Hello my brothers in spirit, i planted my first autoflowers (10 seeds) between the 10th and 12th of august (germany), so all of them roughly at the same time. I used 5 40L pots and 4 pots which fit about 15L to 16L of soil. 3 bahama mama autos, 3 purple skunk autos and 4 og kush autos. 2 og autos i planted in one pot with 15L to 16L. I only used good and living soil in all of them. And since the time i put the seeds in the pots until now the weather has been typical august weather, Hot but with occasional rainy days. I left all of them inside until i saw them come out of the soil and put them directly in the sun. Ive read that this is not ideal since they should get used to the sun first and grow a bit more until they are ready for the sun. But i wanted to grow them as natural as possible so to speak and thought, that if you just plant them in the ground outside, they would have to grow in direct sunlight too. And as weeds, they shouldnt have to be kept inside first. So I only use rain water and occasional bottle water and just leave them outside. They get good water, natural sunlight (7-8hours) and fresh air all the time since they are outside on my balcony and have really good soil with all the nutrients from now until harvest. But ive found them to be kinda stunted in growth the past few days or at least dont grow noticably more. As you can see on the date which i have planted them in the pots until now, they are all hitting their 2nd week, but havent even fully grown their 2nd pair of leaves really. One of them doesnt even show a 2nd pair yet. They did have about two days of rain already so, the only thing i could think of would probably be a little bit of overwatering, but one of them is looking more like i would expect them to look after about 2 weeks and is about to develope its 3rd pair of leaves. They have all been exposed to the exact same conditions. Same amout of light, water, fresh air and nutrients. And the one plant i just mentioned is even one of the seeds i planted like 1 or 2 days later. I dont really know whats going on there and hope, that they will all catch up in speed and growth. I appreciate all suggestions and help of any kind on what i could do or what might be happening. I plan to harvest them about the end of october since the weather will become colder again, so their stunted growth now hurts to see haha. But anyways, thanks for help of any kind in advance.
Stay healthy and connected to the spirit of mj my brothers. Love.
I think your timeframe is off with the two weeks because those look healthy. Usually you start counting the days from when I emerges from the soil not when it’s sown. What I’ve noticed is overwatering is the biggest issue you can have when they’re that small and they will definitely slow down in growth.
I will try to not let them stay in the rain anymore because that would be the only think i could think of too. But even with my timeframe being off, i wonder why one of them is way ahead of the others as you can see with starting their 3rd pair of leaves already to come when it was sown 1 or 2 days later compared to the others in the 40L pots. While the others are still developing their 2nd pair and one of them doesnt even have a 2nd pair yet. Because if overwatering because of rain would be the cause for them slowing down a bit, i think all of them would since all of them would be overwatered by the rain. Thats the thing that keeps me wondering
Genetics will play a factor in speed of growth but as long as they look healthy and make their own improvements then shouldn’t be too much of a concern.
They don’t look like they’re in bad shape. I believe they’re more like 1 week old than 2 weeks(you don’t start counting until they’ve sprouted from the soil). I usually start my autoflower seedling in red solo cups and then transplant to a 3 gallon fabric pots once they outgrow the cup (people say you shouldn’t transplant autoflowers because of stress but I haven’t seen a downside to doing so and it’s easier to maintain watering levels when they’re still babies). Seedlings that small should only be getting 1-2 shot glasses of water every 3-5 days when watering the first 1-2 weeks then you can start giving about 0.125-0.250 Gallons from then on and increasing the amount as the plant gets bigger(these are estimates and vary on your plants growth). Also, seedlings grow fastest with 70% humidity & between 74-78 degrees Fahrenheit. If they aren’t getting the optimal climate then you aren’t going to get optimal results BUT that doesn’t mean they won’t grow. I’ve attached pictures. 1st picture is my autoflowers at 1 week old in optimal conditions & the 2nd picture is how big they were before I transplanted them from red solo cup to a 3 gallon fabric pot. 3rd picture is what they look like today. Remember, it’s a marathon; not a sprint.
But thats my concern, because they are 2 weeks old now since they sprouted out of the soil. And i think thats not how they should look like with that amount of time. They should look more like the ones in the 1st picture that you have shown. To be fair though, they did get more water, more frequently since theyve been faced with rain. But its getting towards the end of their 2nd week now since they sprouted out of the soil 
big love for the comments and pictures though <3
I say let the soil dry out if it hasn’t really done so yet. My first grow I overwatered my seedlings and they had the same problems such as stunted growth like you’re having. Weed plants are more forgiving when you underwater compared to overwater. It looks like Australia is getting the same weather as USA Michigan where I stay so humidity and temp shouldn’t be a problem. I say put them out in the sun on nice days and let them girls dry out a little. And then once the soil has dried out pretty good resume with the watering guide I gave you. Also, grab a 2 pack of these if possible, it’ll help you know when you need to water. They helped get a sense of what soil looks like when it needs water compared to when it doesn’t.
Thats what i was thinking too. Ill bring them in on days where it rains and let them dry out a little over the next 3 to 4 days. Thank your for the links aswell brother.
I will post some updates in 1 or 2 weeks on how they have recovered and what their growth and aesthetic is like then. Much love and appreciation for the comments💜
Shalom shalom brothers,
Giving my update on the beautiful auto-
ladies starting their 6th week since they sprouted and i gotta say they dont look like theyll give much of a yield at all. They all stayed pretty small with little exeptions.
I let the soil dry out like i said i would and give them adequate water now for them to stay happy and healthy. But some of them dont seem to do well with turning leaves or very small size as you can see. Theyve only got about 6 more weeks left before harvest and i dont know what i can do for them to catch up still or if i have to just accept it.
Any advice?
I don’t know what kind of medium these are in but to me it looks like they need more water. See what happens this grow and next time add some perlite in there. In that large of pots you could go far with living soil.
If you used a lighter soil you could water more often without worrying about drowning them.
Damn 12 mos later.