The article about growing was very well written although perhaps more about watering. I just transplanted from 3 liter (about a quart) to 8 liter pots. I watered them well and 7 days later, they are doing fine without a watering. They are very happy and the root systems seem happiest when looking for water. They expand searching for moisture. I don't use much ferts or water but everything is good. Sometimes I wait for the plant to show signs of being thirsty. I then water, but not a whole lot, maybe 1/2 liter, about 14oz. The enitre point of water, yes, the plant needs it to survive but keep it skimpy. The plant will thank you for it. If everything is always kept moist, this will promote soggy roots and a poor grow. You will not lose your grow if the plants don't get enough water, just keep an eye and treat water like you would a fert, not too much.............moshe
This is mostly wrong. While it is generally accepted that higher humidity is more beneficial to a seedling than to a flowering plant the reasons provided are non-sense. Humidity and Temperature work together to establish a Vapor Pressure Deficit. The greater the deficit (high temp low humidity) the greater the rate of evapotranspiration. This encourages the plant to draw more moisture from the roots to facilitate the evaporative rate. Also, a very low VPD can result in a film of water condensing on the plant after the lights turn off and the air becomes much cooler, encouraging condensation. Plants that suffer from a low VPD have reduced rates of uptake and are at an increased risk for mold and rot. This is entirely wrong. Indoor plants will generally hit a state of maturity that shows they are prepared to enter a reproductive state after about 40 to 50 days of life from seed regardless of the length of the light period. During the dark period growth hormones build up in the plant tissue. The longer the dark period the more hormones will build up. When there is an equal or a greater amount of darkness to light then this buildup of hormones will force the plant to transition from producing vegetation to producing flowers. Indoor growers can also initiate flowering prior to pre-flower onset and a sign of sexual maturity (plant puberty). By applying a 12/12 light schedule a grower can immediately initiate flowering; a plant that gets more light than dark will stay in a vegetative state as long as the light period is maintained. Mother plants have been kept vegging for dozens of years in some grow rooms on a simple 18/6 schedule. Cutting the lighting to 12 hours is necessary to encourage flower development but a grower does not gain an advantage by providing less light for a longer dark period. The plant uses light energy for photosynthesis, which generates energy the plant can use for new growth. Less energy translates to less growth. I prefer to run about an 11:50/12:10 schedule to ensure a slightly longer dark period without sacrificing a very large percentage of the PAR the plant would be getting on a pure 12/12. Fixed. Not that this information is wrong... per se... but it is bad advice to give. Firstly, sterile soil??? No. Organic soil teaming with microbes and beneficial organisms? Yes. Organic systems are exceptionally forgiving and easy to use. While they may not offer the fastest growth rates, or the heaviest yields, many skilled and experienced growers who have battled with hydroponics find themselves coming back to the simplicity of organics. Bottled, salt based, fertilizers are incredibly prone to buildup in most media based growing. Elements are not "food" they are "vitamins" for the plant. And we all know that you can have too many vitamins. Too much zinc or iron can kill you... or your plants... When the media is saturated with more elements than the plant requires the excesses can impede the uptake of elements the plant requires. This competition creates deficiencies. A grower is well served by understanding what they are adding to their reservoirs. Warm water contains a lower amount of dissolved oxygen than cold water, and this DO is very important to root systems. Especially when it takes several days between feedings. The appropriate temperature for a nutrient solution is between 62 and 72 degrees F, ideally just south of 68F. Distilled and Deionized water suffers from massive pH shifts due to the non-existence of of the free H+ and OH- ions which determine pH. A far superior filtered water is Reverse Osmosis. While RO water does eliminate the concern over chlorinates and contaminates the filtering process can also remove beneficial micro elements like calcium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, iron, zinc, etc. Growers are best served by checking their local water report and to test the Electrical Conductivity of their tap water to determine if it is safe to use. An EC reading of under 400uS/cm (0.4EC) is generally considered safe for use if it is allowed to rest for 24 hours. Many growers like to use Tallboy and Smallboy filters to remove excess sediment and chlorinates without the cost and waste associated with other filtering techniques. I doubt your friend is getting the results my buddy Mike is getting. He is a premier provider in the Southern California Medical scene. My good friend explained to me that the ideal temperature for most hybrid Cannabis plants in non-enriched environments is between 75.6 and 76.5 degrees. Some sativa's prefer temperatures approaching 78.6 degrees, while some indica plants may prefer more like a 72F high temperature. This is determined by genetics and will take some tuning to get just right for each phenotype. As I discussed earlier, lower temperatures from day to night encourage more condensation of the water from the air. Warm air can hold more water and when the air cools the water has to go somewhere. Also, large variances between daytime and night time temperatures can also provide environmental stress to a plant, possibly resulting in hermaphrodism or, more commonly, a decline in growth rates and vigor. The best bet is to maintain as stable a growing temperature as possible. 