To shade or not to shade that is the question

[Tlaf]

Hi everyone. This is my first grow and also my first forum post ever. I have a few questions. First of all I have no idea what strain I am growing so that makes it difficult to find the specific info that I am looking for. My girl seems to be doing great so far. I’m about 2 weeks into flowering and I am wondering if she is getting too hot or too much sun. She doesn’t seem to be showing signs of heat stress from what I’ve read, but I’m wondering if I should shade her some since the heat here in South West Florida is pretty intense. Would it be wise to shade or more of a hindrance since plants do need sunlight and all. She gets direct sunlight for at least 6 hours a day and indirect for a few more hours.

My next question is about purple stems. A few of my stems are a little purple but the leaves or stalks show no purple at all. Should I be worried or is that possibly just genetics? She seems pretty healthy otherwise.

Next question is mainly to organic growers I suppose. I have been feeding her a banana and local honey tea since she started flowering. What are your experiences with this? I have read that the honey provides the extra sugars(carbs) needed during flowering.

And I guess my final question(for now) is there any advice that you would give to me based on the pics provided? Any info is appreciated.

P.s. the lizards do a pretty good job at pest control so far it seems

[Countryboyjvd1971]

I would not shade them
They look healthy and happy it’s early in flower as well
I would just continue doing what you have been doing all looks good

[Tlaf]

Thanks. That’s what I was hoping to hear but with it being my first time I wanted some advice from someone that knew a lot more than myself. So I will keep on like I have been and now to hurry up and wait on harvest time.

[Countryboyjvd1971]

Waiting is half the game @Tlaf lol
She looking good

[Tlaf]

So true. The problem is that patience is a virtue and I’ve never been a very virtuous man. Lol

[Countryboyjvd1971]

The struggle is real
Lmfao i got off the line when they where handing out patients so I understand completely
But ill tell you this it’s worth the wait

Im doing all i can not to chop my lsd down lol
Im so close heres some inspiration for you

[dbld55]

Looks great

[dbld55]

I live in central Florida and have a ton of those lizards that like to guard my plants and do a great job they found a caterpillar and they ate it I love those guys and they work for free

[Countryboyjvd1971]

Hahaha you guy got them everywhere down there
I lived in sw fla for a while hahaha

[Tlaf]

Wow! Look at that sugar! She’s a beauty! I agree though. Definitely worth the wait. I put too much time in her already to go and fuck it up because I’m impatient. And I love that the lizards work for free. Plus they shit all over the place so a little free phosphorus never helps either. Funny thing is I have a tree that is part of my blind and it was full of wasps when I started this grow. I figured That’s a good thing to help battle against catterpillars since they have a tendency to lay their eggs in them and kill them but after about a month all the lizards ate all the wasps. So no worries about being stung now. I don’t know if you guys have used cardboard to prevent catterpillars but in early veg I found catterpillars on her twice(I constantly check on her so they didn’t do much damage before I found them) but I read about using a piece of cardboard as a sleeve at the base of the trunk so I did it and haven’t seen the first sign of them since. Seems to work but no one really knows why from what I have read about it

[Tlaf]

Not to be too annoying with questions but I have some roots growing out of the top of the soil. Not too much but I have read that That’s a good sign. That it means she’s growing in beast mode basically and that I shouldn’t cover them up. I was wondering if you think it would be wise to add a little more soil or not. Thanks in advance

[Tlaf]

Also what are yalls thoughts on this bloom feed?

[Countryboyjvd1971]

Thats perfectly normal by the time I harvest ill have them voming out of the soil as well you could definitely top dresss them with some more soil if you have the room in the pots
I never used that nutrient line can you post a picture of the ingredients label

[Tlaf]

It works amazing on my orchids and the NPK ratio seems pretty good for flowering from what I’ve read but I’d rather ask before doing anything that might harm her

[Tlaf]

Sorry. It wouldn’t let me reply until today. It said that since I am new the number of replies is limited daily

[whopee]

@Tlaf
Hi there man!

I’m on my first run also but indoor

1. I don’t think light can stress her until it’s too hot, my baby is under 80F feeling ok. One breeder I follow stated he doesn’t have any stress issues up to 100, but u should water her accordingly.

2. be careful with honey, as it’s got antibacterial features which might be not good for soil. But I also use it a lil, like 1ml/L making up my mind to stop with it. Many ppl use molasses instead of proper carbs and seems like pretty happy with it. Btw, when I started I had no nuts, so made a banana water (boiled water and banana skin) which is full of “K”, but since u plan to use nuts mb it’s not needed. Homemade supplements & fertz are risky as they may contain things you don’t need at all or in that amounts. They can also change your medium ph (wood ash tea, egg shell =+ph). Btw, be careful with clay pebbles and dolomitic lime =+ph too.
   Right before flowering I managed to switch to proper fertz like GHE Flora 3-in-1 & Advanced Nutrients (AD) Cal-Mag-X, Revive, Rhino skin (check these products). I also want to get AD Bud Candy for carbs & vitamins. I also use Mycoriza bacteria in soil (roots symbiotics), many roots supplements sold by fertz producers have 'em or similar things there. Plant get more food, roots are more protected even from ph issues. But you should also treat well your bacteria…, as for me - I use mineral ferts as you can get, mb that’s not good enough, but works for me nowadays.

3. I also got purple stems (branches) and fan leaves small stems. Don’t know whether it’s bad or not. Some say it’s due to genetics, but can be N/P/K/Mg deficiencies. Btw, they were completely green when young and had red parts both in bad/good times. My fan leaves small stems are always red for mature leaves since she’s +1 month old~.
   I find your stems like not thick, how long did u Veg? You can try supercropping to stress them and make more thick (use honey and tape if wounded!).

4. Roots grow very fast, I got transparent container and saw them move about 10cm/week, mb even faster when she was 70 days from sprout after bare root transplant. It’s a good sign I suppose they move towards top soil layer, I have that also. I would cover em with low amount of soil not to get burned by air and in the same way to stay close to it.

5. Be careful with these NPK values as different producers mean different things, not all elements are pure, so mb you’ll need to convert them to understand better. I’ll post my xls pics FYI to see how I try to see all these nuts points and compare fertz I use. Can send the xls if needed, just tag!

6)Use RO water with low solids amounts (ppm<30), you’ll have to add Cal/Mg/Fe and microelements but u can control you nutrient solution this way. Ppm can be measured by TDS or EC meter. It’s better to use EC as I get it for now, as all basic TDS meters are EC meters which give you converted ppm numbers and there are 3 different common convertion rates they use (differ up to 30%), so you better be sure what your tds meter rate is to feel these numbers well (in nuts feeding charts they also state ppm numbers for your watering solution at each stage of veg/bloom).
Since I use RO water and proper nuts (nuts for MJ) I’m starting to forget about my ph issues. But PH tester is a must, I’m still using paper strips and find them good enough. I recommend to use ph tester for water (u can put your soil sample there anyway and get the number) until you buy smth like semi-pro soil tester as common ones are not that accurate. Funny advice from a Paper strips man )))

Have a nice grow there bro!