First time grow, advice/feedback greatly appreciated!

jointed

Well-Known Member
Imho, fox farms soil is garbage bro. You would be far better off mixing up your own soil to fit your style of growing. Keep it in a garbage can like Sub does to mellow out abit. Keeps bugs and critters out of your mix too. I think you are doing an awesome job for your first time with cannabis. Keep it up. As you gain experience with that strain you will learn what she likes and what she does'nt. It just takes some time. Happy growing......Jointed
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Imho, fox farms soil is garbage bro. You would be far better off mixing up your own soil to fit your style of growing. Keep it in a garbage can like Sub does to mellow out abit. Keeps bugs and critters out of your mix too. I think you are doing an awesome job for your first time with cannabis. Keep it up. As you gain experience with that strain you will learn what she likes and what she does'nt. It just takes some time. Happy growing......Jointed
Thanks! There are so many pros on here its easy to look at peoples' amazing results and feel quite a bit of bud envy hahaha, its nice to have reassurance that I'm not doing as poorly as I think. As for fox farms, I still have 1.5 cu ft of FFOF, so I'm probably going to use it up, but it will only be about 40% of the mix I'm going to use. I was reading a post about super soil by subcool and he suggested mixing FFOF 50/50 with Light Warrior as a good base soil, so I'm probably going to use that in some capacity, although I think I'm going to include Roots Organic and/or Vermifire in the mix somewhere too since they are carried at a local shop and regularly go on sale for about 10-11$ per 1.5 cu ft.
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Ok so I decided that I have been being too negative about my beautiful lady, so I figured I should post some more glamorous bud-porny shots of her from today. She seems to be dealing with my blundering ineptitude with grace and aplomb and she deserves to be rewarded for it. So this is her at about day 32 of flower. I think she's pretty :weed:
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bellyme

New Member

  • Looks very healthy. You may want to bump up the feed a bit, maybe 10 - 15%. The purple stems on the fans are an indication of P deficiency. It could also be a genetic trait, although that's somewhat rare. Doesn't look too serious yet.They get real hungry during initial stretch and still consume a lot N for another week or two. I usually stick with max veg feed with the addition of a PK booster till the start of week 4.
    Fred​




 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Speaking of garbage soil, I have recently found f#$%ing mold in the top layer of my soil. Before I freak out too much, I was looking at mold treatment options and a lot of them involve treating with beneficial bacteria like Bacillus subtilis. I noticed that one of the organic fertilizers I have been using contains Bacillus subtilis as well as quite a few other fungi/bacteria that I see on lists of treatment options. My question is this: Since this is a fertilizer that I have been using throughout the whole grow, is it possible that the mold I am seeing is just one of these beneficial fungi growing out, or is ALL visible mold bad mold? None of it has spread to any parts of the plant, and I removed what I could see and sprinkled cinnamon on the topsoil to slow it spreading. I just want to know if I should do a soil drench with SM-90, Aquashield, or something of the like, or whether I should assume that since its not attacking the plant (yet), and I've been adding beneficial microbes throughout the grow, that it is probably a benign problem and not much to be troubled with? I am going to lower the RH of my grow area (During the day it is a nice 35% but at night it can rise to the low/mid 60's) but I don't want things to get out of control.
 

jointed

Well-Known Member
Is it white and kinda looks like a spiderweb? If so that is beneficial to the soil and won't hurt a thing. Its a good thang. :-P
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Is it white and kinda looks like a spiderweb? If so that is beneficial to the soil and won't hurt a thing. Its a good thang. :-P
That is exactly what it looks like!! There is only one patch that looks more fuzzy but I think it's just that it isn't connecting to anything. If this is what you're talking about than you took a huge weight off my mind! This is what it looks like from far away and under 20x magnification.
 

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jointed

Well-Known Member
Lookin good there Ace.:mrgreen: Your're gonna have a nice fat cola on that girl by the looks of it. Thanks for the rep too. I forgot to thank you before. Nice to see someone finally sub up to what I'm doing. I'll be posting pics on Monday most likely since I'm going to be busy the next 2 days. Keep up the great work, I'm looking forward to seeing how your lady turns out. Peace bro....Jointed
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Thanks man! Have fun on your fishin' trip!
Figured I'd throw up a couple more pics since she's been looking especially nice today
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She has put down good roots at this point. Based on the size of your grow box I would switch to 12/12 soon. She will grow to 2-3 times her current size in flower.

You might want to dissolve some epsom salt in hot water (1/2 - 1 tsp/gal) to give her more magnesium, it looks like you have early magnesium deficiency.

CFLs can get hot and they have the potential to malfunction/break/overheat, think about using something other than a cardboard box. It is a fire hazard.

Good choices on soil, using mycorrhizae, and using some molasses. Good luck on your first grow
I'm pretty sure mine have a mag def. Anyways thanks for the easy solution!

Good luck Ace!

________________________________________________________________________________________

Just updated pics on my second grow (Headband, Afghan Kush Ryder, Critical Kush, Cotton Candy)

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/789689-i-think-i-have-male-2.html
 

infdjedi

Well-Known Member
Looks good for a first grow. I highly suggest using more nitrogen next time. As soon as you see yellow leaves like that it's a nitrogen deficiency. Mold on your soil like that is absolutely fine and as others said; extremely beneficial. Roots form symbiotic relationships with certain types of fungus which help them intake nutrients better. You most certainly want to avoid any type of fungus on your plant itself, though. Yellowing/dying leaves are a good place for this type of negative fungus to start so trim them off soon. You want to keep dead/decaying matter to a minimum. If you had more light and better feeding those buds would be 4x as big and you'd need to prop up the branches.
 
