1st time grow...just looking for pointers!

[SmoothPollock]

Back from Vacation!

Here's an update with pictures. I was gone for about 5 days and had asked my friend to water only once (on day 3 of my absence). I'm not sure if you can tell by the pics, but the plants seem to have suffered a bit from heat stress (maybe being too close to the lights, or because the room temp increased to high 80's once or twice) as well as a lack of watering - they showed signs of droopy/crispy leaves. When I got home late last night I raised the lights slightly and drenched them in water (clean-no nutes). This morning they seem to have perked back up and leaves feel softer to the touch. (phew!).
They grew about 4-5 inches while I was gone and now stand at a lovely 14" from the top of the soil.

I am in need of advice as to what I should do to begin flowering. I am aware that simply switching to 12/12 will induce the flowering stage, but I have a few other questions I'll post in a second post. ........for the moment, here are the pics... (sorry for the lack of resolution...an IPOD doesn't focus in super close, and my digital camera's battery is dead)

 

[SmoothPollock]

Flowering questions: (assuming I flip to 12/12 today)
1) I have 9 23w CFL bulbs that are 5000k, I just received my 85w 2700k (5800 lumens) and am putting that in the room as we speak. Will it be ok to begin flowering using all of these? I do have a couple of 2700k bulbs that I can install INSTEAD of the 5000k, but they are of lower wattage (18w, 13w, 10w). Should I make the change out?

2) I know you all hate any kind of MG product, but it has been working very well for me on my "limited funding - newbie experimental 1st grow". I have been using MG all purpose plant food 24-8-16 since the start of Veg and am going to be switching to MG "Bloom - something or other" with a higher phosphate content for flowering. When should I introduce the new nutes?

3)I still don't know the sex. I see the stipules at every node, the plants STILL do not have alternating nodes, and some of the stipules have even shrivled up and look more of a brown crispy color. ( I am assuming this may have also been induced by the heat stress recently). Anyone have any tips on how to determine the sex at this stage?...or will I just have to make the flip and wait a week or so?

Also, plants are about 6 weeks old to the day. Due to potential height restrictions, I would like to keep them in the neighborhood of 3 feet tall....give or take.

thank you all for any input or advice!

 

[SmoothPollock]

Flowering questions: (assuming I flip to 12/12 today)
1) I have 9 23w CFL bulbs that are 5000k, I just received my 85w 2700k (5800 lumens) and am putting that in the room as we speak. Will it be ok to begin flowering using all of these? I do have a couple of 2700k bulbs that I can install INSTEAD of the 5000k, but they are of lower wattage (18w, 13w, 10w). Should I make the change out?

2) I know you all hate any kind of MG product, but it has been working very well for me on my "limited funding - newbie experimental 1st grow". I have been using MG all purpose plant food 24-8-16 since the start of Veg and am going to be switching to MG "Bloom - something or other" with a higher phosphate content for flowering. When should I introduce the new nutes?

3)I still don't know the sex. I see the stipules at every node, the plants STILL do not have alternating nodes, and some of the stipules have even shrivled up and look more of a brown crispy color. ( I am assuming this may have also been induced by the heat stress recently). Anyone have any tips on how to determine the sex at this stage?...or will I just have to make the flip and wait a week or so?

Also, plants are about 6 weeks old to the day. Due to potential height restrictions, I would like to keep them in the neighborhood of 3 feet tall....give or take.

thank you all for any input or advice!

Ok, so here's some more specs for question #1: I would be replacing the 9 bulbs (all 5000k/1600Lumens - that's 14,400 Lumens) with:
1 85w 2700k 5,800 Lumens
4 18w 2700k 1,250 Lumens each (5,000 total)
6 13w 2700k 800 Lumens each (4,800 total)

From all I have read it would appear that wattage does not matter quite as much as Lumen output. So my new question is: would 15,600 Lumens of 2700k be strong enough to produce a decent yield and decent buds on 2 plants?

Or....maybe instead of 6 13w bulbs, replace 4 with 23w 5000k bulbs (this would increase the total Lumen output to 19,000 with a mixed bulb setup of both 2700k and 5000k)

thoughts?

...finished what I figure will be the final setup and have begun the flowering stage.

 

[SiliconeBud]

Hey SP, Welcome back.

Even though your plants went through some sort of stress they will recover. They still look really green and healthy. My plants also have some brown patches, as in your img_067, and that's from touching the CFL bulb. They will never go back to normal but don't cut them off since the plant can still make use of the area that is still nice and green.

