I am currently on my second grow. Have popped 2 seeds of Gorilla Cookies Autoflowers (Fast Buds) but they seem extremely different from each other. I bought a 5 pack seeds and received 1 freebie of the same cultivar, so i planted 1 from the 5 pack and the freebie one (i don’t know witch one is witch though). They are currently on day 31 since breaking the soil. I didn’t top them, working only on LST.
Setup: 60x60x160m grow tent, 2 x 12L fabric pots with 50% perlite + 50% turf, passive intake, 100mm turbo exaust fan, 1 circulation fan and 150W meanwell QB. Its getting close to winter, so temps and humidity are going great (24 degrees celsius and 60% humidity during lights on). Feeding with Remo supercharged kit + trichoderma (each 15 days) + micorrizae (each 7 weeks), PH arround 6,3.
I feel like the left plant is some sort of dwarf phenotype, or maybe got some kind of mutation (her first true leaves had some kind of green/yellow colloring). Will she ever catch up and be worth putting energy on? She is very compact and growing slower/smaller, looking kind of droopy.
Any thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated.
She likely just got over watered and was stunted. She will finish up bigger than you think, if she is happy and growing I’d leave her to finish…she may just surprise you.
This indeed might be the case. I’m currently watering around every 4 days with 1L each, but today i hold it back cuz it seemed like they didn’t need it. Trying to ramp up water quantity slowly every feeding, but i guess i just gave it too much in the seedling stage.
I’m trying to care equally for both of them, but i could have had a harder watering on her or she just needed less water than her sister, maybe? Still trying to figure this whole watering thing, but heard many times that is a frequent beginner mistake.
What’s your approach on defoliation, if u don’t mind me asking? Should i remove some lower / shading leaves or should i just let them grow?
I don’t defoil autos personally. They need all the solar power they can get. You can tuck leaves though so the flower sites get more light. And as far as water goes she could definitely be a different pheno and be a lighter drinker. I prefer photos personally just because they can take more abuse and have time to bounce back from early mistakes, I have a buddy that crushes it on autos though. I’ll see if I can get him to sign up here!
I might be switching to photos in the future, started with autos cuz i thought they would be faster and i could learn more, but i see many experienced growers going against it and now i know a little bit why.
Would love to hear from experienced auto growers though, that would be great if your buddy has some advices for me and the other newbies out there!
plants want more temperature in my opinion. another tip I have is to let plants/soil dry out a bit - plants breathe thru their roots. they dont always wanna be wet. make em thirsty then give em a big drink kinda thing.
you’re doin a great job, keep at it! very fun hobby. one of my favorite things I learned from this forum - OGTW
I appreciate it very much, logan! It really is an amazing hobby and plant!
You brought a nice point, how did you get to this conclusion? I would love to be able to read my plants better!! Just so i add in regard of the temperatures, my hygrometer memory is marking 26 Celsius (max lights on) and 19 Celsius (min lights off). I run it 18/06, the plants “day” starts at 6am and ends at 24h.
I thought about changing the night cycle so its “night” during the hotter periods of the day (9am-15pm), specially in the summer, but i am a morning person plus i heard this lower temps at night helps to develop better trichomes/terpenes.
plants are looking great!! I never grew gorilla cookies but ive heard its a good auto. ive seen pics of them that got really big and looked nice. actually on my list to try when i do autos again. happy growing and keep up the good work.
Hey @GeppettoBR welcome to Overgrow! I wonder if the freebie seed is actually a different strain and that’s why it’s growing at a different rate, although I’ve had seeds from the same packet be completely different. I would get a feel for the weight of the pots and only water again when that pot is almost dry. If lights-off temps are quite low, putting the pots on a seedling heat mat could help.
Thanks, Igor! It does feels like a great community and place to be!
After talking to you guys i noticed that my temps really are a bit cold for veg, that may be the reason why i take so many days to water again and it still feels kind of droopy/wet, overwatering symptoms that Mountain talked about. I’m considering on switching the night schedule to 9am-15pm, i think that would be the most cost efficient way of making night temps warmer right now!
About the seeds, the freebies are suposed to be gorilla cookies as well, unless there was a mistake at packaging! They came in the oficial fast buds package.
Just a little update, i gave it one more day before watering and switched lights off to the hottest period of the day, achieving higher temps in the lights off period. In less than a day they seem to have responded really well!
I’m starting to get unmotivated, nothing seems to work!
I’ve read so much stuff that I’m completely lost. My biggest suspicion is/was overwatering, but they are in a fabric pot with 50% perlite, would it be possible with my temps and 5-6 days between each watering?
I’m starting to figure if it isn’t underwatering (not properly soaking the soil) or some kind of root rot (even though I’m using Trichoderma).
Yesterday after lights off they looked like they where recovering, i even put the lights a little further so they can recover better from stress, but today, around 2h before lights off, they where looking droopy again.
Please help dudes! I’m almost to the point of starting fresh new seeds, but i really want to know what i did wrong so i don’t do it again!
No experience with autos, but my guess is that they’re underwatered at this point. Your substrate is probably super hydrophobic. Can you tell me more about the soil you’re using?
You’re using a pretty low volume of water at pretty wide intervals, in a medium with high drainage.
When you add water, do you see run off pretty quickly?
Now that you mention it, i did see some signs of hydrophobic soil tbh. When i begin watering, i feel like the top layer kinda repels the water, that’s why i try to water in two stages. I first pour like half the water and let it soak in for 5-10 minutes, after that i pour the rest of the water. I have noticed that in the first pour, some water drips from the sides of the pot. At the last pour, i get a little runoff from the bottom.
I also have a feeling that they are drinking really low amounts, cuz even today after 6 days since last watering, i still feel the left pot a little heavy, at least heavier than the right (bigger) plant.
Another thing worth mentioning, i didn’t plant the seeds in the middle of the soil, i’ve planted them dislocated to the side, cuz i wanted a better distribution over the pot after LST. Maybe i’m watering too far from the root bulb, making harder for them to absorb water?
Edit: I’m using a brand called Carolina Soil (found here in Brazil), with 50% perlite and 50% spagnum turf.
