I feel inclined to chime in on your grow. I’m doing my first grow in 25yrs at the moment….also first indoor and first auto. I grew outdoors many yrs ago and was truly one of the luckiest guys on the planet. All the things that can go wrong, especially outside, and I hardly ever encountered any problems. And had some memorable harvests.
This indoor game is quite a paradigm shift though. The biggest difference is looking at your plants daily VS once or twice a month…which was how often I saw mine. My method made micro-managing impossible and allowed for the plants to solve some issues themselves…..they are amazingly resilient for sure.
Anyway, you’ve got a nice grow going and should have some great buds soon enough.
I am also growing in Ocean Forest….nothing else. I wish I’d added some perlite and will for sure next time. You ask about giving them a dose of the trio…..I would be careful based on a few factors:
1. The base ocean Forest can store a surplus of amendments for longer than the 3-4 weeks that’s advertised. Plus you added some 4-4-4. Both lines are organic, so if the plant doesn’t use them they stick around. However, if your microbial activity isn’t sufficient the plants cannot uptake them.
2. I believe you top dressed w/ Dr Earth within the past 2 weeks. Those nutrients are also organic and should be available over a decent spread of time…..provided there is ample activity within the soil, allowing for the uptake of those nutrients.
3. Aside from Big Bloom the FF bottled nutes are synthetic and are ionized to be taken in by the plants, whether they’re needed or not. This is a scary proposition, so any synthetics should be applied at extra light levels.
I’d be willing to bet that there is sufficient food for your girls in the medium and it just needs to be unlocked. Have you been adding anything to boost the microbial activity??
Full disclosure, I am def not some expert grower. …Just the opposite. But I am on day 88 with 3 autos and you’d be amazed at the minimal amounts of nutes I’ve given my plants. I have given either Recharge or Fish Sh!t with nearly every watering since day 30ish. My understanding is those two supplements are given to increase the microbial activity in the soil…..which is needed for the plant to uptake the organic nutrients.
My buds are looking good….and if I’d paid more attention to my temps during the vegging the plants would be a helluva lot bigger. Which brings me to the next issue….temps, RH and VLD.
I am running HLG’s new 320xl LED and it’s amazing how such a killer light can have virtually no published data or usage recommendations.
I’ve had to call their corporate offices to get answers to basic questions. Thankfully I have those answers and I don’t think there’s a better light on the market.
First of all, other than late flower, your temps should be 81-84f…..of course it’s strain dependent. I ran most of my veg in the low 70s and it shows….the plants didn’t get as big and they are slower to mature. I won’t make that mistake again.
They also sent me a VLD chart for flowering and a different one for veg. The numbers for flowering are far more realistic than the rain forest figures suggested for vegging.
They do advise lowering temps by 4-6f for the last 2-3 weeks of flower. I didn’t learn any of this until recently, so I missed the boat for all of veg and most of flower. I have 2-3 weeks until my buds should be ripe and I’m following the chart….running 77f and 46-48% RH…with good airflow.
I hope my research and own experiences with similar variables can help you. I’ve attached the veg and flower VPD charts, along with a couple pics of my grow, taken yesterday. They are Super Skunk Autos and are taking quite a bit longer than I expected. The breeder states 9-10 weeks (seed to harvest), so I figured 11 or 12. I’m into week 13 and have at least a couple more. I do have some purple colors in one of the three….nothing affecting the quality but it does look cool. I believe if I’d followed the temp recommendations, they would not be taking so long.
Good luck and I am anxious to see your progress….you’ve got a great variety of good strains.