first posts, and guess what.......brown spots!

[trivergata]

Ok, so before we start in on how bad my setup is, let me just say that this was an accidental grow. Without hardly thinking about it a few months ago, I stuck a bag seed in some soil. Well, a few weeks later, I found a pretty little triploid sprout, and decided to try to keep it going. I've built up a decent little grow box, and I've put alot of effort into the important stuff - lights and venting. I'm running a stainless steel box with a combo of 1 175w MV and 2 x 75w HPS. I know it's not the best way to go, but all of it was free, so there you go. Even though the MV is not the best for growing, it seemed to do fine - my girl has been under it for about 8 weeks, and I only added the HPS in the last 5 days. I was running her on 18/6 until 2 days ago, when I went to 12/12. The biggest problem is that because it was an accidental grow, I didn't do much soil/fert wise to prepare. The pot is one that I had a Hybiscuis in for several months, and was using Orthogrow time release fert on the Hybiscuis, so some was left there, so I didn't add anything. I've been using tap water only - no extra nutes.

I do not have a PH meter, do it's tough to add much more info than that. The plant overall looks great, but some older leaves are getting brown spots. They haven't dropped off yet, but I think they are headed that way.

I do have access to RO water, so yesterday I leached with 3 gallons of RO. I figured that it couldn't hurt, right?

I have pics, but for some reason I can't upload them.........

Any help otherwise?

 

[HuffAndPuff]

trivergata- Welcome aboard man! First off- Stitch is going to ask you to fill out the 'sick plant' form, so you might want to do that now, and get it posted. This is the type of post where it would be most useful, IMO.

For clarification- Do you mean that you ripped out the hibiscus and planted the seed in that same soil? Or do you just mean that you used the same ferts and the same pot, but new soil?

In any event... My immediate advice would be to repot that sucker into something bigger, with fresh soil/soilless mix- depending on how you want to go about it. Osmocote (time release) ferts are the worst for growing canna indoors. They release unpredictably and make flushing damn near impossible. You flush when you've used them, and you wind up with a toxic buildup fast, as the flush will dissolve the outer shell, releasing the ferts all at once.

Plus, you said 8 weeks, and without knowing the size of the container (is that on the list, Stitch? If not, it prolly should be) it could easily be root-bound. I would get it into something bigger, and ozmocote free, ASAP.

Through personal experience, I have found that it is much easier to get a plant through veg using half-assed/improper ferts than it is to get it through flower. Cannabis does well with general, multi-purpose fertilizers in Veg, and most strains will tolerate a 10-10-10 npk, for example. However, the fert requirements for flower are much more specific than 'general use' or orchid ferts provide. If you find yourself buying flowering/blooming ferts at walmart or Home DePot, you are going to be in here with overfert/lockout issues. They are usually too high in N, and way too high in either p or k. If you don't have a quality garden or a hydro store near you (drive someone else's car) then your best bet will be ordering online. I just received my order from 'planet natural .com' (one word); they had everything I could have wanted, it was reasonably priced, and it got here super quick.

I suggest playing around till you decide what you like- with your seeds/medium/ferts/lighting. Not necessarily in that order. It's tough to go wrong in soilless (coco-coir, peat, vermiculite, perlite, etc.) with Earth Juice Grow and Microblast in veg, and Bloom during flower. If you are going with soilless, also buy yourself a pH kit that comes with some up/down and a tester. There isn't the same buffer as in soil. Just mix according to directions (start with 'light' then if it takes it and wants more, up it to 'regular') then don't water for the last 10-18 days, and you're done. Growing weed is hard because you have to know as much as possible, and yet not over-think things. It's a weed. It wants to grow. Light, air, food, water.

After thinking about it some more, I would suggest re-potting into a larger size, with soilless. You said you flushed; we don't know how much osmocote of what npk ratio is in the soil now. This means that you could wind up with any number of bad soil issues, and it will be tough to diagnose the problem. You say they still look healthy now. Get it into a soilless mix of some sort, make sure pH is btw. 5.5-6.2ish and water with a mild strength/right type nute solution, essentially 'starting from scratch' s much as possible. After a few days, you will see if the plant has reacted badly to the osmocote and burned, or if you saved it in time. Point is, you wont be trying to correct a system that is inherently flawed. You will know what you are working with, and how to troubleshoot much more easily.

Hope that helped! Should be a start anyways.
Stay Safe!
HuffAndPuff


ps- I know this was accidental, but you need to realize that that is not an excuse that is going to work in front of a judge. If you are in the States, (or any where) check your local laws before you make another move. You should make a conscious and informed decision before committing what could be a felony in some places. Just because you're growing this on a lark- for a goofus or a jokeus, if you will- it don't mean the judge is going to send you to a Jokeus jail. The asspoundings are very real my friend. So really, STAY SAFE, and remember the first rule of grow club!!!!!!

 

[trivergata]

just to clarify, this is not my first grow. It's been awhile, and I always ran a drip system and Rockwool before, so the soil is a bit different for me. The unexpected sprout is just a change in timing, not intention.

The pot is the same soil and everything that the Hybiscus was in. Like you said, it is a weed, and wants to grow.

The pot is a 5 gallon pot, which I thought would be perfect, but i guess I could go bigger.

My problem is I am leaving the country for a month, and need it to be stale for the "baby-sitter" before I leave in a week and a half. I was hoping that heavy leaching every day for a few days with RO water might clear out the Osmokote and let me start using better nutes.

