Zabka & SO - First Attempt - Soil - Cali Jack/Blue Cheese - 2014

[Antics]

They're looking great so far.. and you're getting close to the time to top them

 

[Zabka]

There is a product called Azomite that a dearly missed member turned me on to.
It works as a great organic calMag you just scrape it into the soil.
I grow in coco which uses both calcium and Mg so I need to add with every watering.
I have noticed with the salt based calMag I taste it in the product even with a flush.
I have only a few harvests indoors ao everything I do is experimental.
There are so many different growing styles!!
Find what suits you and run with that.

I think you can start with 1/8 strength nutes.

Are you gonna top them?

Hey, thanks for the tip I had a quick gander for the Azomite, but it doesn't look like any UK firms hold stock and shipping costs more than the smallest bag...Will do some better research when I have a chance, and see if there are any smaller places who have it in store, or maybe some kind of UK equivalent...not likely, I know! I really wish it was possible to do this for a job. You'd need every hour in the day to check everything out properly, and still know next to nothing! I'd be worried about something added to the soil being difficult to remove later, and Azomite looked to be nitrate based. Is this an issue? Does the organic quality of Azomite make it less likely to build up in the soil?

Experimental is the word for it! Every time we try something I just pray we haven't killed them, haha. No chance would I be able to handle the stress of children!

Done (feeding), and done (manicure)! They seem to have really bushed out over the past couple of days, and looking at other journals growth seems to increase pretty quickly once plants reach this size, so we didn't want to leave it too long...and yeah, we wanted to do something!

Also I think you could concentrate more of that light if you put a hood over it.

We do have a cheap reflector over the CFL. You can see it on one of the group shots I'll post shortly. It is mirrored, which is unfortunate, but this was a budget setup out of necessity. I guess we could cover the open end, but it's so close to the door that I'm not sure if it would be worth it. The door definitely reflects some light - Winifred was by the door today, and when we opened the tent her fan leaf furthest from the bulb had angled towards the door instead.

The distance between reflector and bulb could probably be smaller, but we'd have to cut away part of the lamp fitting and it seems like a risk. It isn't ideal now, but it's at least fairly sturdy and safely wired. We do want to upgrade eventually, but CFLs seemed the best balance between cost and heat. We could probably have got a better reflector and one dual spectrum CFL for the same price, but I couldn't really find any trustworthy reviews of the dual spec vs seperate warm and cool bulbs. Does anyone have any input on that subject? If it's fine to use a 50/50 mix, we could buy a cheap fitting and stick our other bulb in the middle of the tent, or something.

Anyway, every gram we yield is money saved for better equipment! Everything we bought was pretty much the cheapest available hardware-wise. We got decent seeds, middling earth and good (read: expensive, hopefully good) nutes, but we love ordering and opening stuff, and getting some better gear eventually would be dead exciting. In any case, it's an engaging hobby. Gardening never really struck me before now, but I have little interest in decorative flowers, and had a tomato plant that died as a child (me, not the plant - I think it yielded at least one worm-ridden tomato). I guess we could grow veg in the tent, but given the space we have I doubt we'd make a crop last a week...and tomatoes aren't that expensive!

They're looking great so far.. and you're getting close to the time to top them

Thanks! That's great to hear, especially considering the state of your girls Hopefully ours are recovering from their little setback. We did attempt FIMming tonight...if it was too low, then a top it'll have to be! We're hoping we didn't leave too much intact - pics to follow the crappy update bit! The growth is so tight together, it was hard to single out the very top nub of growth. Is this normal or a sign of some nutrient deficiency (see side pics on day 25 & FIM pics on day 26)? We ended up topping Eulalia & Winifred at the eighth node, and Free Weed at the seventh.

Patience clearly isn't coming quick, but right now they both look to be bushing out, and we wanted to FIM them before training commenced, and we didn't really want to be starting training or cutting bits off during flower, and if all goes well we hope to start flowering in the next 2-4 weeks. Fingers crossed we didn't do it too soon - I know it's only really time we can lose, but the GF is even more impatient than I am, and she's talking about germing more already! They are currently growing more outwards and thickening up underneath than growing upwards...maybe topping now will further encourage the outward growth?

The first true leaves are still slowly perishing on Eulalia and Winifred. I've tried to gently pull them off (behave); the dead parts crumble away, but the green/yellow parts are still holding fast to the stems. I know nothing about plant growth, but the rate of new growth seems to exceed the rate of death, so hopefully the girls are finding some nutrition elsewhere than in these leaves. This is mere stoned theorizing, but if the leaves were already badly damaged, I reckon it makes more sense for the plant to consume them entirely and use the energy elsewhere...maybe?

The bottom two sets of leaves are the only ones with major damage, and it's stalled on the second node, which could suggest that the plant is controlling the decomposition and it's not down to pests or fungi. The tiny patches on the upper leaves have not increased in number and size, and there is healthy new growth on the junctions of the damaged lower nodes. All plants have nearly shed their cotyledons, and seem to be shedding translucent skins on their lower stems. Bag Seed shows very little yellowing, just some dark brown crispiness on the lowest leaf tips and a lot of deformity. That was some pretty messed up weed, though...not sure why she's still along for the ride aside from curiosity, because it's not a smoke I particularly want to repeat!

The soil was looking pretty dry already, and they'd grown well, so we tried them out with 25% strength nutes (grow A+B, Multi Total, Take Root). A couple of hours later they still looked happy and perky, so the moisture level looks all right. pH of the solution looked around a 7, maybe slightly more alkaline than plain water. Strangely, runoff was lower than usual. It's normally ambiguous between a 6 and 7, but this was clearly a 6 if not going down towards a 5.5. Runoff was the same between all three pots. Is it possible for the nutes to react with something in the soil and send pH all out of whack? We haven't added anything else to the soil, and I didn't notice this issue when watering with nutes before the transplant, although that mix was slightly weaker. GF reckons it could be faulty litmus paper. I'm not sure if it's possible to get faulty litmus paper...we'll have to keep tabs on the situation, it seems.

So...we tried to FIM all three plants today. It's probably better to show rather than tell on this one. We used some secateurs. I parted the leaves and she clipped the little buggers! We only got a before and after shot on Winifred, as we foolishly decided to do it before dinner and tensions were running high. But we do have after pics on all three plants. Let us know what you think! Hopefully we got the right place

There are a bunch of photos from day 25, too. I was going to try and be ruthless, but they just looked too pretty to leave out! Sorry that these are probably boring as hell to everyone else, but seeing these grow a little each day is addictive and awesome...and I'm really enjoying looking back on their progress already. I would love to get a time lapse camera on these things! Must check Youtube later for time lapse weed...

Day 25 - Eulalia

Day 25 - Winifred

Day 25 - Bag Seed

Day 26 - Winifred

Close up of Winifred's top before FIM

Winifred after FIM

Growth removed from Winifred

Day 26 - Eulalia

Eulalia after FIM

Day 26 - Bag Seed

Bag Seed after FIM

And group shots to finish:

Day 25

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 26 - Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

FIM aftermath x 3

Any comments and advice are welcome and appreciated as always!

