I always have my best results sticking them straight into some damp soil. But all those other ways work too. I dont know about the plant just working on root mass at first. Both should be growing at the same time. The plant should reflect the root mass. Not be small with a big root mass. If thats the case then there is something wrong. I would think so anyway. I expect my plants to grow a certain way, if they go any way differently they are either growing slower than usual or faster than usual. Faster is always good. Slower is usually bad. But with autos its hard to tell you just might have some minis that are more ruderalis than whatever they were crossed with. The bigger ones lean more towards their cross be it ak, diesel, or whatever. But still have the autoflowering trait. Depending on what light kind of light you have them under, well more like depending on the intensity, they should be a good size by day 10-14. at least a foot tall by week 3. Unless its going to be a shorty. In my experience, and going by what Ive read this seems to be the case. And by the end of the first month they will be around 18,24,36 inches, in that range. Under good conditions. Anything less is a failure to me. I would call my big devil a failure. Mostly due to mold, but also due to size, coming from the lack of light it received in the spot I had it in. My fast bud is a success to me because it reached 2 foot, even with being under shitty conditions with crap for light the first 3 weeks. My flower power has reached around 30 inches within a month, another success. Im picky too, so thats an issue. I dont like weak plants.
