I am getting ready to start my first grow using 3.5 gallon hempy buckets with coco/perlite. I have read where you should germinate and go straight to the 3.5 gallon. But I have also read where they have been started in solo cups and then transplanted. Anyone with personal experience that could point me in the right direction?
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when I did them I took and used 1 gallon bleach bottles as Hempys
transplanted those into 5 gallon pails
but the first ones I did I took them out of six square pots of soilless
wash it off the roots and into five gallon pails, the plants
did not skip a beat
all the best
Dequilo
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I’ve done both and feel they perform better when planted in their final containers. With a 3.5 gallon final container, you should be fine direct planting.
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@ReikoX if you don’t mind I have a couple more questions. I have a 500 watt led coming in this week from Solstrip. What distance should I start from the container? Should I use a clear solo cup as a humidity dome or just leave it alone?
Thanks!!
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Well with most led lights for seedlings they recommend 24 inches
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I don’t mind questions at all, that’s why I’m here. 
500W of SolStrips is a good amount of light, what size area is this covering? I’m still using my old SolStrips, I start plants off around 24" or so. Seedlings don’t require much light until they have a few sets of leaves to actually photosynthesize with.
I like the clear cup / dome to keep humidity up during sprout. Make sure to give them fresh air daily though, and wean them off of it slowly.
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Going in a 4x4 tent, T6 exhaust fan, filter, and a Solstix Rax DBLX. I like the idea of buying from a person/small company vs a large corporation. I think I have a good base to start, so now the learning curve starts!!
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What autos are you running again?
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That is the only thing I went cheap on. Green headband and something called super strain from someone on Strainly. Next run will be Mephisto Genetics.
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Generally as a rule of thumb…Plant Autos in the containers you intend to finish them in…that said, if you have decent genetics it can work
Look at these three Auto…massive difference…planted in late May, central Canada…
-Northern Lights Auto…tallest and just started to flower…approx 6-7 week veg.
- Mephisto Double grape…mid sized…first to flower
- Mephisto Hubbasquach…smallest slower flowering
In general…those with more sativa in them will produce larger Autos
Cheers
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I start Auto seeds in Solo cups, then move them to their final container after a couple weeks. I use the same soil mix in both and don’t give the roots enough time to get root bound in the cup, so I don’t think it’s a disruptive transition. I have a tray that holds Solo cups of seedlings and clones which sits under a T5. There is a plastic dome to keep humidity levels up, but I wean them from that before they are moved. Starting in cups works for me in my system.
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Most of the time I’ll up-pot autos im growing, and I’ve had some straight to big pot - i have killed the odd seedling in bigger pots ( Due to overwatering ,mostly.) …
Mephisto, Fastbuds, Sweet Seeds ,Delicious Seeds & Dinafem have the best autos …imo , tho there’s probably a few more breeders to add to this list. !
Good luck with your autos.
Gaz
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I have to ask, is the Northern Lights auto from Royal Queen Seeds by chance? Had one recently that wouldnt flower under 18/6 light schedule.
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Hey Reiko
I’m not sure where it’s from.I received it as
part if a trade a few months back. I think there are 2 or 3 companies with a version of NL Auto…
Great structure and delayed flower…but looking at it this am…I noticed it had Hermie’d (two balls…grr)…
so in the bin it goes…I don’t have any patience for that…
I’m going to keep focusing on my Genesis Auto…Not only does it have decent genes…I know the lineage.
I’ve generally heard good things about this auto version…You? Was that your first NL Auto?
Cheers
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Mine were freebies I won here. I ran a couple Female Seeds NL and a couple Royal Queens NL. The Female Seeds one acted like a normal auto, flowering at about 3-4 weeks under 20 hours of light. One of the RQS wouldnt flower under 20 hours of light, but started flowering under 18 hours, while the other wouldnt flower until I lowered the the lights to 12 hours.
Here is a link to my thread…
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Those RQS sound pretty sketchy…
12-12 Sounds like a photo…
I was actually super surprised to find the Auto hermie…All of the stuff I have, other than that one freebie NL has been very stable.
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Yeah, it definitly isn’t an auto. She is at 65 days of 12/12 now and buds are starting to flop over.The other one was flowering under 18 hours of light and just finished up trimming it. It’s a nice smoke and should be a couple of ounces in the jars when all dry.
@Gpaw has some going now, so we will see if I just had a bad batch
Here is a link to his grow:
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I’ll start off by saying I’ve never grown autos but everything I’ve ever read when in browsing around is you want to plant autos in their final pot with no transplant but like I said I’m no expert
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Some auto seeds will show their photo genetics. I worked at a place where we grew thousands of them, and every once in awhile, you would get a photo mixed in. It seemed like some strains were more prone to this.
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Just experiment fellow overgrower and you will find what works best for you. I would recommend going right to the grow pot
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