First grow: Trouble started 6 weeks into flowering

4

420NLguy

New Member
I have two Northern Lights plants (I call them #1 and #2 to track them). Both have been looking good except for what I thought were awfully small buds.

Then about 3 or 4 days ago (41 days into flower), #2 got really droopy really fast. I have been treating both plants exactly the same, so I am baffled by what happened.

Also, the pistils on #2 started to turn brown then. This all seems really premature (brown, small buds), but it's my first grow, so I don't really know.

Here is a photo of #1 at 41 days into flowering (Day 104 for me).
Day_104-_1_A.jpg


This is #2 at 41 days:
Day_104-_2_A.jpg


Here is #2 at 45 days (today):
Day_108-_2.jpg


I flushed #2 at first, then got desperate and transplanted it from a 6" pot to an 11" pot. But I don't see any change after 3 days.

I also noticed that when I water, half the water leaks out. This has not happened before, so I'm thinking they might not be retaining water for some reason.

Now #1 is starting to look like #2 did 4 days ago. The buds are small: they are only 1" high or so on both plants. The buds on #1 are just barely starting to turn brown now, but the buds on #2 have gone all brown.

What can I do to save my only 2 plants? What should I do next time?

Details
o Feeding: MG All Purpose at 30% strength for feeding [should have been 100%, but I made a error] . Fed MG once/15 days. MG saved my plants a few months ago.
o Water: 12 oz every other day. Plants were using 6 oz/day (measured pot weight before/after).
o Seeds: Northern Lights.
o Lighting: 26W 5000K CFL (one/plant) at 2" above plants until flowering, then 2 CFLs/plant. Platns are getting about 3000 lumens. I used 6400K CFLs during veg stage. Used 18/6 during veg, then 12/12 for flowering. On a timer.
o Other: Good ventilation, no bugs or pests.
 
MG is paraquat by another name. I don't know what your situation is but if you can't get real nutes then you better be in good soil ,worm castings,blood meal guano's sea kelp all the organic nutes you can get. 63 days into bloom w northern lights your done and drying about 2 zips per girl indoors. I've never heard of MG being used at anything stronger than 10% recomended dose..
 
I got so disturbed by your girls I left out a good hint on emergency flushing. Always mist the hell outa the plant. It will flush poisons out and use a product like batonicares clearex..
 
My problem is that I am in Panama. I don't have access to all the great soil and nutes that are available in the States. No such thing as FoxFarms here. MG is carried by some larger stores, but that's about it.

The soil I am using is called Tierra Negra. It's Spanish for Black Earth. It seems to be very good soil. Just about anything grows in that stuff. Yet I don't have much choice anyway.

Also, I don't see any big problem with MG. Too many people bash MG, but they think it has "controlled release" nutes. Not what I'm using. I am using the All Purpose stuff (20-20-20), which is a bag of blue crystals that you dissolve in water. It saved my plants in the first few weeks of veg, so can't be all that bad. And everything has been growing great until just the past 5 days or so. So I have to think something else is going on.

I use the recommended mix for MG: 3 tsps per gal. But I miscalculated and was using half that until just recently. So they have been getting only 50% of recommended mix until now. I used it every 15 days or so, then more often in the last few weeks.

I also added Molasses (1/2 tspn/qt) in the last week or so, as someone recommended for the last few weeks. But I then heard that Potassium can cause a problem with uptake of Magnesium. So maybe adding Molasses caused my problem. The timing is more than coincidental.

After more research, someone said that a biological change occurs during the 4th week or so, and it uses lots of Magnesium. So he adds a dose of Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate).

So although I found this out a bit late, I had to drive many miles to find Epsom Salts here. It is nearly impossible to find here in Panama. But I found a little pharmacy that had two tiny 8 gram packets of "Sol Epsom" for $0.25 each. I used one packet to make a foliar spray, and the other to add it directly to the soil. I mixed it with warm water to fully dissolve it first, of course. I am now foliar-spraying a few times a day, hoping that will help. But I am stabbing in the dark.

Hope this clarifies a bit more.

Dr FrankenKush said:
I got so disturbed by your girls I left out a good hint on emergency flushing. Always mist the hell outa the plant. It will flush poisons out and use a product like batonicares clearex..
Click to expand...
 
get some coir and perlite if possible and add it to your soil mix.

is the water running to the side of the pot then straight down and out the holes? or is it actually running through the soil? either way coir will help resolve either of those problems.
 
1. What is "coir"? Never heard of it. And I probably can't get it anyway (whatever it is) because I am in Panama.

2. I also can't find Perlite in Panama.
PS: Isn't it too late to add Perlite when the plant is 1 week away from harvest? I mean, don't you have to mix that with the soil before you plant? Or did you mean to say "add it to your soil THE NEXT TIME"? I need to know what I can do now to save my only 2 plants.

3. I have no idea how to tell. All I know is, when I pour water evenly over the surface of the soil, most of it runs out the bottom holes pretty fast. It has started to do this about 5 days ago. Before that, it would hold 12 oz nicely without loosing a drop. Now it all runs out.

I fed both plants a 9% solution of Potassium (1 tsp Molasses in 2 liters water) 10 days ago. [I used Brer Rabbit Molasses, which has 350 mg Potassium per tbls.]

And later, someone said that too much K can cause Magnesium uptake problem. So I have been spraying with Epsom Salts. But so far, no improvement. They are both dying fast.

So is it possible that feeding it Molasses caused the problem?


skinneh said:
get some coir and perlite if possible and add it to your soil mix.

is the water running to the side of the pot then straight down and out the holes? or is it actually running through the soil? either way coir will help resolve either of those problems.
Click to expand...
 
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