First Transplant

Good Morning Everyone,

Learning how to grow cannabis for medicinal use. Suffer from PTSD and cannabis is truly a saving grace. I am learning how to grow for the first time. I have currently 4 cloned plants in a 2 x 2 x 4 grow tent, i know its a little small for 4 plants but i plan to move at least 2 or 3 of them outdoors and leave one inside. I am running a 1200w LED with AC infinity inline ventilation with controllable speeds (T4). The girls are around 14 days.

Soil:Fox Farms Ocean Forrest Potting Soil.
Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients: Micro, Bloom, Grow (have not applied yet)
Pots (pun intended): Solo cup (2 1/2 weeks) -> transplanted to -> 3 gallon smart pots on 4/26.
Temp: Ranges from 69 - 73F Humidity ranges from 36% to 44% roughly through out the day

Within a couple of hours i noticed discoloration to the leaves; purpling, yellow, brown spots. I’ve been at work for two days and came home today and they are drooping, wilting and curling up, the yellow has progressed. yellowing seems mostly at base. Ive read about transplant shock, nutrient deficiency, lockout etc. seems a lot of the symptoms are very similar to multiple disease processes. I’m not sure if i underwatered or overwatered, the top layer is most definitely dry, but when i insert my two prong pH, Moisture, Light meter it states pH is around 6.5, reads moist about 4 inches in. I didn’t pack the soil in to much to allow better air flow to the roots.

It seems this community is amazing towards new growers.
Hoping you guys and gals could guide me on this journey.

My best guess from what you provided is they may have been underwater in at the transplants and since you haven't applied nutes they are probably deficient. Lower leaves indicate a mobile elemental def so it should be easy fix when you apply food. Lol you have to feed them.

Btw your light spec looks jacked. Better to go with two cmhs and burn less with a better spectrum. Could be the pic???

Hey Blue Dream,

Typically when people give what light they're using they state the wattage it pulls from the wall. A manufacturer's "1200 watts' is usually around 100-130 actual watts.

For plant issues the number one thing you always check is over/under watering, the second is PH, the third is salt buildup and that is 95% of your problems right there. Unfortunately, you have so many variables that it's kind of impossible to diagnose right now - especially under a blurple light.

If you are doing a synthetic grow, coco coir or hydro is your best bet. When you build your soil properly with the correct pearlite ratios it will become impossible to overwater your plants. If you did not add enough pearlite to your fox farm soil you will have overwatering problems until your plants are very large. I have run synthetic grows in the soil before but I found it to be a lot easier with coco.

I also would lean away from synthetic nutrients for your first grow. They are not forgiving at all and if you don't have a proper growing medium, proper tds and ph meter, and don't know light distancing well it can be extremely difficult to diagnose a nutrient problem.

Pick up some gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 and follow their instructions, fill up your medium with some pearlite, transplant the girls, water occasionally, make some compost/worm teas and you'll do great. It really is a foolproof system most of the time. This is how I started growing and prefer to grow - I only have a full synthetic setup now because it's a lot more scalable for commercial use.

If you want to stick with synthetic invest in a drip irrigation system - you have no idea how many hours of labor this will save you.

If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

jochhe1998 said:

Hey Blue Dream,

Typically when people give what light they're using they state the wattage it pulls from the wall. A manufacturer's "1200 watts' is usually around 100-130 actual watts.

For plant issues the number one thing you always check is over/under watering, the second is PH, the third is salt buildup and that is 95% of your problems right there. Unfortunately, you have so many variables that it's kind of impossible to diagnose right now - especially under a blurple light.

If you are doing a synthetic grow, coco coir or hydro is your best bet. When you build your soil properly with the correct pearlite ratios it will become impossible to overwater your plants. If you did not add enough pearlite to your fox farm soil you will have overwatering problems until your plants are very large. I have run synthetic grows in the soil before but I found it to be a lot easier with coco.

I also would lean away from synthetic nutrients for your first grow. They are not forgiving at all and if you don't have a proper growing medium, proper tds and ph meter, and don't know light distancing well it can be extremely difficult to diagnose a nutrient problem.

Pick up some gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 and follow their instructions, fill up your medium with some pearlite, transplant the girls, water occasionally, make some compost/worm teas and you'll do great. It really is a foolproof system most of the time. This is how I started growing and prefer to grow - I only have a full synthetic setup now because it's a lot more scalable for commercial use.

