My First Plant - Cookie Killer (Auto)

[Terrapin Station]

I sprayed the leaves with cal/mag yesterday, that was step #1.

Now, it's step #2: Evaluation

I don't know if it's wishful thinking but today the plant seems to have more overall vigor in its appearance. As of now the leaves affected with rust spots seem to have slowed with their wildfire like spreading of spots.

It's like I'm not freaking out about this issue anymore but I'm interested in a step #3 that involves nutrients. I liked @Trump 's suggestion about using a mix of the fish emulsion and 0-10-10 that I have here.

Any thoughts?

 

[Trump]

Looking at the photo it very much looks like a Calcium deficiency. The leaves that are getting crispy won't fully recover. The leaves that are just barely starting to show the deficiency should start to green up along with any new growth.

We should know in the next day or two.

 

[Roy Growin]

I also can’t remember who, but I’ve come across growers that have grown in miracle gro with little problem. Definitely older members. Maybe @Roy Growin ?

I've grown in UK equivalent compost from Westland
Grows good, but you have to take care because it tends to stay wet and doesn't release nutes fast enough, which is a problem to manage
It's just slow, so coco is hands down a better option

 

[Roy Growin]

I sprayed the leaves with cal/mag yesterday, that was step #1.

Now, it's step #2: Evaluation

I don't know if it's wishful thinking but today the plant seems to have more overall vigor in its appearance. As of now the leaves affected with rust spots seem to have slowed with their wildfire like spreading of spots.

It's like I'm not freaking out about this issue anymore but I'm interested in a step #3 that involves nutrients. I liked @Trump 's suggestion about using a mix of the fish emulsion and 0-10-10 that I have here.

Any thoughts?

Use a dry top dressing such as Fish/Blood/Bone or frass
Add Epsom or Lime separately after a few days with Myco if you use it

 

[Keffka]

@Keffka Right "999.99" . . . It's like I just went back and reread the info where I ordered my seed and saw a + sign that I didn't see when I ordered. When I ordered all I was focused on was "Comprehensive" life cycle: 8-9 weeks.

Just now I saw there is a + sign I missed the first time, 8-9+ weeks. It's like your mileage may vary.

Yep.. It’ll only be that way for a few more years though. Once legalization happens nationwide and this patchwork regulatory environment is usurped by federal regulations, a lot of that stuff is going to fall to the side.

A lot of people realize that so there’s a whole lot of people out there trying to make a quick buck, so always be on guard when dealing with cannabis related stuff.

Ultimately, I use trichome development to judge ripeness rather than a timeline. The breeder timeline is just a signal for me to start checking trichomes for ripeness.

Agreed to an extent. I use trichomes like a timeline. It gives me an idea of where the plant is at or should be at. I don’t use them for harvest signals though because I’m in a 5’x5’ indoor grow, which means very often the trichomes on top aren’t the same as those down lower.

There’s a big difference between running a whole entire grow op versus a personal organic grow though. I’ve said it before, if I had shareholders or patients, I wouldn’t be as laissez faire with my grows. You would have to have a system in place where you can give a better answer than “it’ll be done when it’s done”. Money doesn’t wait.

 

[Terrapin Station]

I've grown in UK equivalent compost from Westland
Grows good, but you have to take care because it tends to stay wet and doesn't release nutes fast enough, which is a problem to manage
It's just slow, so coco is hands down a better option

That's exactly right, this MG does stay wet too long. When I transplanted this seedling into it's final container I drenched it and it didn't need watered for 9 days after that.

 

[Roy Growin]

That's exactly right, this MG does stay wet too long. When I transplanted this seedling into it's final container I drenched it and it didn't need watered for 9 days after that.

You can chuck in some H2O2 to get some O to the roots, but it doesn't solve the problem
I reckon you might as well break it out, put it in some fresh medium

 

[Trump]

Yep.. It’ll only be that way for a few more years though. Once legalization happens nationwide and this patchwork regulatory environment is usurped by federal regulations, a lot of that stuff is going to fall to the side.

A lot of people realize that so there’s a whole lot of people out there trying to make a quick buck, so always be on guard when dealing with cannabis related stuff.



Agreed to an extent. I use trichomes like a timeline. It gives me an idea of where the plant is at or should be at. I don’t use them for harvest signals though because I’m in a 5’x5’ indoor grow, which means very often the trichomes on top aren’t the same as those down lower.

There’s a big difference between running a whole entire grow op versus a personal organic grow though. I’ve said it before, if I had shareholders or patients, I wouldn’t be as laissez faire with my grows. You would have to have a system in place where you can give a better answer than “it’ll be done when it’s done”. Money doesn’t wait.

I usually check a few places on the plant to determine what the overall ripeness of the flowers are. Some may not hit that 20% amber I like but that's ok. As long as I have a good average of areas that are ripe I can deal with a few areas that have only 10% or 5% amber.

