TDW64
Member
Hello, I am new to the forum, and I have a specific question regarding re-veg to try and help stressed plants. This is a long and highly detailed post. Thanks for your time and patience.
Here's my set up;
Type of grow: Indoor organic medicinal
Type of light: 1000 watt HPS
Ventilation: Cooled light vented into chimney flue with carbon canister (new filter)
Grow medium: Coconut husk and forest compost base soil with high concentration super soil on outside of pot (recipe and concept from High times super soil article found on internet)
Strains from clones: 2 Big Wreck in 15 gallon pots (transplanted 3 weeks into flower from 5 gallon pots)
2 Sour diesel in 10 - 12 gallon pots (same transplant timing)
2 Crippled Rhino 12 - 15 gallon pots (same transplant timing)
Watering schedule: around 2/3 gallon each plant per watering every two to three days. Flushed plants for three days one week after last transplant.
Recent nutes; I've been adding water mixed with granular azomite, phosphate and magnesium sulfide to try to introduce minerals and control soil PH and stimulate root growth
Soil PH : 7
Water PH; 6.5
*8 weeks in VEG (300 watt florescent tube grow light 6 weeks, 1000 watt HPS for two weeks). This extended time in veg was due to the fact that I was too busy to set up room to make light tight. I also figured it might be good to get the bulk of growth in vegetative state.
*7 weeks in flower with stunted bud growth as of today.
Of course there are a thousand details I can describe, but I will try to get straight to the point with enough information so that perhaps a more experienced grower can help out. This is my first grow indoors. I have grown garden vegetables and herbs outdoors, but this is my first experience growing cannabis indoors). With that said I also have taken a "Farmer's gut" type of approach while aligning my strategy with information found in books and online. The timing of this grow was not pre-planned or structured, and was contingent upon my busy schedule involving other projects. It was a too much on one plate sort of scenario, which is a common occurrence in my life. I am also a very impulsive person and sometimes do not think things all the way through before executing.
I had issues with thrips at first. Then I found a soil mite infestation that freaked me out (lots of those little guys), until I learned soil mites are friends and seemed to have solved the thrip problem. I also fought spider mites, and of course there is a possibility that there is still some around, but it seems under control (cold pressed Neem oil, and "Nuke EM" non toxic yeast/citric acid sprayed).
Here's the problem, I had good bud development after two weeks, but noticed the evidence of spider mites on many leaves. A friend of mine suggested defoliating as a measure to introduce more light to lower buds and create a situation for the plant to grow and recover, and build natural defense against the spider mites. After the first time I cut some leaves, I still noticed spider mites, and proceeded to pretty much hack the plants removing all leaves with signs of spider mite damage (using scissors). I then sprayed them down, under the leaves and over the buds, which ended up stressing the plant so much that the white hairs turned red and shriveled up (sorry girls). This was all an attempt to destroy the spider mite colony.
Another factor that changed is that I wanted to bring a fresh air inlet into the grow room so that there was not so much of a negative pressure in the house due to the exhaust ventilation, and to try and keep the room a little bit cooler. This would also bring some fresh air in for the girls, which also carries some CO2. Now the temp hovers around 71 deg while the light is on and mid sixties when the light is off, whereas before it was up to around 75deg. I recently noticed that day light was getting through some of the cracks that I taped up with masking tape through the basement window that is being used for the penetration allowing ducting for the fresh air intake. I never though to check because I figured the tape would block it out. Oops, not sure if the plants noticed the light nor not.
So all in all:
The bad news is that I ended up hacking them up around 2 weeks of flowering, while shocking the plant with spray over bud hairs; transplanted into bigger pots around 3 weeks flowering into a more concentrated super soil mix which I think has burned them a bit; found out that light has been leaking in (although I do have a tarp blocking the light from the window, but a slight amount could have gotten into the grow chamber; and of course flushed them for three days which resulted in wilted leaves from over watering. I am assuming that these are the things that led to stunted growth, and I have not seen much development for three weeks now.
The good news is that the spider mite problem seems to be under control, the trichromes are thick and prevalent across bud and small leaves, they smell wonderful, and they still show signs of willingness to live.
So now I'm considering putting them back into veg in order to focus on healing and leaf/root growth, and then back into flower to finish off for first cut (I want to try multiple harvests, and would love to keep the plants alive after harvest too). What do you think?
Any words of wisdom, direction, instruction, and condolences would be much appreciated. I'm the type of guy that does not want to hurt the plants, but am willing to try pushing the limits to find thresholds in order to gain a deeper knowledge of the process of growing.
