The Basics: The Grow: Closet Grow, Approx. 12 sq ft., Seven CFLs (26 watt~100 watt incandescent) All seven running 6500k light during veg of auto, switched to three 6500k and four 2700k, along with 150 watt HPS added on day 45, when auto started flowering. Light cycle- 24/0, Two Oscillating Fans, Ambient Temp ~ 80 degrees F, Humidity~40% two plants- auto in flower, (one week into flower) sexed female bag seed in LST The PLANTS: Auto Flowering "Dwarf" plant (Northern Storm Fem. from NLseeds),Week two of Flowering, {after a 45 day veg. period that grew my "dwarf" 23.5 inches tall, in 2 2/3 Gal. of soil and has continued to 32.5" by day 60}, Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil and BioBizz's BioGrow (veg) as well as BioGrow along with Blackstrap Molasses (during flower) to increase the yield. I have had a small issue with gnats in the soil of my larger pot in the closet which I think spread to the auto when Molasses began... The LST is at day 50 and has been sexed (hopefully I got it right) and after circling around the pot will go outside and eventually end up flowering through Screen of green or SCroGronk, as I will be calling it. I will be starting a thread on the progress of the LST, as well as some questions on cloning and outdoor growing, as soon as I get this auto taken care of. The Auto is the only one that is showing any sign of stress on the leaves; this is a picture of a lower leaf (and there are two other around it looking similar) The feeding schedule it has been on the past two weeks was as follows: Mon- Feed with BioBloom- 15 mL +10mL heated Blackstrap Molasses/Gal water Wed- Distilled Water Fri- Distilled water Sunday-Distilled Water I was in a bit of a hurry when I did this and it is my first time posting so if I left anything out, let me know and I will do my best to reply promptly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks GC
You're watering too often. Usually it's around 3-4 days between watering. Remember, this isn't an ornamental flower, it's an exotic flower. You mention nothing about PH. Are you making sure to PH your feeding solution before you give it to your plants? Should be around 6.3-6.5 in soil. That kind of looks like a cal-mag deficiency though. Since you're using distilled water, you need to supplement what they take out of the water (kind of ironic). Either grab some from the hydro store, or use Epsom salts I believe.
Thanks for the feedback ohspyro, My watering started as on an only when necessary basis, determined by the placing my finger into the soil to see how moist it was. And after a few weeks that schedule seemed to alway be spot on.. Is that test not reliable in a situation such as this? By the time she gets water on this two day cycle the top inch of soil is extremely dry.. Is it okay to let it hold out another 24 hours from that point? And as for the pH, Unfortunately I have not been able to test the bloom feeding solution yet. Would following the recommended dosage, added to pH neutral water, run the risk of being that far off?
Yes! When I mix my bloom nutes, my pH is below 5 before adding my ph up! Never feed anything to your plants without testing and correcting oh first, and always test the ph of the runoff as well.
I never check my PH, and frankly it's of no concern because I tend to my soil food web, not my plants. Just leave water out to evaporate chlorine (or bubble it out). mixing water with vermicompost before you water your plants works well. Bacteria live on leaves. Oh and be careful with those cal-mag fertilizers. They are nitrate based (natural gas) and EDTA (environmental pollutant). Their effects on plants are disputable.
FYI there are alrady minerals in the oceans floor. adding a topdressing or botanical tea with Kelp meal (best and least processed form of kelp) the kelp contains a powerful chelating agent which would break down the minerals faster and make them available. otherwise it could take years.
also if you were trying to post pictures in-line with your post, click edit--> preview post, then open the picture in a new tab- copy the address of each one and paste it back in the post with the insert image button...
Thanks hope2toke, as I said this is my first time growing and posting to a forum, so it may take me a day or two to get used to it all. Hopefully I have it all straightened out now. I will definitely be adding a kelp meal tea today. Thanks for the bit on epsom salts, when you mention their "effects" what would those be in regards to; Yield? Quality? or, Overall health of the plant?