Problems with first WW organic grow. NEED HELP!!!!

Hey guys,

So first off as the title says this is my first grow, and I've got 9 White Widows.

They sprouted on May 11 and have been under a 400W MH 24/7

I just transplanted them on Thursday, May 27. Before the transplant they were pretty droopy since they went 6 days w/o water but I didn't want to water when I knew I was gonna transplant and water at the end of the week. They also had some yellowing on their bottom leaves. The pics are each plant immediately after transplant, so I don't think anything in these pics would be caused by stress of transplanting

Anyway, they have come out of their droopyness but the yellowing has persisted and it looks as though some yellow spots with brown rings has appeared on the lower leaves over the weekend.

The soil they got transplanted into is a pre-mixed peat moss, top soil, and compost, along with that i added approx 1/2 cup of worm castings, and 1/2 cup of pot ash out of our fire pit per pot. There is also some leftover Fox Farm Organic Planting mix from their soil before the transplant.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Here are the plants today, they should be in the same order as the previous post's pics so you can compare what has changed with the plants

Thanks again for any help.

what is your feeding schedule. looks as if you should flush and start of with nuts.

umm... Ive never heard of anyone fertilizing with ash from the fireplace.... where did you hear this? The ash from your fireplace isnt potash its just ashes. Potash is a type of salt that is mined from the earth's crust and contains potassium. potash = potassium carbonate. And why on earth are you letting your plants go so long without water under a 400 watt HID running 24/7? Are you trying to kill your plants? Also its a bad idea to transplant a sick plant, wait until it perks up next time (unless its badly root bound). Transplanting can shock and stress a plant, if its already sick it will compound the problem. There are so many unknown factors its impossible to diagnose your plants from just that info. Whats your ph? Did you give em any nutes or just plain water? If I had to guess though it could be phosphorus deficiency. During veg it will turn the ends of the leaves brittle and brown/grey like that. Popular deficiencies that cause yellowing early in veg are magnesium and nitrogen. If your veins are staying green its magnesium if not its probably nitrogen. You probably knew that but just in case... but like I said, that looks a lot like phosphorus

FYI: looks like you could use some extra perlite

I have been giving them just water so far, but I am starting a compost tea today.

One of the guys I know who said that wood ash has one of the nutes in it, potassium or phosphorus and would help the plant. Should I try to transplant again and get rid of the ash or better to not shock it again with another transplant?

Thanks for the help guys much appreciated.

I dont think the ash will harm anything, I just dont think it has much benefit either; though I've been wrong before Your plants like they can definately pull through still, I've had plants revive that looked much worse than that. Personally Ive had problems with the 24/7 light schedule and recommend trying 18/6 or 20/4. Start your plants on a light nute solution (1/4 strength of the dose your gonna give them in full veg mode) After one week go half strength, keep going until your at full strength (stop if you start seeing symptoms of over fertililzation and back the nutes of just a touch and then you have the dose that strain prefers) Feed em every 2-3 waterings and always water as soon as the top 1/2 inch of the soil feels dry; no sooner, no later. If your growing in soil your ph should be around 6.5-6.8, Get a ph meter if you dont have one (most important tool in a gardener's arsenal I think) Test the ph of the water that comes out of the bottom of the pot when you water (take a sample, dump it, use the second sample as it will be more accurate) If your ph is too low or too high you can adjust it by adding ph up or ph down solutions to your water until your runoff ph is in the correct range. Over time less ph up/down will be needed. In the future to avoid this you can mix lime with your soil before you plant to make it for alkyline and sulfur to make it more acidic. Keep temps between 75-80F. If you do all of this Im sure your plants will be healthy and green in no time.

BTW: a lot of this is REALLY basic stuff Im sure you know but since I dont know what you know I just included everything I could think of

I know I sound like a broken record, but is there any powdered dolomite lime in that mix?

You look to be having pH or cal/mag issues.

Powdered Dolomite Lime will take care of both issues.

Any idea what your run off pH is? A pH meter is a invaluable tool. Even the $20 cheapo pH pen off ebay will help you tremendously.

Wet

Thanks a lot guys, I will get a pH meter ordered asap, I have the strips atm but an electronic one will be much easier. There is no lime in the soil. I am getting a tea brewing today, I know all of this is very basic, but as it is my first grow I am still a noob and it is very helpful to have this info.

Do you guys have a preferred website to buy nutes off of, there are a lot of websites and a lot of brands, it can be overwhelming for a first timer. I have searched through countless forums and everyone seems to have their own nutes.

I am brewing a tea made up of worm castings, compost, and peat moss to get the girls something until i can get some nutes ordered, maybe i can get some beneficial microbes a lot of people are talking about.

Leave the peat moss out of the tea, it's good added to the soil, not much use in a tea.

Get some powdered dolomite lime. Lowes or HD. $5-$9 for a 40# bag. This is very important, DO IT!!!

