Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - Lucy Clones Soil 2012

[cpluscote]

Hello everyone! I'm brand spanking new to posting in these forums, but I have been reading them for a few months now to try to get a feel for growing. Now the time has come for me to make my own grow journal. Everything I know about growing I have either read in here or I've learned from reading The Grower's Bible by Cervantes. Although I am a biology major in school, I'm very new to gardening/growing plants. With that said, I am open to as much advice as you can possibly give me on this subject, as I am sure I will run into some problems along the way. All I want is for my plants to be healthy and yield as much as possible. Your input is MUCH appreciated.

Here's the info for my first grow:

What strain is it? Super Sour Kush x3, Sour Diesel x3, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds x2
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? SSK is a Sativa Dominant Hybrid, SD is Sativa, Lucy is an Indica Dominant Hybrid
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg (Newly transplanted clones)
If in Veg... For how long? 3 days
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil =/
If soil... What size pot? 4 Gallon
Size of light? 400w MH for Veg 400w HPS for Flower
Is it aircooled? Yes In Line 180 CFM fan
Temp of Room/cab? 65-83 F
RH of Room/cab? 75%-30%
PH of media or res? 6.8
Any Pests ? Not yet....fingers crossed..
How often are you watering? 2 times a week
Type and strength of ferts used? FF trio

I got the clones from a dispensary in town that is supposed to have the best around on 1/11. The guy who sold them to me told me that they had been around in the shop for a couple of weeks. I got to pick the plants that I wanted so I went through the trays and picked the plants with the most developed roots and best looking stems. They are now vegging inside of a 4x4x6.6 grow tent.

First pics:

Set up:

Good Looking Diesel:

 

[cpluscote]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

I tend be be on the worrying side when things can go wrong.... There are a couple of problems that I'm having with three of the plants(1 of each strain).

1) Wilting/Drooping leaves.

2) Tips turning Brown.

I apologize for the small pictures. I'm rooting through my closet to find my good camera for bigger/better quality pics.

It's hard too see the browning, but these were taken last night and it has gotten a little worse today.

I Transplanted them in their 2" rockwool into the soil two nights ago.

Light: I have the light hanging about 26-30 inches above the plants.

Water: I gave them a decent watering the morning after I transplanted them into the soil and the soil is still very wet. Although after having the light on for two days on a 18/6 schedule the top is medium moisture.

Soil PH: I have a two pronged soil PH/moisture/light meter that I got for 10 bucks. I have used it a few times to test the moisture and the PH. When I flip the switch on it to PH it automatically goes to 7-8 range and doesn't change at all when I put it into the soil. Maybe I should go out and get a better PH reader?

I'm thinking that they could just be droopy from the stress of the recent transplant, but it doesn't hurt to check before it gets worse. I'd really like to have all 8 of my plants make it until the end.

Please post any suggestions you may have. All of your help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[nugslinger420]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

It's probably stress from the transplant but i can't really be sure, i've never worked with clones. I would get some superthrive, lots of people on here use it. It's supposed to help with stress from transplants and a multitude of other things. It's pretty much just vitamins from what i've read and its very cheap. I would say its worth a try. Other than that just make sure not over water and it may be in your best interest to invest in a better soil like Fox Farms. Good luck with your grow, ill be subbed

 

[nugslinger420]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

I can't believe I forgot to say this but pH doesn't matter very much when you are growing in organic soil if you have all the microbial life to support the soil. Read some of DocBud's organic grow journals and you will see exactly what I mean.

 

[cpluscote]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

Nugslinger420: Thanks a lot! I was at my hydroponics store while I read this response and got some superthrive for my next watering. DocBud's journals are filled with valuable information. I'll be reading through them for the next couple of days. The guys at the Hydro store told me that the plants should be just fine and that I should start worrying about anything for another week or so. I can't wait to have nice big healthy plants!

Question for anyone who might know: Should I hold off on watering these newly transplanted clones for a long period of time? Since their roots aren't developed very far into the dirt after less than a week, the soil is still pretty moist all the way down from the first watering. Unless I hear otherwise I'm going to hold off until it's dry....which seems like it might be a while.

