5 weeks with a random seed - first real attempt to grow.

[Mal.Kumara]

Mom said the top most leaves are turning yellow - but that is the light shining too bright at the top.

It is growing branches from the points of all fan leaves. I had to defoliate two bottom layers for turning pale.

This is not much tall but had to top it. I want the branches to grow outward. Can anyone help me with advice on lighting to achieve this..?

 

[Mal.Kumara]

I suspect a Sulfur deficiency.
Leaf tips are curled down and burnt like 2mm.

Can anyone give their expert opinion on this please..

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Don't defoliate leaves for showing signs of damage without addressing why it's happening. I have a few suspicions about issues with your grow but we need more details if you want good advice. It's really small for 5 weeks.

What's your medium? Looks like coco but I wasn't sure if it's a mix or not.

What light are you using?

 

[Mal.Kumara]

Medium
I put some broken pieces of clay bricks at the bottom of the pot (plastic) and filled with a mixture of garden soil, shredded coconut husk, compost and dried/composted cow dung. The top mulch layer is also shredded coconut husk and older cannabis leaves and dried/composted cow dung.

I think I replanted this too late from a two plants on one small clay pot. Here is a link to the first post on this: https://www.rollitup.org/t/1011477/

Also I observed thin purple streaks up the stem on some places.

Light
I provide 6~7 hours of daylight in the outside - on the balcony. I don't get sunlight on my balcony until like 11 AM.
And I supplement light with a total of 30W LED (=250W GLS) inside this makeshift grow cabinet.

It was just 15W LED until two weeks ago since I have upgraded to a total of 30W plus a strip of UV LED. I'm planning to switch to that in the flowering stage. Last weekend I fixed all the LED lamps to a single fixture I can neatly hang above the plant. Before it was a mess hanging above - and potentially a fire hazard if it falls on the plant.

So I turn on the light at around 8 AM when I'm awake. When there is sunshine on the balcony (~11 AM) I would move this outside. I would have to rotate the pot around towards the evening - to a shiny spot. At about 5~6 PM I would bring it inside the grow cabinet to give light until like 10~11 PM till I sleep.

I can provide total darkness only during the night - and I'm not comfortable leaving opened lights hanging on a plant while I'm sleeping.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

I think the monsoon started today. That means more cloudy days ahead - so I would have to give more of artificial light.

I'm keeping this just behind my work space so I can look into it often. I'm not sure if I should give the plant some airflow with a fan or if/how to supplement with CO2.

I've heard some people saying they would put their smoke ashes and exhale fumes to the plant. But, honestly - that doesn't make sense to me - because that's not how plants work.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

I think the monsoon started today. That means more cloudy days ahead - so I would have to give more of artificial light.

I'm keeping this just behind my work/living space so I can look into it often. I'm not sure if I should give the plant some airflow with a fan or if/how to supplement with CO2.

I've heard some people saying they would put their smoke ashes and exhale fumes to the plant. But, honestly - that doesn't make sense to me - because that's not how plants work.

Yeah that last bit is pure fiction.

No need to supplement co2 if your not in a sealed environment either.

Basically it sound like your doing the best you can. They could definitely use some more light so if you could add some more supplemental lighting that would be great. It can be tough because there are suggestions I'd make but knowing your not in the US or Europe it's tough because I obviously have no idea what is available to you. Light is your biggest limiting factor right now. Also, don't mulch with dead cannabis leaves unless you fully dry them first. Too much of a chance they will introduce mold.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

Thank you very much.!

Specially because of the lock-down I don't have access to non-essentials. I brought all the LED lamps from a one shop and don't want them suspect anything.

I would have access to gardening fertilizers and stuff. Once the lock-down is over - I would be able to get soil test kits, PH strips etc.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

I have an update on this here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/6th-week-update-i-think-it-is-a-lemon-haze.1016907/

 

[Ganjamandan77]

I don't mix my own soil but i do have a question for who ever can answer. Ive heard that having material that can rot in your soil is bad for you plants. Will rotting or decaying matter in the soil mix cause unwanted organisms any other issues? Like the fan leafs in kumaras mix?

 

[SwiSHa85]

I don't mix my own soil but i do have a question for who ever can answer. Ive heard that having material that can rot in your soil is bad for you plants. Will rotting or decaying matter in the soil mix cause unwanted organisms any other issues? Like the fan leafs in kumaras mix?

On the contrary my friend. Its actually beneficial to add old leaves and compost. Remember soil is alive with microbes and those microbes like to eat.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

Just like gut bacteria - there are beneficial soil microbes as well as harmful ones. I have read recently that nutrients like sulfur are greatly mediated by microorganisms. Even some fungi can help plant root systems to work more efficiently.

Something very accessible to me is cow manure - and it comes free. When applied fresh to a compost bin - has all the beneficial microbes to break down plant material faster. This emits methane which smells awful - and can sometimes catch fire.

But when fresh cow manure is applied to a garden or a pot - we find it "burns" leaves. Fresh cow manure is more microbially active and can release too much sulfur.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

I have heard there are two kinds of rotting/composting material. The green and the brown. Green is all plant based and brown is meat based waste. When they decompose they release nasty gases that can burn young plants. So - sometimes it is best to let them decay to some level and the microbial activity slow down - most material broken down before applying in the field.

Actually my reasoning behind recycling the old fan leaves Was if I'm missing any nutrients Vital For Cannabis - I would be able to supplement with what has already came from a cannabis plant. I don't know how much that reasoning would be valid.

 

[DaFreak]

Charcoal is a known additive so I think that is where you may have heard that

 

[Ganjamandan77]

What about material in your soil that causes mold and fungus. Rotting fan leafs on the surface of your soil with cause mold, ive seen this a bunch of times and cow crap can cause fungus to grow.

 

[Ganjamandan77]

Charcoal is a known additive so I think that is where you may have heard that

Actually fan leafs and cow crap is what i heard was bad.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

What about material in your soil that causes mold and fungus. Rotting fan leafs on the surface of your soil with cause mold, ive seen this a bunch of times and cow crap can cause fungus to grow.

Both of these components are fine IF used right. Fan leaves for example either need to be mixed into the soil or dried fully to be used as a mulch, otherwise they can definitely cause mold that can spread to your buds. Likewise, cow manure is a great fertilizer but it should be composted before use both because it can bring fungi, bacteria and weed seeds (the bad kind) and because it can be really hot when it first starts to break down.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

Yes, the cow manure is well composted. Fan leaves are from a previous harvest from someone else. They have sold me the whole plant and I had to do the harvesting and curing. Those would almost crumble up.

Today after two days I could give them some sunshine outside.

Here are some latest pics of stress training I've been doing on this. I'm planning to get these top 6 branches to bloom - arranged them in this hexagonal/julia-set pattern. Also there are 4 smaller branches below these 6 that I plan to experiment with cloning. I guess I have to go for that before the flowering stage starts.

But I still don't know if these are female/male or auto-flower/photo-period. It smells somewhat like a lemon haze.

 

[Mal.Kumara]

Here are some close-up photos of the nodes. Is it too early to decide if it is female or male..?