Beneficial microbes, MycoGrow Soluble. www.fungi.com $8 to your door.

I'm running Earth Juice. 100% organic and inexpensive. Good stuff.

Wet

Sadly the peat moss is mixed in with the compost in the organic soil i bought from the local garden store. They will need to be transplanted again sometime and I will get a good soil mixed up for them, thanks for the advise Wet. I will be ordering that dolomite, earth juice, and mycogrow tonight.

I tested the pH of the soil as i gave them the tea today and it came out in between 6.5 and 7 (with just the strips it is pretty tough to judge exactly) and that falls right in the range i need, and my temp is hovering just below 80 so that is good as well.

Well here are some more pics, it looks to me that my only issues left are getting them some nutes and hopefully that will bring these ladies back from the brink.

I can't say this enough but you guys have been a tremendous help and I really appreciate it

Wetdog said:

Leave the peat moss out of the tea, it's good added to the soil, not much use in a tea.

Get some powdered dolomite lime. Lowes or HD. $5-$9 for a 40# bag. This is very important, DO IT!!!

Beneficial microbes, MycoGrow Soluble. www.fungi.com $8 to your door.

I'm running Earth Juice. 100% organic and inexpensive. Good stuff.

Wet

Click to expand...

Or you can get a bag of Ed Stone 420 recipe which hS everything in it. Google it and look at what it has in it. You don't need to use anything else. Just water.

diowk said:

umm... Ive never heard of anyone fertilizing with ash from the fireplace.... where did you hear this? The ash from your fireplace isnt potash its just ashes. Potash is a type of salt that is mined from the earth's crust and contains potassium. potash = potassium carbonate. And why on earth are you letting your plants go so long without water under a 400 watt HID running 24/7? Are you trying to kill your plants? Also its a bad idea to transplant a sick plant, wait until it perks up next time (unless its badly root bound). Transplanting can shock and stress a plant, if its already sick it will compound the problem. There are so many unknown factors its impossible to diagnose your plants from just that info. Whats your ph? Did you give em any nutes or just plain water? If I had to guess though it could be phosphorus deficiency. During veg it will turn the ends of the leaves brittle and brown/grey like that. Popular deficiencies that cause yellowing early in veg are magnesium and nitrogen. If your veins are staying green its magnesium if not its probably nitrogen. You probably knew that but just in case... but like I said, that looks a lot like phosphorus

FYI: looks like you could use some extra perlite

Click to expand...

Ash is a source of some nutrients. And if it's not all white ass it does contain some potash. Also the bio-char (if any left) would be a big plus.
I agree on the watering though. Never on a 24/7 would you let them get that dry.
If you want to water less, put in some cover crops. Also use legumes to re-fix some N.

diowk said:

umm... Ive never heard of anyone fertilizing with ash from the fireplace.... where did you hear this? The ash from your fireplace isnt potash its just ashes. Potash is a type of salt that is mined from the earth's crust and contains potassium. potash = potassium carbonate. And why on earth are you letting your plants go so long without water under a 400 watt HID running 24/7? Are you trying to kill your plants? Also its a bad idea to transplant a sick plant, wait until it perks up next time (unless its badly root bound). Transplanting can shock and stress a plant, if its already sick it will compound the problem. There are so many unknown factors its impossible to diagnose your plants from just that info. Whats your ph? Did you give em any nutes or just plain water? If I had to guess though it could be phosphorus deficiency. During veg it will turn the ends of the leaves brittle and brown/grey like that. Popular deficiencies that cause yellowing early in veg are magnesium and nitrogen. If your veins are staying green its magnesium if not its probably nitrogen. You probably knew that but just in case... but like I said, that looks a lot like phosphorus

FYI: looks like you could use some extra perlite

Click to expand...

hard wood ash is used to up potash in organic growing

go go kid said:

hard wood ash is used to up potash in organic growing

Click to expand...

The issue with wood ash is that it will raise pH much more quickly than lime. If it is used due to lack of availability of more desirable sources, it must be comparatively sparingly. I certainly would avoid using it in addition to lime of any kind, especially at high amounts like 1 cup per gallon of soil unless you need your pH over 8 for some crazy reason. We must remember we're growing weed here, not making soap. lol

Northwood said:

The issue with wood ash is that it will raise pH much more quickly than lime. If it is used due to lack of availability of more desirable sources, it must be comparatively sparingly. I certainly would avoid using it in addition to lime of any kind, especially at high amounts like 1 cup per gallon of soil unless you need your pH over 8 for some crazy reason. We must remember we're growing weed here, not making soap. lol

Click to expand...

thanx, ive never used it before, i didnt realise it raised it so much thanx. i knew a gardener who used handfulls of the stuff in his garden, no idea what if anything he was growingwith it, i just remember he was useing it. the guy i was with made a point of mentioning it at the time, but its so long ago i dont remember what he said about it. . maybe he was building a compost heap with it as an addative if that makes any differance