Zabka & SO

 

[Zabka]

Hey, it's really late on day 30...or should I say really early on day 31? In any case, I should be sleeping, so this will be a relatively short and picture heavy update (GF is sleeping beside me, damn this comfy couch). The plants have continued to grow bushier. A couple of nights ago I removed the first fan leaves of Eulalia, which were both entirely yellow and black, and one off Winifred. The plants yielded them easily, stalks and all. The other damaged leaves still have some living tissue and held fast, so they're still there, but they're so small they don't really get any light and I'm not sure if it would be better to remove them.

We'd been trying to push the new growth to the outside and tuck in the bigger leaves to encourage wider growth, but this was causing some leaves to fold, so tonight I used nearly all our foamy wire stuff and began their training. A pretty pathetic attempt, because the branches are so short on the CJ and BC that they don't have much room to move. But I did manage to space out the leaves a bit and let the newer growth through.

Recovery on the attempted FIM sites appears good, if slow. Eulalia appears to only have one set of leaves coming out, so we might have buggered that one up. Winifred and Bag Seed appear to have at least two new growth points each. There were new branches sprouting between the 7th and 8th nodes when topping, so it's hard to see what's going on up there with all the new growth.

A couple of new blemishes have appeared - some on a bit of Eulalia's new growth and the rest on older leaves at the 4th and 5th nodes (some can be seen on leaf shots). Is it possible to damage leaves by handling them? Bag Seed is still undamaged apart from the very tips of the first leaves and has grown remarkably. When checking runoff pH today (~6, light pots, plain water given as we didn't know if the plants were hungry or burned and wanted to err on the side of caution) I lifted Bag Seed and saw long roots sticking out of the holes.

I had already tied Eulalia at this point and didn't want to drag her out of the tent again, but I checked under Winifred's pot and a few thin roots were just peeking out of a couple of the drainage holes. We're hoping to be able to pick up some new pots tomorrow and transplant again. It looks like it'll be a nightmare trying to get the roots out of those holes. The pot was cheap and crappy so all the holes were just drilled in by my girlfriend (yes, she is awesome).


Eulalia

Day 27

Day 28

Day 30

FIM progress

Before/after LST

Winifred

Day 27

Day 28

Day 30

FIM progress

Before/after LST

Bag Seed

Day 27

Day 28

Day 30

FIM progress

The great escape

Group:

Day 27 - Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 28 - Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 30 - Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia - Before LST

Day 30 - Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred - After LST

The main stems are too short and rigid for me to be confident in bending them. As soon as the higher fan leaves grow longer branches they're going down and staying down!

Now, cigarette and bed! Whoever thought working on Sundays would be a good idea is so very wrong.

Hope everyone's well out there. Thanks for reading - any response is welcomed.

Zabka

 

[Antics]

Normal handling shouldn't damage leaves. Getting nutes on leaves can cause damage or spotting to occur.
Your spots resemble a calcium deficiency though. I was unable to locate any information online about the nutrient and micro nutrient content in your fertilizer though.
But when you see spots or anything different appear, always check your soil PH again, before adding/reducing nutes.

When roots come through the bottom, it definitely means it's time to transplant, and for your next grow, keep the timeline in mind so you can transplant before that happens.

Sagging leaves are usually a sign of overwatering. Double check your soil moisture before watering again.

Trust me, THOSE stems will bend. Just do it gently, a little each day. Just make sure the stem has at least 5-7.5cm to make the bending easier.

Remember the Veg period is crucial for insane root growth. Water heavily, then let them dry out before you water again. Time between watering depends on the pot, soil mix, and plant.

Otherwise, they look really good. Nice and green, and all growing at about the same rate. Keep up the good work!

With a little practice responding to problems, you will get better. The first grow is always the hardest because there's so much to learn at once. After you move on to your second grow, you'll know a lot more, and it gets about 100x easier

 

[Zabka]

Normal handling shouldn't damage leaves. Getting nutes on leaves can cause damage or spotting to occur.
Your spots resemble a calcium deficiency though. I was unable to locate any information online about the nutrient and micro nutrient content in your fertilizer though.
But when you see spots or anything different appear, always check your soil PH again, before adding/reducing nutes.

When roots come through the bottom, it definitely means it's time to transplant, and for your next grow, keep the timeline in mind so you can transplant before that happens.

Sagging leaves are usually a sign of overwatering. Double check your soil moisture before watering again.

Trust me, THOSE stems will bend. Just do it gently, a little each day. Just make sure the stem has at least 5-7.5cm to make the bending easier.

Remember the Veg period is crucial for insane root growth. Water heavily, then let them dry out before you water again. Time between watering depends on the pot, soil mix, and plant.

Otherwise, they look really good. Nice and green, and all growing at about the same rate. Keep up the good work!

With a little practice responding to problems, you will get better. The first grow is always the hardest because there's so much to learn at once. After you move on to your second grow, you'll know a lot more, and it gets about 100x easier

Hey, good to see you here again! Thanks for checking in I am pretty baked right now, so sorry in advance if this in incredibly difficult to read...

We tried to be gentle, but there was quite a bit of friction between leaves when we were trying to bring younger growth to the front. I stabbed a couple of tiny leaves at the top of the plant with a sharp end on the wire (fans below FIM site) and they had to be removed. We also got soil on the leaves during the transplant. Only after two messy pot changes did I read the simple idea of cutting a circle of cardboard to cover the topsoil with a notch cut in to the centre for the stem to slot into. Wish I'd seen that before! We wondered if the soil could have burned the leaves a bit - it contains fertiliser.

It does resemble a calcium deficiency, but most images I see have a more uniform distribution of brown patches. Ours seem random in their location on each leaf, yet localised to certain areas of the two fem seeds - it seems to depend more on the placement of the leaves in relation to the light than whether growth is young or old, or branches off the bottom or top of the stem. We rotate the pots, so it makes sense that this would affect leaves 360 degrees around the plant. When we had smaller pots, BS was always a little further back than the others. We only swapped W and E from left to right, as we wanted them to get the most light (sorry Bag Seed). Comparing all group shots from day 18-31, the plant on one side was noticeably more droopy in most shots, regardless of if it was E or W, so there might be a problem spot in the tent. BS doesn't show much leaf damage, and its leaves have always had a softer texture and stood proudly more consistently than the others.

We blacked out the window to avoid people seeing the light when the tent door is open and forgot that we had shut it during a cold snap (night temps hit 20C at one point), so it was getting stuffy in the room and the tent was getting warmer. The door's usually shut to keep the cats away, so CO2 may have been depleted too. We opened the window and temps have dropped to 24-26. I'll be home at the end of the week following dental treatment, so hopefully I'll be alive enough to check temps just before lights on, when I assume they will be lowest. We've also raised the light slightly and angled the fans directly up at the bulb - when we moved to the second pots the fans were blowing across the soil and through the plants rather than above them, and the wind might have dried them further. BS was out of direct wind before, too.

