Blackberry Kush - Platinum Girl Scout Cookies - 400W MH/HPS

[Twox]

They look much better.. What do u think was causing your issues for future reference? Do you feel they were root bound? Maybe it was the chicken fertilizer? I've had similar issues and I blamed it on over watering..

Your using happy frog soil right?, I use the same and I feed after a week and a half after transplant... So happy to see your girls all perky again..

 

[TheFertilizer]

They look much better.. What do u think was causing your issues for future reference? Do you feel they were root bound? Maybe it was the chicken fertilizer? I've had similar issues and I blamed it on over watering..

Your using happy frog soil right?, I use the same and I feed after a week and a half after transplant... So happy to see your girls all perky again..

Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. What's really noticeable is how much they've grown just since being put in the gallon pots... Maybe they just look much bigger because they were so droopy before and now their leaves are actually standing out, but to me with growth this fast after new pots I'd say that's a strong suggestion they were root bound. Plus you can still see how much faster they're growing compared to the one still in a solo cup. I added some pics of their roots when I transplanted below too, but they're pretty blurry...

I know I am definitely going to stay away from the skinny chicken stuff. The fact that it's formulated for a 5 gallon bucket doesn't do me any good when trying to mix it for only a gallon, and I tried using a PPM meter to make sure the mix was good and even at 300 PPM it burned the plants. I just mixed 5 mL/G of Flora Nova and it was at 600 PPM, and I know I have fed MORE than that amount to my plants without burn. So I believe I can't get an accurate reading with the PPM meter with the organic stuff, and I can't get a good idea of how much to use per mix, so I'm just done with it. I might try to use it as a soil amendment but I don't want to throw off the soil pH too much, and frankly I'm kind of tired of trying new things, I just want to do what I know will work to get me a better yield than last time. So yeah once they are a little more recovered from this, I am going to start my usual nutrients. Flora Nova, Apparmor Si, and Crystal Burst once in flower. I loved the results I got last time so trying something different was pretty much academic and because the nutrients were given to me.

Blah blah blah tl;dr... Yeah I'm done with the organic mix, even if it wasn't the problem.

I bought a moisture probe to help out with my watering issues as well. At this point I am thinking it was definitely over-watering, but I am going to keep an eye on the solo cup plant and keep testing it to see how long it takes for it to dry out. I am betting that the roots at the bottom were never getting dry though.

(Just hours after getting put into their new pots)

 

[Twox]

Happy to hear that they're growing and your on track again. I feel the same way with trying new things and have tried to keep it safe and simple. I tried switching soils and it just wasn't working with my time frame and I needed something weaker do the nitrogen wasn't to high during flower. I think the best thing I've added to my feeding regimen is silica, I'll never grow without it again. I've tried a few other things and I'm not quite sure they're essential to my grow but they didn't add anything negative so I've kept using them. I've been curious about the crystal burst and was wondering how you liked it. Do you think it would work well with general organics? There's also a product called "Mother of all bloom" that I've been wanting to try.

 

[Far East Buds]

Glad things are improving.. I don't think they where root bound. They can be grown much larger than them in solo's. It will just drink up the water fast. It will stunt. I think you where over watered still or ph was off... When you uppotted it it corrected it. Just a guess but your roots looked good and I doubt it was bound..





FE

 

[TheFertilizer]

Happy to hear that they're growing and your on track again. I feel the same way with trying new things and have tried to keep it safe and simple. I tried switching soils and it just wasn't working with my time frame and I needed something weaker do the nitrogen wasn't to high during flower. I think the best thing I've added to my feeding regimen is silica, I'll never grow without it again. I've tried a few other things and I'm not quite sure they're essential to my grow but they didn't add anything negative so I've kept using them. I've been curious about the crystal burst and was wondering how you liked it. Do you think it would work well with general organics? There's also a product called "Mother of all bloom" that I've been wanting to try.

I haven't actually tried it without Crystal Burst so for all I know it could just be a placebo, but I got great results with it. I'm not really sure it's anything special, the only thing "different" about it than a normal P-K booster is that it has Vitamin B1 in it. I think it's probably just due to the fact that it bumps the P and K level up so high.

Glad things are improving.. I don't think they where root bound. They can be grown much larger than them in solo's. It will just drink up the water fast. It will stunt. I think you where over watered still or ph was off... When you uppotted it it corrected it. Just a guess but your roots looked good and I doubt it was bound..





FE

Yeah I'm not sure, they're looking a little unhappy once again in the new gallon pots, and that's kind of a mystery because I bought a soil pH probe to see if I was knocking that too far up with the tap water, and the pH seems to read the same level as the fresh soil in the tote does. The really curious thing is that I pH'd a super diluted nutrient solution for the solo cup plant and got it to a 6.5, well instead of pushing the pH down it somehow brought it up higher. Still all in the 6-7 range though so they shouldn't be that bad off. I'm betting the roots haven't really traversed into the new soil yet, and the older rootball is still of a different pH, maybe... At this point I'm just taking guesses.

