Are my babies doing ok so far?

[pothead001]

Hi,

This is my first grow, just want to check with the pro about the health of my plant. I don't even know the exact strain, got the seed from a friend and it's from strain with the word Skunk in it (hopefully it won't stink too much )

Anyway have three seedlings and they sprouted at different time, the tallest being the oldest (about a week or so) and the smallest is just a few days. I think the one in middle is wilting a little, i think i over watered it (the seedling potting soil doesn't have enough perlite, should of add more). I feed the 2 bigger one with thrive alive b1 organic and a tiny amount of plant prod starter fertilizer.

Should i transplant the biggest plant to a bigger pot now or wait a bit longer?

Oh, I'm using cool white 23w CFL with a round reflector for all three plant right now. I also have another identical CFL and I'll be using that exclusively for the biggest plant when it gets a little bigger. Is this enough light to last a few more weeks until i get a small hps/mh lamp?

thanks.

 

[Mrpiston38]

they look good just make sure that you have enought vent/air movement. gl

Mr.p

 

[greendream69]

yea they look fine so far, are they in a cardboard box? because if they are with no circulation ur gana burn the shit out of them. thats the same mistake i made. as far as nuteing goes i wouldn't nute them until they start veggying at 2 or 3 nodes long and only do it at about a quarter dose and try o get high nitrogen nutes . don't transplant any of them until u can see the root growing at the bottom of the cup. if i were u i would lose the big reflect and buy a power stip and a few plug in screw in buld adapters and rig about 3 or 4 cfls on it. try to stay away from the cool white cfls for
vegying (the soft and cool white cfls are for flowering and there 2700k) , use the daylight ones with 5000k-6500k spectrum (full 6500k spectrum would be the best). if i
were u i would continue veggying with cfls ul need at least 125-200w of cfls. and then
when your ready to flower get your hps. the 46w of cfl's might keep them alive for a little while longer when there seedlings but once they start to veggy and grow out there going to need more light. im on my first grow to il keep an eye on this thread

 

[Guest]

I'd be really careful about giving any ferts at all to those plants. They are way too young/small. You risk burning them and screwing them up for good. Plants that size have very little root system developed yet. They simply can't take up the ferts, and the ferts will build in the soil, burning the plant.

Do you have drain holes in those cups? If not, you need them. Easy to do. Heat up a small nail head and burn 4 holes on the side at the bottom. Burning the holes is best to keep from splitting the plastic.

Like said above, just water them. I might let mine get a bit more root mass showing before transplanting up. That way as you go up in pot size you build a really dense, healthy root mass. That's my theory anyway

Good luck to you and your grow!!

MT

These MNS SuperSilverHaze plants of mine haven't had any ferts yet and they were about a week old here on Oct 16th. Started a couple days later feeding them.





The same two plants are on the far right in this pic on October 27th, 11 days later.



This is male SSH. He has a nice root mass and is quite happy and healthy. I'm keeping him in this 3L pot to keep him smaller.

 

[pothead001]

Greendream69:
Yah it's a card board box, it's a little disorganize but i'll create a grow place when i have a little time. I also just added a small cpu heatsink fan on the side of the box couple minutes ago. As for nute, I also added some blood meal to potting soil (<1%). Hopefully they can handle it. As for the CFL, i thought cool white is around 4000K, but anyway i agree Daylight full spectrum is better.

MTweedman:

I do see some roots on the bottom of the cup, like less than 6 roots total i think.
I do have drain hole on the bottom, but the aeration of my seedling soil is pretty bad, should have add some more perlite. I'll remember this mistake for sure....

and btw nice plant, you have four set leaves while i only get two for the same time frame

I guess i'll do more reading and learning...hehehe

 

[pothead001]

Damn my lamp fell on top of my biggest plant, the CFL burnt half of the two big leave. Didn't notice it till 2 hrs later. Hopefully this doesn't induce too much stress the plant.

Since I only have 3 plants, I need to be very careful and do all i can to get at least one female.
I'll hang myself if they all turns out to male. j/k but still i'll be pissed due to time and effort wasted.

Anyway, here is a list of things i tried to do to get better chance for female.

High Nitrogen and low Potassium - I added some blood meal to the soil

Higher Blue to red light ratio - i'll go buy daylight CFL 6500k instead of the cool white 4000k i'm using right now. plus i have some 465nm ultra bright led, so i'll create an array of those.

Lower temperature - the temperature in the box is about 20-23 C and at the canopy 24-26 C. So i think the temperature is fine.

High humidity - This is where i have a problem, the air humidity in my basement is around 28-35%, so i constantly misting the box with a water spray bottle. But the humidity only last for a short time, after i mist, it shots up to about 60% then gradually drop down to previous level in less than 20 mins.

What others things i can do to improve female chance?

thanks!