Also, The humidity goes between 30% days and 70% night. I'm misting them with water a few times a day, but everywhere I've read says that level of humidity is pretty low, especially for young plants. My temps are really good, but if I turn the exhaust fan down to get the humidity up the temp is going to get too high. Any suggestions?

EDIT__Updated with new pics:

 

[shottafire]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

Im not sure why there is no perlite in your mix. I thought the miracle grow organic potting soil had perlite in it! How long has it been since transplant?
how high are you keeping your light from the plants?

 

[Aberration]

Re: Cpluscote's First Grow 400w Super Sour Kush - Sour Diesel - LSD Clones Soil 2012

Just my 2¢, I'm no pro.

The browning at the tips is nute burn. It's probably the soil mix. It's too stong. Run 12 gallons of pH-ed water through each pot, then feed them lightly. Wait a few days before you go again. That should leach a lot of the nutes out. After a flush you usually want to feed immediately because you just eliminated all the nutes and starving is no better than nute burn. Watch for it to happen again if this is the MG soil with long release ferts. You will have some pellets even after a flush and they will break up later and cause it to burn again.

Drooping/wilting, in my experience, seems to come in two types, and they mean the opposite thing IMO. Leaves that start to droop from the tip first are overwet roots. Leaves that droop at the stem and get all floppy or curly are underwatered - that is wilting. I've done both plenty and you can recover from some.

Just my opinion but I would start with smaller pots and transplant up as many times as you have time for. The roots will almost immediately go to the edges of the pot and then circle. They don't really grow back to the center if they can help it. But if you let the roots get to the pot and start to follow the surface and then transplant, they grow more root in the long run I think. Also this means that the soil is more evenly drained of moisture. With small root balls in great big pots, the soil out of reach of the roots will stay wet for a long long time, complicating things. Remember that damp stagnant soil is where that bad organisms grow.

Also, that last plant strain you mentioned is named after another mind altering substance. Don't refer to it by name in your posts. Management here doesn't want search engines to find hits for substances other than cannabis here and they may edit, delete, or reprimand over that. Just find some other way to reference it and you'll be good.

I'll hang around and watch. You'll do fine.

 

[cpluscote]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick responses!

Shottafire - I transplanted them two days ago and I have the light about 25-30 inches away because they're brand new to the 400w MH.

Aberration - I thought that MG's organic didn't have any ferts? PH/nutes shouldn't be a problem because I haven't altered any of that. As of now, all they've seen is organic soil and distilled water. You sure about flushing that much this early? I'm not doubting what you know from your experience. I'm just pretty sure that this isn't a PH problem. Maybe I should go buy a better PH tester.....


Thanks all! Back to misting.

 

[SmokzAlot]

My first thoughts are get your environment under control. To drastic of a temp and RH condition. Secondly I question your nute base with distilled water which is void of minerals like mag, iron, sulfur, and calcium. I don't know your soil or feed, but this is what I think of first. Is your medium or water highly alkaline? If water pH is too low it will cause ill issues. I would prefer a water mixed with tap, RO, or rain to achieve good water. Straight Distilled water to me is not a good choice. Are you making adjustments for it?

Let me add the pale new growth indicates a lack of something, to me anyway.
The droop looks like too much moisture.

 

[cpluscote]

I'm not making any adjustments to anything in the first week as far as nuts go. I was told that I should let them adjust to the soil for a bit and then take action if things aren't going well. Should I start the FF big bloom now or do I need to go buy some different nutes?

The humidity is like 30-50% during the day and 50-70% at night. The reason it drops so much during the day is because I have a 185CFM fan sucking the air out of the tent too quickly. I have a fan speed controller on the way but I fear that if I turn the fan down too much my temps will get too high? I don't think the droops are too much moisture because of this.

This all just seems very weird because 5 plants look great and the 2 lucy and one sour diesel just aren't doing well.

Gonna wait a couple of days and I'll repost pics.... hopefully with progress.