If I re-pot it, I suppose I will have to put it back into veg, right? Re-potting during flowering seems too stressful.

I have every intention of going back to the old way, but this little girl is so nice I'd really like to save her.

BTW, I looked for the form before I posted, and couldn't find it - anyone know where it is?

Also, any idea of when I can post pics?

Triv

 

[Guest]

Abortion is out of the question?

 

[trivergata]

Heck no, I'm a republican!!!!

Actually, I figure I'm this far along, so no matter what, I may as well continue.

Triv

 

[HuffAndPuff]

Here's what I'd do...

Given the rough conditions the plant is in, and the fact that you need to leave for a week, I'd take a handful of clones, and leave them under a cfl. Just make sure there is a way to keep them irrigated. Might be tough. Vacations and growing weed dont work well together, IME. Then when you get back, you got the same plant, problem free, to put into whatever system you want.

IT IS A REALLLLLLLY BAD IDEA to allow anyone into your home, certainly unsupervised, if you grow weed. I'm sure the person is 'trusted/wont go in there/blahblahblah'... bottom line? Tell it to you cellie. Good luck with whatever you do here, man!

HuffAndPuff

 

[trivergata]

I'm not leaving for a week, I'm leaving in a week, for a month. The "babysitter" is a the guy who got me started growing, so while I normally would agree, I think in his hands it'll be safer than in mine. I'm an engineer by trade, so living things kinda defy my logic. I can build really cool set-ups, though.

 

[HuffAndPuff]

Doh! Sorry...Bake-aked....
I still vote for taking clones today. They'll be rooted by the time you leave, with a bit of luck and direction following. (You engineers love them shits!!!)
HuffAndPuff

 

[trivergata]

No prob Huff. You know I didn't even think about taking clones - that's pure genius. I wonder, can you start clones under HID? I'd like to use my existing lights.

Triv

 

[HuffAndPuff]

I guess you could, under one of the 75w HPS. You'd have to keep it far enough from the plants to keep from frying them/drying them out. Just spend 6 bucks at home depot, and buy some 28w (close, cant remember what theyre rated fer sure) CFLs. They really are the best IMO for clones. Spectrum is good, Lumen output is good, heat issues are near nil, easy to find, cheap. The 75w HPS COULD work, but it's not going to be anywhere near as good as a few CFLs.

HuffAndPuff

 

[trivergata]

Ok, so here's the latest. I flushed the 5 gallon pot it's in with 3 gallons of DI water at the start of yesterdays light cycle. I didn't bother it at all during it's light. I checked it today after it had been in light for about an hour, and not only is all the new growth lighter green (the plant was really dark green, always has been) but there is a HUGE amount of new growth. I wonder if that's a good sign? Doesn't seem like it could be bad, does it? This girl is pretty good sized for a box grow - she can touch 3 out of 4 sides in my 18" x 22" box and is a solid 24" tall, VERY BUSHY.

I really wish I could upload pictures.

Triv

 

[HuffAndPuff]

New, healthy growth is never a bad sign. If it looks like it's yellowing, there may be some N deficiency going on. Could be whatever fert mix in those pellets was low in N, any number of things. Coincidentally, the best time to take clones is after flushing....
HuffAndPuff

 

[trivergata]

Well, she's now grown 1-2" per day, each day for 3 days. I've had to take her out of the growbox and let her sit in the closet alone, which is not that big of a deal security wise, since I light/air-proofed the closet and the grow box from the get-go. I did have to do a bit of a rush mylar wallpapering last night, though.

The spots on the old leaves seem to be staying, but there don't seem to be any new ones, and no more leaves have started, either. I guess leaching helped.

I wonder if I should clip out the heavily spotted leaves to keep them from being a drain.......

Anyone have any idea what the deal is with not being able to up-load pics?

Triv

 

[trivergata]

OK, Got some shots:
First, the beauty shot, for scale, it's in a 5 gallon pot:


Next the top view:

You can really see the color difference in the new growth after the flushing.

Then the newer leaves, with the problem just starting:



And now one in full blown whatever:



Any new suggestions? I flushed again, and I can't see anymore of the Osmokote, so I think I'll flush again in a few days, and maybe one more time. Any foreseeable problems with that? I know it's not the best solution, but I don't think I want to invest much more time in it right before leaving, I think I may just pull it, and start again if I don't see any pistils soon. I found a few pre-flowers that were in clusters tonight, which I believe is a pretty sure male thing, right?

Triv

 

[Guest]

Yeah, clusters doesn't sound good for a female. The damage to the leaves is permanent but you figured that out already. Looks really happy that you helped it out. Too bad bout the balls.

Peace

 

[icky420]

And? I have this issue in the early stages, did anyone fix this?

 

[MynameStitch]

Well the problem is icky, the pics show nitrogen deficiency, so it could be too much of certain nutrients for you, or you are just not using enough nitrogen or your pH is off.

So just telling by pics does not tell the whole story, since a deficiency can be caused by many things, but if it's lockout; it may not be a deficiency, but the plant is just not able to absorb it because it's being blocked.

So with yours we would need to know what nutrients you are using how much how often, the pH, if you are hydro or soil and if hydro I will have to ask you more questions.

 

[trivergata]

For me, it became a non-issue when my plant sprouted balls. I did flush A LOT, but all that did was slow new spots formation. I've since started again, and am doing much better with 6 new ones in a controled enviroment. I did get a killer stem and some beautiful leaf pressings from him, though so it wasn't a total loss!

Triv