75.6 to 76.5 is the ideal, deviating from that ideal will not generate greater yields or better results. Most growers have a difficult time maintaining their night temperatures without a space heater, so for those budget conscious who are unable to achieve stability it is better to never exceed a 10 degree temperature variance. Like, a 78 degree high and a 68 degree low. The further a grower goes, like an 84 high and a 60 low, the more stress the plant will deal with. In addition to the reasons mentioned another benefit to a stable temperature is that the plant tissue will remain "high flow" allowing for the movement of moisture and nutrition during the dark period. This helps keep the immune system of the plant working 24-hours per day and dramatically reduces the risk of rot. Sorta... Topping and training methods are covered elsewhere for a reason. Often, plant pruning and other high stress training options are omitted from beginner posts because it is not a beginner method. Not that topping is exceptionally difficult... but it isn't necessary for a quality first grow and is more likely to cause problems. Clones are not taken from the top of the plant but rather from the side branches it produces during vegetative growth. Cloning is an effective way of running the same phenotype, with the same nutritional needs, in a grow room. This is extremely useful for growers using recirculating hydroponics or Scrog training methods. Clones can take between 5 and 15 days to produce enough roots to be considered an actual plant (and not a cutting). For advice on cloning you should visit the appropriate thread on the matter as the advice given here (the vase technique) is not very good at rooting cuttings. There is almost no useful info here. A grower should replant as often as necessary during vegetative growth but is best served by having a rooted plant in its final container before flowering is initiated with a 12/12 light schedule. Root development can be difficult to judge because there is kind of a lot of dirt in the way. This may take some experience to fully grasp when is the proper time to transplant. What a grower is looking for is a root system that completely fills the media and the container it is in without the roots circling around the exterior of the root ball because they have run out of room. Air pruning planters, like RootMakers, AirPots, and SmartPots, are all designed to discourage root constriction from this circling phenomenon by encouraging lateral root development when the root tips reach the edge of the planter. Planter size has a lot to do with the length of the growth period and the media of choice. Less Coco fiber, or rockwool (and most other hydroponic media) than soil is needed to grow an equally sized plant. Typical indoor volumes for planters to generate "average" sized indoor plants (2 to 4 ounces per plant) is between 2 and 5 gallons. I prefer to finish my plants in about 10 liters of media (2.5 soil gallons). It is wise to start a seedling in a small area, like a rapid rooter plug, and allow it to produce a set of leaves. This plug is easily planted in a "party cup" of media, somewhere between 12 and 20 ounces of dirt mix. From this party cup a grower can then choose to transplant to a progressively larger container once the root system is developed and mature. Chlorine Bleach is the best product to use to clean old planters. Chlorine will off gas in a few hours after cleaning and it is an extremely effective sterilizer, and less $/ml. There is way too much fear here regarding parasites. Organic soil, teaming with microbes, will manage itself very well. While it is important to be aware of parasites they are not common in indoor grows. For each parasite you can also find another organism which will prey on the parasites, or natural products which will eliminate an infestation. Personally, I don't know anyone that bakes dozens of gallons of dirt because they are worried about a little bug. Start with quality potting soil and it will not be a concern. Again. While distilled water may be appropriate for the chemistry lab it is not well suited for gardening. Along with the pH instability there is also the fact that most, if not all, nutrient manufacturers actually intend on their products being used in conjunction with tap water to provide the additional micro elements required for healthy growth. Canna Nutrients is a shining example of a quality nutrient program that contains zero, zilch, nada, iron. While iron is only necessary in very small quantities (4 to 8ppm) it is still very important to maintain healthy new growth. Many growers using Canna's nutrient system on filtered water find better results when they replace the missing micro elements with a Cal-Mag Plus product from Botanicare. This product contains enough chelated iron to eliminate the need for tap water with their particular nutrient program. Distilled water is very much not the best option, and for many people with good water (like well water not in large metropolitan areas) might be the worst thing they could do. While I agree that pets should not be present in the grow room I can add a few other reasons. Cats and dogs will eat your seedlings and look at you like "What?" This is frustrating because it isn't like you can explain to them what they did wrong. In addition, the hair they shed contains oils. These oils allow the hair to stick to things like oscillating fans and trichomes. So unless you want a mess of fuzz buried in your buds it is a good idea to not only keep your pets out but to also ensure a clean and tidy household. Vacuum regularly, keep your dishes clean and the trash taken out as soon as you need to. Filter your intake as best you can, a simple pair of pantyhose can trap most of the big stuff that would normally be sucked into the growing space. I am also not looking to show up anyone here. Just set the story straight. Juggalo, you have a lot of learning left to do before you start leading beginner growers in the wrong directions for the wrong reasons. Your approach to "soil' and nutrients shows you have little knowledge of organics. I suggest to you to move into soilless media, like coco or peat moss, in the future if you are that scared of natural dirt. I could add more but I don't think I need to.