 

[Aberration]

Oh, sorry. I missed that it's the organic. I don't know anything about that soil and what it contains. I was thinking regular MG soils. But the browning tips is nute burn of some sort.

 

[Aberration]

That is definitely over-wet droop. Also you can tell it by the way the leaves get fuzzy-papery and they show their relief more distinctly, like they are accordion-folding along the side veins in each leaflet.

The light green on new growth is fine as long as it is truly new. The slightly older leaves staying that way is something to watch for though. They should green up pretty fast. Have you ever watched evergreens in the growth season? The new needles are light green there too, but quickly change. Same thing.

With soil I wouldn't bother checking the soil pH. I quit - it was pointless. My plants were super-healthy and I was busy trying to correct the pH of my soil. I couldn't keep the soil happy and the plants didn't even care. I was doing a lot of work for no reason. Correct based on what the plant itself shows you and skew the feed pH to match up with the nutrient you are trying to emphasize.

Waiting a week to see how they respond is always good advice though. Sometimes something will happen very quickly and you will lose with the wait and see approach, but it's almost always the better route. For most things, the plant's reactions lag after the events, so responding too soon is responding to the wrong signals, so to speak.

 

[cpluscote]

Thanks so much for all of the good info Aberration! Should I not be misting them a few times a day if they show droop like that? I've only watered once and the humidity is very low... around 30-40% during the day.

I really appreciated all of the advice guys. Thanks so much. More pics soon.

 

[cpluscote]

Alright, here are my girls 4 nights after transplant jo. Rewatered them last night with some FF Big Bloom and I think they're liking it. I also turned the exhaust fan off for all cycles(until I get a fan controller) and pulled the light up a bit yesterday to maintain 55-70% humidity both day and night. Temps are now 69-85. I have a few that look really good. Hopefully the droopers can recover!!

Still not looking good, but a bit better than she did last night.

Another drooper

Last drooper

A couple of the better looking ones:

 

[Twelve12]

You are doing a good job. Looking forward to your grow.

 

[shottafire]

Be patient and listen to those girls you will be good! you cant go wrong with all the help available to you here.

good luck buddy!

 

[cpluscote]

Ok, possibly some more problems. They may be related to the lack of nitrogen I think they may have had last week. Now, the plants all look more perky and healthy in general, but the ends of the leaves on almost all of the plants are starting to yellow. On the most healthy plants it's BARELY visable, but it's a big concern to see it on all of them.

For anyone who doesn't care to read through the previous posts. I transplanted these clones 6 nights ago and have watered them two times. The soil is organic, and the water I've been using is distilled. The only nute I have used was FF Big Bloom and I used a low, clone sized dose on the second watering.The 400w MH light is about 26-32 inches away from all plants. The Temp is between 70-85 night/day. Humidity is 50-70. I mist them maybe once or twice a day lightly.

From what I've read it seems like this could be a sulfur deficiency problem which can be easily fixed with epsom salts. Does anyone have any other thoughts or advice??

I appreciate all of the help that I can get. Thanks so much!

 

[cpluscote]

I'm about to go out and buy the salt to water them with today or tomorrow. Advice on whether I should/should not do it is apreciated. Hep me!

 

[Aberration]

The yellow on the tip in the first pic is nute burn. That's an early indicator, so don't be too concerned. That leaf is fine. Look at newer leaves. If they are doing this, lighten up (flush).

Could be sulfur. My advice? Get a balanced micronute of some kind and give it to them with their feed. I use something called TM-7. Google "tm-7 bioag" and follow the second result (a pdf) if you want the specifics. Disclaimer: I'm not selling the stuff, it's just what I buy. If you have something similar locally, buy that. It fixes micronute woes painlessly, and when you have one micronute deficiency, you can expect others as well. I think of it as a vaccine against minor issues with occasional booster shots.

 

[cpluscote]

Done! Just Gave them some FF Grow Big tonight. I called up a friend to ask these questions and he said basically the same thing minus the nute burn. He told me, that since I hadn't given them any nutes that they were lacking nutes and needed them badly... hence the distress signs. I'll post pics in a few days. Thanks for the help Ab!