 

[Keffka]

I usually check a few places on the plant to determine what the overall ripeness of the flowers are. Some may not hit that 20% amber I like but that's ok. As long as I have a good average of areas that are ripe I can deal with a few areas that have only 10% or 5% amber.

Part of my problem with trichomes is just seeing them. I’ve always shaked a little bit. Can’t hold my hand steady for the life of me. After Afghanistan it got worse plus I’ve got arthritis in my hands now so seeing trichomes is a literal pain to do.

I can snap pictures with my phone but to be able to get the level of detail I need to see the trichomes it’s just a small part of the plant, and takes so long to do, it becomes an entire production with tools and shit. It all is so time consuming, annoying, and physically aches for me that I rarely do anything more than a Quick Look to make sure they’re not clear.

 

[Terrapin Station]

Well, for all following this saga and eating popcorn the deed has been done . . . she took a turn for the worse today and almost all of the previously unaffected leaves became affected with rust spots . . . As much as I value all of the input graciously offered here I just made a cocktail of full strength fish emulsion, half strength 0-10-10, and cal/mag (put in the water first).

For good luck I used @Emilia 's watering method.

What could possibly go wrong with all of this and sugar mags playing on the Bose while you smoke weed and grow weed and talk about weed online all at the same time?

 

[Terrapin Station]

This is so wild . . . after the nutes even the sick leaves are standing erect. She hasn't looked this good since I first noticed this issue last Friday.

 

[Terrapin Station]

Continued improvement overnight . . . I'm so happy right now. She looks so good today in comparison to yesterday. If the top two sets of leaves will green up I'm going to call this nutrient cocktail a success. Hats off to @Trump for designing the treatment program!!

Thanks very much for your excellent guidance man!!!

 

[Terrapin Station]

It's like even the diseased leaves have perked up and have changed their mind about going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Terrapin Station]

One other thing. Miracle Gro uses time release to keep its soil fortified. It could be the time release isn't keeping up with the needs of the plant or....

I think this is exactly what happened along with no apparent good source of cal and mag in anything I was using.

With the N P K it's not that MG wasn't releasing the nutes as it had been all along its just the plant got too big and what had worked the first 6 weeks was not sufficient anymore.

I am grateful for the learning that has taken place through this issue.

 

[Terrapin Station]

The top leaves are turning green again, so I'm going to officially uncork the champagne on this Cal and overall nute def issue.

 

[Terrapin Station]

I've been made aware of how important taking care of the roots is recently. I've been considering that this might be the primacy of growing weed.

So I've been reading about creating a super soil and the pros and cons of different amendments.

What I'm getting at is as I write down what I want to include, spaghnum, coco, perlite this base is looking a lot like what I am using now (MG and coco).

My only problem with MG was my plant got too big and root bound and I wasn't experienced enough to know to start using nutes at week six. I can only imagine how it would look now if I would have started feeding it then.

If I did a 2nd plant, another "auto" same cultivar. And if I used a grow bag instead of plastic pot, and added Myko and more perlite (and coco) to promote better drainage while allowing oxygen to flow to the roots, and started feeding about week 6 . . . I think it's reasonable to say I would have significantly improved overall health and size of plant and yield.

I will try some of the popular cannabis centric soil mixes that have been recommended here going forward so I can see firsthand what it's like using these. But, I might have to try using MG plus additional perlite one more time so I can know firsthand about this as well. I will always wonder if I don't.

I have learned that some people are sensitive about MG for weed. I understand the environmental aspects of it, but based on my first experience I'm wondering how many of the people that say don't use it because it will be bad for your plant and maybe kill it have ever used MG before? In this sense are they just parroting things they have heard?

All things considered I am having a good experience with my modified 70/30 mix now and have to wonder about the percentage of improvement from dialing this in further, and doing this again with the above further modifications.

 

[Bill284]

Coco perlite and just feed nutrients daily.
No need to guess if your soil is working
Makes it easier to concentrate on growing roots and learning about the plant.
Soil is slow and can be unreliable when it comes to giving correct nutrients at the correct time.
Bless those that have perfected it, magicians.
I find it a good way to learn What she needs and when. @Bill284 Method


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[Terrapin Station]

"Soil is slow and can be unreliable when it comes to giving correct nutrients at the correct time." @Bill284

This is something I will remember. Your posts are always very well received.

 

[Roy Growin]

"Soil is slow and can be unreliable when it comes to giving correct nutrients at the correct time." @Bill284

This is something I will remember. Your posts are always very well received.

It also applies to mixing soil with coco, you don't gain any benefit by adding soil, you lose the benefit of coco/perlite

 

[Terrapin Station]

It also applies to mixing soil with coco, you don't gain any benefit by adding soil, you lose the benefit of coco/perlite

We talked about MG staying wet too long. But it just occurred to me I'm not home every day or weekend. If I'm understanding things correctly, I don't have the option to use a method that requires daily watering and feeding?

If I'm understanding this correctly, I'm limited to a media that can not need watered for up to 2 days minimum. Am I understanding this correctly please?