Just got off of work so I had a chance to see the ladies. Everything is still looking a lot better. I did notice that on the plant that I have been topping, the last top site has 3 new tops coming out. Not 2 or 4, but 3. I'm guessing I must have done more of a fim than a top, but doesn't a fim produce 4 new tops? Either way, things are looking a lot better and I'm a lot happier. Here are a couple shots of the tent and a close up of the topped plant.
Yeah I'm using fresh air. I have the exhaust going out the window and a place for fresh air to be pulled in. The intake is all passive. No I'm not using any CO2. Everything I've read says that there is more than enough CO2 in just regular old fresh air. To really be able to utilize extra CO2 you need to really have everything dialed in and have a ton of light. My lowest lows are averaging around 66f and my highs are around 84. The high only is for about an hour and the average temp during lights on usually sits right around 78. Yeah, now that I'm getting my watering under control things are looking a lot better. We're you doing organic living soil when you noticed the difference after using filtered water?
I think you're giving them too much water. That's what I meant by two. One seems like it would be enough as frequently as you water. You could always say f it and get Blumat carrots. You can use them with a vase. They would handle the watering for you.
Everything that i've read says that the volume that you are watering doesn't really matter, as long as all of the soil is getting wet/moist and there aren't any dry spots. I've seen everything from 5-30% run off. If that is not the case, what method do you recommend? For my next grow I plan on using noobwannabs sip method. Where you use the bucket of perlite and water and pit the smart pots on top and let it wick up.
yep all organic on my side. i knew the ideal set up and chose to get it all piece by piece. so i had plants mid veg by the time i got the filter. i water at most 2 days in a row in mid bloom. you gotta trust your soil. your plants are so green so it appears to me healthy except for the leaves being down as they are or appear to be. in my experience stress and watering are the main signs of this here. other than that your plants look spot on to me. in my bloom with a +/- of 15*F or more my leaves will start to get droopy but still stiff in the stem. when i keep it at only +/-10*F it is all good. under watering and i have droopy leaves with soft stems. over watering and i have droopy extra dark green wilted leaves with soft stems.
Things are looking a lot better man, I think your on the right track. What kind of nutrients are you using?
The soil was a mix of equal parts happy frog, perlite/vermiculite, ewc. I mixed in a general fertilizer that was just a blend of 4 or five meals as well as garden tome fertilizer. Once they were transplanted into the 3 gal smart pot I top dressed with blood and alfalfa meal. I have been occasionally watering with teas. They have been a mix of ewc, kelp meal, and alfalfa meal. For my next grow I will definitely be getting a few more amendments for my soil.
I might get a RO setup in the house here sometime soon. Not just for the garden, but it doesn't hurt. I've never been that great at growing in pots so I think it'll just take a little time to get things dialed in.
Sounds like a decent mix. I think your watering timing is your biggest friend at this point. Once you get the feel for that, they should flourish. Don't worry about one or two older leaves that look bad, as long as the tops of the plants are green and healthy looking. Older leaves that had issues sometimes never look normal again. Looking good!!
Thanks a lot man. I appreciate the encouragement. For the next grow I plan on adding in a couple other meals, some rock dust/azomite, some oyster shell, as well as some of the root inoculation. I'm also planning on trying to use noobwannabs perlite sip method for watering. I think that'll help out a lot for getting things right.
It doesn't matter the volume you water? Huh? Hows that possible? You're drowning the roots. I'm just letting you know what's wrong. You can believe me or not. It's very obvious.
That's just what I have read in more than a couple locations: From GrowWeedEasy: http://www.cannaversity.com/cannaversity/article.php?id=103 : In the "True Living Organics" book by The Rev, he also mentions a method of watering twice to make sure that you have evenly moistened the soil to make sure there are no dry spots. As long as your soil drains properly and I wait until i don't have any more runoff coming out of the pot, why would it matter the volume? If the soil is sufficiently moist with (just for examples sake) 1.5 gallons of water. The rest of what I pour in should just drain off, correct? I may have an issue with flushing away more nutrients then I would need, but I wouldn't think that I would have an issue with watering. If i tried watering to soon (before the soil has had time to dry a little and O2 reach the roots) that is when I would have issues. I'm not saying you are wrong, just trying to confirm and/or correct everything I've been reading. This very well maybe something I have misread or have misunderstood. And please correct me if this is not the case.
Watering shouldnt be so difficult. Temps, air flow, growing medium, and everything else out there plays a role in how each plant absorbs nutrients and water. I have 2 of the same strain growing. Each takes nutes a little different. One stresses a little more when watered. I water every other day in my system but I never saturate the soil either. I keep it moist to cool to touch. And yes I pick each one up every time to see how it feels. I water using a 16oz solo cup on each plant in turn in order for the water or nutes solution to have time to soak in. In a 3 gal smartpot I use about 4 solo cups on each pot. The more you stress the plants, the better odds of getting a herm. or male.
BuildaSoil.com has all the goodies for an organic soil at good prices. If ya want to do sips, I have a resident expert on sips I could send over here. Lol...their looking better though whatever your doing. They have moisture meters at Home Depot for $20, I suggest these to anyone having issues with watering. Let's get some daily pics up, and we will get you in line. Haha
I've been over to build a soil, and they are a great site. That's where I plan on getting some of the harder to find ingredients in TLO soil. I'm always up for having an expert giving advice I'll definitely start getting some pics up once a day. With the NLs drooping and the autoflower now in flower, once a day may be more interesting
Here's a group shot for today. This was about an hour after lights on. The autoflower has been growing almost an inch a today. I hope she just keeps on going!
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Another daily shot for everyone. The plant in the front left was looking a little dry this morning so I gave her some water. And she has already perked up. The little autoflower is going crazy! I'm getting more and more excited for that first harvest.
Day 67 So another daily update shot. Everything is moving along pretty well. As you can see, the plant that has the LST done to it hasn't been doing as well as the other I topped. Not doing to bad though. The leaves still have the little yellowness to them but I don't think that'd anything to worry abou. The topped plant is doing pretty good. It's nice and bushy. One of the top sites is still growing 3 new colas. Everything seems to be looking good there. I'm going to look around and find a good flowering tea for the autoflower. The yield from that one isn't going to be huge, but it should be delicious. I broke out the jewlery loup to try and see if I coukd get a good macro shot up on the flowers. It worked ok but I think I'll need to break out the dslr and a macro lens.