Everything has been going fine. The plant is a tiny bit over 3 weeks old and has been showing growth daily. It's still growing but is starting to show problems with the lowest (first set) leaves. They are turning brown and orange on the edges. The 2nd set of leaves are also beginning to show this but not nearly as bad. I'm maintained around 40% humidity and between 75 and 82 degrees in temp. The Ph is a steady 6.6 and I planted with multiple mediums but nothing heavy in nutes. I haven't added any nutes just the extremely small amount that was in one of the mediums. What do you guys think it is? Is it nute burn? And should I flush it? What do you think overall about the plant so far at 3 weeks old? Sorry about the quality of the pics.
Peralite, Peat Moss, Organic Gardening soil, and a soil acidifier that contained less than 1% of any single nutrient. I have been giving it water pretty much daily, but in very small amounts. The soil dries out very fast under the lights 24 hours a day, but overwatering doesn't cause that type of burn on the leaves. I thought maybe it was some type of mold or rot caused from the watering. However, it looks like nute burn, but I can't imagine that plant is overloaded with nute with such small amounts of the nutrients that were in only 1 of the mediums. Luckily the plant seems to be doing pretty well with exception of the bottom two leaves.
That dark green indicates that it might be too much nitrogen, assuming the pH is OK. I guess you're testing the soil with a probe-type pH meter. If so, they're not very accurate unless it's a particularly good one. (The hardware store meters are usually rubbish.) It's well worth testing your water pH and runoff pH, even if you just use indicator solution. (<$10 a bottle) I had a shitload of trouble due to high pH tap water in my last soil grows.
I use the cheap meters bought at hardware stores and I just check the soil which indicates 6.6 to 6.7 everytime. I havent' checked the water at all, but I use distilled water, not tap so I assume it's not extremely alkaline. So what do you guys think I should do? The plant is still growing really well, it's just showing that burnt look on the lower leaves. The soil acidifier I mentioned earlier only had like .4% nitrogen, and the plant is at the age when it should be able to handle some nutes anyways. The other 3 plants are smaller but haven't yet shown any signs of problems. I normally don't water them heavy enough to get much run off in the tray below the pot, but I will tonight and I'll test the ph, then post back.
I have a cheap digiter meter and the color testing solution for Ph and tested both the distilled water and the run off and I got around 6.5 with both. I did a little research and it kind of looks like pictures I've seen of plants that were low on manganese. I don't know if I should flush it because of too much nitrogen (which it shouldn't have) or add some nutrients that my soil mixture was short on.
Distilled water shouldn't be 6.5, it should be 7.0. If both the runoff and the distilled water measure the same, then they're both 7. Too high. That's assuming it's real distilled water.
I'm guessing it's just crappy ph testers then. So then do you think my problem is nute blockout instead, because the ph is too high to take in the nutrients? And if so, how has it grown that much over 3 weeks with me constantly having the ph that high? And finally, how can I keep the ph lower when I'm already using a soil acidifier and peat moss as part of the soil medium? I'm kind of lost, hate to see this plant die after nearly a month of growth. It's so pretty and smells so lovely already.
The pH thing was just an observation. Without accurate testing, it's hard to say what to do. If the pH is too high, you could add 'pH Down' to your water. ie If the soil is alkaline, make the water pH lower than the usual 6.5 to compensate. The problem could easily be caused by the 'organic gardening soil', too, or the soil acidifier. What brand of soil? Off the top of my head, if you have peat moss and an added soil acidifier, it's possible that your pH is too low, but your tests don't back up that theory.
I used a miracle grow organic gardening soil, peralite, peat moss, and the soil acidifier (which was high in sulfur and had a small trace of nitrogen as well) The mixture is about 60% organic soil and the other 40% is a mix of the other three. I will try to get some Ph down and give it a try, but I have a feeling something else is the problem since the plant is has been growing quite well overall. I've wondered at times if I've been overwatering since I've had to water almost daily because the soil dries out so fast. but I shouldnt' have root rot if my soil stays so dry most of the time. I really dont' know what to do. I guess I'll try the ph down and watch it awhile. The other plants aren't as big but seem to being well. I guess worse case scenario, I try lots of possible solutions and the plant dies. Luckily I can always start over again.
Aha, I think I see your problem. The soil. I haven't used Miracle Gro myself, but have read post after post on the subject. Miracle Grow has too much added slow-release fertilizer for MJ plants. Causes many growers a lot of heartache.
LOL. Finally after a few dayz u answer my question - MG, just as I expected. If u woulda gotten back to me earlier, those plants woulda been alot happier. We live and learn... The hot spots in the soil are now beginning to kick in, in effect, double dosing the nutes. Freak
whats the container size bro?? when a plant gets root bound growing slows and cant be moved around and absorbed properly..it can show signs like wilting when over or under watered or even nutrient deficiencies. mirical grow sucks but during vegging it dont really matter..its when you flower that things F up
Thanks for the info guys. I hadn't read anything about Miracle Gro being bad. That's real good info to know since it's the most pushed soil at hardware stores. All I know about the pot is that it is an 8 inch terra cotta pot. I had thought that root bound could have been a posibility. I guess my best bet now is to transplant them tomorrow in a new pot with a new soil and hope they all survive. If not then I'm sure my 2nd attempt at growing will be better due this experience. Thank you all for your help.
I guess that's why so many guys start out growing in MG. Their soil is too hot, but from what I've heard, their nutes are OK. Your plant won't be root-bound yet, but still, it's time to pot up. (I have a full-sized plant in a 6 inch pot with coco, and it's still doing nicely, a couple of weeks into heading. That is in coco, though.) When you transplant, shake or wash as much of the original MG soil from the roots as you can. I moved a plant from potting mix to coco a few weeks ago and shook and washed the root ball until absolutely no soil remained. When I re-planted into coco, there was no shock at all. The plant took straight off. If you're gentle with the roots, a good wash won't hurt.
that's great info man, thank you again for all your help. So you think I should upgrade to a larger pot now? The only bad thing is that the size of pot I'm using now allows me to get 4 plants in my grow box, but if I upgrade to the next size pot then I can only fit 2 in the box. I was hoping on a good yield from 4 and the increased chance of having more females with more plants, but I guess I can grow them larger by only having 2. Oh well, I'm off to the store to get some new soil.
Let me ask something else. How well do you think they'd grow if I transplanted them to pots with just peralite and peat moss. That mixture would definitely allow more air pockets for the roots and I wouldn't have to worry about any slow release nutrients of any kind. Then I could start adding nutes to the largest plant a week from transplant.
The pot size won't make a difference to how much space the plants use up. They tend to extend well beyond the edges of the pot anyway. A good guideline is 1 gallon per foot of plant - 3 gallons for plants that will reach 3 feet in height. I can only fit two plants in my flowering cabinet too. Doesn't matter - they spread out and produce as much as 3 smaller ones would have. I grow feminized seeds to avoid that horrible 'male' problem. Haven't seen a male in 4 years of growing. Hope it stays that way, too.
I'm just growing bag seed right now. I have a buddy who's going to get me a cutting of one of my fav strains (Sweet Tooth) but with this first grow I'm growing mids from bag seed. I wish I could get feminized seeds. It would be really nice if mother nature had it set up to be able to tell the plant's sex early on in the veg stage to save a lot of time and work just to find out a plant is a male later on. Thanks again for all the help man.