First time grower

[Peachapoil]

Hey what's up guys !
First, english is not my first langage so sorry if i make few mistake out there ...
This is my first grow and been into it totally. I first wanted to plant these baby outside since i find is the most cost effective way to do it but all of my neighbor can see in my backyards i told myself i was going to buy a tent setup ! After a few hour of reading on this site and rooming on the internet another few hour looking for deal, i bought a 4x4 tent from mars hydro, 192 reflector 5w chips, 6" fan with carbon filter, timer and a fan regulator !
Bought purple kush for CKS which i found good review on this site !

There come the grow... i did all what CKS told me to germinate my seed, then transplant them in solo cup waited 1 week and half and then put them in 1.5 gallon pot !

Strain - purple Kush
# of Plants - 5
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - Vegetative
Bucket Size - 1.5 gallon
Lights - 192 reflector (800w i think)
Nutrients - dehydrated chicken poop ��
Medium - potting soil
PPM - ?
PH - 7.0 from band (ph meter is on the way)
RH - 28% to 35%
Room Temperature - 75 to 81
Solution Temperature -65 to 69
Room Square Footage - 4' x 4' x 6.5'
Week - begining week 3 (day 17)

I found that they grow slowly but that does'nt really bother me, the real problem i see for now is yellow leaf and warp leaf i tried to read a dozen of post looking for my problem and found it might be simply iron deficit but we'll see ! I feed them this morning with 20-20-20 NPK organic nutes i found at a shop near where i live.

I also had both switch on on my relfector should i try to leave only the veg one on ?

If you have any tips you're welcome to tell and here's a picture of my setup;

So this is my grow tent that i'm proud of!

This baby is my biggest one but is yellowed ?

These one looks healthy

This one is the smaller one (My cat gave it a little boxing just before moving into tent)

 

[Scientific]

Hi -- Congratulations on your first grow.

I'm no expert, but I do have two quick comments: Your RH looks low. You might want to put a big pan of water in there or otherwise take steps to get it up into a healthier range. Also, maybe you just watered before you took the pictures? The soil looks wet, which can starve the roots of oxygen (which I just learned the hard way).

That's a nice looking setup you have there!

 

[Peachapoil]

Hey what's up guys again !
thanks scientific yeah i just watered them before taking picture !
My RH is going up to 36-40 it's better but not optimal.
Been out of town for a few days and i come back home to see that one of my plant does'nt get any better, been 2 3 hours looking on the internet watching videos and learning stuff but i can't really figure out what problem i have, i'm not sure if it's chlorine toxicity -
nitrogen defiency - nutes lock out - nutes defiency
I still have'nt received my ph meter

 

[Obi Wan]

I'm inclined to think your pH is off which is causing the twisting leaves. If the pH is off your plant cannot absorb the nutrients in the soil and it will build up to toxic levels (if you keep feeding) potentially burning your plants.

It looks like they have plenty of food. You just need to make it available.

/Obi

 

[Peachapoil]

Should i try to water it with distilled water next time?

 

[Canada Guy]

What kind of soil are you using? Ph meter is pretty critical if your serious about growing. Also 20-20-20 nutes are not designed for cannabis.

 

[Peachapoil]

Yep i may have learn the hard way that ph is critical, I ordered a 42$ ph meter that was recommended via another post i'm still waiting for it to get home. Curently in regular potting soil bought at the store and after reading more and more i decided to make my own super soil, which i think will not be perfect but really good since i almost have it all and it consist of ; quality organic compost ; worm cast ; bone meal ; blood meal ; mycorrhyzae ; perlite. I went to 5 differente plate to find dolomite, azomite, bat guano but could'nt find so i'll stick with this which i think is better than nothing

 

[Canada Guy]

Yep i may have learn the hard way that ph is critical, I ordered a 42$ ph meter that was recommended via another post i'm still waiting for it to get home. Curently in regular potting soil bought at the store and after reading more and more i decided to make my own super soil, which i think will not be perfect but really good since i almost have it all and it consist of ; quality organic compost ; worm cast ; bone meal ; blood meal ; mycorrhyzae ; perlite. I went to 5 differente plate to find dolomite, azomite, bat guano but could'nt find so i'll stick with this which i think is better than nothing

I think I spent $10 on my crappy analog ph meter. Sometimes you don't have to spend top dollar. I have used plain old potting soil, with no extra Nutes for the first 3-4 weeks and still ended up with happy healthy plants. Things will come around, these plants are very resilient. I accidently poisoned one trying to kill dandelions all the leaves fell off and died. Was a bare stick for over a month I stopped watering completely ignored it, one day I went outside and holy crap new growth. Turned out to be a male but still a survivor for sure.

