First auto grow attempt

This is my second attempt at growing in general, first with autos. My first attempt using bag seeds resulted in the seeds never sprouting, I let them go for over a month, might have been bad seeds, or might have been me, hopefully this attempt goes better. I got some auto seeds from a seed bank, and I planted 2 of them into 2 plastic 16oz cups into Fox Farm Light Warrior. I am attempting to germinate using a grow medium because I didn't have luck the last grow germinating with the paper towels or glass of water and I didn't want to kill these seeds attempting to germinate. I've read online that immediately after I plant the seeds in the grow medium that I should leave them in darkness until they sprout, but I've also read to put them under lights as soon as they are planted. What do you guys think? Darkness or light? Right after I planted them I did have them under light for 18 hours and then I turned them off, should I turn the lights back on in 6 hours or leave them in darkness until they sprout? Thanks in advance for any advice, I just don't wanna mess my seeds up.

You should always put autos into their final containers. You can transplant it once it has sprouted but you have to do it when its a week and a half or two weeks old. They start flowering and stretching at 3 weeks old so they have to be in their final pot before that.

Im not sure about light on/ off I do a paper towel method and when they go in the soil they are under 18/6 light.

You can do either. They both work just fine. I personally leave the lights on till sprout. Then 18/6 all the way through..
Also start them out in whatever size pot they will end in. One pot all the way thru. They have short lifespans so the less stress the better.


Good luck

Thanks for the responses and advice. One of my plants sprouted over night, I hope the other one follows suit. I started these in 16oz plastic cups, so I will have to transfer them once. Hopefully it doesn't affect them too bad, I'll remember that for next time though.

itll be ok as long as that transplant happens in its 1.5 week or the beginning of the 2nd week so it has a bit of recovery time before it takes off at 3 weeks old.

Thanks, I plan on transplanting it after a week of the plant being sprouted. When I re-plant the plant I'm going to use a 50/50 mix of fox farm light warrior and fox farm ocean forest, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully that other seed sprouts too, I hope she's just slow and not something I'm doing. I have the two cups right next to eachother though, and I'm assuming if the conditions are right for one to sprout, maybe the other one is just a slow bloomer.

For what it's worth all my autos loved FFOF. I think it's great.

Sweet. You think I should use just FFOF instead of mixing it with FFLW? That's what I have my seedling in now. Also, what do you think about adding a space heater to the grow closet? You think it would be good or do you think it would just dry them out?

You're good with just FFOF, just maybe add some more perlite. As for the heater go for it, if your temps are dropping down just don't go crazy with the heat maybe use some kinda of thermostat?

I use straight up FFOF. Nothing else. There is enough nutes in it to go about 5-6 weeks and the autos love it. I don't use a heater and I grow in the basement. just watch th plants and you will know when something is wrong. The upside is, weed is very resilient. You can usually fix the problem just by keeping an eye on them.

Jacky Papers said:

Thanks for the responses and advice. One of my plants sprouted over night, I hope the other one follows suit. I started these in 16oz plastic cups, so I will have to transfer them once. Hopefully it doesn't affect them too bad, I'll remember that for next time though.

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After plants are established good with a good root system.I let em dry till they need watering.This allows for easy Transplant.
I also use the Solo cups and find them very easy to slide the hole plant out without bothering Root System.


Beech

I thought about setting the space heater to 80, it gets chilly in that closet at night, but then again, the plant is growing, so maybe I'll just leave it alone. I think I'll use FFOF by itself when I replant, after the 5 weeks is up, should I use nutes? If so, what would you recommend?

Jacky for autos you only need some flower nutes and you should be fine, I use FF Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom, you can get away without using any veg nutes because there's almost no veg time in autos. Just go easy on them nutes, some autos are very sensetive and others just love them.

Thanks for the advice. I was just looking at Fox Farm Big Bloom the other day when I was at the greenhouse but I wasn't sure. You just mix it in with water?

Yeah just mix it with gallon of water.

Go light on the tiger bloom at first. Like acidjesus said, some autos don't like much while others can't get enough.

Most autos are finished at week 8 or 9 from seed, so keep that in mind when giving the nutes.

What I like to do is let my plants go till about 8 weeks and cut the main cola, and let the rest of the plant keep going for a week or 2 or 3 depending on how they look.

Don't forget to flush!

^^^^^^^ and this lol

Ya, you want to do it asap, or go into the final pot to begin with. I made that mistake this summer with my first autos, someone told me to put them in 5 gal pots & I had them in like 2 or 2 1/2 gal pots & if i would have left them alone they would have done just fine. Autos shock real easy so its best when they get the tap root the next day from germanation just put them into whatever you want them in & you will see it works much better.

Thanks, I'll remember that the next go around. This is week 1.5 since my first seed sprouted and I can see the roots all through the cup, I'm going to transplant it tonight into a bigger pot, we'll see how she does. I'm also gonna start a new seed out and I'll plant her right into the pot, no cup this time. What do you guys think about adding more lights during a grow cycle? Better to let the plant ride out with what it's always had or do you think it would be safe to add more lights? I already have to move her to a bigger pot tonight, I don't want to shock her further by adding more lights, if it would shock her at all.