Newbie Grower Managed to make it to flowering before major problems Advice?

Just bumping before I go to sleep so maybe I can get some input so I can head to the store first thing tomorrow.

Cheers

No replies?!? Guess I'll just do what I think is best.

I'm getting confused... So many questions, and now i dont even know what plants you're talking about. Lets clear up confusion... Post some pics of the plants you want to talk about, and explain what your problem is...

By the way you need a temp guage - you simply just can not guess it. Another reason you need a temp guage is to record the min/max temp so you can monitor fluctuations.

You should always have more P & K than N during flowering. The debate i guess is whether you want more P than K or visa versa. Personally, i've always been advised that you want more K - and its worked very well for me.

Alright. Lets start out with the clones. I put a water jug so you can get a better feel for how big they are. They've been rooted for about two weeks now under 140 watts of cfl's. There is no direct wind being blown inside the closet but air can freely exchange in and out since the door sits about an inch off the ground. I think its clear that the one in the back has Nitrogen deficiency. I went ahead and ordered the Fox Farm triple pack (grow big, tiger bloom, big bloom). The clones you are looking at were watered 6 days ago in which the big one was given plain distilled on accident. The two smaller ones were given the miracle grow nute solution. It will probably be two more days before the soil will be dry enough to water them again. I assume you would recommend getting a small fan in there to blow on the clones right? I'll have to get back to you on temperatures. These pictures were taken 15 minutes ago. Theres also a question I had. The lime green one already has pistils. One of the two smaller ones is male but I have no clue which one is which. Will it show its sex even though its in 18/6 just like the lime green one?

Now, what I'm really concerned about is my plants in flowering. I also took a picture of them with the water jug so you can see how big they are. The smaller plant is the one showing the most problems and was definitely the one that gave me the most trouble during the veg stage. Both of those plants were vegged for a little over 2 months under the 140 watt cfls and have been in flowering for about 10 days now. I flushed both of the plants 3 days ago until the runoff gave me a ph of about 6.5 to 6.8 and I decided that was good enough. The following pictures were also taken about 15 minutes ago and the spots have definitely spread, but not nearly as much as they were before I flushed. All of these pictures except the last one is from the smaller plant which I named beast because she was mostly a jumbled mess during veg. Like seriously a ball of bananaing undergrowth, but thats besides the point. In the larger plant, the only problems I have noticed are the two lower–most leaves have turned yellow and there are a few white spots on some of the higher leaves. Tell me what you think is wrong with my plants.

bumpity bump

I cant type much on my phone but what kind of ph down do you use?

Look up potassium deficiency you may have that. Would make sense if your still using that fert with huge amounts of phosphorus. I would never use a flowering fert with more P than K.

Also yes you can tell males from females before the flower stage

I understand that you can tell sex from the preflowers. I was just wondering because I couldn't tell the sex of the plants for sure until after a few days into flowering yet its clearly evident on the clone which has never left the 18/6 schedule. The description of potassium deficiency sounds like the problem I have with the leaves curling upward and the red spots. I'll give the plants the all purpose miracle grow (24 8 16) to try and give it some potassium until the ferts I ordered arrive. I actually haven't used any ph down at all during this grow. The distilled water I buy has a ph of 7 and the ferts cause the ph to drop. I've only used some ph up designed for aquarium use but to be honest I've only raised the ph of the solution a handful of times.

Just posting an update looking for whatever feedback is offered. The smaller plant is still giving me hell. I would say they are about 4 weeks into flower and the pistils are just beginning to turn orange / brown on the smaller plant. I've diagnosed the problem as a calcium deficiency and crushed up a few eggshells and spread it around in the top few inches of the soil. I did this yesterday but I'm not sure how long until the calcium will break down so the plants can get to it. They are going to need to be watered in the next few days and I've read I can boil some eggs which will put calcium directly into the water. I'm going to be doing this the very next watering to make sure they get some calcium. Nearly all of the undergrowth is bananaing as well. Like I said just looking for some input on whether I diagnosed correctly and maybe some comments on the plant?

With the leaf edges curling under and tips burnt it looks like you are over fertilizing, which could cause lockouts which you are trying to fix by adding more nutes (which includes your idea for boosting calcium). I would also be suspicious of your temperatures in there too.

I really dont think your helping with that light under the plants either. Why do you insist on using it? If you have temperature problems then that will certainly not help. Focus your lights at the top of the plants where it needs it the most.

I looked at your most recent pics and I would have to say that your ladies look stressed out from high temps. Also do you have any air circulation? Poor circulation of fresh air in and stale air out could trigger those yellow spots all over the foliage. I would defiantly put a fan in there.