The new fan angle and our slightly bigger pots after 2nd transplant mean that we must have two pots at the back and one at the front, so we've temporarily placed BS at the front and left the others a little in the shade. BS has since developed a small patch on one fan leaf which falls directly under the light, supporting our hopeful theory. If the leaves continue to get worse, we will probably raise the light further. Hopefully the fall in temp will help the girls in the next couple of days.

We've been religiously checking input and runoff pH on every watering. Water has been consistent, and we've only fed nutes twice - once at about 1/8 strength when yellowing first appeared in the first pots, and once at about 1/4 strength in the second pots. The nute solution showed as similar a pH to water as we could tell using the strips. A pH meter would help but we can't afford anything better than one of those crappy soil tester ones right now, and that is almost definitely worse than litmus paper. It's inconvenient in that relying on colour distinction renders it accurate to about 0.5ph. But it's probably not going to tell blatant lies like a dodgy, uncalibrated tester would.

I'm now unconvinced that pH is the culprit, though. While every liquid applied has had a pH of around 7, the runoff changed from a consistent 6-7 over all three pots and several waterings to around 6 after the second nute application (again, same result achieved for all three pots). Since these are the extremes of the acceptable range, it's possible that pH could have hit 5.7 or 7.3 and caused issues. But the small 'sticky' patches on the leaves have appeared in both situations. If the plants experienced lockout of nutrients at one end of the scale, shouldn't the symptoms have been different once pH dropped? Or is this runoff method highly inaccurate and we should be testing in another way?

I had a look into salt buildup and checked out our tap water quality. If everything in the water is listed in the table (which I assume it is - really comprehensive data, updated weekly, multiple tests, results for bacteria, arsenic, radioactivity levels...all sorts!) then ppm of plain water doesn't exceed 100 if all elements are present in their maximum levels. So it probably averages about 70ppm. Below is an amended list; I removed any data with zero/negligible values, unless they're listed as nutrients required by cannabis. Maximum conductivity is 152 us/cm. I know very little about what any of this means apart from that the water looks relatively plain. I don't think the sodium level is excessive but don't know for sure. If anyone has any idea, please let me know. This assumes that our plumbing is not affecting water quality. I did attempt to format the table but it evidently didn't work.

Parameter Min Average Max Units

Boron <0.0029 <0.0083 0.0127 mg B/l
Calcium 7.15 9.42 14.1 mg Ca/l
Chloride 9.26 10.0 10.8 mg Cl/l
Residual chlorine - Total 0.23 0.57 0.97 mg/l
Residual chlorine - Free 0.17 0.53 0.88 mg/l
Copper <0.0006 <0.0071 0.0195 mg Cu/l
Fluoride 0.0300 0.0400 0.0500 mg F/l
Total hardness 11 14 19 mg Ca/l
Iron <2.15 <6.05 46.0 µg Fe/l
Lead <0.0500 <0.341 0.820 µg Pb/l
Magnesium 1.40 2.59 3.10 mg Mg/l
Manganese <0.130 <0.540 3.33 µg Mn/l
Nitrite <0.0016 <0.0016 <0.0016 mg NO2/l
Nitrate 1.55 1.93 2.39 mg NO3/l
(Nitrate)/50 plus (nitrite)/3 0.0300 0.0382 0.0470 mg/l
Total organic carbon 0.670 1.02 1.40 mg C/l
Hydrogen ion (pH) 7.13 7.52 7.91 pH value
Sodium 13.4 14.3 15.4 mg Na/l
Sulphate 26.5 30.3 34.3 mg SO4/l

If it is a Ca deficiency, but not one caused by lockout, then obviously we need to get some in there! There's not much calcium in the water, so the plants aren't getting enough that way. Our soil contains dolomitic lime, which apparently slowly releases calcium and magnesium. I'm a bit wary of adding anything extra to the soil which we can't remove later. So far, we've decided we're going to feed nutes (maybe 1/3 strength) on the next watering and take it from there. If the food and reduced heat don't help, and pH is the same, then we'll go with supplemental Ca The plants have had water for two runs - we didn't want to chance it as the markings on some leaves resembled slight nute burn - but giving plain water hasn't really slowed or speeded the progress of leaf damage. It's very gradual, but is increasing slightly. We'll see what effect nutes have in a few days.

Thanks for bothering to look up our nutes! Info is sorely lacking. I hope this isn't a bad sign. The ingredients aren't listed on the packaging that I can see, and there's no solid evidence online. I have read a couple of comments that supplements are unnecessary, but how reliable that is I can't tell. The bottle, however, states that it contains all necessary micro and macro nutrients from the veg stage, so surely this must include Ca? There are hard and soft water versions - we got soft - and product descriptions for the hard one states that it's balanced to account for the high levels of Mg and Ca in hard water. The soft water version doesn't explicitly state the converse, but it was brought out after the hard version, so logically it should contain sufficient Mg and Ca. This is another reason I'm reluctant to jump in and add supplemental Ca - if the nutes have it too, it could get saturated later.

We'll have to try and see! I think we've probably been too careful with this grow, and it's mainly my fault from reading too much and worrying, haha. I understand why you'd assume we overwater from the pictures, but we've really made an effort not to - we usually wait a little extra, just to be sure. The pots are noticeably lighter, and the topsoil is bone dry. Soil underneath is cool but not moist. We never water before the lights go out. GF thinks that we wait too long! We watered when the LST was applied, then transplanted a day or two later. The soil didn't feel wet, and the roots were clearly visible all around the sides and bottom - they'd moulded to the shape of the pot, and the root ball almost filled it. They were thick, white, and looked healthy. There was a tiny handful of loose soil left at the bottom after removing each plant. Possibly lack of space has stressed them and made whatever they're experiencing now more extreme.

The new pots are 12L and hopefully will see us through to the end. I don't think bigger pots will fit in the tent! It's hard to believe they filled out those pots in less than two weeks. Anyway, we resisted the urge to water immediately, and the drier soil in the bottom of the pots probably pulled some moisture out of the root ball. Part of the pots (actually, buckets - there were no pots left at the shop) were translucent and roots were visible after just 24 hours. I covered the pots with foil to block light from the roots. The new pots are only about 2" bigger in diameter, but nearly twice as deep.

The plants had been released from their wires while repotting, so the leaves looked a bit sad at first, but a few hours later they looked much happier. We're going to leave the training until the branches get a bit longer, to avoid the leaves rubbing together too much. When we opened the tent the next day, they were drooping again. We knew it wasn't too much water as we hadn't given any, and the leaves on E and W always feel a bit dry despite BS usually having the wettest soil. We gave 1-1.5l water per pot until it dripped out the bottom (5-10% runoff). pH was around 7 going in and 6 coming out again.

A day later after water and slightly cooler temps, the plants look much better in terms of drooping, but Eulalia's patches are getting slightly worse. I'm a bit annoyed now that we didn't give food with the water, but we didn't want to shock them while FIMming or transplanting. They must be pretty damn hungry by now - our soil does contain some nutes but I think the only N in there is some earthworm castings.

