]

Morning @One_Bell
Welcome to budbuilders!

 

[Aqua Man]

So this happens when I don't adjust the pH to 5.8:

View attachment 97875

View attachment 97876

I made the last adjustment yesterday morning around 08:30, have not touch it since and it is ruler flat.

Perfect

 

[One_Bell]

Morning @One_Bell
Welcome to budbuilders!

Thank you!

Day 19 since sprouting:






The right one:





The one on the right is a little behind in terms of growth (both plant and roots). I did raise the light a little bit and also increased the intensity to 350PPFD. They have been under this light 24/0 but I am thinking of going back to 18/6 as a light schedule.


Now the question is, should I top them?

 

[steamroller]

I like topping.
Soil guy here.
Welcome to Bud Builders~!
Nice roots~!

 

[MiGrampa]

Thank you!

Day 19 since sprouting:
View attachment 97887

View attachment 97888

View attachment 97889

The right one:

View attachment 97892

View attachment 97890

The one on the right is a little behind in terms of growth (both plant and roots). I did raise the light a little bit and also increased the intensity to 350PPFD. They have been under this light 24/0 but I am thinking of going back to 18/6 as a light schedule.

View attachment 97891
Now the question is, should I top them?

Topping is a personal choice. I prefer not to top and instead use LST and super-cropping techniques to fill my space. The reason I don't top is because for every cut you make, you need to spend more time in veg. If you top and then change the light cycle without allowing time for more vegetative growth, you hurt your yield.

likewise, if you want to top your plants and are willing to wait the extra week or so to replace the cut vegetation, you can really increase your yield. Either approach is solid as long as you know what you want your space to look like at full bloom and you have a plan in place to get you there.

 

[One_Bell]

I like topping.
Soil guy here.
Welcome to Bud Builders~!
Nice roots~!

Thanks for the welcome steamroller, appreciate it! The blue Adlight I am using should promote more rootgrow during veg. I also added some Great White powder to the nutrient mix.

Topping is a personal choice. I prefer not to top and instead use LST and super-cropping techniques to fill my space. The reason I don't top is because for every cut you make, you need to spend more time in veg. If you top and then change the light cycle without allowing time for more vegetative growth, you hurt your yield.

likewise, if you want to top your plants and are willing to wait the extra week or so to replace the cut vegetation, you can really increase your yield. Either approach is solid as long as you know what you want your space to look like at full bloom and you have a plan in place to get you there.

Thanks for your input, appreciate it! I am growing auto's so I don't have a week extra in veg after topping. However, last run I also topped and got a decent flat canopy with lots of tops from only two plants. I would like that again because it makes maximum use of the light and space that way.

If the girls are big enough I will start LST, still got the metal gardenwire taped on top of the Growrilla buckets lol. When they are big enough I will use the trellis net again like in the picture below:


Still a shame the buds above did not fatten up and the plants started dying on me, but the small tops together brought in 121g in total and are truly a great and flavourfull smoke.

Compared to the F1 Orion's from round #1 these plants are just a little behind in terms of growth but the comparison isn't really fair since I started the Orion's in aeroponics, so they grew pretty fast the first 2,5 weeks.

 

[MiGrampa]

Thanks for the welcome steamroller, appreciate it! The blue Adlight I am using should promote more rootgrow during veg. I also added some Great White powder to the nutrient mix.



Thanks for your input, appreciate it! I am growing auto's so I don't have a week extra in veg after topping. However, last run I also topped and got a decent flat canopy with lots of tops from only two plants. I would like that again because it makes maximum use of the light and space that way.

If the girls are big enough I will start LST, still got the metal gardenwire taped on top of the Growrilla buckets lol. When they are big enough I will use the trellis net again like in the picture below:

View attachment 97939
Still a shame the buds above did not fatten up and the plants started dying on me, but the small tops together brought in 121g in total and are truly a great and flavourfull smoke.

Compared to the F1 Orion's from round #1 these plants are just a little behind in terms of growth but the comparison isn't really fair since I started the Orion's in aeroponics, so they grew pretty fast the first 2,5 weeks.

I wasn't aware that you're growing autos. Most people wouldn't top an autoflower plant. There's not time for vegetative growth and you will certainly hurt your potential over-all yield. You would be better off from a yield standpoint, using scrog/LST/super-crop methods.

 

[One_Bell]

Thanks again guys for the input, I got inspired by this video to top my auto's:

Topping at 7:30. He states that if you top at the right time (in this video the 16th day) you will not stunt the plant. I don't know if it is true to be honest.

