I tried growing 3 Autos for the first time. I started them in Solo cups and transplanted them into 5 gal fabric pots into a living supersoil. Seeds popped on May first and they are in flower now. 2 of them are stunted badly. I hate wasting this supersoil on these stunted plants, would it be horrible to transplant them to smaller 2 gal nursery pots? It doesn't seem like their roots have expanded much past the Solo cup size into the super soil because they look like they are starving for nutes.
Transplant down stunted Autos into smaller pots?
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
Hiphophippo
Well-Known Member
I don’t transplant autos at all I’ve noticed every time I do they don’t get as big as if I just plant them In there forever pots to start with. I’d just let them finish and do different on your next run. Live, grow, learn
King Dude
Active Member
I don't transplant autoflowering cannabis at all. They go right to the final pot.
The thing to remember about "super-soil" is that there is practically no such thing unless you make it yourself. At the store, you have potting soil and then you have organic potting soil. Neither contains a substantial amount of phosphorus, mostly because the vegetative phase doesn't need that much phosphorus. Another reason why potting soil doesn't have much phosphorus is because fertilizer runoff is an ecological hazard, even when the fertilizer is organic. At some point your plant may demand more phosphorus, or it will look as though it's not quite reaching its full potential. E.B. Stone's Sure Start and Recipe 420 Ultra Bloom fertilizers are great options for phosphorus fertilizer.
Other things that may result in stunted growth are inadequate light and a contaminated water supply. Autoflowering cannabis needs a lot of light, which is why professional growers dislike them despite harvesting flowers sooner, and less hours mean less growth. As for contaminated water, the most common contaminations in municipal water are chloramines which do not evaporate like chlorine. These chloramines and other potential contaminations can be filtered out using a reliable two-stage filter, such as the Camco Hydro Life Premium Dual Water Filtration System.
The thing to remember about "super-soil" is that there is practically no such thing unless you make it yourself. At the store, you have potting soil and then you have organic potting soil. Neither contains a substantial amount of phosphorus, mostly because the vegetative phase doesn't need that much phosphorus. Another reason why potting soil doesn't have much phosphorus is because fertilizer runoff is an ecological hazard, even when the fertilizer is organic. At some point your plant may demand more phosphorus, or it will look as though it's not quite reaching its full potential. E.B. Stone's Sure Start and Recipe 420 Ultra Bloom fertilizers are great options for phosphorus fertilizer.
Other things that may result in stunted growth are inadequate light and a contaminated water supply. Autoflowering cannabis needs a lot of light, which is why professional growers dislike them despite harvesting flowers sooner, and less hours mean less growth. As for contaminated water, the most common contaminations in municipal water are chloramines which do not evaporate like chlorine. These chloramines and other potential contaminations can be filtered out using a reliable two-stage filter, such as the Camco Hydro Life Premium Dual Water Filtration System.
Last edited:
Lenin1917
Well-Known Member
Take some pictures, upload them, click full screen.
check your ph(water and soil). Don’t listen to the dumbass above me talking about chlorine/chloramine levels in your municipal water supply are insignificant and won’t effect your garden(that’s not to say there can’t be issues with your water supply just that those issues aren’t chlorine or chloramine)
Budzbuddha
Well-Known Member
Pics por favor
King Dude
Active Member
Autoflowering plants are supposed to be widely known to use more light than photoperiod plants. Doing a Google search, everybody is talking about up to 24-hours of light exposure. Show me where any source claims that autoflowers should not have more light.
The part about chloramines was based on personal experience. Admittedly, it might be another thing, but I believe that chloramines affect cannabis more than typical garden plants.
Attachments
I am growing outside in Golden Colorado so the not enough light is a moot point. I am growing in Sohum Living Soil. I have used it before with photo period clones with great success. I ph my water to 6.5 and use filtered tap water, (not RO). Have never had a problem with the water and my Photo plants.
Attachments
King Dude
Active Member
It looks like some insects have been visiting you.
How often do you water, and did you make the soil yourself? I'm seeing leaves cupping down, and the soil looks pretty wet.