If you want to stick with synthetic invest in a drip irrigation system - you have no idea how many hours of labor this will save you.

If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

Click to expand...

This is good advice.

jochhe1998 said:

Hey Blue Dream,

Typically when people give what light they're using they state the wattage it pulls from the wall. A manufacturer's "1200 watts' is usually around 100-130 actual watts.

For plant issues the number one thing you always check is over/under watering, the second is PH, the third is salt buildup and that is 95% of your problems right there. Unfortunately, you have so many variables that it's kind of impossible to diagnose right now - especially under a blurple light.

If you are doing a synthetic grow, coco coir or hydro is your best bet. When you build your soil properly with the correct pearlite ratios it will become impossible to overwater your plants. If you did not add enough pearlite to your fox farm soil you will have overwatering problems until your plants are very large. I have run synthetic grows in the soil before but I found it to be a lot easier with coco.

I also would lean away from synthetic nutrients for your first grow. They are not forgiving at all and if you don't have a proper growing medium, proper tds and ph meter, and don't know light distancing well it can be extremely difficult to diagnose a nutrient problem.

Pick up some gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 and follow their instructions, fill up your medium with some pearlite, transplant the girls, water occasionally, make some compost/worm teas and you'll do great. It really is a foolproof system most of the time. This is how I started growing and prefer to grow - I only have a full synthetic setup now because it's a lot more scalable for commercial use.

If you want to stick with synthetic invest in a drip irrigation system - you have no idea how many hours of labor this will save you.

If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply! The light was given to me for a decent price so it’s what I have to work with for right now.

Do you recommend a getting a new light other then the “Blurple” I have seen growth since I’ve got them. So there is light absorption going on. I would consider upgrading after this grow is completed.

If so I would like to stick with LED because it seems it’s the cheaper for electric (could be wrong) i would like to keep the price between $200 - $400

As for the pearlite; i didn’t add any pearlite, wasn’t mentioned by the person I was talking with about the process. I guess you can say rookie mistake. As for the transplant, should I wait about a week before doing another transplant.

I don’t have any updated photos yet, I’ll snap some without the light on later tonight to get a better colored photo. Top leaves looking at surv. cam looks like they are pointy and not
Drooping but bottom still has yellowing (haven’t been able to do anything since, skipped a watering to let it dry out in the event I over watered at transplant)

It’ll take some time to gather the supplies for the fool proof way you had mentioned. I know a lot of this information is on other threads but it’s much easier creating my own and having a few guide me through it

talk to you soon thank you

Here are some pictures without the light on right before the girls go to bed

The pictures with the lights were the first day I obtained them. Let me know if there’s a specific area y’all need focusing on. As mentioned it’ll be a few weeks before I’m able to get a better set up. Seems the LEDs are working probably not as well as some other lights. I’m sure I’ll need a feeding within the next week.

What I’m thinking of doing is sticking with this set up for these 4 girls since I’m already invested and putting them outside when the weather is suitable. (don’t know much to anything about them) Can additional pearlite be added after transplant?

where it says “I don’t know much about them” I meant to add irrigation drip systems in there lol

BlueDream305 said:

Thank you for the reply! The light was given to me for a decent price so it’s what I have to work with for right now.

Do you recommend a getting a new light other then the “Blurple” I have seen growth since I’ve got them. So there is light absorption going on. I would consider upgrading after this grow is completed.

If so I would like to stick with LED because it seems it’s the cheaper for electric (could be wrong) i would like to keep the price between $200 - $400

As for the pearlite; i didn’t add any pearlite, wasn’t mentioned by the person I was talking with about the process. I guess you can say rookie mistake. As for the transplant, should I wait about a week before doing another transplant.

I don’t have any updated photos yet, I’ll snap some without the light on later tonight to get a better colored photo. Top leaves looking at surv. cam looks like they are pointy and not
Drooping but bottom still has yellowing (haven’t been able to do anything since, skipped a watering to let it dry out in the event I over watered at transplant)

It’ll take some time to gather the supplies for the fool proof way you had mentioned. I know a lot of this information is on other threads but it’s much easier creating my own and having a few guide me through it

talk to you soon thank you

Click to expand...