This is just my opinion. Hope it helps.

Peace

Four days ago they got straight distilled water. The bigger plant had actually decided to kill off approximately 2 or 3 of its fan leaves in this time as it has a slight potassium deficiency. I watered them again last night with another dose of bloom nutes including water mixed in that I had boiled 4 eggs in. The eggs were delicious... mmmmmmm.

Ok back on topic.

The plant with the curling leaves in its undergrowth has pretty much been like that its entire life. Its definitely the more sensitive plant and its never really been right since the beginning. I have that light down there to give the smaller plant's branches and the buds underneath some additional lighting. My hps bulb is a good 20 inches away from the smaller plant while it hangs like 6 inches from my bigger plant. Is there really any reason why that light would be bad for the plant other than concerns about temperature? Do you think its negligible? I would put that light above the smaller plant to shine down on it but there's no way for me to do that right now. I leave the doors cracked a few inches on both sides of the closet when the lights are on and there's a box fan in the closet for air circulation.

werraeagle said:

Four days ago they got straight distilled water. The bigger plant had actually decided to kill off approximately 2 or 3 of its fan leaves in this time as it has a slight potassium deficiency. I watered them again last night with another dose of bloom nutes including water mixed in that I had boiled 4 eggs in. The eggs were delicious... mmmmmmm.

Ok back on topic.

The plant with the curling leaves in its undergrowth has pretty much been like that its entire life. Its definitely the more sensitive plant and its never really been right since the beginning. I have that light down there to give the smaller plant's branches and the buds underneath some additional lighting. My hps bulb is a good 20 inches away from the smaller plant while it hangs like 6 inches from my bigger plant. Is there really any reason why that light would be bad for the plant other than concerns about temperature? Do you think its negligible? I would put that light above the smaller plant to shine down on it but there's no way for me to do that right now. I leave the doors cracked a few inches on both sides of the closet when the lights are on and there's a box fan in the closet for air circulation.

Click to expand...

What watt is your HPS bulb? The distance between your bulb and the canopy of the plants plays a huge roll in stressing the plants. It is true that the closer your plants get to the light source the more lumens they will be absorbing but the heat is too much for budding marijuana. Here is a good chart i found that shows that depending on the wattage of the bulb depends on how much distance there should be between the canopy of the plants and the bulb.

150watts = 12in
175watts = 12in
250watts = 14in
400watts = 18in
600watts = 20in - 24in
1000watts = 24in - 36in


That is just a general chart. You know your garden better than anyone else. So if you say you have good circulation then I hope you are right.
In my experience I always had air circulation on inside the grow room regardless if the lights were on or not. Air circulation is critial for your plants. They need fresh air with ample amounts of Co2. That's another thing you can think about is adding Co2 to the grow room. There are some simple inexpensive solutions to a Co2 generator and plenty of talented people on this forum have authored many DIY Co2 generators. Hope this helps.

This is my opinion and experience with growing. Have fun and hope everything works out. If you have any more questions just ask. Ill try to answer them to the best of my ability.

One thing to always remember is that this is your garden. You know what's best for your garden. Take people's opinions here and mine into consideration, but if it doesn't fit then don't do it.

Peace

can you keep me updated on how your plant are doing with the fox farm nutes

Thanks for the reply. I have a 250w hps and I know its supposed to be higher than what I have it. It never seems close enough to burn my hand when i place it an inch above the plant. I raised the light a few more inches to help with heat regardless since that may be why the plant has sort of droopy leaves. They've been like that for about two weeks or so now and I've just accepted it as the way it looks. You can also see the top bud of the smaller plant in the photo to give you an idea how much taller the other plant is.

Ill let you know on what I think of the fox farm nutes. Haven't been using them for long but I did notice they tend to make the water very acidic and needs a decent amount of ph up.

I've never had any nutes which lower the waters pH - all nutes and additives ive used does the exact opposite and requires sometimes decent amounts of pH down. My starting water is very alkaline (but has low ppm - doesnt even register on my bluelab).

For starters, you need a temperature guage placed in the correct area (shaded from direct light, but at the same height as your canopy). It needs to record min and max temps. I got my digital gauge for about $5. You can not just guess it. I'm keen to help, but if you arent going to help us to help you then its a bit of a waste of time because the entire thread you have been asked about temps and you still havent been able to give us an answer.

Temperatures are one of the fundamental things to get right before you can start growing good pot (or any pot at all if they are that bad). It can be responsible for a huge array of problems. If you are sure that your pH is fine (stay away from citrus based pH down unless you only want the pH to remain down for a matter of hours), then temperatures would be the next thing to start investigating. Do not just guess it.