From my own searching: put exhaust fans on a timer, 15on 15off, and don't start using them right away. Give the plants a little growing time, say 3wks or so. Buying seeds I can't advise - I'm having trouble too. Ripped off twice. A good beginners strain is a autoflowering/dwarf/indica - Lowryder2 or AK-47 are good. Good luck
Hey guys I have a question. I have my teens under a 1000w with of reflector digital ballast I was having problems with temp 84 I added an a.c now its 76. I'm sour deisel, berry kush, and mk, the indcas are fine but the sativas bottom leaves on 1or two the tips turned yellow but its not a wide spread thing...is it my nutrients there ph is 6.4 I'm using blue lab ph pen.general hydropinics Flora grow 1tablespoon per gallon. Am I just to anious or is everything alright
Heat problem can be solved by a cool tube or vented hood. Take a picture? And is this your water that is reading 6.4, or your RO?
i have to agree with the previous posters, pics would be the most sensible way to get a spot-on answer . however, i have some time on my hands and a modest amount of knowledge; im gonna take a speculative plunge lol. first, i should say that i don't know what level of knowledge/experience you have, so please forgive me if i say stuff you already know. i'm not an expert, but i've put in my dues. anyway, you say the leaf tips have turned yellow, but that's a bit vague. use a search engine and look up "cannabis chlorosis." look at the "photos" section and see if that somewhat matches what you're seeing on your plants. if that's the case, as it often is when the leaves start to go pale yellow with no other symptoms, it's often a deficiency of nitrogen (N). in my experience indicas are much heavier feeders than sativas, so it seems like it should be the other way around, but still possible; plenty of heavy feeding sativa-dom hybrids, and finicky "low" feeding indica doms. if there's nothing to indicate any other underlying problems, you could just increase nutrient strength a bit, especially if your feedings have been relatively light to this point. any "grow" nutrient should be loaded up with nitrogen, but personally i keep a fairly wide range of nutrients in case i run across a specific problem, for example i use supernatural-brand "thrive" when i first begin feeding my hydro girls, or if extra nitrogen is required. word of caution: that stuff is potent. i generally use 1/2 the recommended dose which is already small. also, in addition to N it contains some plant hormones which specifically encourage *vegetative* growth, so if you're coming close to switching to a bloom light cycle, nix that recommendation. you said your temps got up to 84? in my experience that's only a shite-site warmer than the plants like, so i wouldn't think heat stress as a prime suspect, but that's just me. also the fact that it's only the lower leaves supports that guess. in *my* experience at least, deficiencies in major macro-nutrients (N-P-K) have generally started in the lower leaves. i believe this is because the plant's impetus during veg is.. well, vegging. it wants to grow new shoots, and to do so sometimes "borrows" any nutrients it's lacking from the older, longer-established growth. since i haven't seen what your garden looks like, i have no idea if maybe your plants' canopies overlap each other? if so, lower fan leaves that aren't getting a lot of light will sometimes just fade and drop off naturally. the plant uses under-exposed leaves as nutrient reservoirs, drawing stored nutes from them as needed. if the leaves are noticeably shaded by upper growth, this could be the culprit, and if that's the case, best to just keep doing what you're doing, let the plant use up it's stores in the yellowing leaves, and when they can be easily pulled off the plant with a very gentle tug, they're ready to be removed and discarded. if there's any chance that this is the case, i would give it another 3-5 days without changing anything you're doing. if this trend starts spreading upward to leaves that are clearly getting plenty of light, try to get her some extra N, using very small incremental increases, and giving her a solid 3-5 days in between each increase. check daily, multiple times a day if you can, for improvement, and stop the increase as soon as you notice this. finally, it could be nute burn. usually nute burn causes the leaf tips to "crisp" a little, and usually turn a darker color, but each plant is as unique an individual person. use caution before increasing anything you're giving her if there's any possibility that it could be over fertilization; it's hard on the plants, and generally takes awhile and some close care before excess nutes can be fully leached. also, as i said before, sativas (again, in my experience) are the lighter-feeding of the two types, so if you have the same feeding schedule for both indicas and sativas, you could very well be feeding the indicas just right, but the sativas too much. last thing i want to say is that patience is *crucial* for this stuff. even if you did nothing for a couple of days just to see how the situation evolves, you're not likely to do irreparable damage to her. it's better to wait and be certain of the particular problem than to move on with a plan to solve a problem you don't have. say the problem is nute burn, but you venture a reasonable guess that she's N deficient and therefore *increase* nute strength.. that's gonna create a motherfucker of a problem, and the reverse situation is almost as bad. ultimately tho, nute deficiency is much easier to correct than nute burn, so go ahead and show us some pics, and describe your nutrient regimen in detail, it'll help us sort you out hope this helps! EDIT: one more thing, concerning floranova nutes and your pH.. floranova grow and bloom are well-respected and tried nutes, but they are notorious for need a LOT of vigorous shaking before mixing. if you're not shaking enough, you won't get the full lineup of nutrients into your solution. also, i've read about many growers using floranova without even bothering to test pH or TDS, because they contain "buffers" for pH control. however, 6.4 in hydro is rather high. in soilless medium (perlite, coir etc) i would generally keep it no higher than 6.2; no higher than 5.9 in DWC. i haven't yet used the "nova" series by GH myself, but i've had great results with the 3-part flora series. do a search for something like "floranova grow journal" and see if you can find out if there are folks who DO pH the nova. lastly, if you're using straight tap water, STOP IT lol. get a filter of some kind, doesn't have to be RO, a simple brita filter or some such is just fine, but in straight tap water there's usually high levels of various minerals that make it difficult to get pH low enough, even in nutes with "buffers." simply filtering tap water reduces these minerals. if you're doing DWC, thus making the amount of filtered water you need too enormous for that, you should bite the bullet and buy filtered water. it's worth it, and that i know for certain. good luck!
