sparse growth and extremely low quality buds

[jcdem]

this is my third grow now and i'm starting to become frustrated with what was supposed to be a fairly low maintenance organic soil (moonshine mix) grow.

this is today, right before i chopped it all down because the plants had not shown signs of growth in days and the buds had hadly any thc on them. i think i saved the two best looking/smelling ones, and even those will hardly be smokeable...

i'm really wondering why the canopy is not filling up and the leaves are thin even though i'm doing some lst to make them spread out more. i really don't have much height in the cab so it's my only option besides a scrog (which i might try next).

i might have access to some very good genetics soon so if there's no consensus here as to what's going on then i'll see how big a difference some good seeds make.






now i had a similar thread before but i'm not using those seeds anymore. otherwise most of the conditions should be the same, but i'll rewrite as much info as i can in this thread
http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=89123

SOIL:

How long has this problem been going on?
they seemed fine in early veg under cfl but just stretched and didn't branch out when they were put under hps.

What STRAIN are you growing?
bagseed. came from high quality indica/sativa blend

What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?)
seeds in soil under a single 23w cfl

What is the age of your plants?
late flower, probably about 3 months

How Tall are the plants?
~18"

What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in?
late flower

What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc)
mild lst; tie down

What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot)
one plant per 8x8x8" pot

What substrate/medium are you using?
moonshine mix from the organic soil growers' forum (about an even mixture of ocean forest, black gold, light warrior)

What Nutrient's are you using?How much of each with how much water? How Often?
i did not add any extra nutrients during flower this time, since last time i used 4-8-4 during flower and then was told by people on this forum that might not be good.

What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used?
no clue

What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"?
no clue; never measured

How often are you watering?
every other or two days. i wait for the soil to dry but before plants droop.

What size bulb are you using?
150w HPS mostly, but a 23w CFL from sprout until about two weeks old.

What is the distance to the canopy?
i keep them as close as possible without burning, usually just 4-6", but the outer buds are almost 12" away.

What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity)
not sure, but it seems about average.

What is the canopy temperature?
i'd guess about 80. i have not actually measured, but room temp is usually about 60-70. the fans pull out the light's heat pretty well.

What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)
day, i'd say about 80; night would be no lower than 65.

What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)
2x 120mm fans at 9v, so about 100-150cfm. no carbon filter so they are fairly unrestricted, except for the light intake filters i have to keep out big particles.

Is the fan blowing directly at plants?
see pic, it's exhausting behind the light and moves the plant tips around pretty well.

Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist?
no

Is your water HARD or SOFT?
fairly hard

What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water?
brita filtered

Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched?
i pruned the lower branches and weakling buds.

Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when?
none needed, never had any pests or infestations.

Are plant's infected with pest's?
nope

 

[shaunmulok]

I think you have some deficancies there and some rams curl look in the canibus infirmary there is a good sticky there with photos that should be able to help you out i havnt grown in soil indoors but i think you might need some feeding i feed my outdoor plant every 3 days at a third strength with floranova bloom in a generic soil mix
with some good results

 

[MynameStitch]

Can you upload more pictures without the hps light on?

Have they been in the same mixture for 3 months without a transplant?
Your plant has dropped an a lot of leaves.......

How often are you watering? Those plant are showing signs of possible over watering.... the curl like that can only be caused by a few things, overwatering or nute burn, but chances are you have used little nutes so it can't be that...... pH can also be a cause, but since you have never tested it.........

How long has this problem started? Can you take a picture of the pot you are refearing too 8x8x8... I think I know what your talking about.... the long pots that you can put multiple plants that can fit on a window seal or something.......
CHances are your plants gotta be hungry, without feeding as long as you state you did... with the leaves missing I bet it's lost most of it's leaves through nitrogen deficiency....

Why have you not fed your plants for so long?
When was the last time you fed them?
Mixture can only carry a plant so far before it uses it's stored reserves and remove nutes from the soil...... after that you must supplement them weekly with the way you have your grow setup....

 

[jcdem]

i can't get anymore pics since i chopped them already.

about a month in the plants were transplanted into the 8x8x8" pots using a mix of half new and half recycled soil mix from the previous grow... maybe that has something to do with it? not enough nutes? i keep hearing that fox farm and the like are hot though so i thought it'd be fine. is the moonshine mix not enough to carry the plants from start to finish? i was led to believe that it was.

the 8x8x8" pot is almost exactly a cube... it fits one plant. when i yanked out the plants yesterday i looked at the root base and it had filled up a pretty good amount of the pot but it was not terribly root-bound.

 

[MynameStitch]

Recycled soil can have many issues, one of the biggest is you don't know how much nutrients are left in the soil, without a ppm/tds pen...... even then if the mixture was organic you really would not get an acccurate answer with a tds pen anyways.......fox farm is rich, but if used correctly they will work and not burn your plants.....

You are talking about the soil correct or no?

If you are speaking of using everything the moonshine mix is made of, then yes, but I would avoid using it for new seedlings that is under 2 1/2 weeks of age......