 

[pothead001]

New Pics and als new problems

New Pics and als new problems

Hi,

About a week ago, my plants stop growth so i decide to transplant into bigger pot with better soil mix (60% CIL all purpose potting soil and 40% perlite and some blood meal and dolomite lime).

2 days after the transplant, they more than double in size, then the growth slowed down to a much slower pace.


Well here is come background info

SOIL:
What STRAIN are you growing? skunk (dunno what skunk)
What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) seed
What is the age of your plants? 2.5,2,1.5 weeks for largest to smallest
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in?vegetative
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) n/a want a mom first
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot)close to 2 gallons
What substrate/medium are you using? (percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) 60% sghaghum peat, 38% perlite, 1% dolomite lime, 1% blood meal
What Nutrient's are you using?How much of each? How Often? *Knowing the brand is very helpful* PlantProd starter 10-52-10
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? n/a still on order
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? n/a still on order
What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen? n/a
How often are you watering? every 2 days
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? fed it once with 1/6 strength of PlantProd fertilizer and some thrive-alive B1 organic
What size bulb are you using? 2 26W 6500K CFL
What is the distance to the canopy? about 4-6 inches
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity) 35-65%
What is the canopy temperature? normally should be 24C sometime reaches 27C due to being close to the furnace
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)24C day to 19C night
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)30-50 cfm, the box is less than 3 cubic ft
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? slightly,
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? moist
Is your water HARD or SOFT? probably hard 230ppm tap water
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? no
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when? yes Safer's insecticidal soap
Are plant's infected with pest's? minor problem with little white flies or mites
they laid small orange eggs on my soil. but the problem is under control. i killed all the eggs and haven't seen any pests in the past week

Pic dec 4, 07 - 3 days after transplant
this is my strongest plant

this one is the second biggest and it's the one with most problem
notice the yellow spot on the tip of the leaf?

Fast forward to Dec 7, 07

This is what my biggest plant looks like now. I think it looks ok, but a little bushy, the in between nodes are very short. On concern is the curl leaves tip (claw like). Is this an indication of some problem?

Ok get to the second plant.

brownish/yellowish at the leaves tip is very noticeable. is it fungi or something? should i cut the affected part off?

thanks.

 

[mudvaynefan]

Hey PH01, they all seem to start out so good dont they? I think Im having the same problem, allthough down the road a bit.

I beileve, from looking thru the infirmary, that it is a nute lock out due to ph prob. Now, Ive got ph up and down for my water, but my soil I cant even test, much less ammend to correct ph.

It seems that the plants can grow in this soil, but I doubt they can finish thier life. Ive got mine flowering now, to see if I can even make it thru the whole grow. I doubt it, looking the way things do now.

I thought it was mold too at first, but I now believe it to be ph related. You still have a chance, I doubt know about me.

Youll have to remove it when it dies, and it will, till then, its not a problem. Looks good to start with, youve got all the other stuff covered.Keep at it, this is not my first grow, but my first real problem with one.

Go figure.

 

[pothead001]

Thanks for all the replies.

I\'m still waiting for my ph meter to arrive. They must have stuck at custom right due to the sheer volume of shipping they got at this time of year.
Should i go to some pet store and buy a cheap ph strip for now or those are junk?


thanks.

 

[Guest]

As said above, don't be getting those leaves wet when you water. I don't ever wet my leaves when plants are this big.

Your plants will need some nutrients at this stage BUT not a lot!!! Remember that they don't have a fully developed root system just yet....so they can't handle a big nute load.

You say your tap water is 230PPM? How do you know? That is VERY hard water. You may want to buy some distilled water at this point. Won't cost much and may save you a lot of hassle. That's really hard water you have if it is 230PPM. Then mix tap water and distilled water if it looks like you have a Calcium deficit. Maybe mix it 2 parts distilled to 1 part tap...get that PPM down under a 100. My tap water is 50-75 PPM lately and seems OK for my plants.

And you need to learn to water VERY slowly. It takes me 5-10 minutes to give my plants about 1 liter(1 qt) of water. I use a 5 oz dixie cup and add water a few tablespoons at a time, maybe quicker, but not much. I drizzle it in very slowly. I also add my water/nutrients at the base of the stem. This helps make sure the water doesn't just run down the sides...which will happen even watering slowly if you aren't careful. Watering at the stem base helps saturate the soil outwards and downwards. If you water too quickly, the water will not saturate the soil evenly. Bad news for the root system trying to develop in there. It takes patience to water this way, but it will pay off over time.

Distilled water will help control pH issues too. Go buy a liquid pH test kit(changes color of water as indicator) $5.00 from Home Depot. pH of 6-6.5 will show as a light green color. I think your leaf problems are probably pH related and made more difficult to manage because of the tap water hardness. I found that about 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar per gallon of distilled water will be close to pH of 6.5.

