Is undergrowth viable

[gruvygreen]

I'm a noob, and I overwatered and underfed, and the lower 2 sets of fan leaves are pretty much toast. Yellow, Yellow/Lime Green, Yellow with brown spots, some completely dead etc. They are in veg, and about a month old. I beleive I have the overwatering, and underfeeding undercontrol now.

There is significant undergrowth on the plants that seems to be growing just fine however. This growth is between sets of dead fan leaves. I was wondering if I could just clip the fan leaves, and grow out the undergrowth. I think the undergrowth would grow better if the dead fan leaves didn't block the light.

I'm growing this first batch with the thought of taking clones and flowering them out to sex them in about a month. My thought is that if the undergrowth will grow out another 4 cm I could take clones from it as well as the tops.

Am I thinking correctly or not? If not do you have any other ideas?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

This pic is from last week, and the damage to the lower yellow, and yellow/lime green leaves is significantly worse now. The undergrowth is double the size in this pic now.

 

[10k]

If you get the overwatering under control and feed this baby, there is no reason to think it wont snap out of it and grow just fine.

By "undergrowth" I take it you're talking about the small branches you're seeing developing at the lower nodes. It will do fine if you leave it alone, however I would go ahead and clip the petiole (leaf stem) on the yellowed off leafs and let the remaining portion of the petioles dry and fall off on its own. This will trigger the plant to grow the small branches you have at those nodes, sooner than it would if you leave the yellowed off fan leaves in place to dry and drop off naturally....provided the plant isn't still underfed and overwatered.

 

[In Vino Veritas]

Like 10k said, let it dry, water lightly for the next week or so so the roots have time to recuperate and get some new growth down there. Trim off the dead leaves - not branches. Keep em on the current light schedule you use for veg.

Damn pic won't finish loading..

Edit: Now that its done loading...it ain't all that bad really. Snip off that yellow leaf if its bothering you all that much. I don't think light hitting the bottoms is ALL that critical to promote growth - unless you veg under shit lights. I'm using 6x 40w kitchen/bath flouro lights, for seedlings-month old its perfect. The plant looks young and needs to fill out, give her time to heal, some breathing room and let her do her thing.

As a noob you shouldn't be experimenting too much.. Remember this shit got really advanced 10-15 years ago.. This shit has been cultivated for many more moons than that..

Stay safe, and have fun!

 

[gruvygreen]

Hey thanks 10k, In vino Veritas. Great advice.

They went 4 days with no water, and were starting to green up a bit. I saw them starting to show more signs of nute def (yellow spots on some upper leaves) so I went ahead and gave them a little drink this morning.

I added some Molasses to the normal Miracle Grow nutes, and they are perking up and growing like crazy again already this afternoon. About 3 cm growth in a day. The most they've grown in a day since I planted them.

They were a little farther deteriorated than what the picture indicated, as the pic was a couple of days old. I knocked off all of the dead fan leaves, and now the undergrowth is getting light, and it took off growing like crazy too. I don't think they'll look like palm trees for more than a couple of days.

I'm also investing in some better soil and nutes.

And more importantly ...I'm leaving them the hell alone. The less I do for them the better they seem to grow.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

 

[MynameStitch]

How much miracle grow are you using?

 

[gruvygreen]

Dang stitch I didn't catch this post from you sorry. I actually switched from MG to Pure Blend Pro, Liquid Karma, and Molasses. I'll put some pics up later, but the plants are doing great now. Took me a while to get the watering down. ...and to learn to just leave them alone.

I have some organic soil cooking now too, and hope to put some of the clones I took a few days ago from these first few plants in it in a couple of weeks, and use some teas to fertilize with.

FYI: I don't have anything against the MG fertilizer or the preferted soil I'm just a noob, and it took me a while to learn how to water and feed them.

