First ever grow on the cheap

VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Hi. New here, and have been having trouble with my posts disappearing a minute or so after posting, so sorry if there are duplicates here.

I've undertaken my first ever grow using a mars hydro TS 600 (100w actual) in a 3x2 tent. I'm going in blind with cheap potting mix and perlite in a 350x300 pot. It's a fat monkey auto from SAG. It's at day 15 and seems to be going really well.

I have not been monitoring temps, but it's hot in Australia, and humidity is terrible.. I have not used nutes, and have only watered 2 litres over 15 days, minus the original wetting.. but it seems to be healthy even though I have no reference.

Are autos normally this trouble free? I topped it last night, and just after I was reading that topping autos is not advised, and I think I botched it. I cut the tip off after the 3rd node, it had two little heads, but after a day, there are two more growing out the area I cut. Pics attached. Is my topping a botch job?

Am I wasting good seeds going Into this with a $80 light, no nutes and tap water?
 

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Oldbudman

Active Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
Hi. New here, and have been having trouble with my posts disappearing a minute or so after posting, so sorry if there are duplicates here.

I've undertaken my first ever grow using a mars hydro TS 600 (100w actual) in a 3x2 tent. I'm going in blind with cheap potting mix and perlite in a 350x300 pot. It's a fat monkey auto from SAG. It's at day 15 and seems to be going really well.

I have not been monitoring temps, but it's hot in Australia, and humidity is terrible.. I have not used nutes, and have only watered 2 litres over 15 days, minus the original wetting.. but it seems to be healthy even though I have no reference.

Are autos normally this trouble free? I topped it last night, and just after I was reading that topping autos is not advised, and I think I botched it. I cut the tip off after the 3rd node, it had two little heads, but after a day, there are two more growing out the area I cut. Pics attached. Is my topping a botch job?

Am I wasting good seeds going Into this with a $80 light, no nutes and tap water?
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Looks fine to me m8. Don't know much about autos though so I could be wrong. If u have good air flow n ryt rh u shud be ok in your tent... Get a good osolating fan. Good air flow is the key if u have high rh.. Gl m8
 
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Oldbudman

Active Member
Oldbudman said:
Looks fine to me m8. Don't know much about autos though so I could be wrong. If u have good air flow n ryt rh u shud be ok in your tent... Get a good osolating fan. Good air flow is the key if u have high rh.. Gl m8
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Oh u don't need expensive nutes. As long as the npk. Is ryt for your plants stages.. High. N in veg. High c pk. In flowering. Your light shud be OK for the space but if not just add more or replace to a higher 1 before u start flower
 
ptrzm

ptrzm

Well-Known Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
Hi. New here, and have been having trouble with my posts disappearing a minute or so after posting, so sorry if there are duplicates here.

I've undertaken my first ever grow using a mars hydro TS 600 (100w actual) in a 3x2 tent. I'm going in blind with cheap potting mix and perlite in a 350x300 pot. It's a fat monkey auto from SAG. It's at day 15 and seems to be going really well.

I have not been monitoring temps, but it's hot in Australia, and humidity is terrible.. I have not used nutes, and have only watered 2 litres over 15 days, minus the original wetting.. but it seems to be healthy even though I have no reference.

Are autos normally this trouble free? I topped it last night, and just after I was reading that topping autos is not advised, and I think I botched it. I cut the tip off after the 3rd node, it had two little heads, but after a day, there are two more growing out the area I cut. Pics attached. Is my topping a botch job?

Am I wasting good seeds going Into this with a $80 light, no nutes and tap water?
Click to expand...
Looks like you FIM'd it by mistake!

Not an issue, those shoots will take a while to catch up, and you'll end up with 4 tops instead of one main cola.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Cheers for the input guys. I have been directed towards Canna terra nutes as as I'm using potting mix, and debating whether I should just let it grow without for a first plant to gauge outcomes in a worst case, humid environment, and go from there, or fork out the money for nutes, a carbon filter and an exhaust fan for circulation and bite the bullet. I'm hoping I haven't stressed the plant into an early flower, or stunted the growth by a bad topping, as I've heard a lot of people against topping autos, but I went I to this blind. We all live and learn.

I'll keep you posted, as it's taken off vertically in the day or two from that picture. It already has a distinct smell when opening the tent after a few hours which is unexpected for a two week old plant. Basically I'm in that middle ground where I don't know if I should outlay the money and time and take this seriously or just wing it and enjoy the outcomes considering the seeds were cheap.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
So to sum it up, I'm basically pleasantly surprised I have a healthy plant considering it was sprouted in extremely hot and humid weather for the first two weeks of its life with zero feeding or monitoring, and wanted to share my enthusiasm.

It has been well over 30c most days and around 35c inside the tent, and is currently 97% humidity right now. Might be why the leaves are so vertical. Trying to catch breeze.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Oldbudman said:
Oh u don't need expensive nutes. As long as the npk. Is ryt for your plants stages.. High. N in veg. High c pk. In flowering. Your light shud be OK for the space but if not just add more or replace to a higher 1 before u start flower
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I was a bit hesitant about the light, but it was cheap. I have four 28w e27 LED lights with a more red spectrum (16 red, 6 blue, 2 warm white, 2 UV and 2 IR) that I picked up like years ago when I planned something and pulled out. I plan to throw them in when flower hits as it will be a bit cooler going into autumn in a few weeks. Heat is my main paranoia right now, and that TS 600 gets hot to the point where you can't leave your hand on it for more than a second or so.

