Sunshine mix #4 General Organics nutrients (I water every other day, 3.5x weekly) 1000 W HPS & 600 W Metal Hallide 300 W fluorescent lights fans hard well water (for minerals) for flower room, humidity is around 40%, temperature 78 F (a little hot and wet) This is my fourth grow. If I didn't know better, I'd blame nutrient lock out. As you can see, my leaves are yellowing, my potency is barely 5%, and some plants barely yield 2 oz. It's frustrating. I want to make my own soil for next grow, see how much that helps. I need to get the light higher up off the plants, cuz the fluorescent one is burning them. Any other points? More fans? More light? Less nutrients? Is my cheap soil causing lock out? Is my well water too hard? pH is around 6.3...too low? TDS in runoff is like 3000-5000...too high? Did I just buy bad seeds? Thanks in advance for the help.
Based on the last four pictures in the second row, I might suggest root bound. I had a plant that looked just like that and my container was too small. The last few weeks of flower the plant just went to hell. Looked exactly like that. Went round robin with trying to figure it out. When I took her down, I could have used the root ball as a welcome mat that would have lasted for years. Just a thought.
"my potency is barely 5%" I'm puzzled - have you had this tested? "I want to make my own soil for next grow, see how much that helps." Take your own advice - no one here will offer up better. I will elaborate on this slightly though - FIND AND USE HIGH QUALITY VERMICOMPOST AND/OR THERMAL COMPOST IN YOUR MIX. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html You will never, ever get the results that a true organic soil gets with the nutrients you are using. Ever. Follow "In the Garden's" soil mix recipe. Don't skimp on this or that. This doesn't need to be expensive, by any means either, though. Use quality products and follow the recipe and your soil will take care of you by producing healthy plants - healthy plants are happy plants, and happy plants will produce quality flowers. You have plenty of lighting. Your lights should be high enough off of your plants so that if you put your hand directly on top of the highest bud, the light should only feel slightly warm. Ventilate it well. You don't need that thousand or 600 any closer than 18"; at least not until you are very well ventilated and the light is cool and even then there's never a reason to have big lights like those any closer than 16" or so. Organic soil will take care of your needs and simplify your garden. J
How big should my pots be? They're 3 gallons now. Should I consider 10 or 20 gallon pots? I don't want a jungle lol. Yes, I had the potency tested. 6.5% and like 0.8% CBD for 5.3% THC. The fluorescent light is like touching the tips of the mothers and some clones. How far should they be away? My hand only feels "slightly warm". How much does good soil increase potency? I need to at least double mine. And do you think I can do it for a similar price as nutes? Or is it going to be more expensive? The cost is all up front mainly, so I just needa mix it real carefully & not mess up. Would you recommend I even use the nutes I have left, or should I start transplanting into my homemade soilless mix today? And I heard people with good soil still use 1 or 2 supplements for their plants, typically during flowering. Do you recommend anything?
You gotta read man - and I can't promise you anything. Gardeners are not made overnight. Practice makes perfect. J
Hey yahoo, I currently have a plant looking a bit like these pictures. I was thinking it might get root bound when I put her in flower but it did not occur to me that this might be root bound as I was thinking it could be too warm in the room. Just wondering though as I am 7 weeks in she is starting to amber, what exactly do you mean the plant went to hell in the last few weeks of flower?
Went to hell means around week 5 or 6, they started to yellow. First the fan leaves starting at the bottom, then all the leaves. It was a race to finish up before all the leaves turned brown and dropped. I added this, and I added that thinking I was short on nutes, but I wasn't. Only figured it out when I cut her down. You should be fine if your plant looks like the plants in the second row of photos. Three gallons is fine I guess. It all depends on how big the plants are. I go with five gallon buckets and flower around two feet tall. I was using three gallon buckets. During flower, even though they have a great root system, they still grow roots. It gets crowded in there. Again, I'm not a pro, but that plant looks like mine and that was the problem. If you use search and type in Pink Pistles, you can find the plant I'm talking about. It's from a couple of years ago and was started by me. The thread was there a month ago, because that's how I found out what my user name was on here. With the change in format, I'm guessing it's still up but who knows. If I wasn't lazy and in a rush this morning, I would do it myself. Maybe later.
Yahoo, I have my ladies in 5 gallons, I vegged for 3 months and I was thinking it needed to go in flower before that, I also had another that was not vegged for as long maybe 2 months? I don't know off the top of my head but that one was smaller and wasn't in a rush to be flowered it got bigger than the other one and looks a little droopy as well. The first one I have started yellowing leaves a while ago, I have been pulling multiple leaves off the plant daily for weeks now the second one has not had an issue with yellowing leaves it is at 5 weeks today. This could be the time it starts to yellow though. I think the combination of SIPs/organic soil is so good that the root ball gets too big for its own good.
Kahgknow, how can a root ball get too big for its own good? Unless you're running out of room in your pots? 5/6 weeks is very common for an annual plant like cannabis to start yellowing and is perfectly natural. The pictures above are surely a bit extreme though. I used to worry about it but stopped when I found out there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, and it does not seem to ever affect flower production, even if 75% of the fans fall off by maturity. J
If your plant becomes root bound you will begin to experience issues wouldn't you? So I would think the roots are too big for the plants own good. I expect leaves to yellow, but I do not want to get root bound and have issues with my plants either. What is considered running out of room? The plants I have might be doing great but I bet if they were the same size in bigger buckets they would do even better cause the roots could reach more soil.
He must mean ppm. Cause if that is EC holy shit!! I used to grow synthetically. My meter only went to 2000 ppm. I'd guess you're correct when you said nutrient lockout. I bet its from all that hard water. Go invest in a decent water purifier. In my experience RO is unnecessary two or three stage carbon will do the job.
Hey guys so my Plants are about maybe 2-21/2 weeks old an i hve been noticing yellow on my leaves and parts of the leaves are dying as well as the very first set of leaves of the seedling stage are pretty much gone and dead any ideas why?
How about give us a rundown of your soil. How long did it cycle for? Looks like it is in desperate need of some aeration. Pumice, rice hulls and/or perlite should consist of about 25% of your soil mixture.
Give us a rundown of your soil. How long did it cycle for? It looks to me it could desperately use some aeration. 25% of your soil should consist of rice hulls, pumice and/or perlite.