Learning from my mistakes

[Farmer Geddon]

I made a number of mistakes with my first auto grow so I wasn't expecting much. They surprised me though. 297g from 315w. 10.6oz from 7 sft.

The canopy was, at best, 70% full. No topping or training, I let them grow free range.

While they were growing, I was exploring all kinds of ideas trying to figure out how to stay self sufficient with that small of a space. Must admit that I was incredulous at the suggestion that one good auto could give 14oz in my cupboard. Post harvest, I now know that it is doable.

[HALFHILLBILLY]

I made a number of mistakes with my first auto grow so I wasn't expecting much. They surprised me though. 297g from 315w. 10.6oz from 7 sft.

The canopy was, at best, 70% full. No topping or training, I let them grow free range.

While they were growing, I was exploring all kinds of ideas trying to figure out how to stay self sufficient with that small of a space. Must admit that I was incredulous at the suggestion that one good auto could give 14oz in my cupboard. Post harvest, I now know that it is doable.

Is that 7ft2 floor area?

I think I overestimated my abilities with this grow. It all looked so promising until flowering time - thats when the temps turned really cold and I got what looked like nute burn (despite using less than recommended doses). These plants were LST'd which has helped with getting more light onto flowering areas

It think I'll probably get maybe 4oz from my 4 plants - not great, - but enough to keep me going

[Blue61]

Welcome to the Talk mate.
Sure you'll find lots of folks willing to help.
Best thing is to start a diary.

[scoot]

Welcome bud!

2oz per auto is easy in soil,4oz per auto is easy in coco,my last auto grows averaged 5oz/plant dry with my auto gorilla glue yielding 9.5oz dry that was in 2 gallon and 3gallon fabric pots and 100% coco no perlite.
Autoflowers have come a long way in the past decade,but again it comes down to environment,lighting,medium,genetics etc..
You will never get huge yielding auto's in soil due to the short lifespan which makes coco in my opinion the best medium for auto's,the roots simply explode with growth.
Using that Viparspectra light I would think that you might get 1 1/2 oz - 2oz per plant,it only runs at around 120-150w doesn't it?

[Farmer Geddon]

Is that 7ft2 floor area?

Yeah it's 7 square feet. Something like 32" x 34", I forget the exact measurements. An 80cm square garden tray fits with a little to spare.

The temps turned really cold.

The tent is not inside the house? If growth is going to be slow, then start more plants. The objective is a full canopy. If that means starting 3 seeds, having them get crowded and then hacking off branches that get in the way, it's still a full canopy. I could have done similar with my cellar scrogs. There was room for a 6th plant. The seeds came in packs of 5 though and as I had plenty of space, easier to run another light.

[HALFHILLBILLY]

Welcome bud!

2oz per auto is easy in soil,4oz per auto is easy in coco,my last auto grows averaged 5oz/plant dry with my auto gorilla glue yielding 9.5oz dry that was in 2 gallon and 3gallon fabric pots and 100% coco no perlite.
Autoflowers have come a long way in the past decade,but again it comes down to environment,lighting,medium,genetics etc..
You will never get huge yielding auto's in soil due to the short lifespan which makes coco in my opinion the best medium for auto's,the roots simply explode with growth.
Using that Viparspectra light I would think that you might get 1 1/2 oz - 2oz per plant,it only runs at around 120-150w doesn't it?

I think the light is 100W. But since my tent is only 60x60x120, I think its probably the most suitable wattage.
Interesting what you say about coco. I was thinking about this for the future. I thought soil might be more forgiving as this is my first grow in a decade, but Im going to do a bit of research into coco. A very long time ago I had a NFT setup running in a closet. After just a few weeks the plants outgrew the closet. It was too succesful!!

[HALFHILLBILLY]

Welcome to the Talk mate.
Sure you'll find lots of folks willing to help.
Best thing is to start a diary.

Yes I will!

[HALFHILLBILLY]

Is that 7ft2 floor area?



The tent is not inside the house?

Yes its inside the house. But it was in an unheated laundry room. Temps reached a low of 10 celsius

[Farmer Geddon]

A thermostat inside the tent could be run to a halogen heater outside the tent. More leccy spent on heating than lighting but the priority is more yield per sft, not more yield per kw/hr of leccy used.

Any chance of commandeering the laundry room and only using it for growing?

[scoot]

I think the light is 100W. But since my tent is only 60x60x120, I think its probably the most suitable wattage.
Interesting what you say about coco. I was thinking about this for the future. I thought soil might be more forgiving as this is my first grow in a decade, but Im going to do a bit of research into coco. A very long time ago I had a NFT setup running in a closet. After just a few weeks the plants outgrew the closet. It was too succesful!!

Soil is more forgiving for sure,when I switched to coco I treated it like a soil with the benefits of hydro,it is really easy to learn with coco I haven't looked back once.
The only differences are you will have to feed more often as coco dries out much faster than soil,and you will have to PH your feeds unless your tap water is 5.8-6 ish,the growth is fantastic though,check my sig.
Environment is a major factor though bud,if it's too cold for soil it's also too cold for coco.