Hey there Grasscity! I've decided this spring that i no longer want to pay lots and lots of money for the mediocre quality weed what i currently have access in my country. I just want to grow some dope stuff for myself. Since i dont have too much money for this project, i wanted to go with growing outdoor for sure. So i ordered 3 feminized Early Skunk seeds from sensi seeds because it seemed like an ideal strain for my very first grow with its high yield and the fact that they are very easy to grow, withstand most climate, and dont really need any special care. I planted my seeds at the beginning of april. They were out on the sun at my place, no lamps or any indoor shit, i just brought them inside for some night when the weather were still cold. After a month i've decided that its time for transplanting them to their new and final home. My girls were planted in their new holes, and they began growing rapidly. Unfortunately i did not account for the fact that wildlife could reach this spot, so even though i applied a very basic barrier around my circle, a deer(?) managed to get inside and ate one of my plants to the last leaf. It wasnt such a disaster, as i made a mistake, the plants were planted too close to eachother. Now, after 2 months in vegetative stage, they seem to like their new home and they grew as tall as i am. I fimmed them once early at 4th or 5th node, but i believe i missed the FIM (ironic), because the main stem kept growing. So i topped them at the 6th node to get 2 main stems instead of one, and to give the lower branches more energy aswell. I'm a complete beginner, but i've read all the articles and watched all the videos i could find on the internet. I fed them nutrients every 1 or 2 week, but it's just a standard flower and tomato nutrient mix for regular plants, with 3-1-4 npk ratio. Today i inspected the plants and i found a few problems. 1: The nutrient mix might have been to strong for the smaller plant (even though i used less then half strenght), because the tips of some of its upper leaves have been burned. (i guess? they are yellow, as you can see on the picture) 2: Some of my inner lower leaves started to become yellow and a few even fell off. (maybe not getting proper amount of sunlight because they are shaded, or not enough nitrogen, but it could be also a watering problem) 3: Many leaves have white dots on them, im not sure what that is, maybe spider mites or mold? But altogether, i think for a first grow my plants look really healthy, and they will grow into big trees (hopefully) and give me some very potent and nice buds. What do you guys think?
No comment so far on my journal :\ But someone help me please! Why are my plants looking like this? I'm almost cerain that its a watering problem, since the last rain were more than 2 weeks ago. I water them 2.5 - 2.5l every 4 days but the plants are larger now, and maybe that's not enough. Or could it be nitrogen deficiency? I will try and bring 20l tonight to my place to help them recover. Also, what are those white dots on my leaves? Powdery mildew? They are spreading fast, what should i do about that?
Thanks for stopping by SitBack! I'm using rainwater from a container, should i use tapwater instead? Will buy a ph tester to check it out. I just read about mulching, should've done that long ago... My soil has no grass or cover around the plants so water probably evaporates very fast.. I just gave them 20l and its bone dry again. Atleast im learning Here are the girls today, looking better but still underwatered i guess.
The yellowing on the bottom is beginning of nitrogen deficiency but your plants still look pretty green and bottom leaves dying is normal. The spots are from insects. Growing outdoors you need to have preventative measures against bugs or they will destroy a good portion of your crop. Research pest managment for outdoor plants. Rainwater is fine to use. Sent from my VS986 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Your plants look fine to me. The yellowing you're talking about is just die off of old growth. You might consider putting a tomato cage over them now before they kick into bud because it would be almost impossible to get one on without damaging the plant after that. It's going to be hard enough as large as they are now anyway. You will need some sort of support for the limbs as they go into bud, the buds begin to grow and add on weight and then toward the very end when they get VERY heavy. They'll sometimes even break due to the weight. So figure out some way to stake or cage them for support. When you're growing outside, bugs and critters are always a risk. I'd say it's fair to say you're past the point of smaller critters munching your plants, but your threat now is going to be pests. When they start to bud and put on resin, it almost acts like a magnet for certain pests. You might want to go ahead and purchase yourself some Neem oil. It's a totally organic spray but you'll need to dilute it down to half strength or less with water. Spray before dark because the stuff is photosensitive and spraying them in the morning and the sun shining on them all day could do damage to them. Don't touch one plant and then go feeling around on another because it's super easy to transfer larvae, etc. from one plant to the next and spread the pest or disease. You've done a great job. What I wouldn't give to have rich soil like you're growing in there. Watch out for what we call "tomato worms" around here in the SE US. Butterflies land on your plant and lay larvae. The worms then hatch out and start to munch on your plant. Two or three of those suckers can mow one down in no time flat if you don't catch them. It'll cause your buds to rot from the inside out. Just watch them really close and as they get further on into bud, I would most definitely check them sooner than ever few days. They need to be tended daily, especially when you're growing out in the wild. You can't beat the light source though!! Man has nothing that will even come close to touching natural sunlight. Let us know what your harvest turns out to be. Looks like it will be a good one! TWW
Plants look great. Nice job for a first timer! Don't stress about the lower and/or inner leaves yellowing...When a plant gets big and mature this is natural. That being said, still do not be afraid to up the nutrient dose as they are large and mature they will need more nutrients than they required in earlier growth. As for the leaf damage it kinda looks like thrips. I'd recommend what Widow White said and pick up some neem oil.
