Cachagua's bag seed 1st time grow journal

[stully]

let me go pour through my research books and I will give you ne info I find.

 

[Ms.Fox]

Have you done a runoff test? The runoff should only vary -.5- -.7. If it's more, you could have nute build up, which would give you some of the issues you are having.

 

[Cachagua]

Thanks everyone, I will have a chance to look at it tonight when the lights go on.
I have never done a foliar feeding Charlie, I thought once they started to flower you do not foliar feed?
I have not done a run off PH test yet, I guess I should, but since i just watered them heavily on Friday night, should I wait until they need water again? or should I water now to get a run off test ?
I am worried about too much water/root rot etc.
I do have a LOT of ventilation in the grow box so it usually takes about 3 days before they need water.

 

[stully]

I agree that it is calcium def. One tablespoon of HYDRATED lime per gallon will provide relatively fast consumption

 

[Cachagua]

I agree that it is calcium def. One tablespoon of HYDRATED lime per gallon will provide relatively fast consumption

Right on Stully, I will get some hydrated lime tomorrow.
As a precaution, I did a flush on 3 plants tonight.
The 3 that were showing the discolored and dying leave tips were flushed with straight water.
My water comes out of the tap filtered at a ph between 6.9 and 7.1 depending on the day.
I ran 3 gallons of water through each one and collected it in a 5 gallon bucket, testing the first 10 seconds of flow for each plant.
They all tested right at 5.34 + or - a tenth.
The first plant I did, I corrected the water to 6.8 and it still came out at 5.34 which I thought was really low, so for the next 2 plants I did not correct the water, and the runoff was still at 5.34.

After about 2 gallons had flowed out I tested again and it remained at 5.34

According to a thread I found on another site, you want soil ph to be really close to 6.5 so my 5.34 is wayyyy too low.

Should I keep flushing until my runoff water is 6.5 ph?

Help a brother out here folks, I feel like i am killing my babies!

 

[Ms.Fox]

No, the nute solution you add should be at 6.5. The runoff should be between 5.3 - 5.5. ;-)

 

[Cachagua]

No, the nute solution you add should be at 6.5. The runoff should be between 5.3 - 5.5. ;-)

Ok I follow you Ms. Fox,
Should I go ahead with the hydrated lime solution as Stully indicated?
I had my wife pick some up today and I am prepared to use it tonight to stop the onslaught.
I am glad I did not flush all of them, as it looks like my ph level is ok, although at the lower end of the desired spectrum.
I will work on raising that as well by not using PH down anymore as it appears I really do not need it.
I had used vinegar a few times to lower the ph because it was a little less brutal, it takes more vinegar but vinegar wont ruin my concrete or stonework like ph down will, man that stuff etched the concrete in my garage when I spilled a few drops.

Let me know because I am ready to go in with the hydrated lime tonight.
Thank you thank you

 

[stully]

Calcium def is much more common in hydro. If what type of soil r u using? Doesn't seem like you "should" have cal def, but it really looks like it. Make sure you use HYDRATED lime, you can use dolomitic, but it takes much longer to absorb.

 

[fineas]

If you dont have access to Cal-Mag or other calcium products there is a calcium solution commonly available in most nurseries where tomato fertilizers are sold.
Ferti-Lome (brand)
Yield Booster (name of product)
Stops blossom end rot (What happens to tomatoes when there is not enough calcium available) Has a pic of a tomato with end burn from ca deficiency. Cost 7 bucks a pint
I use it in the water for my HP Plants when I dont have cal mag along with epson salts (magnesium sulfate).
Good luck.

 

[berrydizzle]

What kind of soil do your plants use, and are u giving them organic nutes??

 

[Cachagua]

Calcium def is much more common in hydro. If what type of soil r u using? Doesn't seem like you "should" have cal def, but it really looks like it. Make sure you use HYDRATED lime, you can use dolomitic, but it takes much longer to absorb.

I hear ya Stully, but finding hydrated lime in anything smaller than a 50lb bag proved all but impossible today, my poor wife went everywhere looking for it.
I finally sent her to the hydro store for some "Cal-Mag Plus" and I think I will douche them with some of that here tonight when I can get in there.

If you dont have access to Cal-Mag or other calcium products there is a calcium solution commonly available in most nurseries where tomato fertilizers are sold.
Ferti-Lome (brand)
Yield Booster (name of product)
Stops blossom end rot (What happens to tomatoes when there is not enough calcium available) Has a pic of a tomato with end burn from ca deficiency. Cost 7 bucks a pint
I use it in the water for my HP Plants when I dont have cal mag along with epson salts (magnesium sulfate).
Good luck.

Thank you so much fineas, I really appreciate it bro!
I got the cal mag and will see what happens in a few days.
Hopefully this will stop the pain in it's tracks!

What kind of soil do your plants use, and are u giving them organic nutes??

Hey berrydizzle, all of the plants are in Fox Farms Ocean Forrest soil and have been from day 1.
I also use all of the fox farms nutes, mainly because I thought they were ALL organic but it appears now that I may have been mislead?
Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, Big Bloom, Open Sesame and Cha-Ching...... I have it all.
I told the guy at the hydro store that I wanted to be exclusively organic and Fox Farms is what he advised me to use.
I have been following the feeding schedule Fox Farm publishes as a .pdf

Thank you everyone for all the help.