This is going right off course. My response to Antics has got all jumbled up with this longwinded update. I'm sorry, man. Thank you for your support and the good words. It's great to hear they look all right to someone with beautiful plants like yours, second grow or no! I hope you're right about the problem response part. Our default response so far has been to do nothing. Although...they haven't died yet, so maybe it's not the worst tactic! Saying that, we did alter their environment quite drastically in the last four days - two brief stages of training, new pots, less wind, less heat, more CO2, and slightly less intense light. If they improve, we'll never know which was the most important factor. Ah well. If they live, we're happy!

Pictures to finish, yay!

Day 31

Slightly more aggressive LST which lasted all of a few hours before we changed pots. D'oh. Also, slightly newer FIM pics...

Winifred

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Group

We didn't get any root pics, but here they are in their new homes after a rough day!

Looking much happier after a few hours settling in

Day 33

They drooped again by the next morning. We watered late at night and reduced heat, and within 12 hours opened the tent to this

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

New leaf shots - first two are the second set of fan leaves to be removed from Eulalia. The yellow slowly spread and necrosis followed. It'll be interesting to see if any new leaves yellow now these are gone...Most leaves pictured here have been shown damaged in previous updates.

Any input is welcomed. If you made it to the end of this, you deserve a biscuit! Go and eat one, now.

Thanks for reading/looking, as always. Sleep well, folks...

Zabka & SO

 

[Antics]

Try a new grow method. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Multiple transplants complicate things, as you start training, then stop to undo it all for a transplant. I start my seeds in soil, in 3.5"/9cm pots. That's it. No paper towels, no water soaks, blahblahblah. Just lightly scarify the seeds and I'm done.

When I have 4 full leaves I transplant to final pots. No in between stuff. Then I can start my training and not be interrupted by a transplant.

This is your first grow, don't get too worried about all those numerical nutrient values. I don't look at any of that shit in my grow. The leaves and PH tell me what the plant needs. That's it. I use a cheap inaccurate PH/moisture meter, and simple CFL bulbs.

Nute strength should be mixed according to the age of the plant.

I use tap water to water my plants too. Soil is simple potting soil with no nutes, and perlite mixed in.

When you see problems, check your PH of the SOIL. and adjust accordingly in your next batch of water/nutes. If the PH is a little higher than 6.5, I adjust nutes PH to be a little lower than 6.5 to balance it out. I've been doing this my entire grow, and haven't had an issue.

New pots of 12l / 3.1 gallons are ok, and will support about 36"/90cm of plant height (untrained). When you top and LST, just because the plant stays at 30-45cm, doesn't mean 1-1.5 gallons/3.7-5.8L is big enough.

Your yellow leaves looked like a Nitrogen deficiency. If you see no more, don't worry about it.
The mild spotting you see, just keep an eye on it and see if it advances or stops. In most cases, most problems on leaves will not fix themselves or go away.

Remember everything you're doing on this grow, and change it up for your next grow to make life easier. Instead of 3 plants, go with 2, or even 1.

And don't forget this topic: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know Everything you NEED is in there.

If it's not in there, it's not necessary for a successful grow

I just harvested over 30 grams from my first plant of my current grow, and I expect to see at least 40-45g from Cali Jack when I harvest. With just CFLs, basic nutes, and a little soil.

 

[Zabka]

Try a new grow method. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Multiple transplants complicate things, as you start training, then stop to undo it all for a transplant. I start my seeds in soil, in 3.5"/9cm pots. That's it. No paper towels, no water soaks, blahblahblah. Just lightly scarify the seeds and I'm done.

When I have 4 full leaves I transplant to final pots. No in between stuff. Then I can start my training and not be interrupted by a transplant.

This is your first grow, don't get too worried about all those numerical nutrient values. I don't look at any of that shit in my grow. The leaves and PH tell me what the plant needs. That's it. I use a cheap inaccurate PH/moisture meter, and simple CFL bulbs.

Nute strength should be mixed according to the age of the plant.

I use tap water to water my plants too. Soil is simple potting soil with no nutes, and perlite mixed in.

When you see problems, check your PH of the SOIL. and adjust accordingly in your next batch of water/nutes. If the PH is a little higher than 6.5, I adjust nutes PH to be a little lower than 6.5 to balance it out. I've been doing this my entire grow, and haven't had an issue.

New pots of 12l / 3.1 gallons are ok, and will support about 36"/90cm of plant height (untrained). When you top and LST, just because the plant stays at 30-45cm, doesn't mean 1-1.5 gallons/3.7-5.8L is big enough.

Your yellow leaves looked like a Nitrogen deficiency. If you see no more, don't worry about it.
The mild spotting you see, just keep an eye on it and see if it advances or stops. In most cases, most problems on leaves will not fix themselves or go away.

Remember everything you're doing on this grow, and change it up for your next grow to make life easier. Instead of 3 plants, go with 2, or even 1.

And don't forget this topic: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know Everything you NEED is in there.

If it's not in there, it's not necessary for a successful grow

I just harvested over 30 grams from my first plant of my current grow, and I expect to see at least 40-45g from Cali Jack when I harvest. With just CFLs, basic nutes, and a little soil.

Hi Antics, congratulations on the result! I remember you were hoping to see over the 1oz holy grail per plant...well chuffed for you! If this update gets written before I fall asleep, I'm heading over to check out your pics. I think Grim has a new update I need to look at too, if my hazy email checking serves me correctly. Thanks for stopping by both, and for the advice again Antics! I haven't been around for a few days - recovering from a few nasty tooth extractions which have left me in a haze of pain and sucky prescription drugs, with a bit of MJ on the side. GF has been looking after me, the cats, and the plants admirably. She even fed me smoke like a small bird when I was afraid to inhale and risk dry socket. This woman is amazing! You can vomit now...

Yeah, it looks like our attempt to KISS failed I suppose, since this is the first time, I just want to look at every possibility and record as much information as possible. The water quality info just set my mind at rest that we weren't overloading them with crap. We restrained ourselves and have actually done very little to the plants...the overactivity has largely come from reading and thinking about irrelevant stuff (and unfortunately for you guys, writing about it!). We will take this, at least, to the next grow - don't worry so damn much if they're not at death's door! Putting the wires on before changing out the pots was indeed foolish. We had hoped to finish the grow in the second set of pots - the black ones were around two gallons, so we figured they'd do plants of about 2 feet - but we did fail to account for the bushy growth requiring extra roots, just as a taller plant would.

We will definitely heed the advice about fewer plants. We might just germ our one good seed on the next grow. As long as it doesn't perish, it should do better alone. The girls look pretty crowded already. The pots only just fit in there at the minute. If all three survive, we'll have a damn thick canopy Multiple strains is a pain in the arse, too. We've noticed them all reacting a little differently, and it hasn't made issues easier to diagnose. We will also look for soil with minimal added nutes, so we've got a better idea of what they're eating. Maybe just something for seedlings mixed with Perlite. Our soil has a great texture, but I can't tell what food they are and aren't getting from it. Soilless would be easier in this sense, but we'd really have to get an accurate pH tester then, and we have full bottles of soil nutes, so it'll probably be soil for the next few grows...