As for the lights, switch them all to 2700k and keep the bulbs as close to the plant as possible. As for "decent bud" well sorry but that is a little hard to judge from where any of us sit. But what I can tell you is if it's a female you will produce bud and you'll smoke it This is your first grow and it's more of a learning experience than anything. Your next grow, you will know exactly what to do and what you want to change.

And from your pics I can't tell the sex either but you are in the ball park on how to tell. Near the top of the main stem if you don't see white pistols then she hasn't pre-flowered yet. Give it one week of 12/12 light and check again. If you see the pear shaped balls with two white hairs poking out, she's a girl.

You are doing awesome, just keep it up what you are doing.

Cheers
- SB -

 

[SmoothPollock]

awesome! thanks for the confirmation that things are still alright. I'll keep plugging along. As always, thanks for the insight and guidance. Mucho appreciated!

 

[SmoothPollock]

A question I forgot to ask earlier:

When should I take clones? I am not sure yet if either plant is female, so can I wait a week or so until I have 100% assurance they are girls and then take a clone? Today is Day One of Flowering.

 

[SiliconeBud]

You can take a clone once you know the sex, so about a week into flowering. I still think for how long you've vegged this plant it should be showing pre-flowers, take a look at the blow photo, not the best but shows the pre-flowers for a female plant.


View attachment 2495334


Cheers
- SB -

 

[SmoothPollock]

Thanks SB! I am now about 95% sure they are both females....I think I just didn't want to get my hopes up before. I even showed my lady the pic you posted, then she went to look and said that they were undoubtedly female!!!! Thanks for your support! What/When would you suggest adding nutrients? I took your advice and switched all CFLs to the 2700k bulbs. I'll be taking clones in the next few days and putting them in a seperate closet for vegging. I may leave one in the Flowering closet as I think that will work also. One of my seedlings that is about 3 weeks old I am LSTing the shit out of (so much fun!) I'll be keeping you posted and continue to look forward to your advice.

 

[SmoothPollock]

Need some assistance here please! I'm only a few days into flower and am pretty sure I am having a deficiency of some sort. The majority of the plant is doing well, although I am starting to see just the slightest curling/wrinkling of some "newer" growth (growth about a week old). Overall I would say that 80% of the plant is doing well. I originally thought some of these yellow/rust-ish spots were simply "bulb-burn" when my friend didn't watch their growth closely enough while I was away. I am now beginning to think that I'm lacking something. I just watered today - pure water, no nutes and they seem to have perked up a bit. The larger lower fan leaves were beginning to look a bit droopy. I do have a small gnat problem, but not more than maybe 15 or so gnats and I am trying to kill as many as I can. Light's on temps range between 78-84F with 40-50% RH. Light's off temps range between 70-76F with 40-60% RH. Here's the pics....thank you for any advice you can give.

 

[SiliconeBud]

Hey SmoothPollock,

Hmmmm...cause is not from a gnat issue that's for sure, but still get rid of those ASAP.

3rd pic (img_0185) looks to be a lack of calcium which is tell me there is 1) lockout due to pH or 2) over watering.

Pic 1, looks (img_0183) looks to be nute burn, from the crinkling of the leaves but a little hard to tell from the pics. Could also be caused from over watering.

Couple of questions for you:

1) How often do you water, do you wait until the soil is bone dry before each watering?
2.a) When was the last time you gave her nutes?
2.b) Was it after this that you noticed these symptoms?
3) Do you check the pH of the water?

This is also a great site for cannabis issues if you haven't seen it yet: The Complete Guide to Sick Plants

Cheers
- SB -

 

[SmoothPollock]

I've been reading that link you sent me - that is super informative....bookmarked for sure. I'm almost positive that I am over-watering. I generally water about every 3 days or so, I do the finger in the soil test (but only up to the 1st knuckle). I'm sure it's over-watering that is causing the problems as I think I kinda freaked out a bit after having been gone and my buddy burned some of the leaves. I gave nutes about 3 days ago, then watered again today (no nutes). I think I'll let the soil completely dry out for 4-5 days before I consider watering again. I'm working on getting rid of the white flies.
Answers to your questions:
1) about every 3 days as mentioned above
2a) 3 days ago
2b) yes - well, it was after this that it seemed to develop rapidly
3) no, I use distilled water only

what is a good nute for flowering? I know something with higher P & K, but also something with a "bit" of N....any recommendations?

thanks again, I'll post again next weekend to update. thanks again bud.