Odd how one can read about growing for 3 or 4 years, then totally dork it up when actually growing.(LOL)

 

[MynameStitch]

I was just asking, but like 10K said in the post, I agree with him on this matter. I was just curious how much you were using

 

[HeadyPete]

Odd how one can read about growing for 3 or 4 years, then totally dork it up when actually growing.(LOL)

You can read about screwing for years and you're still a noob the first time!

Welcome to growing, you will learn much now!

 

[gruvygreen]

Sorry MynameisStitch guess it might help to know in case someone else runs into the same issue:

MG 8-7-6 full strength according to the bottle: 10 - 20 drops per qt ...80 drops per gallon. I think this came out to be right at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. It sucked having to count 80 drops so I put the 80 drops into 1/2 teaspoon, and it fit, so I only had to count 1/2 teaspoon instead of 80 drops.

I'm no expert but it seemed like right after I gave them fertilizer they seemed nute burned, and two days later seemed nute deficient. Like I couldn't water them enough with the recommended amount of nutes without overwatering them. Again, this is probably just my error. I see others using the MG nutes with no problems.

On another note: I'm using PBP, LK, and Molasses every time I water now, about every 4 days for the larger pots, and every 3 days for the smaller pots. Am I to expect to be able to continue that? I see some folks use water only (no nutes) once in a while.

I'm coming up on my third watering in a row with full stregnth nutes plus the nutes in the soil, but wonder if maybe I should try plain water, or maybe just water & LK? ...or would it hurt if maybe I tried my first worm casting tea?

They seem to be healthy, and taking all the nutes I can feed them, but I don't know if I'm to expect that to continue or weather the third time in a row will burn them or lock out nutes or something?

HeadyPeat - Thanks for the welcome.

 

[guineapig]

how's it growing gruvy???

I would lower the miracle grow liquid and emphasize the other fertilizers.....i always err on the lower side of fertilizers, often beginning with 1/2 strength (even 1/3 strength) in an attempt to get the plant "used to" additional fertilization....

as your plant gets larger, it is a good idea to trim the undergrowth back....you can pluck the dead shrivelled leaves out, and a good idea (and often overlooked by newbs) is the importance of an oscillating fan and fresh air intake/exhaust......remember that fresh air intake/exhaust can sometimes conflict with odor control, so always know where/how that odor travels and what kind of noses are smelling it!!!!

Good luck with your first step down this endless path of learning.....

kind regards from guineapig

 

[gruvygreen]

Thanks guineapig. This post is a little outdated. I've compltely cut out the MG ferts, and I'm only using th PBP, LK and Molasses now. ...and actually have some organic soil mixed up.

I did actually clip off the dead leaves underneath. Plants kind of looked like palm trees, but that undergrowth that was alive is actually looking really healthy now, and I think I'm going to pulls clones from it soon.

I just posted some info on my cab in the Mills Pride thread. Trying to work out the ventilation with a moded Stanley blower and a Can filter 33. Should be getting some photography room louvers some time too. Hoping to finish up the cab by next weekend.

Thanks for the advice ...much appreciated.

 

[MynameStitch]

Gruvy, listening to the back of the bottle for hardware store kind of nutrients is a no no!
Some hydro nutrients too, the only ones you want to go by there feeding charts and directions is canna and advanced nutrients.

Liquid MG and other nutrients like MG are harder to keep track of in terms of how much... drops are harder to tell how much they are really getting... that is why "solid" ones are better to use from hardware stores.

Using no more than 1/2 teaspoon of that per gallon of water is reccomended, for first time feeding plants with 3 sets of leaves or more use 1/4 of a teaspoon per gallon of water.....

Yes, using that much you used would have burned them...... I would feed them every 7 days .. once a week with the mixture you are using......

 

[gruvygreen]

What your saying makes perfect sense, and sounds exactly like what was happening.

I'm going to keep the MG as a backup, but I've been feeding them PBP, LK and Molasses about every 4 days, the last 4 waterings, and they're looking a lot better now. I just got my first roots on a clone I took 5 days ago from one of my plants.

I'm hoping to plant them in an organic soil mix soon, and do a better job with the clones than I did with the donor.