I know cheaper pH pens exist, but I would worry that they'd give an inaccurate picture based on some reviews. In our grow, pH has varied but never given us an excessive value (e.g. 5 or 8). On the last feeding (50% nutes, pH approx. 7), we didn't wait for all the runoff to drain through immediately. What came out first showed about 6. When we tested the dregs which had run out into the saucers after an hour or so, sitting with some of the soil, it looked more like a 6.5. Perhaps the peat in the soil lowers the pH, but as the lime reacts more slowly it buffers it more gradually, or something. I don't know.

Anyway, to cut an excessively long story short, the plants have had lots of different issues, but they've not been consistent with changes in pH. I worry about the following scenario: if the pH pen was off by a point, giving a low reading which I saw as absolute (say, 5.5 when it's actually 6.5), and the plants had showed deficiencies which could be caused by low pH but were actually caused by insufficient food, then I'd have raised the pH without giving extra food and possibly damaged them further. The strips aren't any more accurate, but would show if the result was totally off, and don't push us into aggressive action if it's in the right kind of range. I realise, though, that in the above scenario, it'd be possible with the strips to ignore a pH issue, feed nutes and worsen the lockout. So far, we seem to have been lucky enough to avoid this, but erring on the side of caution has resulted in underfeeding. Overall, we'd prefer to pay once and get a more accurate tester when we're able to.

The little buggers have already broken through the bottom of the new pots, just over a week into transplant. The roots aren't totally wrapped round the bottom of the pots; aside from the ones protruding through the holes, there are only a few fat ones visible, so we hope they'll last to the end now. I guess the plants are quite a bit thicker, and the tops have gained some height. We stuck the training wires back on as soon as the branches were long enough to reach the edge of the pots. Then we fed them, because we're truly stupid, and some leaves got burnt from touching the solution and wet soil. We fed a 50% solution of Grow A & B and Multi Total, and 100% strength Take Root. Looks like the previous damage was a deficiency, because it slowed/stopped, but we did notice slight nute burn to some leaf tips and a tiny bit of clawing on Winifred - maybe N overload from the veg food and worm castings?

The soil is dry, so they will be given water later. We're going to change to 12/12 and the other spectrum tonight, because they're using about 1/3 of the available grow space, excluding the space needed for the light and pots. We've seen some odd growths on Bag Seed and Winifred at the FIM point; we don't know if these are preflowers or just weird damaged growth. Opinions would be warmly received

I have been referring back to The Guide - thanks for the reminder - and intend to do so on any subsequent sick days I take. I hope there aren't many, because I need to be earning money, and I get cabin fever spending too long on the couch! One thing I can't find (unless it's under a different heading - I will keep looking) is definitive advice on switching veg and flower nutes, and the next time we feed will be in flower. There is a section on not giving too much of any one thing and still supplying N albeit in lower amounts, but from reading journals people seem to have different ways of changing over. Any ideas? Some seem to give veg food during the stretch to avoid deficiency later, but if we have a little too much N already this might not be a good plan...could we combine, say, a 25% concentration of both to reduce nitrogen levels, or should they not be mixed?

Pictures! More of a gap than usual because GF doesn't take too many and I have been couchridden for some time. You can see the difference, though! On the individual shots, the second pics were taken after turning the plants around; you can see how they're leaning into the light and putting the back leaves flat to get everything they can from the walls. Fewer plants would definitely be better with this light.


Day 34

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 39

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Eulalia

Winifred

Bag Seed

Photos from Day 39 (except first of Winifred, Day 34) showing odd growths at the FIM node. Nothing showing on any other nodes except stipules and new leaves. Neither growth appears to be 'on a stick', so hopefully these are not males if they are preflowers. Which they probably aren't! It is kind of hard to see anything; if nobody can make it out, let me know and I will do a crap Paint job.

Winifred

Bag Seed

Eulalia - nothing showing here except a failed FIM. We have two bigger tops from the new growth under the FIM, but one crappy weakling shoot from the stem itself.

We will be back in a few days to update on the switch! Now I need to try and eat something so I can take more of these shitty tablets...maybe a spliff first...

Thanks for reading! Any questions or comments or advice...hit me/us

Zabka

 

[Antics]

Thanks man, it was an awesome achievement for me, since my first grow ended up real light on yield.

Well you already know a great medicine to use for pain

Keeping an eye on all that stuff doesn't hurt, but just don't overwhelm yourself. Growing should be relaxing, enjoyable, and fun. Just make sure you don't lose those parts of it.

I see you're learning fast lol. I only do a maxiumum of 2 plants/2 strains. It's much easier to manage. at least for now while I'm still learning all the tips and tricks. But I'm also looking forward to my single plant grow next round, I think that's going to be fun being able to focus 100% of my attention on 1 plant.

Roots already through again? WTF! Get an 18-20 liter pot and call it a day already lol.

Nute burn is just a sign to back off the strength a little bit. Nothing to worry about if you take the appropriate actions when you see it appear.

The weird growth could be new branches tryiong to grow. Let them grow and see what happens. I had 2 tiny branches end up growing out of my FIM site, and should have a few grams on them.

Keep up the good work though, you type all this stuff, then I get down to the pictures, and your plants look great lol. Worry less, enjoy more.

 

[Antics]

Hey hows the grow coming along?

 

[Zabka]

Thanks man, it was an awesome achievement for me, since my first grow ended up real light on yield.

Well you already know a great medicine to use for pain

Keeping an eye on all that stuff doesn't hurt, but just don't overwhelm yourself. Growing should be relaxing, enjoyable, and fun. Just make sure you don't lose those parts of it.

I see you're learning fast lol. I only do a maxiumum of 2 plants/2 strains. It's much easier to manage. at least for now while I'm still learning all the tips and tricks. But I'm also looking forward to my single plant grow next round, I think that's going to be fun being able to focus 100% of my attention on 1 plant.

Roots already through again? WTF! Get an 18-20 liter pot and call it a day already lol.

Nute burn is just a sign to back off the strength a little bit. Nothing to worry about if you take the appropriate actions when you see it appear.

The weird growth could be new branches tryiong to grow. Let them grow and see what happens. I had 2 tiny branches end up growing out of my FIM site, and should have a few grams on them.

Keep up the good work though, you type all this stuff, then I get down to the pictures, and your plants look great lol. Worry less, enjoy more.

Hey hows the grow coming along?

Hey, and sorry for the ridiculously long absence. Things were a bit crazy with house guests and crap extraction recovery, and the grow took a slight back seat; the journal by extension. The plants haven't been neglected, but we haven't obsessed about them and have pretty much let them do their own thing. Bag seed is suffering somewhat with crispy leaves, and Eulalia's are showing some patching, but we have three plants with buds growing on them, which is more than we ever hoped for. We figure that we can (and still should) read as much as possible, but everyone's situation will be different. So we'll go minimal on this grow, then try adding supplements or altering the environment next time around if we experience similar problems; call this a control run of sorts! Thank you for the positive words, Antics. We did read the post before a long period of inactivity, and also saw your post-harvest pictures...both raised our morale.

