Trim leaves in veg

I’m on my first grow and so far things haven’t gone too badly. I water the ladies with deionized water and made a bit of a mistake. Since deionization takes out all of the minerals in the water I should have supplemented with cal-mag. Well I didn’t do that and after about 4 weeks growth came to a halt and a couple leaves got the calcium deficiency rust spots. That was a few days ago and after a foliar spraying and watering with cal-mag things seem to be going back to normal. Growth has started back up and the plants in general look much happier.

My question is should I trim off those darker older leaves to give light to the newer and non rusty growth?

The only leaves I trim are dead ones =dry and brown
They say the engine of a plant is its foliage and I am not messing with that , for no benefit

Ph?

Sithlord88 said:

Ph?

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Ph is 6.8

Might be a bit high. I like 6.3- 6.5. What medium are you in? I imagine more folks will chime in if you list all the grow info.

Sithlord88 said:

Might be a bit high. I like 6.3- 6.5. What medium are you in? I imagine more folks will chime in if you list all the grow info.

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This is true. Sorry about that.

Currently I’m growing in a 4x4 tent in my outdoor shed. The shed is insulated and has about 50 amps going to it so definitely enough to power 2 tents and heating/cooling.

I am growing in 3 gallon smart pots using FFOF soil. I water with deionized water. Originally they were in solo cups from germination starting on Aug 6th and they were moved to the pots they are in now.

I currently use 4mL per gallon of cal-mag and 2mL per gallon of Tribus Original. I know the FFOF is pretty hot so I have not fed any nutes yet except I know the cal-mag is 2-0-0. In the next week or so I think I will start on 1/4 strength. I bought the Fox Farm trio for now.

As far as training goes I have done FIM and LST.

About 4 weeks into the grow I noticed the plants growth slowed down dramatically and the stems to the leaves started to turn purple. Then I also found a couple leaves with the “rust spots” on them. All signs pointed to calcium and magnesium deficiency. I did a foliar spray with cal-mag and also used it for my next watering which was a couple days ago. Things are definitely moving along now. Growth has started up and the spots are not getting worse.

The large fan leave are very dark green and some have the rust spots. I have read people do get rid of older growth to promote the newer growth with the bud sites on them to grow bigger and faster.

They look a bit over watered to me how often are you watering them ?

josh5794 said:

They look a bit over watered to me how often are you watering them ?

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I’m pretty sure that pic was taken 12 hours after they were watered. I normally wait around 3 days to water depending upon how the soil looks and feels and how heavy the pot is

Ok cool what light are you using may I ask they just look a little droopy and have slight leaf cupping not criticising just trying to help a brother out

josh5794 said:

Ok cool what light are you using may I ask they just look a little droopy and have slight leaf cupping not criticising just trying to help a brother out

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Don’t worry not taking it personally. I got the RapidLED setup with a philzon 600 (draws 100w)

Ok cool how close is the light ? I think the best option is to make sure the light is at a good distance away and don’t water them until they have dried right out as the led won’t be as warm as sodium and therefore won’t need watering as much at this stage I grow under cobs the plants I have in soil are about just over a foot tall and I water them only once every 7 days at the moment

josh5794 said:

Ok cool how close is the light ? I think the best option is to make sure the light is at a good distance away and don’t water them until they have dried right out as the led won’t be as warm as sodium and therefore won’t need watering as much at this stage I grow under cobs the plants I have in soil are about just over a foot tall and I water them only once every 7 days at the moment

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Every 7 days?? What is your temp and rh like?

And the light is about 20” from the canopy

carsunltd32 said:

Don’t worry not taking it personally. I got the RapidLED setup with a philzon 600 (draws 100w)

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Really you shouldn’t need to ph for soil. Properly amended soil will buffer the ph either way. In the long run you can actually create problems adjusting ph and throwing the soil off. The only time I ph is in my hydro setup. Start adding either worm tea when you water it’ll help balance out the soil and roots or add some mycorrhiza type product ie great white, recharge or whatever. Also 100 watts isn’t going to cut it for those plants do you have another light to toss in there?

carsunltd32 said:

Every 7 days?? What is your temp and rh like?

And the light is about 20” from the canopy

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In veg I water about every 7 to 10 days room temp stays about 77- 80 degrees in flower it can vary depending on how heavy they feed. Pot size has a lot to do with it too I use 1-3 dirt pots in veg ad 7 to 10’s in flower. Hope this helps.

Lordhooha said:

Really you shouldn’t need to ph for soil. Properly amended soil will buffer the ph either way. In the long run you can actually create problems adjusting ph and throwing the soil off. The only time I ph is in my hydro setup. Start adding either worm tea when you water it’ll help balance out the soil and roots or add some mycorrhiza type product ie great white, recharge or whatever. Also 100 watts isn’t going to cut it for those plants do you have another light to toss in there?

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The purple light is a 100w draw. The other ones are a total of 640w (which is said to be equivalent to a 1000w HID). So total 740w.

carsunltd32 said:

The purple light is a 100w draw. The other ones are a total of 640w (which is said to be equivalent to a 1000w HID). So total 740w.

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Ok I missed the rapid led there I was making sure.rapid makes good stuff I can’t say for certain I’ve never used them but I’ve looked them over an others here run them.

Those look pretty bushy, I think you could get away with thinning out the worst of it. I tend to prune aggressively for training and airflow and haven't ever noticed a drawback. Recently had a pm issue with plants that were outside (inside now) lost a bunch of leaves that had been infected and trimmed off a bunch more that were damaged. I feel like after a certain point, the plant is providing for the leaf, not the other way around and slackers wont be tolerated!

Lordhooha said:

In veg I water about every 7 to 10 days room temp stays about 77- 80 degrees in flower it can vary depending on how heavy they feed. Pot size has a lot to do with it too I use 1-3 dirt pots in veg ad 7 to 10’s in flower. Hope this helps.

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So should I be waiting 7 to 10 days? I’m in 3 gallon smart pots. Normally after 3 days they feel super light.

carsunltd32 said:

So should I be waiting 7 to 10 days? I’m in 3 gallon smart pots. Normally after 3 days they feel super light.

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If you a doing it by feel you are on the right track

carsunltd32 said:

So should I be waiting 7 to 10 days? I’m in 3 gallon smart pots. Normally after 3 days they feel super light.

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When my plants are happy the pray to the light as they start to dry out and start to need water the fans leaves will go to horizontal position and then start to drop the next day that’s when I water. after some years of doing it that way I’ve found its consistent with how the pot feels in terms of weight. Remember cannabis loves to dry out a bit it keeps the roots strong and healthy.