Just remember than sometimes less is more Don't over water and don't over fertilize

Good luck

MT

 

[pothead001]

As said above, don\'t be getting those leaves wet when you water. I don\'t ever wet my leaves when plants are this big.

Your plants will need some nutrients at this stage BUT not a lot!!! Remember that they don\'t have a fully developed root system just yet....so they can\'t handle a big nute load.

You say your tap water is 230PPM? How do you know? That is VERY hard water. You may want to buy some distilled water at this point. Won\'t cost much and may save you a lot of hassle. That\'s really hard water you have if it is 230PPM. Then mix tap water and distilled water if it looks like you have a Calcium deficit. Maybe mix it 2 parts distilled to 1 part tap...get that PPM down under a 100. My tap water is 50-75 PPM lately and seems OK for my plants.

And you need to learn to water VERY slowly. It takes me 5-10 minutes to give my plants about 1 liter(1 qt) of water. I use a 5 oz dixie cup and add water a few tablespoons at a time, maybe quicker, but not much. I drizzle it in very slowly. I also add my water/nutrients at the base of the stem. This helps make sure the water doesn\'t just run down the sides...which will happen even watering slowly if you aren\'t careful. Watering at the stem base helps saturate the soil outwards and downwards. If you water too quickly, the water will not saturate the soil evenly. Bad news for the root system trying to develop in there. It takes patience to water this way, but it will pay off over time.

Distilled water will help control pH issues too. Go buy a liquid pH test kit(changes color of water as indicator) $5.00 from Home Depot. pH of 6-6.5 will show as a light green color. I think your leaf problems are probably pH related and made more difficult to manage because of the tap water hardness. I found that about 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar per gallon of distilled water will be close to pH of 6.5.

Just remember than sometimes less is more Don\'t over water and don\'t over fertilize

Good luck

MT

230 PPM water is from my utility company monthly report. So you think my ph is too high? because the tape water ph is around 7.7, also from the report. I always thought peat moss is slightly acidic so it balance out the high ph of the tap water. The water on the leaves are from heavy misting, and i also water very fast 1 liter in less than 30 secs, i\'ll take your advice and water it slowly next time.

thanks

 

[Guest]

Your tap water is too high in PPM and pH. I'd use distilled water if I were you. And you need to get that pH down SOON if you continue to use that tap water. A pH of 7.7 will kill those plants.

Personally, I would use distilled water and pH it to 6.5 or so. And yes, I would change your watering technique. You might also keep track of how much water you actually put in each pot. Water from a container that has graduations on it...like those 1 Liter containers all the health stores sell. Use a small cup to water with. Once you know approximately how much it takes to water your plants, you'll find it easier to water correctly.

Those look like pretty large pots for the size plants in them. I prefer to transplant more often than some folks do. I like to start plants in small containers, 5-10oz cups, and wait till the plant pretty much fills the pot with root mass (but NOT rootbound) and THEN go up in pot size. I went this time from 10 oz to 1 liter to the 3L they are currently in (and about to be transplanted to their final pot) My 2 plants are currently nealy 3 feet tall and VERY bushy. And they are still in 3 Liter pots.

I'm of the school of growers who believe that putting small, young plants in big containers is a mistake. I believe in letting my plants build nice thick, healthy root masses before potting up in size. Depending on how big you can allow plants to grow, I believe in repotting several times so as to allow plants to develop a really nice healthy root mass during vegging and early flower. Plants with a healthy massive root system will ALWAYS perform better than plants with poor and/or unhealthy root masses.

MT

 

[Mrpiston38]

just remember too when and if you buy distiled water to not just aply it check it as well and see if it balanced as well i have heard of people that have goten that kind of water and it has been 7.5+ so always check it and gl. i do mist my plants not to heavaly and i havent seen a problem with my leave turning.

Mr.p

 

[pothead001]

Just got a 4L distilled water from safeway, i\'ll add about 1/4 tsp of white vinegar per gallon to bring down the ph (as MTweedman suggested). The problem right now is i don\'t really know the exact ph of anything as my ph/ppm meter is still on the way (i hope it arrives within the next few days).

 

[Guest]

hey pot head001.

the tap water at 7.7 might have ballanced the acidic sphagnum peat moss out....if you didnt ad all that lime to it.

i would of used something like pro mix or sunshine #4, if i didn't have any means to check a batch of medium before planting. pro mix and sunshine mix #4 are the same as what you mixed up and probably cost the same or less than doing it yourself.