EDIT: At this point, after looking at how many bite marks there are on the plants, there is a possibility that both plants flowered prematurely. Even though autoflowers aren't said to have a vegetative phase, they actually do vegetate intitially. I'm thinking that the bites triggered your plants to fight for the survival of their genetic lineage, making them sexually mature faster so that seeds develop before they finally kick the bucket.
Last edited:
Lenin1917
Well-Known Member
Looks like you left them in the solo cups to long, if the roots can’t go anywhere they just start flowering. Bet you had a nice looking root system when you transplanted too. Easy mistake to make switching from photos, nothing to do for it but make note for next time and skip the solo cup.
Soil is Sohum Living Soil. I may have had some insects but I have never been able to see any with a scope. Underside of leaves look clear. I water when when the pot about 1/2 full saturated water weight. I don't water again until it is 1/2 weight again. That can vary based on how hot the temps are and if days are sunny or cloudy.
Roots didn't look rootbound at all or very dense but they did start flowering pretty quickly after transplant. So it would probably not be good to transplant them down to smaller pots (like 2 gal. nursery pots)? Better to just let them finish and take it as a lesson learned?
King Dude
Active Member
Sometimes you never see the insects, but you'll see the damage. They could be out there in the fields around you, coming in to eat every so often. Ladybugs and lacewings can be used to prevent problems in the future.
The roots may not have been root-bound. People do grow full cannabis plants in solo cups (see attachment). What might have also happened was that the plant had gotten shocked by the transplant. Every transplant is a little bit traumatic, but photoperiod strains have time to recover. Autoflowers don't have the time to recover well.
I think that you should just let them finish. Another transplant would do more damage.
Attachments
Last edited:
HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
Ok. Yeah I've seen to Solo cup grows! They were growing great in the Solo cup and just seemed to stop once they were transplanted. I know people always say to start them in their final pots and it's what I should have done but I've seen several videos of people up potting them so I thought I was safe. What about the topping them? I topped them about a week before transplant. I wasn't going to but saw several videos with people topping Autos once.
What do you think is going on with the 00 Kush that isn't flowering? Do you think that could have been a wrong seed in the vile or is that another stress response?
About ladybugs: Don't they all just fly away if you use them outside? I've had bugs in the past, (Spider mites, aphids, thrips) so I'm no stranger to them but I just haven't been able to spot any bugs so far.
King Dude
Active Member
It is possible to pot up an autoflower, but there's a small window that it should be done. The window is only about a week after the sprout emerges from the soil, and they are usually affected even if everything is done perfectly.
Topping them isn't something that I've looked into, although I don't believe that it is harmful. The buds would probably just grow slightly wider.
Uh, I don't believe that we saw that one. I don't think that anything is wrong with it by not flowering, though. I've only had one plant refuse to flower, and it was growing in soil that had who-knows-what in it. Send us a picture.
They do fly away, but that's fine because it'll improve any ladybug deficit in your area. Like I said before, the harmful insects probably emerge from somewhere else other than the immediate area of your plant leaves. Sometimes ladybugs stick around if they find enough food. I had dozens of ladybugs living on my house for three years at one point, but I live in warm southern California.
Marq1340
Well-Known Member
In my personal experience the best results came from autos that I've transplanted.
Most recently I got a little lazy and transplanted this plant a few days after week 3 and she turned out fine.
twentyeight.threefive
Well-Known Member
That’s a grower error issue then. There’s nothing wrong with transplanting autos at all.
@jokerlola I’d leave them in whatever they are in now. Finish them up and reuse the soil after and you won’t be wasting anything.
All this talk about transplanting causing shock and stress is non sense.
Last edited:
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Hiphophippo
Well-Known Member
Not saying you can’t do it just that it’s always shown me a difference between transplanting them and not is all. I don’t really like autos so much as they are a hit and miss sometimes unless you got some good practice in with them
twentyeight.threefive
Well-Known Member
I understand what you said. I’m saying if you have smaller plants with transplanting than not then it’s grower error. It’s not the plants or the method that is the issue.