We changed the lights the night of the last post (Day 39 of veg), which puts them at around 7.5 weeks flowering (Day 53 of flower...we think). They all showed sex around day 7-8 of flowering. Growth was intense over the next couple of weeks. Eulalia (CJ) stands tallest, then Winifred (BC) and then the bag seed. We have raised the pots a bit to try and level the canopy. Humidity was really high (65-75%) until recently, but the sensor was at the bottom of the tent. We raised it to canopy level, and after some adjustment of the fans to improve circulation it's now reading 50-55% - hopefully we'll avoid mould.

Feedings have come to 70% of the minimum recommended strength. W showed minor nute burn at leaf tips after the last feeding. We've been alternating food and straight water and have given double water if they look a bit overfed. Bag seed started to get weird rusty patches which spread over the fan leaves on the main colas. These have appeared on Eulalia more recently, but aren't as extreme or widespread. We don't want to remove the leaves as they supply the biggest buds and do still have some living patches. It could be some deficiency or pH or the light or heat or lack of circulation or some kind of weird mould or anything, I guess. They are still alive, and that's the main thing. We don't really want to introduce additional nutrients at this late stage, not being certain what the issue is. Probably we should have used some calmag much earlier. We will try next time, if presented with similar symptoms. Anyway, the buds are still growing and look all right, despite being somewhat smaller on the bag seed. It's all part of the learning experience, right? Weird that all the plants have been treated in the same way...then again, three different strains probably isn't helping matters!

Eulalia's biggest buds look beautiful; frosty and chunky and dense. Winifred's are sparser and thinner, but extend much further down the branches and smell citrusy and fresh. Bag seed just looks like some average weed, and smells like it. It did smell a bit musty for a time, but the buds are firm and do appear green rather than brown or off, so hopefully it will produce some smokeable bud.

We removed the training wires a couple of days after changing the light, as the plants began to stretch and got too big for the wires, and we had no more wire. We were going to use ribbon or something similar, but the plants filled the horizontal space very quickly. We still have an extra 6-8" above the light, so we judged it well in that sense, but three plants is simply too much for such a small space. We had thought about using the limited area to our advantage and using a SCROG, but this would have limited access to the plants too much for our liking as we couldn't have moved the pots to water etc. We were too greedy, I guess, but we didn't expect three surviving girls at this stage! We abandoned the training, because there simply isn't space to move things outwards any more. Leaves are gradually dying from the lower branches where light doesn't penetrate, but not at an alarming rate.

Hopefully this doesn't sound as pedantic as previous posts. Although the journal is enjoyable, I do tend to get too carried away and overthink things. We have enjoyed tending the plants more as we have worried less. The GF insisted that we move the pots less often because it upset the plants. They did seem a bit happier afterwards, although I still turn the pots about occasionally, and try to move fan leaves to let the lower buds get some light as often as possible.

The buds are awesome; watching them grow is so satisfying. Hopefully we will achieve at least 10-15g per plant. This a really rough estimate as I have no idea how much the buds will shrink once dried, but we'd be really happy with that for a first result, considering the hard time the plants have had! They are by no means the biggest, but we are dead pleased regardless. And it smells strong as hell in the tent, too!

The roots occasionally poke through the bottom of the pots, but not to the extent that we want to change them. The roots which come out sometimes go a bit brown, but occasionally there's a tiny bit of runoff in the saucers which these roots sit in. All the roots visible through the bottoms of the buckets are white and healthy looking.

Sorry this is so sporadic; too much to cover! We got a tiny 60X loupe to check out the trichomes. They all appear clear for the time being. Try as I might, it was impossible to get a picture through it. The Gf picked up a really crappy 2X magnifier from the market, the type people use for road maps, and that was the best we could achieve by way of magnified pics. I've tried to send myself the pictures from the last couple of weeks, but the email's been lost in cyberspace for about an hour, which is not only making me a bit paranoid (probably stupid, I know) but also hindering this post and increasing the amount of crap written.

So, I will finish with the photos we'd previously uploaded; these run up to day 28 of flowering. Where possible, I've identified the plants, but haven't if there was any uncertainty. As soon as the others arrive I'll get them up here.

Day 3 - Flower

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Winifred

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 5 Flower - group, as above

Day 8 Flower, with first pistil shots (quite hard to see, sorry)

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Winifred

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 10 Flower - canopy

Day 23 Flower

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 24 Flower

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Winifred

Day 28 Flower

I know, too many pictures, but it's so exciting! This is ace, even though the poor things look abused as hell (you can't really see the leaf damage on pics in this post as this came later, but they are still overcrowded in our opinion). I can't believe they are still alive! No signs of pollen sacs thus far, despite the stress. So thank you Antics and everyone else who's stopped by and chilled us out; we would have killed the buggers already without you guys, and the resources on this most excellent website. Hopefully we still won't, until the time comes!

I will endeavour to be less lazy updating this as we approach harvest, and will get the newer photos up as soon as I'm able. Probably the worst journal in the world...

Thanks for reading, and happy smoking. Gf made a new friend recently, and have been enjoying some nice buds (apparently Power Flower, but I wouldn't know it from Adam). This is making the wait somewhat easier...

Zabka & SO

 

[Zabka]

Hey, so the photos never materialised the other night...I might have somehow deleted the email before sending it. No matter; I sent them again, and here they are (yet another sick day, this time with the shits and a cold. Good thing cannabis aids all ills...apart from maybe a cough.) Again, there are really too many pictures to justify considering how crappy the plants are, but never mind, it makes us happy...these take us up to day 51 of flower, which was two days ago now. I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing leaving these crispy leaves on the bag seed. Any suggestions regarding this or anything else are welcome.

Day 31 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 32 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Eulalia, Bag Seed, Winifred

Day 37 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Winifred, Eulalia, Bag Seed

Day 43 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 45 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Day 49 Flower

Winifred

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 50 Flower

Winfred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Day 51 Flower

Winifred

Eulalia

Bag Seed

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Thanks for looking! Will try to update somewhat more regularly - sorry for all the nearly identical pictures...

Zabka & GF

Tried to preview that and got this message...

You have included a total of 61 images in your message. The maximum number that you may include is 50. Please correct the problem and then continue again.

Oops! I'll whittle it down somewhat and try again!

...Yeah. That is it whittled down. Apologies. But YAY! I reckon there's maybe 2-3 weeks to go, probably the bag seed first - any outside opinions? If this is right, should we feed again or leave them be? Don't want to starve them but Bag Seed could just be nute burned to the max and we don't want to kill her completely - she's had a hard enough time as it is...

Leaving. Now.

Zabka & GF

 

[Zabka]

I know, this is ridiculous after not being around for so long, but I couldn't resist faffing about with all of those pictures...this shows how they've grown in increments of 6-15 days, and it looks all right if you ignore the crispy death towards the end

Makes for a quicker summary than this journal. OK, no updates now until there are noticeably new pictures!