I'm getting too keen now, and wondering if I could grow 2 plants in here, but apparently these autos get to 3-4ft, which is far bigger than I expected.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
ptrzm said:
Looks like you FIM'd it by mistake!

Not an issue, those shoots will take a while to catch up, and you'll end up with 4 tops instead of one main cola.
Click to expand...
I think I I tried to early an missed the actual tip lol. I hope it doesn't stunt it trying to pop four colas as I've been told these things regularly go into pre flower like three or so weeks in.

O didn't know what an auto was when I started this journey a few days ago.
 
Bsmoke78

Bsmoke78

Well-Known Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
I think I I tried to early an missed the actual tip lol. I hope it doesn't stunt it trying to pop four colas as I've been told these things regularly go into pre flower like three or so weeks in.

O didn't know what an auto was when I started this journey a few days ago.
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Me and wife tried different cuts on 3 plants all turned out great, I cut mine short as it gives me more colas, plant with shortest cut has about 18 cola sites, med cut had about 15, and long cut got about 11
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Johiem said:
You're worried about your 80.00 light? These are grown one plant per light Mars hydro ts600s
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Wow. That's insane. I spoke to a few hydro shops and growers, and generally got told that mars hydro lights are trash, and a decent light starts around $200. I probably shouldn't be so quick to judge. That's an amazing result considering the cost.

I feel a bit better now.
 
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Oldbudman

Active Member
You will all ways get bad n good reviews on Mars hydro.. I use 3 different lights at the same time n ya 1 is a Mars hydro. 1cfl.1led..works for me.. If ya don't have the dollor then don't matter. U will make it work. Your doing good up to now.. Defo worth getting intake fan n carbon filter. Not sure if u can get hold of them but I use humidity block. In the uk. If rh gets to high. 97%is off the scale.. U need it around 65.55%.some will say 45.55.but around that good air flow. N will will be good. Oh BTW I have 4 in a 3foot tent.. Fits like a glove.. Gl n happy growing
 
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Oldbudman

Active Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
I was a bit hesitant about the light, but it was cheap. I have four 28w e27 LED lights with a more red spectrum (16 red, 6 blue, 2 warm white, 2 UV and 2 IR) that I picked up like years ago when I planned something and pulled out. I plan to throw them in when flower hits as it will be a bit cooler going into autumn in a few weeks. Heat is my main paranoia right now, and that TS 600 gets hot to the point where you can't leave your hand on it for more than a second or so.

I'm getting too keen now, and wondering if I could grow 2 plants in here, but apparently these autos get to 3-4ft, which is far bigger than I expected.
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Depends how u train them. Look up training. ie. Fimming. Supercroping. Lst.. Scrog.. All these work so u can fit more in. Gl
 
Autofire

Autofire

Well-Known Member
Your plant looks really healthy and happy. Well done mate. There's a lot to be said for KISS and here's the proof.

You wouldn't believe how many clowns rush in and try DWC on their first grow and completely fuck it.

You can use any 2 part nute in soil just dose at half the rate. I heard that Professors Nutrients will post out free starters packs if you write them a nice email and ask. Can't get better than free. Just tell them you'll run a diary on here with their nutes and I'm sure they'll be in on it.
 
Johiem

Johiem

Well-Known Member
Autofire said:
.

You wouldn't believe how many clowns rush in and try DWC on their first grow and completely fuck it.
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I'm the exact opposite my first grow was in soil and it SUCKED! I think I loved her too much. I went DWC, nothing but improvement
And better performance. Admittedly, my wife is jealous of the time I spend with the girls, but she gets to smoke it too. Dwc iis one of the most operator involved growing method and can go south, yesterday, but diligence is rewarded.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Update day 17. Growth has gone insane. Haven't watered for a week as the medium is still wet 2" down due to the humidity lately.
Where I topped has come out okay, no Stunting so far. I have just received a cup of Canna terra Vega/flores and half a cup of Cannazym from a kind fellow at a local shop as a tester. Should I use them now? Or do I leave them until it's showing signs of deficiency? My gut is telling me just leave it. Haven't done anything yet and it's fine. I'll probs just leave this as a test run with plain water and potting mix, and set the next one up in decent soil while using nutes/environmental monitoring and see how much improvement cones from proper care.

Could be a good experiment.
 

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Oldbudman

Active Member
Looking good m8. Carnt hurt to start nutes now. I would start at a 3rd of the dose. At 1st n build it up.. That cut u have done will pull nice colas. In time.. Well done m8.
 
J

josohighuh

Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
Wow. That's insane. I spoke to a few hydro shops and growers, and generally got told that mars hydro lights are trash, and a decent light starts around $200. I probably shouldn't be so quick to judge. That's an amazing result considering the cost.

I feel a bit better now.
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thats in hydro though. dont expect that in soil for an auto
 
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