I'm currently on day 18 of my first grow. I'm growing 2 Hindu Kush and 1 Northern Lights. I started in plastic cups but the Hindu Kush plants became root bound so I transferred all of the plants 3 days ago to 5 gallon pots. My plants look quite healthy but the problem I have is that they don't seem to have got any taller in the last week. If you look at the close up photos you'll see that the Hindu Kush plants have a whole bunch of nodes in the same place which I can't understand. Also, the Northern Lights plant seems so small compared to the others even though this is also an Indica strain. What am I doing wrong? I was thinking that I might need to top the two Hindu Kush plants because this is causing the problem with the node bunching but aren't they a little small to be topped now? I'm using a Mars Hydro FC-E4800 at 24" and 50% power. 18 and 6 hours. The temperature and RH is constantly 76 to 80 Fahrenheit and 50% to 70% respectively. I've got three fans on constantly. Two oscillating fans, and a 6" Spider Farmer exhaust fan on speed 3. Everybody says it's better to underwater than overwater but I think I may have underwatered too much and this has stunted their growth? I've been using molasses and liquid seaweed to feed them and I've just given them about 2 litres of water each. I've just ordered the Fox Farm nutrients trio and some Cal Mag and they should be delivered in the next few days so I'll start using them as soon as they come. Why do my plants look like this or are they normal at this stage and I just need to be patient?
In the larger container, it will take time for the plant(s) to root out and form a ball. Be patient and don't overwater. Also, I suggest you top your plant(s) once they get to the third or fourth node. Try to get 4 mains going and yea, go from there. you should get a light meter like Dr.Lux or a Quantum meter and grow at known light levels. Those plants should be ~25000 lux. idk what height that is.
What is the medium you're using? If it's bagged soil I would be very hesitant to start adding the fox farm trio and calmag at this stage.
I'm using 50% of Van Egmond organic potting substrate, with 25% worm castings and 25% perlite. No they haven't been topped yet but do you think it's time I did top them? Thanks for the replies guys, which have been much more positive than another well known forum. On that one I've been told that I probably have nutrient lockout and need to flush all the molasses out of the medium although another person disagrees with that. I've also been told that my light is too low and powerful for this stage so I've turned it down a bit. Does anyone have any advice with what I should do over the next few days because I need to make a decision on using the Fox Farm trio when they're delivered?
Water at the outside edge of your pot so the roots grow toward the water. Raise your light to 30" to cause your plants to stretch a bit. If you're going to use Fox farms trio. Do not exceed 400 ppm at the beginning and I have had the best results keeping my feeds below 600 ppm most of the grow. What ever you do, DO NOT follow the Fox Farms feeding schedule.
She looked short and bushy. My eyes deceived me again!! LOL. I start topping when the plant has a 4th or 5th node and looking healthy. Good luck!
Yeah two of my plants are short with lots of nodes for some reason which is one of the reasons I first thought there was something wrong with them but according to another guy on another forum it's perfectly normal for the Hindu Kush strain to look like this.
They don't look unhealthy you said a week they will start growing in another week They good depending on how bad you shocked them when transplanting but they do look good Sent from my SM-G781U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Well here's an update from today which is day 23. The plants look healthy to me although I think their leaves aren't quite dark enough. They're certainly starting to grow now and one of them is growing much faster than the others. If you look closely at some of the photos you can see that two of them aren't growing straight which is a concern, or is this quite normal and they'll straighten up over time? I gave them a good watering today with plain water at PH 6.2 until I had about 10% run off, which was about 4 litres of water each. I topped all of the plants today too. Two of them I did with scissors and they were easy to do but the Northern Lights plant only had a small apical meristem and it wasn't so easy to remove. I tried doing it with my hands but couldn't so I cut it off in the end but it was so small there wasn't any stem left underneath it. My Fox Farm nutrients have been delivered so I'll start using them soon. Oh yeah I tested the run off and it was all around PH 6.2. I'm using a foliar spray once a day which is 2 millilitres of liquid seaweed mixed with 1 litre of RO water. Is this a good idea or not?
I reread and wanted to say don't water them too much. You need to let them dry out a bit because they are smaller and you don't want to waterlog them. If the soil is dryer, the roots will reach out for it. If it's too wet, you'll run into problems. Later on, when they are big, that's when you start giving them 2-4L a day.
Somebody on another forum advised me to do what I did. They said that I needed to give the soil a good soak until I had 10% run off. I thought 4 litres each was too much but up until now I've been underwatering them so maybe they needed it? They've definitely grown since then and they look healthy today. I have Cal Mag and the Fox Farm trio now so have you any advice with using these? Do I need to worry about getting the right PPM levels or shall I wait until I have a bit more experience?
Somebody on another forum advised me to do what I did. They said that I needed to give the soil a good soak until I had 10% run off. I thought 4 litres each was too much but up until now I've been underwatering them so maybe they needed it? They've definitely grown since then and they look healthy today. I have Cal Mag and the Fox Farm trio now so have you any advice with using these? Do I need to worry about getting the right PPM levels or shall I wait until I have a bit more experience?
What soil are they in? Have you already fed them? I don't use Fox Farm trio, but well, three part is three part. If you haven't fed them yet, I'd wait because your plants look like they are getting plenty of nutrients as it is. And it depends what quality water you are using; you need to kinda get to know the water, check your municipality's water quality report and see what the alkalinity, calcium content, etc is. If you are using RO water, you should be adding calmag supplementation (imo).
They're in 50% of this soil with 25% worm castings and 25% perlite. I haven't given them any of the nutrients yet. The last watering was with plain water, before that I was using molasses and liquid seaweed. I live in Thailand so there is zero chance of me getting a water quality report in English, I'd probably struggle to get one in Thai! I'm using RO water that has been adjusted to PH 6.2. Like you say, I think there's plenty of nutrients in the soil as it is so I'm not sure when to start using the Fox Farm trio?
That's a good point and I never noticed that on the soil bag. Maybe I don't need to use any of the Fox Farm trio for a while yet?
Yup, good points from trojan. You are on the path to killing them with love and bottled ferts. Slow your roll and good luck.