The only thing left that's really sub-optimal is my humility, but I have never heard of anyone have these kinds of issues with low humidity. I tried sticking some wet towels in there but they didn't really do much of anything, so I am going to need to get a humidifier or a fan controller.I have another fan that had a controller built into the AC cord, and I'm kind of tempted to see if I could just swap power cords. Not sure if that's such a great idea though.

Maybe they just need food? Again, guesses. I'm going to wait until they're bone dry before doing anything else though. The solo cup plant already dried out, I'm done going by weight or guessing, I bought a moisture probe. I was like, "Hey that looks a little thirsty," stuck it in there, and it read a "3" on the dry area, and that's out of 10. So apparently I'm not THAT bad at reading when they're thirsty, so that begs the question... If proper watering isn't the fix I was looking for what is. They got much happier after a transplant and a drench... And they seem to get really happy every time I drench them, and then a day or two later start looking sad.

 

[Far East Buds]

Hmm I have been watching and sorry I have only offered help once. I really want you to get this figured out but it has me perplexed as well... Roots looked good... plants where lush just drooping... so not overfed I would think .. I see no burn....

For the humidity.. Try a 5 gallon bucket half full , soak a towel in it coming out the top with no lid.. (put like a bamboo rod in it and prop up towel..) This is a DIY humidifier...


But I don't think low Humidity would cause it... not sure but i would think opposite...

I had this effect in the past once on my whole grow.. It ended up being cyanobacteria in my res and roots... But you hand water and no rez... are the nutes feeds being mixed ahead and sitting around until being used? Plus my roots looked bad yours look good... maybe not...


I don't think it is but is the soil too hot? I am not a soil person ... Maybe repot them into straight soil no mixed? Hate to stress them again repotting....


Just some idea's. Really hope you get it figured out....




FE

 

[Far East Buds]

Do a really good flush with tap only I would say. I probably would not feed them for a bit is an idea. If you under feed them the bottom leaves will get yellow first and you can see it and correct it. Possibly you have too much N or something and it is locking the feeds.

I would probably flush them with a lot of run off and then leave them a couple days and see what happens...

Hope this helps...


FE


PH the tap....

 

[TheFertilizer]

Well the night I transplanted them, I flushed all of them while still in the solo cups before potting up. I also got a pH probe and the pH for them seems pretty good, it's mostly in the 6.5-7 range, a couple look a tad over 7 but it seems like that's just in the dry soil--if I push it further down into the wet stuff it goes back down to about 6.5. The tote of it (fresh from the bag unaltered) reads 7 so I don't think I have drastically changed the soil pH or made it too hot or anything. I'll have to try that trick for the humidifier, seems like a good way to create kind of a wicking effect!

I am wondering if maybe they just needed a few days to bounce back. They keep looking happy and then kind of sad though so it's strange. I don't think my temperature fluctuations are too bad.

I took this pic last night...

Then just now this morning.

It's like the top leaves there kind of fold up and do that "praying" thing, and if I can predict right by about evening time, the rest of the leaves will be saggy.

 

[Far East Buds]

Well the night I transplanted them, I flushed all of them while still in the solo cups before potting up. I also got a pH probe and the pH for them seems pretty good, it's mostly in the 6.5-7 range, a couple look a tad over 7 but it seems like that's just in the dry soil--if I push it further down into the wet stuff it goes back down to about 6.5. The tote of it (fresh from the bag unaltered) reads 7 so I don't think I have drastically changed the soil pH or made it too hot or anything. I'll have to try that trick for the humidifier, seems like a good way to create kind of a wicking effect!

I am wondering if maybe they just needed a few days to bounce back. They keep looking happy and then kind of sad though so it's strange. I don't think my temperature fluctuations are too bad.

I took this pic last night...

Then just now this morning.

It's like the top leaves there kind of fold up and do that "praying" thing, and if I can predict right by about evening time, the rest of the leaves will be saggy.

I would just leave them a day or so.. see how they look tomorrow morn. The center growth looks good... Leaning up to the light is good.. If I recall my lower leaves that got puffy from bacteria stayed that way but eventually all the center new growth reached for the light and didnt look "muscley". I think you may be on the right track. You probably set yourself back a little time wise but things look improved today...

Fingers crossed




FE

 

[TheFertilizer]

Well they're looking nice this evening too so I think they just need some time to recover. The yellowing is starting to make its way up to the mid leaves, and going from my last experience with these strains I think I need to start giving nutrient the next water. It's going to be 4 weeks since they sprouted on the 18th. I am still hoping to get them into flower by mid October, hopefully they will get to about 20 inches or so by then, hoping.

I'm surprised how much they're smelling already! I don't recall them being this pungent in veg last time. Definitely going to need to get a filter as soon as I can. I am really excited to flower these in the winter... I'll be able to drop the temp down to 50 degrees or so during those final stages, really going to bring out the purple genes, and if the old trick swell is tried and true these buds will look like a blizzard hit them The only thing I worry about is that humidity usually spikes for my area in the winter, so I don't know if I am going to enjoy the same hassle-free humidity control as I did through the summer.

