unbelievable problems every time

[dochempy]

I have tried to grow but I always end up with males. first 3 x apollo 11 -> males. Then 2 lowryders -> males. Planted 2 more lowryder seeds, now I'm seeing male flowers again.

Another problem is that the plants grow slowly and don't look too good. The leaves feel dry and are hanging downwards. I've tried different mediums, the plants in my gallery are in perlite/vermiculite mix with Advanced hydroponics nutes. I also have tried coco.

Another strange thing is that all the stems turn red. Every strain I have tried, becomes red, and even the new leaf growth is red at first..see my gallery.

what's the problem?!

 

[Oli4]

Maybe you should buy fem seeds instead of reg and learn firts the basics on soil
Grtz

 

[stihgnobevoli]

if they always go male/hermie i would say your environment is too stressful. ive found you get more females in cooler temps than males. thats not a fact or anything just my experience. red stems usually indicate a defeciency. most likely Phosphorous def. cant tell you for certain without pics.
after looking in your gallery i believe thats a micro def. prolly iron or boron. i dont have the sick plants guide in front of me. but you should look through it. its the sticky at the top of the infirmary.

 

[mexilandrace]

That plant is over watered in your gallery.

I think you are trying to make it harder than it is man.

It may sound stupid but buy a house plant and learn with it, I can't tell you how much that helped me years ago.

 

[mayan]

Do you have any problems with light leaks in flower?

 

[dochempy]

Light leaks are not a problem here. I have tried to think of some things that are special in my setup..

lights, I'm using LEDs, 50% royal blue and 50% red, and temperatures are low since it's cold here inside and those lights don't heat my growing chamber.

I have tried watering only a little and then more generously..but I wonder if low humidity is the reason of my problems..it's really dry here. Or then maybe the plants don't like that royal blue light..because all the plants that are near those blue leds are looking bad and have some crystals on them even now when they aren't flowering. But one plant is OK and it's under red and warm whites and no crystals can be seen.

Maybe I have too advanced technology here.. Maybe I should just get some soil and CFL light and then when I get something at first I can experiment more

 

[Skipload]

Overwatering is occuring.
LED's should be considered supplemental for beginners.
An overly wet medium could have led to root rot and bacterial infection of the plant, red leaves.
You should use a moisture meter, they're not beyond advanced growers. You may be watering the plant sparingly, however, the lack of intensity in lighting and low air temps could explain the lack of leaf evaporation.
High male germination rates can mean a stressful environment.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Hi Doc,

I'm no expert, but common knowledge seems to hold that using red spectrum during veg growth leads to more males - maybe you should reconsider the LEDs in favor of some CFLs for veg growth? Good Luck Doc.

 

[dochempy]

well please look at the latest gallery pics, what is going on!? 12/12 lights for 10 days and preflowers are forming..but what kind of flowers?! They say that female ones are 2 white hairs in V shape and male flowers are balls..but to me these look like balls with one hair growing from the middle.

 

[wygram]

all of those pictures are definitely male flowers... and some a almost ready to pop and drop pollen watch out for those

 

[stihgnobevoli]

ive been using red spectrum bulbs for like the last 5 grows. ive had like 6 total males. the majority of mine usually come out girls. this round i spreouted 5 got 1 male. hps.

 

[jm420]

leds are junk unless you spent big dollars,if you got them from ebay its a waste of time.i gave mine to my kid he loves it for a nite light ,Iwould switch lights first and go from there

 

[stihgnobevoli]

one of my plants turned hermie on me. it was showing female preflowers, then i supercropped it and put it under 12/12. i did it too late after the stem had started turning to wood and as a result the female preflowers died off and now its growing male parts. sad. very sad this was the biggest bush in there.



the point of all this is that stress and lack of males are some of the biggest factor in hermies.

 

[Mister Postman]

very low humidity, and colder temps will equal slower growth, improper nutrient uptake as well as mobility of the nutrients within the plant.

On top of the slower growth colder temps bring it also prevents evaporation from the medium, which means much less o2 to the roots, and shit just gets compounded.

I'd look into those enviromental issues before anything else. I've also heard through reading about those led kits that to many blue spectrum diodes will screw with the growth of vegging plants. At least on ebay they reccomend the blue ONLY boards to be hung higher above the canopy as well as used only as a supplement hps, and other more suitable light colors for the flowering stages.