2nd Outdoor Grow WW

This is when I first started noticing issues. Pics were taken on 7/19/18. On all 3 of the plants, you can see that a few of the leaves are yellowing near the middle/bottom of the plants. It’s not crazy yet in terms of yellowing and necrosis but it will be easily spotted in upcoming pics. I know for a fact that my neem oil/soap mix was way too high after I reread the directions online (they were not listed on the neem bottle!). After I read the directions from the manufacture online, I realized I was using 600% of the recommended dose :confounded:

Never again will I make that mistake again! I am fairly certain that this is not my long term problem I have been dealing with though as you will see from other pics that they never fully recovered and new growth was affected even though I discontinued my insane dosage of neem/soap insecticide. I am thinking that once the spray was discontinued at that the new growth shouldn’t have been affected if the dosage was the culprit.

These pics are from 8/10/18 and 8/14/18 and you can see yellowing occurring near the upper middle of the plant. This is 2 and 1/2 weeks after the neem/soap spray was reduced.

The girls are in flower as you can tell. In the first pics you can see that the tips of the leaves look burnt and there is some yellowing overall on some of the suger leaves. I thought that I might be overdoing it on the nutes at first but I am not sure this is the problem as I was already giving what I though was a relatively low dose of NPK throughout the grow cycle. Pics from 8/14 and 8/23.

Any thoughts?

The WW that is all by herself by the bush and tomato plant is by far looking the best out of the 3…

And here we arrive at the present day, 9/12/18! These were taken today and show you the full extent of the damage on the plants. The two in the green structure are pretty sad looking. I am fairly confident I will still be able to harvest a few decent buds off of them but nothing like there full potential would have been. The solo plant is looking healthy enough to produce some nice looking buds though despite the problems

Check your soil ph. Being next to that concrete can affect it.

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Damn fine grow my man. Next time u calld it. Go lightly on the Neem oil. Im about to repost ur picture. The blue circle confuses me(which i guess is the 600% neem area). The pink area is naturally empty.

The tips burnd means you Slightly overfed which is better then underfeeding.

The slow yellowing of leaves is natural as u go through flower. She’s just consuming herself.

:point_up:t5::point_up:t5::point_up:t5::point_up:t5: That is not facts. Very nice tips. But not facts. Some choose to feed all the way thru flower and chop their girls full of nutes…

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“Over time, the water leaches calcium carbonate out of the concrete and into the soil, resulting in soil near the concrete structure having a higher pH.”

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Thanks for all the input guys! Sorry for the late reply, just got back from catching some Coho Salmon up in Alaska the past 5 days!

@PhantomFarmer : This is very interesting about the concrete! It never even occurred to me that calcium carbonate would leach into the soil, that makes total sense! The PH does run on the more alkaline side and is between 6.5 and 7.5 when I check the in ground meter. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is an acceptable level for cannabis to still effectively take up nutes right? I will definitely keep an eye on this now that I am aware of the leaching… Thanks for the tip and the article link!!!

@PurpNGold74 : Thanks for the props! I am definitely trying to have a improved grow over last year. My crop got destroyed by budworms last year because I didn’t keep a close enough eye on those bastards late in the game. For some reason, I didn’t see the repost of the pics with your notes… Let me know if you did repost and they just didn’t come through for some reason. On the yellowing leaves; do you recommend removing fully yellowed leaves by pruning or should I just leave them on until they are fully shriveled up on the plant. I have read lots of conflicting info on this and am not sure the best approach. Up until now, I have been pruning away leaves that have fully yellowed but not to the point where they are crispy…

As I mentioned, last year I had some of my crop destroyed by those damn budworms. After I got back from my trip last night, I checked all my girls this morning and found 3 of those SOB’s chopping away on my buds!!! I picked them off and sent them to hades but I am worried that I may have missed some since they burrow deep into the bud sometimes. What are your guys thoughts on using Safer Brand 5163 Caterpillar Killer II Concentrate this late in the game when flowering? Will it affect my buds negatively or leave any kind of residue on them? I definitely don’t want to comprise quality this late in the game but I sure as heck don’t want those suckers munching away and crapping all over my buds!

Here are some pics I took this morning when I was inspecting the buds for budworms…


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Did you trim all the big fan leaves? @Buzzy

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Hey Jack, I trim them as they become fully yellow and lose any green in them. My plants in the green cage have had some problems with premature yellowing and necrosis of the leaves. That is why those plants looks so bare…

Now that PhantomFarmer filled me in on the possibility of the adjacent concrete leaching calcium carbonate into the soil, I think this may have possibly been caused by PH problems and the soil being to alkaline. They are definitely on the small side for outdoor plants that were started in April.

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I’m not an outside grower but that’s a good pickup by PhantomFarmer because that probably means the nutes are locked out. The lower leaves started to yellow earlier than expected as the plant began to use the stored power in them. Try not to over feed to compensate, see if you can bring the pH under control by lowering your feed.
Google: “ph nutrient chart” (or just look below) and you’ll be able to see what gets locked out when you’re too high or low.

*I am a hobbyist, not a pro and like you I’m always learning. I grow with pro mix in a tent and I like my pH between 6 - 6.3

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Thanks Jack! That is a helpful chart in regards to nutrient uptake related to PH. I think I will look into getting a better PH meter to monitor this more accurately. Currently, I only have a cheap one that I bought off Amazon, do you think this is accurate enough? The one I have is in a pic below. Do you have any recommendations on a quality PH tester?

I would get a digital pH meter for like $20 or less.

https://smile.amazon.com/VANTAKOOL-Accuracy-Measuring-Household-Aquariums/dp/B07BFQKYZF/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1537314274&sr=8-4&keywords=digital+ph+meter

You can test your feed before you apply and move it up or down before feeding.
-Or some organic growers will throw things on the soil to move the pH up or down…the same way concrete drags it one way, some items will naturally drag pH the other way.
I have one of those things that you stick in soil and I hate it. With a digital pen you’ll be able to test your soil by making a slurry. Dig up some soil from your area, mix it with your actual feed blend and test that concoction.

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Thanks! That’s all very helpful! I will look into picking one of those up. Good idea about making a slurry with the soil, I would not have thought of that! I agree that the one I currently have doesn’t feel like it is giving me the most accurate reading…

6.8 would be your max ph. Above that, you’ll start getting lockout issues. You just need to get a more precise meter and get the soil ph dialed in.

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Thanks Phantom! Any advice on dealing with budworms this late in the game? I found 3 on my most healthy plant this morning when I was inspecting the buds. Is Safer Brand 5163 Caterpillar Killer II Concentrate safe to use at this point? I know it uses BT as the ingredient that basically starves the catapillers after they ingest it once it is sprayed on the plant. I am just worried about damaging my buds somehow or getting bud rot if I saturate them with the stuff at this point. I guesstimate that I am about 2-3 weeks from being finished with flower…

I’ve never had a caterpillar issue so can’t really comment on the products you mention. Others will no doubt chime in. My usual practice is neem oil and Diatomaceous Earth, though not everyone is s fan of those items.

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