Hi Everyone,
This plant was germinated 10/28/20, Today is day 82.
Height 15 inches.
Environment:
How long can we keep her in veg? We would like her to get taller, so I raised the light a little bit two weeks ago to get her to stretch.
Any other advice? I am noticing more yellow leaves coming in.
Thanks!
Look up shwazzing. It’s a defoliation technique. I would do that then switch to flower. LEDs don’t penetrate very far so you don’t want it to tall
After flip you’re probably going to double in size. I’m with @HornHead I’d go for the flip to flower. Also follow up check PPM runoff plant looks a little hungry.
Thanks @HornHead and @kellydans,
Here she is post-shwazzing, and I flipped her to 12/12 today.
That makes sense about the nutrients @kellydans, she has been in the same FFOF for 11 weeks! I have been giving all my plants 1/4 strength nutrients (FF Trio), so I upped them to 1/2 strength.
Can’t hit an undo button, but I would’ve proceeded differently. This plant is clearly unhealthy and under a lot of stress.
Can you describe your watering routine? Be as specific as possible. I understand you’re now watering with nutrients, so please describe how you were watering before that, and how you’re doing it now.
It isn’t too later to go back to a vegetative cycle so you can iron out the issues before flowering.
Edit: that light is inadequate for the space that you’re in. Assuming you’re going to fill that 5’x5’ tent, do you have additional lights?
Uh oh!
Here is my watering schedule for January.
I use RO water, and I water until runoff starts. In one of the pics you see water, but I was trying to saturate the soil with the higher nute level.
1/5 calmag
1/8 calmag
1/11 calmag, nutes 25% strength, kangaroots
1/14 calmag
1/17 calmag
1/19 calmag, nutes 50% strength
I only have one plant in the tent, I don’t plan on putting more in. Is the light not good enough for one plant?
Also I PH to 6.4
What size container was your plant in before you transplanted to the 5 gallon bucket?
How are you determining when to water? It looks like you’re using a water pump and emitter system, yes? Is it on a timer or manually activated? When you water, how much time passes between start and stoping?
Here are the things that concern me:
Your plant’s new growth is yellowing, but some of the lower growth is quite verdant.
Your plant should be much bigger at 82 days.
Because the plant has just been aggressively defoliated, stores of mobile nutrients just took a big hit.
You’re mixing soil and fertigation. If you were in soilless (ProMix or coco for example) we could advise a thorough flush and reset your fertigation plan. But soil behaves differently.
This is all recoverable, but you need a deliberate plan.
It’s not about the number of plants, but the size of the canopy you’re trying to cover. To a lesser extent, it’s about matching the canopy to the size of the tent to minimize reflective loss.
Your light isn’t meant to cover more than 3’x3’, IIRC. This isn’t an immediate issue, and lack of adequate light isn’t causing the problems I’m seeing (IMO). Don’t worry about the light right now, but remember to revisit the topic once you clear up the nutrient issues.
@KeystoneCops Thanks a ton for your input, here are more answers.
I start in root riot cubes for about 2 weeks, move to solo cups for a week or two then into the 5 gallon by week 3 or 4.
I water when the soil is dry 1 inch deep, about every other day.
The water system is manual. The water runs for about 3 to 5 minutes.
@Uthon one possibility is that, in going from a solo cup to a literal 5 gallon bucket, the soil is just holding far too much water and the roots aren’t able to spread out into the saturated zones. I wouldn’t be surprised is your root mass was actually smaller now than when you first transplanted into the 5 gallon bucket.
For me, an ideal soil container size holds enough water for 3-4 days. I water really slowly, and stop when I first get runoff. And I don’t water again until the plant begins to lose turgidity (ideally, but sometimes you’re going away for a weekend.)
Lot’s of bad things happen when you overwater. Your plant’s roots can’t find air. Anaerobic bacteria can flourish. You can wash good things out of your soil.
I have gone seed to harvest in a #2 nursery pot with a blend of happy frog, ocean forest, and organic amendments. The only things I added to that are water with soap, and Recharge (which I’m on the fence about) You do not need to fertigate a rich organic soil like ocean forest, except in the most extreme circumstances.
When we add loads of ionic salts to soil, they are irregularly adsorbed by the soil. On top of that, the soil is still releasing its own nutrients as they break down. The plant is not getting a predictable nutrient element ratio (NER).
I’m fully in favor of fertigation! But if I go that route I use ProMix or Coir as my medium. Those soilless options give me maximum control and repeatability.
Am I making sense?