 

[illizm775]

Hi the crappy ph pen route. I went through 4 crappy until i shelled aoyt 120$ for a combo meter. Ph.EC.TDS.Salenity. made by apera and comes in a sciency hand carry with all the bells and whistles. I use to get nute burn but now i can monitor the elctro coductivity. Now if someone could read me the directions that eould deff be a first. Sorry to butt in like this but use cheap until your comfortable to buy a expensive one because ive compared them side by side and they are almost alike but off in pointz. And the expensive ones you can buy replacement probes that was a deal shaker for me no more waiting just have an exra on hand.

good ph = happy plants

 

[Canada Guy]

Hi the crappy ph pen route. I went through 4 crappy until i shelled aoyt 120$ for a combo meter. Ph.EC.TDS.Salenity. made by apera and comes in a sciency hand carry with all the bells and whistles. I use to get nute burn but now i can monitor the elctro coductivity. Now if someone could read me the directions that eould deff be a first. Sorry to butt in like this but use cheap until your comfortable to buy a expensive one because ive compared them side by side and they are almost alike but off in pointz. And the expensive ones you can buy replacement probes that was a deal shaker for me no more waiting just have an exra on hand.

good ph = happy plants

That sucks about your ph pens. My cheap one works great, yes it's not accurate to .01 but it's plenty enough. Totally agree that ph is very important for happy plants 100%. I am also lucky that my tap water is perfect for cannabis (ph wise I mean).

 

[Peachapoil]

My plant seemed also a little overwatered because the soil it's into is keeping moist way to long so i'm waiting for it to dry which i think i will water in 1-2 days !
Until i get my ph pen i think i will buy distillated waterto water them and i will wait that they grow a few more week before transplanting them in new soil

 

[Peachapoil]

As of speaking today !
I finally received my ph meter, took it out of the box and then calibrate it (was 0.13 off) i tested my tape water and for god sake it was wayyyyy too off ph i raf 7.6 ph so calibrated my ph pen again to see if it was ok and it was 0.01 off then tested with ph band and ph drop liquid and both look like 7.5 - 7.6 so half of my problem is solve ! Those who told it was ph off were right, once the soil has dried a little more i will do a slurry test to check if soil ph is good.

After a few day without water my plant also seem to get better so overwater was the second cause !
She look happy and i might top it in few day the fifth node is developping

And my last question, i see people growing and their plant growing straight up but mine is just bushing up few leave are growing between node and main stem, should i leave them there or cut it ?

If you need clearer picture i can try to
Have a good day !

 

[Obi Wan]

I suggest giving them a little more time before topping. Keep doing what you are doing. No nutrients and try not to over water.

/Obi

 

[Peachapoil]

Been a few days i did'nt give you some news !! I'm frequently away for work so i'm not always home

This morning was day 27 since they sprouted, i decided to top them above de 4 node (exluding the first node with 3 leaf)

I will tansplant them next week in new soil and 7 gal fabrif pot, they finally sucked all of the water of the soil so i will water them tonight with plain water 6.4 ph.

Here's a picture of them in the morning and they seem happier than last week, thanks to all of you guys that helped me and for all the good information you can find on this site !

 

[Peachapoil]

Forget to put picture on the last post !

Forgot to mention i also got cared of humidity not perfect but better ! The 66 degres comes from outside when tested the new thermometer temps is a constant 74-76

 

[Peachapoil]

Few days did'nt post on there !!
After topping my plant they litteraly exploded !! Bottom node trying to reach top 1 set reached and the other one is near ! Today i did a little defoliation of what was under the canopy, i removed the set of fan leave that only have 3 leaves. I am going to transplant them this week end cause i see root at the bottom and the soil is drying so as soon as it's dry i'll transplant them inmy organic soil i made 3 weeks ago in 7 gal fabrix pot

 

[Peachapoil]

Day 35 since they sprouted
I translanted them in their final 7 gal pot with the organic soil i made, i'm trying low stress training with 2 of them and i will see what it do !

Nice root ball

The small one in the middle is going to my friend house.

 

[Peachapoil]

Day 45
Had a few problem with ph and nutes, i think there is a little bit too much of nutrients in my organic soils, 3 of the plant are doing very good and only one look to have nutes lock but it's getting better days after days ! They seem to love their new soil by the way

The two in the front and the one that i'm lst and the 2 in the back i simply prune them

 

[Radogast]

To simply prune them is more shock to their plant system, it is harder on them, than LST. LST is low stress, it is gentler.

That is what I think I know. Watching your plants, we will observe the difference, and see what we see.
Thank you for doing this experiment.

I am interested to watch the difference as they get ready to go into flower and go through 'the stretch' at the start of flowering time.

 

[Peachapoil]

The two in the front has been also prune but only once over the fourth node to limit their growth, the one in the back, prune once over the the fourth node then every node were prune over their fourth node ! We will see, i'll post a picture tonight i set up my scrog 4 day ago and left for the week-end !