Hey Blue dream,

Yes, the plants will always absorb whatever light you shoot at them - cannabis is so resilient and efficient it's crazy. You can definitely get good results from blurples and people will continue to. With that said they typically have disadvantages as I mentioned above. It is also cheaper to manufacture blurples than full spectrum LED's which is why a lot of people push it.

As far as a new LED goes they aren't many differences between them. Find a nice spectrum you like - I use 3500k but I also made my own cob light (won't recommend that for beginners). Anything from mars hydro, spyder, gavita would do just fine. If you want a really good deal go with the Mars hydro tsl-2000. They use cheaper diodes and drivers than the traditional Samsung and made well ones so it's a great beginner light especially if you're not sure how serious you are yet.

Yes, pearlite is essential. And don't worry about being a rookie - I was you just the other day. I would recommend going to watch some of Mr. Cannucks grows videos on how to grow. His advice isn't the best in everything but his videos are high production value and they get you excited to grow. If you get excited to grow you'll grow better!

Yes, I would wait for the plants to catch themselves before you do another transplant. Shocking plants repeatedly is going to greater your chance of hermaphrodites (self-pollinating cannabis plants).

And yep, use the community! Hope your grow works out buddy.

Oh I forgot. If you ever find yourself looking for a reliable source of information growweedeasy is fantastic imo.

Thank you!! I’ll keep in touch with questions! I bought a better pH reader I’ll post the results.

jochhe1998 said:

Oh I forgot. If you ever find yourself looking for a reliable source of information growweedeasy is fantastic imo.

Click to expand...

I’ll check them out

Sounds like your on a journey blue dream. Something I found challenging and still do is the depth of knowledge just growing some weed calls for. It can get pretty overwhelming quick. Have fun with it is my advice.

The lighting is important to a degree like others mentioned. Its all pretty relative to what you want to get out of this. I would say that going with a high end led, ceramic metal halide, or even a gavita would show you a marked improvement in yield and/or quality against your current one.

For my parcel of grow advice, I think probably the one of the main things I could see someone new struggling with is the watering like others mentioned. I grow in coco so things are different but my limited soil experience was taking care of a good sized moms room in soil and something I learned pretty quickly is that you really wanna develop a feel for the wet dry cycles. I got used to feeling the weight of the pots and knew when it was time to water. I would alternate food/food/water. I also learned that if the top layer of the soil is dry I waited to long. Albeit we did use a mulch which helped keep the surface of the soil hydrated better than exposed to open air. Soil becomes quite hydrophobic if allowed to dry to much and that can cause ph issues in the pot as the acidic nutrients concentrate. The bacteria go into this hibernation of sorts also and are slow to wake up. On the flip side overwatering leads to low oxygen levels and anaerobic bacteria growth and root decay issues. Lol so getting the watering downs is important. Fully saturate when you do water, and then let it dry back so those roots drink it all up and fill up the pot searching each time you water. Its a cycle. A cycle of expansion below just as you see above the soil.

Other than that just have fun you'll get what you get the first few rounds till the pieces start to click then you'll know enough to cause some real mischief.

farmer bean, do you think 1 gallon of nutrients for 4 plants in a 3 gallon pots. Is enough per feeding. For example, if I use 25% of the water in my gallon jug for each plant should that be enough.
Basically I’ve been afraid of overwatering so I focus on watering the center of the plant at the stem (so it doesn’t oversaturate and air can enter) or should I water all the way to the outsides too

Overwatering is when the root mass is not big enough for the pot size its in and the media stays wet long enough for oxygen levels to be restricted to the roots anerobic pathogens can then start fucking with your roots and then its game over, this happens frequently when the watering intervals are too close together. I mentioned above that the way to water is to fully saturate the pot aiming for runoff 10 through 20 percent (so a decent amount) is a safe range. Then let the media dry back naturally. Then fully saturate to runoff again. You feel me. If your topping up constantly with off runoff your going to run into problems ost likely.

I'm simplifying things, but the first indication that its time to water is the pot is much lighter than the full saturation weight (get a feel for that weight) and personally I look for just slight drying on the surface layer. Im in coco so its a little different in my approach. But in soil the dry backs quite important in my understanding.

Thanks!

Warm them up and give them nutes for sure little less than full dosage with that soil probably. Soil looks dry in pic have to do lift test. Make sure light not to close with that much power.

Plant growth question: what matters most? .... leaf production or node production / spacing of internodes.
(during veg)