Couple of questions: 1. Leaves turning yellow can be a sign of over-watering? 2. At what month do plants start flowering(eastern NC)? 3. At what (usual)month of growth is good to top plants? note: Plants are outdoors, in planters, in organic potting soil
so i pm new to this outdoor groing experience. i just purchased a few clones bubba kush the first one i planted into the soil where it was getting really good outdoor light and was healthy but i think the spot gets 2 over waterd. so its kinda drying up so i got another one and planted it in organic soil and is still alive but looks over waterd. how much should i water them on a weekly basis and can i save them if they are still alive. like i said im new and jusy want to grow a couple outdoor plants. thanks any info is appreciated
Hey guys im new growing, im planning on growing indoors with soil. when is a good time frame to switch from vegetation to flowering?
Hi, I first time grower. I have 3 plants that are 4 months and 47" tall they are outside this year, next year, I'm going to make a growing room in one of my bathrooms. I want to know at what time do the plants start to flower and when you can tell the sex?
*chirp chirp* crickets Perhaps I/we should learn how to use the Search function? [Personally I've never been able to find shit using search functions. OK, Google is cool.]
tplat, I'm so sorry to hear about jcj77d it saddens my heart. I have no pictures to show you of my plants and now that it is light out hear I'm going to check to see if I have all female plants. I feed them once a month with tomatoe feeder. The bottom leafs are turning yellow and falling off. Is that normal? Again, I am sorry to hear about jcj77d and when my crop come in my first bowl is going to be to honor him for being one of the best.
The first two small round leaves and single bladed leaves will naturaly die off after that if leaves start to die off it could be a nutrient deficiency such as not enough nitrogen or something else. Thats why pics would help alot. As a plant starts to flower you will lose some leaves but you dont want to lose to much.
a note of my own: i'm not an expert, but i have a fair amount of experience. but if someone corrects me or offers contradictory advice and they have more expertise for whatever reason, i defer to them . just my little disclaimer so that no one gets confused about where i presume to stand. anyhoo: 1. i've never experienced yellowing leaves from over watering, but that could be because anytime i've ever over watered my plants the leaves droop reaaally low and very noticeably before i let it get any worse. if you haven't noticed the fan leaves hanging low, nearly pointing to the ground, you probably have a different problem on your hands. another recent poster, tplat if i'm not mistaken, just made a post referring to the cotyledon, or the "baby" leaves that go yellow and die naturally as the plant matures into vegetative stage. those are the small, round leaves that pop out before any "true" leaves emerge; the growing plant uses them as sort of nutrient reserves, and once they're tapped out they wither and die, usually yellowing before they do. i add this because you didn't quite state what stage of growth your girls are in, and when i first got up and running i didn't understand this either. otherwise, if she's got true leaves that are yellowing, it's likely a deficiency. nitrogen is usually the first suspect if the only symptom is yellowing of leaves (chlorosis). other than that, could be a pH problem, posting pics would be your best bet 2. can't help with that one :/ 3. if you're topping for multiple colas, i do mine as soon as she has 4 sets of leaves with at least 5 "fingers." this tends to be right at the end of the first 3-4 weeks, sometimes a week or so more, but the truest way to know when to top is observing how many sets of true leaves she has. i use micro-tip shears that have been swabbed with alcohol and thoroughly dried.
Out of eight plants this is the only one showing a sex of any kind. Can anyone tell for sure if this is a male plant from these lousy pics? Sorry I couldn't get better closeups. I'll replace the camera batteries and try to get better pics.
Those little pods seemed to materialize over night. It's so pretty I hate to cut it down. Thanks, tplat.