this is what the lable of pro mix hp says; 70% sphagnum peat mos, 30% perlite and some dolimite lime and gypsum for ph adjustment

as always i check everything i use for ph and ec when i tested run off from fresh pro mix and sunshine #4 the ph was 6.1 and ec was .47 or 330 ppm

all of the distilled water i have bought in the past had a ph of 6.0 so i dont think you need any adjustment with it.also when using plain water that is low ppm ( under 20) it should be about right as far as ph is concerned, not always though. anyway when using pure water from RO or distillation whatever ph it is is irrelivent because as soon as you water with it the lime in the soil will bring it to were it wants it (**this is not always were the plant likes it, the amount of lime added to the mix directly determines the ph of what the water will be when it mixes with the lime)

pure water is never neutral unless i, you they added chem. to get it there. remember in school we were taught that water is "the universal solvent" this is because it is slightly acidic naturally when it is pure.

if you want good info on growing with soil/soiless mixes you must go to www.mandalaseeds.com and scroll down the home page and click on the link that says common nute. deficiancies. also they have a very detailed simply straightforward recomendation for how good seed should be grown and fertilized. if you follow what they say to the letter you will have nothing but.........SUCCESS!!!

because there is a lot of conflicting info for new growers out there and none of it is wrong either, but not everything applies to every situation. thats why we go like this " i did everything so and so does with his plants and mine never get past the 3rd set of leaves and it take 2X as long as it takes joe schmoe's plant to get 3 sets of leaves"

pick a method and follow it to the T, no variations or incorporating what worked for another in a slightly style of growing, although the method my seem to work in theory but some slight never noticable variation that was over looked, was not taken into consideration on how it would effect the way you were doing things.

ive had a lot of trouble starting out and untill i realized that i need to follow a method to the exact letter and get some buds happening, before i can "give sumthing a try or blindly trying others method.

i fumbled around with expensive seed k illing alot of them before. now i have 5 wonderfull healthy as a hors mother plants, all of super genetics, like wappa, sadhu, speed wueen, aurora indica, and durga matta that i take cuttings from and in less than 2 months i have surerior reefas to smiggity smaggity SMIZOKE. lol, seriously you owe it to yourself to check out the grow info on www.mandalaseeds.com

 

[Guest]

Evil Indica:

I agree that Mandala site has some VERY good info and pothead should read it...the whole thing. Make sure you click on the link in there that talks about feeding. It ius too bad more breeders don't have similar info on their sites.

However, Mandala's advice is good for most, if not all, strains. That said, exact feeding requirements can vary. I screwed up my Satori by "underfeeding" them at a critical stage.

Pothead

Depending on how long your pH meter is gonna be coming, can you go to a plant place and get a liquid pH kit? The test strips are "OK" but I don't care for them myself. Not enough color differentiation in pH values for me...meaning too hard for me to tell pH. And even if you do have a meter, I still would get a liquid pH test kit. They are plenty accurate enough for weed growing in soil. AND...if you pH meter starts acting up, which many do if not taken care of properly, you'll have a reliable "backup"method to fall back on.

The 1/4 tsp/gallon is a rough guide. I seriously doubt it will make distilled water too acidic. You have lime in your soil so you should be OK.

The sphagnum peat moss might have buffered the high pH tap water but hard to know for sure. Personally, I'd rather lime my soil and not worry too much about pH. I've been giving my plants some Earth Juice nutes. The pH of EJ nutes is very low...like 4.0 or less...shows deep pink almost red when I test it. I held my breath and gave it to my plants and everything was/is fine. That demonstrates the value [to me anyway] of having your soil properly limed so it will buffer these really acid nutes

MT

 

[pothead001]

Thanks for the advices guys!


I\'ll be posting pics every week so you guy can check on my progress.

thanks.

 

[pothead001]

New updates and pics

Little summary.

1st plant: age(23 days), light(26w daylight 6500k), nodes(6)
2nd plant: age(20 days), light(26w daylight 6500K), nodes(5)
3rd plant: age(15 days), light(mostly LED less than 0.1W), nodes(2-3)

Anyway, for the past week, only water with distilled water with 1 1/2 tsp of vinegar per gallon. No other nute other then the blood meal that i added during mixing potting soiling with perlite. However, i did add 1/4 strength of PlantProd 10-52-10 nute 2 weeks ago.

Problems i\'m facing right now is still the same as before, brown spot on leaves, twisting and craw like leaves. My pH meter which i ordered still haven\'t arrived yet, and unfortunately i had a car accident and to busy with final exams, i didn\'t have time or the mean to go buy a liquid pH test kit as some suggested. With a pH meter it would be much easier to diagnose these problems.

Lastly, I hate to admit but my plant seem more like male than female. Any experts please share your opinions.

edited: another thing i forgot to add is my plants seem to grow quite slow, light is not strong enough maybe?



Now pics taken on Dec 16, 07

1st Plant

2nd plant

3rd plant

 

[pothead001]

over 35 views and not one reply?

please give any suggestions, share any opinions..

thanks

 

[pothead6]

how did u get the nodes so tight ? im growing with cfl and i cant figure out how to do that someone told me just to have the lights really close but im scared they might burn