Flowering at 3 inches!

[neongreen]

My last batch of autos (Dieselryder x Auto AK x Pehkuruder) sown around a month ago has been really slow, and showing signs of N deficiency. I sowed into 3" square pots as I have been doing recently (without issue till now), and noticed that two out of 17 that are only about 3" tall are already showing male flowers!

I'm pretty sure that it's because the batch of compost I used to mix my soil was poor quality and/or I neglected to mix in another N source. I also had problems with my photos that I potted up at the same time! A few days ago I top dressed with some bat guano and gave them an epsom salts foliar and they have started to look a bit better.

I've since mixed up a new batch of soil using different compost, so I can pot up the autos into their final containers, but I'm having second thoughts. As I see it I have 3 options:

1. Dump the lot.
2. Pot up into smaller than usual containers since if they are not going to grow much more it would be a waste to pot them up into their usual 10l containers.
3. Pot up into their usual 10l containers and hope they end up full size.

Which option would be best?



ng

 

[FirstTracks]

I'll take door number 2, Bob.

You want to give them a little more room and water holding capacity, but the roots really aren't going to get that much bigger in volume.

Ideally, next time, you'll want to start any autoflowering seed in its final container size.
Probably try to shoot for 1-3 gallons of soil, 1/2 gal minimum.
If coco coir, 1/2 gal can grown 1/4-1/2oz plants pretty easily, but lots of these new autos can yield quite a bit, if given ample root space.

Starting in too shallow of a container limits the tap root depth, stalling out the plants in a lot of situations. If timed perfectly, and moved from seed starter to final container before the taproot has reached down, you can make it work, but easier to start 2-3 seeds per container, and wake out males as they show.

 

[MJPassion]

Id go w option 3 but w 2 or 3 plants per container.

 

[neongreen]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I decided to pot up into a variety of sizes so we could see what happens

I'm still not convinced that sowing direct into their final containers has any real benefit over starting with small containers and potting up into larger containers providing you don't let them get rootbound. Even in this case I think it would have turned out to be more of a hassle if I had mixed up a big bad batch of soil to fill large containers, and had the same problem.

Either way, I also sowed my next round of autos a short time ago, and a handful went straight into their final containers, whilst the majority went into 3" square pots. Will update with pics at some point.


ng

 

[aridbud]

and hope they end up full size Doubtful they'll end up full size, but still worth growing them out in larger pot/container.

 

[S_a_H]

I'm still not convinced that sowing direct into their final containers has any real benefit over starting with small containers and potting up into larger containers providing you don't let them get rootbound.

I agree with you here most people do not grow enough of any one strain to really give a true perspective.

If you know your strains and pay attention to when they sex you'll have no problems.

As far the micro AF run it out always interesting to see what you come up with. There was a guy on Highbred back when working with the micro pheno's.

Goodluck

 

[Gonzo's Grow]

Ive always gone from germination to final bucket. You dont want to limit its roots to start. I start in smart cubes then when the first set of leaves form, I stick it into 3 gallon/10L pot and have the soil very wet to start. The ones I left in solo cups only grew to a foot and produced airy buds. The ones started in bucket, 4 foot

 

[Bongstar420]

Whats the problem? You didn't throw the early males out? Sometimes, certain crosses produce mutants at fairly high frequencies...probably the result of recessive traits being stacked. I'd consider your early males to be simply undesirable. If your full crop does it and thats not what theyre supposed to do, then your probably getting a hormone change from some environmental factor. I had autoflowering show up with inbreeding "normal" plants.