Zabka & SO

 

[MikeTbob]

Have you checked for spider mites or thrips? You'll need a magnifier to see them. Other than that they look pretty good. I think you'll make it to the end if you can figure out the problem.

 

[Antics]

Most of the time you can figure out your own problems using these topics:

Plant Abuse Chart
Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial

Bag seed looks like nute burn, Winifred looks like minor nute burn on the tips, and Eulalia looks like Calcium def. and possible Magnesium.

Have you checked your PH lately? There could be PH lockout occurring that is simulating the deficiencies as well.

 

[Zabka]

Hey, thank you both for your input - greatly appreciated

Have you checked for spider mites or thrips? You'll need a magnifier to see them. Other than that they look pretty good. I think you'll make it to the end if you can figure out the problem.

We were worried about this when Bag Seed took a turn for the worse. You can see that it appeared quite suddenly. We couldn't see any creatures or eggs on the affected plants, and since our little 60x loupe (cheap, but does the job) arrived we have checked them again. Nothing visible. It's really weird. It's possible we've missed something, but I would expect the other two to be in a comparable state by now - Bag Seed's leaves are all mixed in with the two others due to lack of space.

Eulalia is exhibiting similar symptoms, but progression has slowed. Bag Seed still has a few unaffected leaves, and the worst ones haven't died any more, but the dead portions are totally dry and crispy now. Would you recommend removing the affected leaves in case it is some kind of parasite we've missed?

Most of the time you can figure out your own problems using these topics:

Plant Abuse Chart
Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial

Bag seed looks like nute burn, Winifred looks like minor nute burn on the tips, and Eulalia looks like Calcium def. and possible Magnesium.

Have you checked your PH lately? There could be PH lockout occurring that is simulating the deficiencies as well.

We've referred to the problem section a lot, but it is pretty difficult to narrow it down even with the excellent information available. And we really have looked, too! Looking very briefly through both those guides (we have read them before, of course), the progression of the crisping has, at various stages, resembled:

light burn
Mg deficiency
Ca deficiency
pH issues
heat stress
phosphorous deficiency

and possibly others. It's hard to tell when the photos on each guide differ - look at the pictures of Mg deficiency, for example. It's possible that these are different stages or extremes of deficiency, but they don't resemble each other much. In no way am I trying to devalue these excellent and informative aids, or reject your assistance, but merely to show that we have already tried to diagnose the plants with these, and other, similar tools, and are just damn confused - we are not lazy, just really inexperienced!

When the plants were in veg, we were uncertain whether issues were down to pH, hot soil, cal/mag or other deficiency, or light burn in certain areas. Now we don't know if this is the same issue having got worse, or something new. We're just wary of leaping on one solution and 'correcting' it, but getting it wrong and stressing them out more.

We erred on the side of nute burn rather than malnutrition due to the burned tips on the Blue Cheese, and gave water only for two runs. We're still being careful not to overwater - the plants are getting thirstier and it takes 3L+ to soak each 12L bucket, but as the light has been raised the bottom of the tent has cooled, and the fans don't blow directly over the soil any more, so we're going 4-6 days between waterings.

Although it may not look like the issue's improving, it's slowed since this tentative treatment. I understand why you'd think nute burn and cal/mag respectively, but weirdly when Bag Seed started out it looked just like Eulalia on the last picture there, with the yellowing and dried-looking leaves. This mainly appeared in the middle of the leaves, which would suggest cal/mag def more than nute burn. But later, the tips died too. Possibly phosphorous deficiency which began in flowering? Oddly, the issues in veg appeared largely at the bottom of the plant, but in flower spread from the highest fan leaves. It has always appeared on oldest growth first.

Bag Seed has constantly held one positon under the brunt of the bulb, and Eulalia, despite our attempts to level the canopy, still stands a bit taller. I'm still not sure if the light has had something to do with this. Bag Seed did worsen when we raised it up to the same level as the others, although this could be coincidental. The airflow around the canopy was poor for some time, as we had the fans over the intake vents in an attempt to draw in cool air and correct high temps in late summer. We moved the fans to blow over the canopy and bulb, while sucking cooler air from the general direction of the vents. This was around the time of the straight waterings. Looking back over the pictures, the branches nearest the light have the crispiest leaves, but this could also be down to nutrient mobility, I suppose.

It would be nice to be able to afford a more experimental approach, changing one variable at once to truly test the effects, but life's too short...for these girls right now! We tried to solve as many issues as we could without adding something to the soil we can't remove later. Ca and Mg have been mentioned in this thread many times, so we'll have to look at sourcing something ASAP, but I don't know how much longer we'll be feeding for...even if we don't get it before all the girls have started their water diets, we can include it on the next run and see how this affects things.

I guess the pH option would explain how this resembles both burn and deficiency. We haven't tested in a while, to be fair. We were running a bit low on test strips, for one, and every time we tested the result was the same, so it seemed a bit wasteful. Then I watered alone for a good few runs, and my pathetic girly arms just weren't up to holding the wet pots up and catching the runoff on the strip. Those things are heavy, and I have no upper body strength - if I have to carry something, I use my shoulders/hips/whatever else is available! We filled a good few bottles tonight and will water tomorrow, so we'll test then, and maybe try and get some muddy soil samples for a better picture. I am skeptical as to how easy it will be to check pH on a colour changing strip when the mud will be brown...but we can try!

We were worried about the possibility of the buds being affected by the browning sugar leaves, and the darker colour and musky smell of Bag Seed had us fearing mould following high humidity. So we made an executive decision to cut one of the buds at the widest point, to make sure it was free from anything which might infect the other plants. Fortunately, it was bright green and juicy looking all the way through, and smelled delicious, albeit grassy. Trichomes appear mainly clear, with maybe a few cloudy ones. I have pretty crap eyes, and thought I might have spied an amber or two in the midst of the bud, but then again it could just have been an orange pistil behind some clear ones

We know it is not advised to butcher plants in the last stages of flowering, but we didn't want to jepoardise the whole grow for the sake of the free seed we'd planted on a whim (we love you, Bag Seed!) and otherwise saw it as an opportunity both to learn something and to test the smoke at this early stage. The bud is now sitting in a homemade bag, crafted from a bit of printer paper.

I had removed a tiny piece of popcorn from lower down the plant a week or two ago after spotting what appeared to be seeds or some kind of pollen sacs emerging under it, but they were actually really swollen empty calyxes, whose pistils had been hidden by leaves or something. We'd left this in the makeshift bag for a few days, and tried it today, before taking the half bud. It didn't grind up too well but was tiny. It smelled weirdly peppery, and tasted a bit grassy, but it must have dried fast because it was so small. We got a bit of a giggly buzz off it, which was pleasant but didn't last long. It was a bit perfumey, but not bad. It'll be interesting to see how the next clipping compares.

We won't be doing this to the other plants, unless we have really solid reason to suspect they're rotting or something, but our fears have been allayed by the look of this Bag Seed bud. I know this is nothing compared to the beautiful plants some grow, but we never expected to get this far, and we're really happy right now. Plus, our initial higher goal of about 1.5oz total could be a possibility. The bud we cut was probably the biggest on Bag Seed. Half of it weighed 2.4g wet - maybe about a gram when dry? There are at least 5 buds as big or bigger than the half bud on that plant, and the others look to have more, plus popcorn, so we should at least be around an ounce in total. We hope!