Thank you mandoluce, LazyBlazer! And The Widow White for this huge comment! Your advices are like gold to me right now. SitBack i hope your seeds will pop, i used the paper towel method and it worked fine for me! Neem oil sounds amazing, i will definietly pick some up to manage my pest situation. I'm already using some small stakes to help lower branches get more light, but of course those will not be enough in the flowering stage so i have to come up with a solution until then. Pretty sure that i have some nitrogen deficiency now, as the pale greening/yellowing started to move to the upper leaves aswell, but today i fed them with my nutrient solution at 3/4 strength, let's hope it wont burn them. Also this week was a very bad one, my plants haven't had grown anything at all. I believe they were under a lot of stress, they get full sunlight with no shade, and the weather is extremely hot atm (more than 35 maybe even 40 degree celsius every single day..), but if the meteorologists are right, tomorrow comes a serious cooling (-10 degree celsius for a week) and a considerable amount of rain, so that definietly will help them. As for checking them daily, its a delicate matter, due to security concerns i would not want to do that, but obviously these days showed me that i have to keep a close eye on them especially in these hot/dry conditions. I'm sure they didnt get enough water. Today i brought some grass/old leaves to cover my soil with, aka mulching. Not sure if its worth much, but if it helps me retain some water in the soil then im happy. Here is how they look, have a nice day!
Whoa... So the storm came 6 days ago. It was huge. More rain in 2 days than in the whole month before and high winds. I checked on them after the first night of storm to see if there is any damage, and there were none so i thought if they survived that, they will survive everything. I was wrong. 3 days ago i went to see my girls and i found a horrible sight, i knew something was wrong when i only saw just the little plant from the distance. I found my bigger plant snapped in half, laying on the ground with a huge cut exactly where i topped them, so my whole plant just lay there on the ground in a 4 way shape, the 2 main stems and the 2 branches below them both got extremely damaged, almost separated from the main stem... I were so upset that i forgot to take a picture and started fixing her asap. She were still nice and healthy looking, so i figured i could save her. I had a thread in my backpack, a knife and in case of these situations, i read that you can tape them together, but i never thought i will need it, so it were just a small piece of tape, but still more than nothing. As you can see from the pictures, it is ugly as hell, but hey, if it works, it aint bad. The next day i went back with a new tape and cut the threads and taped the stems and branches together in a more appropriate way. I believe they are safe for now, as you can see on the newer pictures, they are starting to look good again. I used a few bigger stakes to give them a more stable position. But i know i have to come up with a better staking system. I believe the nutrients worked fine, there is no burn and plants are looking great. Also watering shouldnt be a problem for a while with this rain, and there is already more on its way. Any of you guys had similar experiences? Should the tape stay on her until she's finished? Can she recover fully from this? Also, as you can see, i have a few branches which have these brown holes, or bites on them. Should i cut off these tops and let new ones grow or can they heal themselves? This hole is quite big but i have a few smaller ones. My neem oil order comes tomorrow, we'll see how effective it will be. Looks like there is something every week... Have a nice day!
Sup' GC! Quick update My girls are looking awesome, i fed them nutrients again 3 days ago at 3/4 strength, i believe they could take full or even more, there is no burn or damage from it. My smaller plant starts to outgrow the bigger one, maybe she's still under a bit of stress due to main stem breaking, but she looks good, still growing and leaves are dark green. I used the neem oil 5 days ago, diluted it to a 0,5% solution, then sprayed 1 liter of it on and under the leaves, on stems, on the ground and also some of it on the bushes around my plants, i will spray them again in a few days, there are still new holes on my leaves and today i saw a huge praying mantis on my plant and also small grasshoppers. I know it takes some time to be effective. Can i use it in flowering aswell or no oils during that stage? I'm around 46' latitude north so flowering will start at 14th august or around that, that's the point when sunny hours get below 14hrs here, so i'm exicted about that. But still so long until harvest.
Hello GC! Been a while since my last update. Nothing really happened, just a few small storms which caused no damage and most of the time beautiful sunny days. I fed them nutrients weekly, and they have plenty of water at the moment so i'm happy. About flowering, the sunny hours at my latitude looks like this: Wed 2016/08/17: 14:01 of daylight Thu 2016/08/18: 13:58 of daylight And today i found a few extra white pistils on the tops of my plants, so i need someone to confirm me: Is this flowering already? Should i start counting the days?
Hey! Long time since my last update, sorry for that. I'm nearly at week 6 of flowering and my girls are looking great. They are very thirsty, especially on hot days, i believe they consume more than a gallon a day. I have some pest issue. Because of the resin production all types of worms are apperaing in my garden. From small black ones to huge badass green and brown caterpillars i found everything on my plants, there are some yellow/orangeish worms aswell which crawl inside my buds stem, and they are doing a lot of damage. I pay a lot of attention to this each time i'm visiting, i try to check each and every bud on the 2 plants to clean out the brown poops and also to kill them. Fortunately the neem oil does its work, i found hundreds of insects when my plants started flowering but a lot of them were like paralyzed and easily disposable, now i only find a few each time i visit. I did some staking aswell, managed to bring out a dozen bamboo sticks and gave my plants and buds some support. Hopefully it will be enough against heavier storms and higher winds but i wouldn't mind if we had good weather for the remaining few weeks. Here they are, have a nice day!