 

[Aqua Man]

Thanks again guys for the input, I got inspired by this video to top my auto's:

Topping at 7:30. He states that if you top at the right time (in this video the 16th day) you will not stunt the plant. I don't know if it is true to be honest.

Its bullshit…. All genetics are different and i can 100% say he supports it with his bias observation. Everyone these days is looking for a gimmick for credibility.

If someone ever told me that if you top at 16 days and it won’t stunt the plant i would say “ thanks for the advice” and never listen to another word from them

I mean he is using potting mix from Walmart…. Not that you can’t of course just not ideal.

He puts a humidity dome over a SEEDLING…. Like wtf you only do that to clones because they have no roots at first.

Stay away from this guy for advice. He a is a complete noob play professional

 

[One_Bell]

So no topping then?

 

[Aqua Man]

So no topping then?

You can and it may not impact yields in any noticeable amounts. But understand anytime a plant is damaged it affects growth for a period of time. It also makes a plant a bit more susceptible to an infection. This one of those personal choices and i don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. Just different and really depends on genetics (shape of the plant) whether or not I would.

But again its more of a personal decision. does it cause stress…. Yes and that changes auxins etc in the plant so it will have some effect on growth temporarily. There can be benefits to changing hormone and auxin production also.

Either way its highly unlikely you will be able to notice any difference in yield. Maybe if you were running 100 plants but thats not the case.

But the consensus tends to be leaving them alone is best practice…. Best practice isn’t a must.

 

[MiGrampa]

I'm still of the opinion that topping an auto will significantly hurt your yield. There's not time for vegetative regrowth being the primary reason.

 

[moe.red]

I don’t grow autos so I’m going to stay out of the topping debate.

I watched the video and saw several things going on that made me scratch my head. Like did you notice he was drying buds in the tent above the lights in the first part of the vid? During an active grow? Proper VPD is not the same as proper drying conditions. Just one example.

I’m all for making what you have available work to the best of your ability, not being a pot snob. I just don’t view that as a good platform for teaching others best practice

To each his own and whatever works for you and all, but the amount of views and likes on this video I find interesting. 2million views? Who is watching this stuff? Wow. Spider farmer marketing bots I think.

 

[Aqua Man]

I'm still of the opinion that topping an auto will significantly hurt your yield. There's not time for vegetative regrowth being the primary reason.

i don’t disagree but to varying degrees…. A single top is not likely to cause an issue imo but several likely will.

Also the difference in recovery rates between media… eg soil takes long where hydro is extremely fast and often you see no slow down in growth.

IMO it depends on many variables. How healthy the plant is to begin with, media, environment (Lower VPD reduces stress a lot), using added silica, how many tops are you doing etc etc etc

 

[MiGrampa]

i don’t disagree but to varying degrees…. A single top is not likely to cause an issue imo but several likely will.

Also the difference in recovery rates between media… eg soil takes long where hydro is extremely fast and often you see no slow down in growth.

IMO it depends on many variables. How healthy the plant is to begin with, media, environment (Lower VPD reduces stress a lot), using added silica, how many tops are you doing etc etc etc

I don't disagree with how you've presented that. However, when the plant's growth is on an inner timer that cannot be changed regardless of whether its hydro or soil or any method in between, there's no way its going to replace the vegetation that was removed. RDWC might make it less noticeable if you're topping early enough, but it will still have an effect on the final outcome in yield. I've grown up to now in soil only. I've grown a handful of autos. Enough to know how they typically grow, although I would hardly call myself an expert on auto-flowers. You simply don't have the control like you do with photoperiod plants where you can work around these issues with extra veg time.

To me, an auto-flower plant is an excellent option for someone in a northern climate who wants to grow outdoors. Otherwise, your space is best used inside growing photoperiods. Granted, while there are facts that would support my opinion, it's merely my opinion and a person is free to explore their options on their own.

 

[One_Bell]

I am still debating wether to top or not lol, haven't got my head around it just yet. Last time toipping went pretty well, still not sure if I would it this time...

 

[One_Bell]

I don’t grow autos so I’m going to stay out of the topping debate.

I watched the video and saw several things going on that made me scratch my head. Like did you notice he was drying buds in the tent above the lights in the first part of the vid? During an active grow? Proper VPD is not the same as proper drying conditions. Just one example.

I’m all for making what you have available work to the best of your ability, not being a pot snob. I just don’t view that as a good platform for teaching others best practice

To each his own and whatever works for you and all, but the amount of views and likes on this video I find interesting. 2million views? Who is watching this stuff? Wow. Spider farmer marketing bots I think.

And unfortunately people like me that got wrong information this way...