 

[SN4PPS]

Don't let it dry out completely, I've read a lot that this is not good.
Have you got a pH meter yet?
If so what is the pH?

 

[SmoothPollock]

A lil' update:

I'm a little over a week into flowering and the ladies are doing quite well. They are both standing about 19-20" from the surface of the soil and are filling out nicely. I just picked up some MG Bloom (15-30-15) and will begin easing that in on the next watering. Going to start off with about 1/4 the recommended strength and see how they do (QUESTION-if they take well to this do I feed this mixture - gradually increasing the strength- every watering? or do I alternate between "nute water" and "clean water"?).
I did remove some of the dead/dying leaves at the base of the plants (only if they would come off easily with a simple tug), and I still have a few yellow/brown/crinkly fan leaves (see pic below) on the lower portion of both plants that would not come off with a simple pull. I am questioning whether or not to cut those off or leave them. I know this is a topic of discussion across many different forums and as of now I think I'm going to leave them until they are basically falling off. Any suggestions?

I've also thrown in a pic of another plant that is still vegging - working on a lil' LST with it and damn is it fun.

will keep you all posted!

 

[SiliconeBud]

Hey Smooth,

They are looking great. Don't worry about the yellow leaves, when they are ready to come off they will. There is still some green on them so they are doing something for the plant. I'm guessing cutting back the watering has helped?

As for the nutes and frequency of watering. Sorry not a soil grower so I don't want to suggest something and it hurt your plants. The other week I followed the chart of feeding for my plant and she got a little nute burn. The chart only says week 1, or week 2 etc.., put in this amount. What it doesn't tell your plant is xxxx tall then use this for week 1, week 2 etc.... or if xxxx tall use this. So gradually upping the nutes is probably a good idea.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers
- SB -

 

[lykarckstar420]

All depends on the stage you are in . I am soil grower and find that into week 5 flower a have to water 3 times a week or more... I let them dry out inbetween but not letting them get crispy and really dried out.
Earlier in the veg and flower cycle I watered less. Let the plants tell you when to water and then schedule it that way and try not to let other people care for your babies.... JUST SAY'n

 

[joe blow greenthumb]

No matter what you do, never do it in drastic amounts/changes at once. Always gradually make any changes. It's less stress and also gives an indicator to whether or not you're making the right changes. They look good though!

 

[Flaming Pie]

Back from Vacation!

Here's an update with pictures. I was gone for about 5 days and had asked my friend to water only once (on day 3 of my absence). I'm not sure if you can tell by the pics, but the plants seem to have suffered a bit from heat stress (maybe being too close to the lights, or because the room temp increased to high 80's once or twice) as well as a lack of watering - they showed signs of droopy/crispy leaves. When I got home late last night I raised the lights slightly and drenched them in water (clean-no nutes). This morning they seem to have perked back up and leaves feel softer to the touch. (phew!).
They grew about 4-5 inches while I was gone and now stand at a lovely 14" from the top of the soil.

I am in need of advice as to what I should do to begin flowering. I am aware that simply switching to 12/12 will induce the flowering stage, but I have a few other questions I'll post in a second post. ........for the moment, here are the pics... (sorry for the lack of resolution...an IPOD doesn't focus in super close, and my digital camera's battery is dead)
View attachment 2493249View attachment 2493250View attachment 2493251View attachment 2493252View attachment 2493253View attachment 2493254View attachment 2493255View attachment 2493256View attachment 2493257

Those plants are beggin you for phosphorous. brown spotting on leaves and purple leaf stems

 

[Flaming Pie]

Just saw you switched to a bloom nute. that should help. Watch for progression of yellowing from bottom. Bottom means N, P, K, Mg, B, or Mb

 

[SmoothPollock]

No matter what you do, never do it in drastic amounts/changes at once. Always gradually make any changes. It's less stress and also gives an indicator to whether or not you're making the right changes. They look good though!

thanks Joe, that's what I've been reading and have found to be true, I did feed 1/4 strength of my bloom nute and she took to it like a champ!

 

[SmoothPollock]

Uh-oh! I just check on them this morning and see what appears to be the start of seeds? Please someone help! It's only on one of my 2 plants - there have been NO light leaks or anything of the sort....