So this is my very first grow, and my main concern is that things seem to be going way more slowly than they should be. Things are growing, but I just feel like I’m way behind schedule!
I’m using the White Widow autos from the ILGM beginner grow kit, and we’re in the middle of week 7 right now. Water-wise, I’m watering every couple of days using store-bought spring water, mixing in the growtime fertilizer that came with the beginner kit. The light is an 150W LED that I’m keeping about 13 inches from the top of the plants. Temperature is locked in at about 73F, humidity is about 25%. In the pics, the shorter plant is about 9 1/2 inches tall from the surface of the soil, while the taller one is about a foot.
Am I maybe overwatering? Maybe I should water without the nutes for a while? Basically, I’m watering every two days until I get a little bit of drippage out of the bottom of the pots (Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil if anyone is interested). I know they’re not the best pots, but they’re what I had on hand when I started.
So yeah, everything’s very pretty to look at and they certainly smell nice (let me know if better pics could help), but I would just think that they would be taller and flowering by now. Maybe I just need to chill out and trust the process and let the plants do their things, but this is my first grow, so I have no point of reference.
Any bright ideas or does anything jump out to you all about something dumb I’m doing wrong? You can also tell me to relax and wait, and that’s fine too Thanks in advance!
Most autos will flower at btw 4 and 7 weeks, but we have seen some take as long as 12 weeks.
Water to runoff then let the soil dry out before watering again.
It would be helpful to have your humidity a little higher. If you don’t have a humidifier, then you can place a wet towel in a tray near the plant. The evaporation from the towel can raise your RH.
Have patience and happy growing. Your plant looks fine.
Your plant looks a little nitrogen heavy with the dark green leaves. Skipping a couple of feedings is probably a good idea. Feed as necessary to maintain a runoff PPM of ~1,000. Be sure that you are also measuring runoff pH and adjust as necessary. pH should be between 6.3 and 6.8.
I thought this as well.
Welcome to the forum @Grahn , Lots of good help here.
You have got a fine plant that has not started to flower too early and should give you a nice yield down the road. Do be careful of overwatering as I think was mentioned. The container will feel light if lifted slightly when its ready for watering. In fact its kind of scary light to be honest. You will wonder why the plant is not drooping. Roots need oxygen and cant get it without dry times. Hydroponics uses bubblers to do that, and growing in Coco Coir is different still as it will drain out enough to give air within minutes. But soil takes a couple days to dry out enough unless you have undersized containers.
Wow you all, this is great… thank you so much for the quick replies and the great advice! It sets my mind at ease a lot that you all think that I’m at least doing OK to start
OK, so I think I’ll space out the waterings a bit more (maybe every 2 days, or maybe even 3) and chill out on the nutes at least for the next 2 or 3 of them, since the leaves might be a little overly green (which I didn’t know was even a thing, so thanks again). And I didn’t even think about checking the pH of the runoff. I just adjusted things this weekend to make sure what I’m feeding them is in the 6.5-ish range, but I’ll keep an eye on the runoff too just to see how things are going from top to bottom.
Thanks for taking time to look/read and I’ll bump the thread if I have any more freakouts and/or revelations Catch you soon!
I’m also on my first grow using ILGM white widow autos . I know exactly what you mean about feeling behind, I’m 18 days from sprout and I’m nowhere near the veg stage. She looks like a week old seedling at this point. Your plants look great!! If at 7 weeks my girl looks like yours I will be very proud. Also the fact that you’re not in flower gives me hope that I have time to get her back on track. Keep posting updates, I’m curious to see your final product
Thanks so much for chiming in! So, at that same point as a first-timer (18 days from just sprouting up), mine was nothing to look at, either… I was just kind of riding the wave, glad that nothing was obviously dying, and hoping that I was doing the right thing. So, as far as I can tell, you very well might be right on schedule! I know all of these week-by-week metrics are kind of a moving target, depending on super-optimal conditions and whatnot (we all do our best, but obviously variables happen). But yeah, don’t give up hope… I think we might both have some plants that are of the same states of mind
Keep letting me know how things are going your way, and I’ll keep updating here!
I definitely hear you about riding the wave. At this point she may be tiny but she is healthy looking and new sets of leaves are growing ever so slowly.
Awww that’s awesome Yeah, at that point, I was just focusing on watering around the plant super-lightly (ilke, with a spray bottle) maybe a couple of times a day. I’ll bet you’re gonna be great!
Checked your profile and I saw you’re from Ohio… same here! Started growing mainly because, even if I don’t use it all, I have plenty of friends that will Enjoying that brave new world of having it actually be legal!
I’ve been watering with a syringe trying my hardest not to over water. I choose coco for my median, if I had to go back I probably would have used soil for this first run. No turning back now though, full steam ahead!!!
It is surreal that you can legally smoke and grow in Ohio. All those years as a teenager and my early 20’s I never would have imagined it would ever pass in our state.
Coco is great and easier than soil.
Coco cannot be over watered. Its structure provides air for the root system even if watered several times a day as the water drains enough to let air pockets form. Roots need oxygen thus why hydroponics uses bubblers and why soil needs to dry out between waterings.
Under most circumstances coco will tolerate a few days between waterings when the plant is young. But from around week three or so you will want to water and feed every day. If you dont then the plant food will begin to build up i the media and burn your plants. Its a simple thing to water daily. Just do it. Every watering should be with food.
Now this advice is for 100% coco with no additions. Not for Coco Loco which is not a pure Coco product but a soil with Coco mixed in. That should be treated like soil.
Pure coco likes 5.8 pH like hydroponics.
Thanks @Spiney_norman. I’m just over thinking a bit. I keep seeing people say don’t overwater your seedlings and it’s giving me the spooks. Last thing I want to see is my plant damping off. If anything I might of under watered in the first week, could be the reason for the slow start. I just hope I didn’t get salt build up if the coco dried too much. I’ll put a couple drops of ph down and get it to 5.8.
Oooo I was wondering if I was officially in that stage yet, to be honest! What I was seeing wasn’t quite matching up with “in flower” pics that I saw online, so I had my doubts. Hmm… maybe tomorrow-ish when it comes time to water again, I switch over to flowering nutes? I was going to switch to just plain water for a few cycles just due to folks in the thread noticing that things are a little overly green, but maybe I reconsider? If you see this, let me know your thoughts Thanks!
What @Spiney_norman stated above
Id go back and read that 10 times and burn it in your brain. Thats excellent advice. Doesn’t get any better than that.
The leaves are looking a little too dark green. Early stages of nitrogen toxicity. The soil has 4-6 weeks of fertilizer in it so it didn’t need any extra nutrients in the first few weeks of watering. I would take the advice of checking your runoff numbers before feeding them more. The fact that you weren’t using grow big yet was a good thing in this scenario since it contains the majority of the nitrogen in the trio. By the way, plants do look pretty good. The issue is minor when it is caught early and adjusted.
Thanks in advance!
Catch you soon!
. I know exactly what you mean about feeling behind, I’m 18 days from sprout and I’m nowhere near the veg stage. She looks like a week old seedling at this point. Your plants look great!! If at 7 weeks my girl looks like yours I will be very proud. Also the fact that you’re not in flower gives me hope that I have time to get her back on track. Keep posting updates, I’m curious to see your final product 
Yeah, at that point, I was just focusing on watering around the plant super-lightly (ilke, with a spray bottle) maybe a couple of times a day. I’ll bet you’re gonna be great!