Here's my set up;
Type of grow: Indoor organic medicinal
Type of light: 1000 watt HPS
Ventilation: Cooled light vented into chimney flue with carbon canister (new filter)
Grow medium: Coconut husk and forest compost base soil with high concentration super soil on outside of pot (recipe and concept from High times super soil article found on internet)
Strains from clones: 2 Big Wreck in 15 gallon pots (transplanted 3 weeks into flower from 5 gallon pots)
2 Sour diesel in 10 - 12 gallon pots (same transplant timing)
2 Crippled Rhino 12 - 15 gallon pots (same transplant timing)
Watering schedule: around 2/3 gallon each plant per watering every two to three days. Flushed plants for three days one week after last transplant.
Recent nutes; I've been adding water mixed with granular azomite, phosphate and magnesium sulfide to try to introduce minerals and control soil PH and stimulate root growth
Soil PH : 7
Water PH; 6.5
*8 weeks in VEG (300 watt florescent tube grow light 6 weeks, 1000 watt HPS for two weeks). This extended time in veg was due to the fact that I was too busy to set up room to make light tight. I also figured it might be good to get the bulk of growth in vegetative state.
*7 weeks in flower with stunted bud growth as of today.
Of course there are a thousand details I can describe, but I will try to get straight to the point with enough information so that perhaps a more experienced grower can help out. This is my first grow indoors. I have grown garden vegetables and herbs outdoors, but this is my first experience growing cannabis indoors). With that said I also have taken a "Farmer's gut" type of approach while aligning my strategy with information found in books and online. The timing of this grow was not pre-planned or structured, and was contingent upon my busy schedule involving other projects. It was a too much on one plate sort of scenario, which is a common occurrence in my life. I am also a very impulsive person and sometimes do not think things all the way through before executing.
I had issues with thrips at first. Then I found a soil mite infestation that freaked me out (lots of those little guys), until I learned soil mites are friends and seemed to have solved the thrip problem. I also fought spider mites, and of course there is a possibility that there is still some around, but it seems under control (cold pressed Neem oil, and "Nuke EM" non toxic yeast/citric acid sprayed).
Here's the problem, I had good bud development after two weeks, but noticed the evidence of spider mites on many leaves. A friend of mine suggested defoliating as a measure to introduce more light to lower buds and create a situation for the plant to grow and recover, and build natural defense against the spider mites. After the first time I cut some leaves, I still noticed spider mites, and proceeded to pretty much hack the plants removing all leaves with signs of spider mite damage (using scissors). I then sprayed them down, under the leaves and over the buds, which ended up stressing the plant so much that the white hairs turned red and shriveled up (sorry girls). This was all an attempt to destroy the spider mite colony.
Another factor that changed is that I wanted to bring a fresh air inlet into the grow room so that there was not so much of a negative pressure in the house due to the exhaust ventilation, and to try and keep the room a little bit cooler. This would also bring some fresh air in for the girls, which also carries some CO2. Now the temp hovers around 71 deg while the light is on and mid sixties when the light is off, whereas before it was up to around 75deg. I recently noticed that day light was getting through some of the cracks that I taped up with masking tape through the basement window that is being used for the penetration allowing ducting for the fresh air intake. I never though to check because I figured the tape would block it out. Oops, not sure if the plants noticed the light nor not.
So all in all:
The bad news is that I ended up hacking them up around 2 weeks of flowering, while shocking the plant with spray over bud hairs; transplanted into bigger pots around 3 weeks flowering into a more concentrated super soil mix which I think has burned them a bit; found out that light has been leaking in (although I do have a tarp blocking the light from the window, but a slight amount could have gotten into the grow chamber; and of course flushed them for three days which resulted in wilted leaves from over watering. I am assuming that these are the things that led to stunted growth, and I have not seen much development for three weeks now.
The good news is that the spider mite problem seems to be under control, the trichromes are thick and prevalent across bud and small leaves, they smell wonderful, and they still show signs of willingness to live.
So now I'm considering putting them back into veg in order to focus on healing and leaf/root growth, and then back into flower to finish off for first cut (I want to try multiple harvests, and would love to keep the plants alive after harvest too). What do you think?
Any words of wisdom, direction, instruction, and condolences would be much appreciated. I'm the type of guy that does not want to hurt the plants, but am willing to try pushing the limits to find thresholds in order to gain a deeper knowledge of the process of growing.