BTK will take care of caterpillars. Look for something called thuricide, is organic and only effects the squishies. It is similar to the BTI you found in mosquito dunks but better for controlling caterpillars. It is fairly cheap ($10>bottle) and extremely effective (days) and safe.
Hey inda! Thanks for the advice i will look into that! Today i went out to water them and it looks like i have to do this each and every day or double the amount i carry, because if i skip a day they start wilting very badly. It's quite difficult for me, going everyday may raise some suspicion and carrying more water means that i have to do it overnight and it's a 2-3 mile trip in the woods! True guerilla style. But i dont mind, only 2 weeks to go. Next year i want a better spot though for my second grow. It sucks that in our country you cant even have 1-2 plants for yourself. :\ Btw what do you guys think about yield? Is 1 pound per plant realistic?
When you figure out a new spot for next year make yourself a pond. Just line an are in the woodline with some pond liner then place some shade cloth over that with branches and brush on top. If you set it up in advance you can collect water during rainy season and if your in a rain limited area you can lay down plastic drop cloth and collect water to pond again hiding it with brush. Making a good hole is alot of work but with fore thought you can limit the trips you have to make to site. Also better to get everything moved and setup before the season that way if you get caught there is no plants yet. I am glad I don't have to grow out in the woods anymore but occasionally tempted to do it again for the hell of it.
Yep plant looks great and that yellowing not def it'sd from the plant flowering the wonderful yellowing off process of the big fan leaves... This makes for more tastier and colorful buds everything looks great
Yellowing is part of it and is something you want to see at the end, if should start at the bottom and work it way up on the water leaves. The leaves themselves should be yellowing evenly aka margins, veins, edges, and you should hold off pulling them until they go limp. They continue to provide the plant with nutrients and sugars which are moving up into your buds. Although you need to watch for yellowing in your sugar leaves because at that point they are pretty much done since they have used up most their energy and resources and it will impact the look of your buds. Plus some strains tend to change color to a far greater degree than others. Additionally even though the leaves are yellow they can continue to process light, they just do so at greatly diminished degree via some of the accessory pigments.
Hey thanks for the information guys! I still think that watering is my main issue. Skipped a day yesterday and my leaves went to lean mode, pointing downwards and inside, but an hour after watering they looked fine again. Its not that horrible, it just looks scary... I think everytime that they are going to dry out and die... Thankfully some rain is on its way and tonight i'm going to give them a fair amount aswell. I have some nice looking leaf pictures aswell, enjoy, exactly what you guys were talking about. Any guesses about yield? Also i will have a cold night at the middle of next week where temps could be at 0 Celsius, can they survive 1-2 night of that? Have a nice day Edit: added a few night pics after watering trip
The caterpillars in the picture are a bitch if left to their own, thuricide (BTK) will kill them but sunlight can kill the bacteria so put on at night or as late in dusk as possible. I don't know what and if you have a timeframe in which you can check girls but sunshine and rain work against you with BTK. It kills them when they eat plant material treated with it within a few days. So weekly atleast when the moths and caterpillars are active, the temperature dropping help with putting them in check. As for freezing temperatures, usually most strains can take a couple nights as long as it warm back up. They will completely stop metabolizing nutrients and sugars much below 45-50 F / 7-10 C and it will take hours of higher temperatures to get them going again, you will have decide based on your location if the days are long enough and warm enough to offset nighttime lows. There is always strains that are an exception to such generalized temps, for example some Manatuska or Serbian landrace will care very little for the cold and do just fine near freezing and can dip down at night, while as if you had some Afghani or Moroccan they would be all fucked up below 50F / 10C but turn around and stand much higher temperatures and lower amounts of water and nutrients. If you spend the time you can establish a strain for your area, just set up some wild patches (away from main crop) of males and females and let them tuff it out, after a few years you will have it adapted to your local with longer being better. It does not help in the present but something to consider for future and while your out there anyways watch for spots to put them next season. For example I have White Widow seeds I got from some one that have over a decade of selection and they can be placed out to flower when snows still on the ground with a 50% survival rate and this is temps down to 25f / -4. They won't get nearly as big as summer grown but they finish before the days get to long. As for yield it is hard to say obviously their is caterpillars but you may find unseen damage inside the buds, atleast when it is like that it does not spread as much, only where the caterpillars nomed. I would be concerned though if you see black mold forming outside of bud this can spread fast in cool moist temps. I don't try to guess what I have on my outside until it is hung and halfway dry has always seemed like bad luck to me. Overall your plants look pretty good for growing up out in the "woods" and look to have many nice tips all over them. Don't count your weight tell it is ready to smoke and use every thing that has happened in the past to help you prepare for the future.