 

[berrydizzle]

Fox farm is close to totally organic, but tiger bloom does have trace amounts of chemicals...just be sure to start with half strength to see how the plants react. The soil should be right at what it should be if its FFOF...and the pH of the water u give them really shouldnt matter.

And the PDF feeding schedule that FF gives online probably isnt made for MJ plants

 

[Cachagua]

Thanks Berry,
Well I mixed up 5 gallons of water last night with the "cal-mag plus" and added a little bit to every plant.
Things were not looking great when I got in to have a look so I started to panic a little and remembered that someone mentioned I should foliar feed for fast results.
Well I took some of the full strength (1 tsp/gal) Cal-Mag Plus, and sprayed the whole garden with it.
Then I freaked and realized I had not confirmed that Cal-Mag Plus was safe to use as a foliar feed, so I scrambled and tried to find some information on line which I could not in the 2-1/2 minutes I gave myself to figure it out, so I panicked even more and used straight water to foliar spray/rinse all the cal-mag off in case I had just doomed my crop.

It was a fiasco and I went to bed feeling like I murdered my whole harem.

Woke up this morning early to get in the box before the lights went out to discover they all look the same as they did last night.

I did crank up the 6" exhaust fan to move more air through the box to help dry the ladies out a bit faster.

Hopefully when I get home and can get in the grow box tonight, I wont see a wilted dying crop......

I am completely lost right now.

I feel like I am losing control and have no clue what to do.

Maybe the cal-mag will help.....

Can you foliar feed with cal-mag ?

 

[stully]

Hope you don't mind bro.

 

[Cachagua]

Hope you don't mind bro.

Heya Stully,
No problem man on using the image bro!

However as of tonight I am abandoning this journal.
It has been more than 4 days since I posted major issues with my plants and with only 2 replies it is far too much work to take pics, edit them, post them up and have 4 days go by with nobody really willing to help out.

I may pop back in here in a few weeks with some final results, maybe not, but for now, there is just not enough traffic to justify keeping it going.

Thanks to all who helped out initially.

Mods.....feel free to close this or move it to abandoned....whatever you like is fine with me.
Thanks!

 

[stully]

Don't let the journal go bro. It took me a long time to get traffic. The best thing to do is put a link to your journal in your signature, and then get out there and browse other people's journals. Get to know people and they will pour infor your grow.

 

[Bud stankalot]

I hate to see you go Cachagua. I wish I knew more about growing because I would have for sure helped you with your problems. I hope the plants recover. Mine in the bush aren't looking all that great either. I wish you the best of luck, Brother. I'll keep racing those motorcycles for the both of us.

 

[The Butcher]

hey hows it going Cachagua?

so you said that you've been using your tap water?

If so that can be a HUGE source of ALL your issues. even though tap water has a good P.H reading, It may or will contaian big amounts of CHLORINE. have you got a e.c or t.d.s meter? chlorine will cause symptoms that make you think there is some sort of deficiency. Flush with R.O water or go buy some store bought water. This water is filtered in ways that we cant do at home, if you dont have a R.O system.

once you've flushed them let them dry a lil bit. then start to feed them at quarter strength. then water then half strength , water then full strength.this should fix your problem as well as leach out all the excess salts.

 

[Cachagua]

hey hows it going Cachagua?

so you said that you've been using your tap water?

If so that can be a HUGE source of ALL your issues. even though tap water has a good P.H reading, It may or will contaian big amounts of CHLORINE. have you got a e.c or t.d.s meter? chlorine will cause symptoms that make you think there is some sort of deficiency. Flush with R.O water or go buy some store bought water. This water is filtered in ways that we cant do at home, if you dont have a R.O system.

once you've flushed them let them dry a lil bit. then start to feed them at quarter strength. then water then half strength , water then full strength.this should fix your problem as well as leach out all the excess salts.

Hey guys thanks!

I have been using tap water but we have a rather expensive whole house water filter system that removes 99.999% of all bad things....especially chlorine.
I just replaced the $800.00 cartridge on it about 3 months ago and it is good for 3 years or 300,000 gallons.
My tap water tastes like "Fiji" water if you have ever had that?
Very good stuff.
I think it is too late now, they are far too deep in the late stages of flowering, far too many large fan leaves have died and fallen off, a lot of the other leaves are now dying and falling off.
I am pretty much just going to go with what I have and call it a bad experience.
Might try some different nutes next time around.
Thanks guys.

 

[The Butcher]

it happens to the best of us.

You should start another journal.your set up looks great. It looks like some lockout issues. i always reccomend to keep a good product around to help with the flushiing. Like floraclean or some hygrozyme another unbelievable product is from house and garden it called roots excelerator. it maybe damn expensive BUT, i can garuntee you that it will boost your plants to anther level when mixed with hygrozyme. theres not a damn problem that it wont fix.

it basiclly takes any dead or rotting root mass and turn it into food for the rest of the plant as well as new root growth will fed off of it.

anyways hope you dont give up on growing, sounds like you've had a great upbringing.