Thank you both again for your comments. We'll take this on board, and have a gander at pH tomorrow as well as reinspecting for any critters. Our plan is to feed Eulalia and Winifred, a little less than at the last feeding - maybe 50% of the weakest dose - and flush Bag Seed, since it's likely to be cut in the next couple of weeks and if it is nute burnt, hopefully this will help matters. We have around 20L to put through a 12L pot.

One final thing we've been wondering about. In addition to parts A + B of the flower food, we've been using a bloom boost thing (which apparently does the work of two different products in many nute ranges) and something which helps the roots use any dead plant matter in the soil, or something. If you're feeding at 60%, say, of the recommended level of regular food, should you use the same concentration of supplements or use the recommended strength? Is it possible to burn plants with boosters and additives, or can they at least contribute to salt buildup or lockout?

We'll update when we find out any more. Thanks again, guys!

Zabka & SO

 

[Zabka]

Evening all, a (hopefully) quick update following tonight's flushing/feeding bonanza...although we are, if anything, even more confused than previously!

The pots were really light and it'd been at least 5 days since their last watering (just over 3L of straight water each). We checked the pH going in and coming out. In looked dead on 7, runoff a little lower, maybe 6.6-6.8. pH of water + nutes was the same as straight water. So we're once again unconvinced that pH is the culprit. Results were the same over all three pots.

We fed a weaker solution than last time - 1/2 recommended min. strength of A + B, about 75% of Explode (booster) - to try and reduce the chances of nute burn. I'm not sure if this is enough, though? Today, for example, we used 1ml each of A, B, and Explode per litre of water. This seems relatively little compared to what some others feed...could the plants just be under fed in general? Appreciate that we should get some supplemental cal/mag on the go for the next grow at least...Both Winifred and Eulalia had 3.5L of this mix, as we reckon they'll be going for at least 2-3 weeks longer so we should have adequate time to flush...but this is all guesswork, so if anyone has alternative input it would be welcomed!

Bag Seed was not fed, but instead flushed with approx. 20L of plain water. We did this in the bath and let her sit for a good while afterwards, slightly raised so as not to soak all the crap back up. Runoff was pretty clear by the end. The cats were extremely excited. It took a bloody long time, though. The topsoil got rather muddy while we pushed all that liquid through, so during a slow drain we tried to get a pH reading there, too. Still looked between 6 and 7, so it's anyone's guess what's going on there.

We couldn't see any evidence of thrips, spider mites, fungus gnats or any other nasties. We've looked both at the soil and at the leaves. Nothing visible before, during or after watering. So unless our pH strips are somehow faulty, or our nutes are abysmal and we desperately need cal/mag...we are stumped!

Pictures...crap quality, sorry, but some canopy shots (because they're so cramped, taking the plants out out ruins our careful leaf tucking work, so some bud sites are not visible), some detail of Bag Seed's crispy leaves, and the bud site of Doom!

Also visible: weird bud shape on Winifred which people seem to describe as foxtailing. Can't find a true consensus on whether this is good, bad, or ambiguous. Some argue there's a higher chance of seeds, and that the buds are thinner and lighter, resulting in reduced yield and a harder trim job. Others accept these points, but state that the bud can be more potent. While we're not too worried either way, it would be interesting to hear opinions on the matter...

Day 53 Flower

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Winifred

Winifred, Bag Seed, Eulalia

Day 56 Flower

Bag Seed

Eulalia

Winifred

If anyone has any further input, or needs more information about what the hell we've done to these poor girls, or just wants to say hello, go for it!

Thanks for looking gonna roll a nice smoke now me thinks...where's the wife?

Zabka & GF

 

[budstep]

Wife probably is still taking the pictures because the buds look damn nice man.

 

[Zabka]

Wife probably is still taking the pictures because the buds look damn nice man.

Hey Budstep, thank you! She was more excited than usual today, but don't tell her I said that...Sure, there are bigger buds, but who cares...these are ours! Plus, we have some room to improve on the next run

Thanks for coming to have a gander. I hadn't checked your grow since your not-so-mysterious disappearance, so headed over...was happy to see your harvest, and then saw your entry to the LED club...all ready to sub, and closed! Gutted for you, but kudos on having more important things in your life...and on donating that equipment, you must be due some awesome karma!

Hope you get back on the wagon soon.

Zabka & SO

 

[Antics]

You can rule out light burn and heat stress easily. To cause that kind of damage the plant needs to touch the CFL for an extended period of time.

Temps over 85F/29C can cause that on sensitive strains, but more around 90F/32C+ you see heat stress problems.

Check soil PH?

 

[Zabka]

You can rule out light burn and heat stress easily. To cause that kind of damage the plant needs to touch the CFL for an extended period of time.

Temps over 85F/29C can cause that on sensitive strains, but more around 90F/32C+ you see heat stress problems.

Check soil PH?

Yeah, we tested fluids going in (7), coming out (6-7), and tested some really wet soil resulting from the Bag Seed flush, which looked to be 6-6.5 or thereabouts. Liquid measures were done on all three plants. Results were the same as previous tests - maybe a tiny, tiny bit higher, but still below 7 if my eyes are any cop at all.

I did try to read up on our soil, and a couple of sources suggested that it should actually be classed as a soilless medium and therefore requires a lower pH (as to how true this is, I have no idea). If this is the case, I don't know why it's manifesting as an Mg deficiency, as this looks to be absorbed at pH 5.8-8 in soilless media (although I wouldn't recommend having a pH over...).

And if it is soil, a higher pH would not lock out P, Ca and Mg, which are the deficiencies it most closely resembles. So either way, it doesn't make much sense, unless pH is over 7, which it isn't. This is just going off one of those helpful little charts you can find in various places, e.g.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/Nutrient_Chart2.gif

So we don't understand all that well. We haven't fed mega strong nutes at any point - the strongest mix has been approx. 12ml total per litre of water, comprising regular nutes, root supplements, bloom boost and soil...things. I can see how a solution of this strength could cause minor burn, as is visible on Winifred, but I would have thought you'd need more than that for Bag Seed's level of fuckedness...then again, what do I know? We've also made sure to give plain water on a varying ratio of 1/3-2/3 wettings.

Temps had occasionally hit 30C or thereabouts, but not for extended periods...unless...we did have something of a heat wave this October, so it's possible temps got higher without us noticing, but I really doubt it. And the heat stress signs (curled leaf margins etc) weren't as extreme as those which resembled light burn (weird patches on fan leaves which begin white/yellow and turn orange/brown), so probably it is nothing to do with the lights after all.

I guess if the flush worsens matters with Bag Seed, or the weak feed burns Eulalia, we'll have more of an idea what the hell is going on! No idea right now. But thanks for coming back to check in, it is appreciated

Off to bed now - happy smoking/vaping/eating/growing, all.

Zabka & SO