growerNshower
Well-Known Member
I've been growing for a while, indoor and out. This has only happened in my most recent spot outdoors (2 years in a row), which gets full sun all day on a SW slope at 1400 feet in NorCal foothills about 38.5 degN. I haven't seen this indoors on the same strains. It didn't really happen as much when grown on East facing slope outdoors at same elevation/lattitude. What happens is around September 15 or so, about half of my plants go from smelling floral, piney, sweet, skunky to smelling heavily of a bitter scent somewhat like black pepper. The other terps are still there, but much reduced compared to the bitter smell. The same strains did not do it under controlled indoor conditions. Some of my cuts won't do it at all, like purple punch. One thing I can recall is that there was a heavy rain around Sep 15 and I had some stress on the plants from that...several branches hanging down, had to retrellis/tie up. Also, there was some residual dry amendments that had built up on top of soil and probably got watered in pretty well, so maybe some nute burn...maybe too much late blood meal?
Does anyone have any idea what the triggers are for this? Rain, cold, too much direct sun, high temps?
Here are my grow conditions:
-Light: Outdoor
-Location: 1400 ft elevation, 38.5 degN, NorCal
-Exposure: Full sun (30 min after sunrise to 30 min before sunset)
-Water: tap, drip, 2X day on hot days
-Climate: 90-100 highs through Summer, 70s-80s high fall, lows 70s until the last rain, lows near 50 for a few days.
-Container: fabric pots (100-200 gallon)
-Medium: 20% coco, 30% Turkey Compost, 30% Mushroom Compost, 10% perlite, 10% lava rock
-Nutes: top dressing blood meal, oyster shell flower, fish bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, langbenite, rainbow mix pro bloom (a pinch for the microbes). Added total of 1-2 cups/100 gallons soil every 2 weeks since June 1. Started higher in blood meal, finished higher on langbenite/guano.
-Soil pH: 6.5-7 (some spots around periphery of pot were a little higher ~7.5)
Plants have been overall nice healthy green (if even a little hot soil at start) until last couple weeks, started seeing signs of either nute burn or potassium deficiency (please see pics).
Strains that got peppery: OG, Blueberry diesel, Candyland, stardawg crosses, strawberry cough x durban poison
Strains not peppery: pineapple upside down cake, purple punch
Maybe I'm tripping and my palate is adjusting so that skunky flavors smell bitter? I don't think so though, because my superglue bagseed is very ripe with skunk and that one smells wonderful, not much of that bitter flavor.
Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated!
Does anyone have any idea what the triggers are for this? Rain, cold, too much direct sun, high temps?
Here are my grow conditions:
-Light: Outdoor
-Location: 1400 ft elevation, 38.5 degN, NorCal
-Exposure: Full sun (30 min after sunrise to 30 min before sunset)
-Water: tap, drip, 2X day on hot days
-Climate: 90-100 highs through Summer, 70s-80s high fall, lows 70s until the last rain, lows near 50 for a few days.
-Container: fabric pots (100-200 gallon)
-Medium: 20% coco, 30% Turkey Compost, 30% Mushroom Compost, 10% perlite, 10% lava rock
-Nutes: top dressing blood meal, oyster shell flower, fish bone meal, bat guano, kelp meal, langbenite, rainbow mix pro bloom (a pinch for the microbes). Added total of 1-2 cups/100 gallons soil every 2 weeks since June 1. Started higher in blood meal, finished higher on langbenite/guano.
-Soil pH: 6.5-7 (some spots around periphery of pot were a little higher ~7.5)
Plants have been overall nice healthy green (if even a little hot soil at start) until last couple weeks, started seeing signs of either nute burn or potassium deficiency (please see pics).
Strains that got peppery: OG, Blueberry diesel, Candyland, stardawg crosses, strawberry cough x durban poison
Strains not peppery: pineapple upside down cake, purple punch
Maybe I'm tripping and my palate is adjusting so that skunky flavors smell bitter? I don't think so though, because my superglue bagseed is very ripe with skunk and that one smells wonderful, not much of that bitter flavor.
Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated!