Looks great!!
Getting excited for mine as well, just flipped today into 12/12 after 9.5 - 10 weeks....haha now gotta probably wait another 10 - 11 weeks, but the fun part is now starting.
How tall did she end up?
 

jointed

Well-Known Member
Looks very healthy. You may want to bump up the feed a bit, maybe 10 - 15%. The purple stems on the fans are an indication of P deficiency. It could also be a genetic trait, although that's somewhat rare. Doesn't look too serious yet.They get real hungry during initial stretch and still consume a lot N for another week or two. I usually stick with max veg feed with the addition of a PK booster till the start of week 4.
Fred
Purple stems are an indication of plant maturity, red stems on the leaves are nitrogen deficiency indicating that they are a source and the plant is using them to feed the yellowing leaves which are called sinks
 

jointed

Well-Known Member

  • http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...615891.html?14

    Check out this link Ace. Lots of good reading here, also check out the fertilizing container plants link posted at the bottom of the OP's fisrt post. I feel you may be experiencing some elemental antagonism isues in your soil. Try flushing the pot with 3 times the value of the pot and then let her dry up a good bit and then resume as normal. I know you want to grow organically, but I want you to consider what you read in that link and then well sit down and chat for a bit.:bigjoint: Sound good Ace!:-P Please don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to use bloom foods because it's simply not true. I have seen many great grows go to pot ( literally ) because the growers didn't understand simple plant botany. If you need references Uncle Ben, Riddleme3, And FDD would back up what I'm saying. Unfotunately FDD, and Riddle can't as they are no longer here. :sad: I wish you the very best Ace. Cheers....Jointed​




 

jointed

Well-Known Member
And then again she just may be a Cal-Mag whore. :leaf: Lol Either way leaves are turnin yella! Yikes!! Don't over do it on the epsom, that can cause you much grief too. Peace...Jointed
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Looks good for a first grow. I highly suggest using more nitrogen next time. As soon as you see yellow leaves like that it's a nitrogen deficiency. Mold on your soil like that is absolutely fine and as others said; extremely beneficial. Roots form symbiotic relationships with certain types of fungus which help them intake nutrients better. You most certainly want to avoid any type of fungus on your plant itself, though. Yellowing/dying leaves are a good place for this type of negative fungus to start so trim them off soon. You want to keep dead/decaying matter to a minimum. If you had more light and better feeding those buds would be 4x as big and you'd need to prop up the branches.
I doubt that light is a problem as my light meter reads 30,000+ lux at every spot in my grow box (Maxing at over 70K), and she gets a couple hours of sunlight every few days during watering/feeding. Also this strain typically doesn't bulk up until the last two weeks of flower, I've seen every agent orange grow that google has to offer and none of them had to be tied up 4 weeks into flower haha :) but yeah, I've been trimming any leaves that lose all their green and I've been checking her constantly for any signs of fungus on the plant herself and so far everything is smooth sailing. But ty for the advice! :)
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member

  • http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...615891.html?14

    Check out this link Ace. Lots of good reading here, also check out the fertilizing container plants link posted at the bottom of the OP's fisrt post. I feel you may be experiencing some elemental antagonism isues in your soil. Try flushing the pot with 3 times the value of the pot and then let her dry up a good bit and then resume as normal. I know you want to grow organically, but I want you to consider what you read in that link and then well sit down and chat for a bit.:bigjoint: Sound good Ace!:-P Please don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to use bloom foods because it's simply not true. I have seen many great grows go to pot ( literally ) because the growers didn't understand simple plant botany. If you need references Uncle Ben, Riddleme3, And FDD would back up what I'm saying. Unfotunately FDD, and Riddle can't as they are no longer here. :sad: I wish you the very best Ace. Cheers....Jointed​


That is a great article! I will have to read it with a detailed eye later today when I have a bit more time! Thank you!
And then again she just may be a Cal-Mag whore. :leaf: Lol Either way leaves are turnin yella! Yikes!! Don't over do it on the epsom, that can cause you much grief too. Peace...Jointed
I haven't used any epsom as pretty much everything she has been fed has Mag in it is easy to absorb forms (Molasses, Kelp Meal, etc.) and I believe that magnesium deficiency usually makes more of a marbled look on the plants because the leaf veins stay green while the rest of the leaf yellows, whereas mine are yellowing pretty uniformly as the nitrogen is pulled from them. I KNOW she has nitrogen def to some extent, I am just trying to keep it mild so I don't need to do heavy flushing towards the end, but I am still feeding her nitrogen rich food, she just got a dose of food with two ferts, a chem one with 8-5-13, and an organic with 4-8-2. Any more and I'm worried she will burn, you know?
Purple stems are an indication of plant maturity, red stems on the leaves are nitrogen deficiency indicating that they are a source and the plant is using them to feed the yellowing leaves which are called sinks
I know this is usually the case, but this girl has had red stems ever since her first cold night, which the grower at my club said was normal for this strain and in TGA's description it says "The strain contains pigments that have the ability to turn maroon, purple with cool nights. " and my grow box dips into the mid 60's high 50's at night, so I'm not too worried, but I will keep an eye on it for sure
 

Ace Yonder

Well-Known Member
Looks great!!
Getting excited for mine as well, just flipped today into 12/12 after 9.5 - 10 weeks....haha now gotta probably wait another 10 - 11 weeks, but the fun part is now starting.
How tall did she end up?
Thanks! She was 12" when I flipped to 12/12, and by keeping the lights very very close to her I managed to keep the stretch down and she ended stretch at just about 23". She now is about 24" due to the top nug bulking up a bit, but I doubt she will grow any taller.
 
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