What strain: Chocolope (reg), OG Kush (auto), White Widow (fem)
Method: Happy Frog and Ocean Forest blend of soil
Vessels: 5 gal fabric Pots
PH of Water, Solution, runoff (if Applicable): last runoff was 24 May: Choc-6.7, OGK-7.4, WW-7.2
PPM/TDS or EC of nutrient solution if applicable: PPM Choc-411, OGK-512, WW-414
Indoor
Light system: BestVA Elite 2000w LED, kept about 20-26 in from canopy, 24hr/day
Temps; Day, Night: Day- 70, Night 66
Humidity; Day, Night: Day-41, Night 39
Ventilation system; Yes, Size 6 inch ipower inline fan w/charcoal filter
Humidifier: 3.5 gal, whole room humidifier, always on, always filled.
Co2; No
Started soaking seeds 12 Apr. On 14 Apr, planted 6 of 8 seeds with roots showing. WW and OGK sprouted on 21 Apr. Chocolope was last to sprout on 27 Apr. So, it is now about 4 weeks from sprouting.
I’m using Bergman’s fertilizer products. I did not use the seedling nutrients, because I thought I had to wait until they were about 6 inches high first. By that time, they seemed in Veg, so I used Bergman’s Growtime for Veg stage fertilizer. I first used nutrients on 16 May, but I did a flush on 19 May. On 24 May, I gave them each another round of nutrients, realizing this time that I am supposed to water/feed until runoff. Those are the numbers above in the help ticket.
At this point, my questions are:
Is it weird or bad that none of the plants have had any significant growth for a few days? They seemed to have just kinda stopped growing higher, even though I think I’m paying attention to all factors. They are 15 in, 12in, and 10in. Do I need C02 or anything?
Should I be giving nutrients every time they need water?
When should I switch to the flowering stage? Is that based more on size of the plant, or just when you see the pistils? My plants seem small to start flowering
When I do switch, do I keep both Veg and Flowering lights on, or just Flowering light?
Please look at the pictures to see if you can determine the sex. I think I see what are the white hairs that indicate female, but not sure.
Lastly, do you know what is wrong with OG Kush’s leaves on just that one branch?
@jimi depending on how large you want your plants to grow you can flip anytime. A lot of growers will target the 4-week mark where you are now. Some go as long as 8-weeks or more. They will almost double in size during the stretch. They are growing even though it does not look like it, they look nice and healthy. As far as feeding every watering I some use a f/f/w method and some use the f/w method. I use feed/water method. It all depends on the plants, the nutes, and most importantly the ppm at run off.
It is hard for me to tell in the 4th picture. The only plant I would be concerned with is the chocolope regular. The pictures posted do not have the best shots of the sex organs.
Your pH of the runoff is high. You want to get the runoff pH down to 6.5 for soil. What is the ppm of the runoff? Fox farm is a loaded soil and you want your runoff pans below 2000
Your plants look nice, but pH problems rally start to manifest themselves in flowering when food uptake really starts to need to increase. Good luck!
Thanks so much for all the helpful info. Y’all are the best! Unfortunately, I am in AZ, so the humidity is always very low. I need to work on that pH some more. I appreciate ya, @Sixpackdad@Drinkslinger@Bubblehead
With that soil mix you don’t need anything but maybe a dose of silica until you are into flower.
I would also suggest you put the on an actual day/night cycle instead of 24/0. Plants need darkness to move nutrients and sugars from the leaves to the roots for storage. It can’t happen well if they don’t have dark period to do this work. They need sleep just like you do.
@Myfriendis410 Oh ok, that makes sense, do you suggest going now to the 12/12, or just go to 18/6 and wait a bit more on moving to flowering stage?
And as far as the silica, what is the purpose of that? Will it help stabilize the plants a bit?
Thanks my friend!
Silica is less necessary in soil but is a good additive to build plant strength and disease/pest protection. I often use Superthrive which is a good B vitamin additive and I always add mycorrhizai to the soil.
I like bigger plants. So I let mine out for 10 weeks before flipping. I also use the SCROG method which can be useful for some of your plants. Basically you need to look at your setup to see what you can get away with. The footprint of your grow space is pretty expensive real estate so I like to utilize as much as I can. I just finished harvesting 3 plants planted on 6 January and had .4 oz shy of 2 lbs. of flower.
I like 16/8 myself but that’s just fine. I think your plants will appreciate it.
You give me so much hope with your nearly 2lbs off 3 plants! I think I will go a bit longer too on the flip. They look kinda small for that, and I want the kind of plants you are growing! For now, it is just a dream that I’m hoping to not screw up. I can’t even tell you how much I’ve read in books and online, and you’d think I wouldn’t have questions with all that reading, but it is so nerve wracking to watch them grow and worry all the time that something isn’t going right. Kinda like kids.
Hey; we’ve all been there. It becomes a lot easier over time and you quit stressing (as much) over them. More of a Zen gardening haha. I’ve been doing this for a while and I still don’t have the nuances down. It takes time and frankly you need to screw up to see what to do to fix it.
Basically though; soil is hard to beat for ease if you use something like straight R/O water or REALLY low muni or well water. As long as you have decent watering practices they will reward you.
If you like; I’ll tag you into my old journal. It’s a long read but there’s some gems that experienced growers put in there.
@Myfriendis410 Yes! I would love to see your journal. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I feel like I’m sure I’ll make mistakes, but I think this will be a new passion for me, and I’m looking forward to becoming more adept at this. I look forward to reading through your journal!
Oh my! What an awesome read! I’ve finished the first journal, and man, you’ve got a lot of great info in there that I’m sure I’ll have to refer back to. I’m supposed to be out in the garage making some outdoor patio furniture but I’ve been sitting here enthralled with your journal. Thanks a ton my friend. I wish I knew if it would be ok for me to start a couple outdoor gals, but it is very hot and dry in the summers here. Your grows and yields are so impressive! I’m hoping to do at least half as excellent as you
I’ve only been doing this for a couple of years: I’m no expert. There are an incredible number of areas I’m not conversant with but life is learning.
Thank you for the kind words but you can outdo anything I’ve put up. After all; it’s not rocket science. There were a couple of really good bits in the journal though. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
