2 part issue; light cycle question / diagnosis problem

[VI86]

So I'll start by stating my goal to clarify this post since I sometimes ramble. I have about 30 regular (nonfem) seedlings, I'd like to get a nice mother or 2 from each of the 3 varieties I have and cull the males and veg the females I deemed unworthy of mother status as big as possible in whatever size container I put them in (5 to 20 gal) and flower them out normally. I grow in soil and don't use bottled nutrients.



This is a bit of the back story and explanation: I started some stuff inside a bit early this year and was just using natural sunlight from the window sills and moving the trays around. Thinking they'll need some supplemental lighting, last Wednesday I setup some cheap DIY 4 bulb 65k t8 fluorescent lighting. For the first couple days they might have ran 24/7, then a couple days turned them off in the middle of the night around 3-4 am. Then I setup a timer to turn them off at 1 am and back on at 7 am for an 18/6 schedule, not really thinking ahead about what I'm doing. They've been under the light not even a full week. The seeds popped outta the soil 26th of March making them, 3 weeks old. Currently 26 of them still in red solo cups with 4 nodes.



What I'm wondering is if I fucked their light cycle up or if I match the timing of the lights to the sun now should I be all good or will they start flowering already? Not used to using supplemental lighting at all since I've only grown with the sun for 3-4 seasons.


My second issue is pretty quick and to the point. Pictures attached. Is this from too little (too much? unlikely) light? Nitrogen deficiency or other or nutrient deficiency ? Over watering or just some weird disease? Thanks in advance to anyone willing to lend their thoughts and opinions.

 

[thailer]

the varigated look with the yellow and green with a distinct definite line(s) is normal with seedlings and i find they typically grow out of it. they are a little light green though on some. i think they could use a transplant.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Most strains need 10hrs or more of dark to trigger flowering. You should be just fine. I'm with thailer on the rest.

 

[VI86]

Thanks fellas. Yea they definitely want out and more soil. Trying to wait until Thursday evening for the full moon for some of that hippie/farmer action

 

[TanzanianMagic]

My second issue is pretty quick and to the point. Pictures attached. Is this from too little (too much? unlikely) light? Nitrogen deficiency or other or nutrient deficiency ? Over watering or just some weird disease? Thanks in advance to anyone willing to lend their thoughts and opinions.

The partial chlorosis of the leaves points to light/heat issues.

The plants need better circulation or the light needs to be a little farther away.

Other than that they look good. The tips and lower leaves are healthy.

What I would also look into is repotting these plants with some extra phosphorus for root growth. A larger root system can solve minor nutrient deficiency problems as well, because the plants just absorb more nutrients from more of the soil. It also makes the plant more capable of dealing with heat stress.

Also, I don't know why they're standing on cardboard. However if that is how they're grown, that's not good. Cardboard is too friendly to mold. It also dries the air around the plant, which would add to the heat/light stress.

 

[VI86]

Good call on the cardboard. I'm just cheap/poor/DIY and didn't have any proper trays. I'll switch them onto some old tupperware tote lids. I'd usually take them out and laboriously water them 1 by 1 and let the run off go elsewhere so the cardboard was never sopping wet as this is all on a nice table with some poly-film layed over it.



Yeah they're going into a moderately heated greenhouse tonight thats 15-20 Celsius when its like 2-7c outside so a bit of phosphorus would be wise indeed. The only source I have is this old General "Organics" BioRoot when it was made with cottonseed meal as opposed to the current alfalfa meal recipe and probably made with GMO soy but we don't need to go down that rabbit hole. I really don't like that company anyway so maybe I'll use a conservative amount of bone meal which seems more readily available than rock phosphate but both of which probably take a significant amount of time to break down and have any real effect so maybe just have to rely on my trusty mycorrhiza spores. Any other good phosphorus options for a natural type grower? Diluted urine lol?

 

[TanzanianMagic]

Good call on the cardboard. I'm just cheap/poor/DIY and didn't have any proper trays. I'll switch them onto some old tupperware tote lids. I'd usually take them out and laboriously water them 1 by 1 and let the run off go elsewhere so the cardboard was never sopping wet as this is all on a nice table with some poly-film layed over it.

Personally I use folded plastic crates, which are enough to keep the plants off the ground. Anything made from soft carbon cloth or paper (curtains, carpets, wallpaper), unvarnished wood or cardboard should be avoided in the grow room. Wood is a food source for various fungi.

Just as a general point, just growing mushrooms once is a great experience for all weed growers. It shows you how easily contamination can take place, what fungi like to grow on, and you get the free mushrooms of your choice.

Yeah they're going into a moderately heated greenhouse tonight thats 15-20 Celsius when its like 2-7c outside so a bit of phosphorus would be wise indeed. The only source I have is this old General "Organics" BioRoot when it was made with cottonseed meal as opposed to the current alfalfa meal recipe and probably made with GMO soy but we don't need to go down that rabbit hole. I really don't like that company anyway so maybe I'll use a conservative amount of bone meal which seems more readily available than rock phosphate but both of which probably take a significant amount of time to break down and have any real effect so maybe just have to rely on my trusty mycorrhiza spores. Any other good phosphorus options for a natural type grower? Diluted urine lol?

Any flowering food will have higher levels of phosphorus in them, which will be enough to work (Biosevia Bloom, BioCanna Flores, GHE Ripen). And you don't need a lot of it, especially if you also have nutrients in the medium. 0.4 EC is more than enough to stimulate root growth. The idea is to specifically stimulate root growth (P), stem growth (K) and leaf health/chlorophyl (Mg). So bloom food, epsom salt (magnesium and sulfur), that's really all of what you need throughout seedling state, if there are some nutrients in the soil (worm castings, supersoil or minerally fertalized soil). As the roots grow, they find more nutrients, grow more, find more nutrients, etc.

There are lots of sources for phosphorus:

Phosphorus

rock phosphate (also has calcium, trace elements)
bonemeal (also has calcium)
lambsquarter

There is an extensive section on the sources of organic nutrients in the book True Living Organics by The Rev.

Also, here is a list of weeds and their nutrient contents, which can be extracted through sugar or other fermentation methods:

"Do It Yourself Homemade Plant Fertilizers."
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...urself_Homemade_Plant_Fertilizers_Revised.pdf

Plant based fertilizers are the best anyway, because they are how plants fertilize themselves and the soil around them 99.99% of the time. There is also extra stuff in them, like growth hormones (alfalfa has triacontanol), trace elements, calories for the soil life, etc.