Hoping this is a better light arrangement.
.

 

[TheFertilizer]

I decided to give them a foliar feed today, the pots are retaining moisture quite a bit and I don't think they should starve for as long as it's going to take them to dry out. Plus they have been sorely needing a neem treatment so that's two birds with one stone. Oh I pulled off a lot of the lower dead growth too, I think a lot of that stuff just wasn't getting light.

60 mL/G Optic Foliar Spreader
Tead's neem recipe ( 1 tsp neem oil, 2 tsp soap, stir to milky)
1/4 tsp per gallon of Flora Nova Grow
Final PPM reading was 370, pH'd to 7
Sprayed with lights on but right before they went off, turned fan off

Anyway, so now for some weed porn... Look at these beauties, all shiny and oiled up. Today is officially day 31 of them being alive, I'm not sure but I think I need to think about getting them into the 3 gallon pots pretty quick since I am only going to have 2-3 more weeks of veg time once Oct hits if I want to make that mid-Dec goal.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Oh they seemed to really enjoy that! The Blackberry Kush ones anyway, the Platinum Girl Scout Cookies are still a little droopy looking, but better...

 

[Spitz]

That is a fussy group of young ones. I hope the others grow through this fussy stage! Good luck

 

[Drazel]

They look a lot better than when i saw them on page 2...lol I hope they continue improving!

 

[TheFertilizer]

I guess the Platinum Girl Scout Cookies just took a little bit more time to respond than the Blackberry Kush. They're all very happy looking now. Depending on how fast these pots dry out I may do another foliar feed at the end of the week. I have to rinse the leaves off in the next day or two, and that's going to end up putting more moisture back into the pots. Foliar feeding is tricky, but anyway it definitely seemed to give them something they needed.

 

[Twox]

Good to hear... I've never tried foliar feeding, just be careful. There's lots of threads with people burning there plants...

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey Fertilizer, your girls look awesome! Do you plan to keep all 13? You planted all your seeds at the same time so your canopy will be much more even than mine. Do you plan to top your plants or do more of a natural grow? Hope all is well in your garden.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Even the solo cup girl is looking good

DankesBuds42, I will probably keep all 13 just because it won't do me any good to toss them, but they'll wind up shoved into the corner or something to not impede the growth of the 10 I will select for 3 gallon pots. The plan originally was simply to cull weak ones and I didn't actually expect all of them to germinate. If I wasn't trying to get them into flower by Mid October I would probably FIM them, but since most training takes a little bit of recovery time I don't really want to lose the time. They're branching out pretty nicely naturally, and in the past I never really saw a tremendous benefit in doing it.

I wish the canopy was a little more uniform like with clones, but with seeds there's always some that grow faster than others, and the strains are different too. I am probably going to find something to stack the shorter ones on so they're at the same height as the larger ones. Just not sure what I can find that's cheap, plentiful, stackable and about an inch thick that is wide enough to support the pots. I think about maybe using old VHS tapes... Wouldn't be too hard to find stacks of those, but I swear there's got to be something even more disposable I wouldn't have a problem getting heaps of, just need to keep my MacGyver eye out. Books struck me as a possibility, but I don't really think that would be a good idea since the paper will absorb moisture and attract mold and even pests. I'm not even totally comfortable using wood, the only thing I can think of that would work better than VHS tapes is styrofoam but I'm not sure where I would find just bulk styrofoam I could cut to shape.

I wonder when I need to think about transplanting these into 3 gallon pots? They've only been in these new ones a week so I know it's too soon now, but when's a good time to start thinking about it? I figure I should give them another week at least, but I want to flip to 12/12 at the end of the first week of October so that they'll stretch and start flowering by the 2nd or 3rd week. Will they grow at a faster rate if I put them into 3 gallon pots now?

 

[DankestBuds42]

TheFertilizer: The more the merrier haha. I definitely think you have the space for 13 plants. Still lots of extra room. Do you plan to keep them all in the tent or plant some or all of them outside? I personally like the amount of control I have with an indoor grow. I worry about dealing with cops and theives when growing outdoors. Unless you have a super duper sneaky spot. Your canopy is still 10x more uniform than mine lol. Working on it though. Do you have a carbon filter in your tent? Not sure what material you have at hand but household items have been helpful for me. I use a small bucket to raise my clones with. I agree paper might attract moisture but plastic, metal, and wood sound safe to me as long as it's just to raise your plants. I've used cardboard boxes also. Just have to make sure the tent floor is dry and clean. I think your plants look happy in their current homes. If they've only been in their pots for a week I would give them another week for sure. Try up-potting one plant around then and check out the roots. If they wrap around the bottom of the pot then it would be safe to say the rest of your plants are about the same and are ready to up-pot. If not I'd just leave them for a bit. Hope this helps. Your plants look awesome. Keep up the great work.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Recent pics, this has been one busy week for me so can't say much for now, but they're kickin on all cylinders now