Indoor First Grow - starting late

[briman]

Fellas, this thread has been put up for reported posts. I am not going to get involved here, unless there is a flame out. Lets all be professional and respectful please. While everyone has their own way of growing, we all need to be respectful of everyones grow style. What may work for you, may not work for someone else. Too many variables with each grow space. If there is going to be a disagreement, do it over a PM. This is @Frank Rizzo's thread and if he requests people to be escorted out or called out, that's up to him. No trolling this thread, so lets get it back on track please. I do appreciate you guys fighting over this fella to help him out, respect your fellow members.

The ol name drop and accomplishment trophys.Means nothing to me really.If you really think those plants look healthy than i have no idea how you won a trophy

No need to be disrespectful or an attempt at pressing buttons. Just because they mean nothing to you, doesn't mean, they dont mean something to others. Right?
Lets all take a smoke break and if you all cant agree to disagree, log off for a while, please.

 

[The Plant Whisperer]

The pots didn't come with the pans. Are you saying use 3/4 strength nutes per gallon? I've only been using 1/4 strength for 2 feedings.

I scroll through these forums and see alot of bad advice.The first thing you need to do is see how much capacity your pots have.The caps im talking about come on some pots.they cover the bottom and wont allow the pot to drain right.
Anyway figure out your capacity of the pot.make sure your pots are dry.I normally do this before i even plant.Take the pot full of soil and put it on top of an empty bucket.water a half gallon of water in.wait 20 min and measure how much water is in the bucket.If its less than 20 percent of what you put in than you need more runoff.Try 3/4 gallon next time and check it the same way.You need about 20 percent run out.Now you will know exactly how much water to give them when u water.
Feel how heavy a dry pot is and one thats been watered.You can also use a scale if you wanna get technical.Now when u water lift your pots each day after.when things get real light its time to rewater.use the same exact amount.Once you get it figured out use the same exact amount each time and your set.On mine its exactly 3/4 of a gallon.Alot to do with your soil.If its less loam and more sand and alot of perlite its gonna drain more.Only you will know what each pot needs to get the right watering.they will all be different.
Not sure what soil you are using but some soils are hard to water.you have to moisten it before you put it in as you can get dry pockets and they will actually repel water away.Like when you water sometimes and the water just sits on top.dig down a couple inches and make sure the water is soaking in.
i use the full strength nutrient mix thats on the bottle for whatever it calls for.these nute companys spend alot of time testing there products so there pretty close.pay attention if its liters to gallons.Most are ML per liter so do the math.Autos use alot more nutrients than photos.they flower fast and get 18 hrs of light a day so the feeding schedule is aggressive.its hard to burn up a plant in organics.most of the organic ferts are pretty weak.You will know when your plants are burning up and yours are far from burnt.18 hrs of light during flowering these plants love to be fed.try a full strength feed,dry day,half water day,dry day than back to repeat process.this is how i do it unless plants need more than ill go to full strength every watering.If there getting alot of light and not growing than you have an issue.

 

[The Plant Whisperer]

the most important thing about watering is the amount never changes in the pot at one particular time just the frequency does.You will notice early on the plants can go a whole week without needing water.If the soil is staying saturated your drowning the roots.Roots need oxygen to thrive.runout will help pull oxygen into the pot.as they get older the frequency will go up.8 week plants can need water every other day depending on room temps and folliage cover over the pots.just remember autos are aggressive feeders.they eat twice as much as my photos do.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

the most important thing about watering is the amount never changes in the pot at one particular time just the frequency does.You will notice early on the plants can go a whole week without needing water.If the soil is staying saturated your drowning the roots.Roots need oxygen to thrive.runout will help pull oxygen into the pot.as they get older the frequency will go up.8 week plants can need water every other day depending on room temps and folliage cover over the pots.just remember autos are aggressive feeders.they eat twice as much as my photos do.

Ok thanks. I see a few spots today on my fan leaves they are like gold flakes. Mag deficiency?

 

[Ripper]

Ok thanks. I see a few spots today on my fan leaves they are like gold flakes. Mag deficiency?

Looking good bud.. I did not read anything just looked at pictures so let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Waira]

:smoking: hey Frank! ....looks like my partly completed post here got cleared out! ,.... anyway, you know the deal as per our PM! ... I'll just drop some notes in from the start as I roll through,...

-- mind the soils mate! For some time now, their quality has been very spotty. Many folks have come to the Infirmary with badly off pH issues stemming from the OF soil, sometimes HF too... I myself have measured in-bag pH's on both, and they were in the low 5's! Others get OK bags,.. it's all about the local sourcing it appears... Steer clear of them unless you can test first. I recommend the Accurate 8 soil pH probe fior getting direct measured in-pot pH, far better than the damn run-off method, a crude estimate at best usually, but if done right can do in a pinch. There's a sticky article here in the Infirmary (right above this section) that shows the improved method and calculation, along with several others! Alternate soils with good rep' are Roots Organic and Black Gold; Roots needs a little extra lime in it for better pH buffering down the road, and BG is a bit heavy, so add perlite,...
-- try fabric pots next round, same general benefits as air-pots, but less messy and leaky (if you get good ones, not cheapies)... air-pruning of the roots, and more even drying top to bottom,...

-- that one seedling with the odd color breaks is something we see time to time,.. not sure what's behind it, most grow out fine, losing it as they mature,...sometimes not! not an issue now, so on we go...

-- LST, you'll have to check out around here, but Yeatster has already covered that,.. I'm usually outdoors, so I don't bother, but I want to learn for indoor applications... The results speak for themselves! Check out A-Trains grows and tutorial... the yields he got off the Big League Chews (and others) were for sure better than untouched plants would have been!... ... plant height ain't an issue for you this time! Mate, when new at this, use the KISS principle, LST is not always the best answer, and the plant has to be in great shape and growing just right (stretching) to make it worth while,... As you found out the hard way! Also, MH spectrum and strong intensity may be why they didn't stretch much,... Is you HPS a broad spectrum type? If so, it may have enough veg wavelengths in it for early switching, even if not blooming fully yet,.. red spec' will help stimulate stretching some,... *Oh, done already!

-- if you need to acidify your soil, pH'ing your solutions and water will work fastest and best; top dressings act slow, and unevenly, and elemental S is useless slow! ... nute solutions are acidic normally, and if you need a mild pH down product, simple citric acid for canning uses is fine, no need for the harsher bottled stuff,... I used it all season for adjusting water on the "supersoil" product KindSoil, which is a pH'ed water only deal,...very small amounts worked great on 180ppm tapwater to get it around 6.6... what type lime did you use, Ag' or "garden" lime, or dolomite? the latter is slowest acting of all (chemically different than the others), especially if it's course grained-- too slow for practical use with auto's in fact! near powder grade is faster,... at least with dolomite, it won't raise the pH above 7.0-ish, but will resist consistent lowered pH in soil until depleated! Again, I see no problems, so just note this for now,... Epsoms will not lower pH, it's just for getting readily absorbable S and Mg in there quickly...

-- plants look great dude! ...get me normal light pics of the spots to diagnose... HID and LED light is lousy for color rendering, an important factor in assessing issues,...

 

[Frank Rizzo]

I'll post some day 30 pics in a few hours. I gave the two blue dream a feeding at half strength two nights ago and I think they responded well. However the power went out for a bit last night and temps in the tent dropped to 52f. It was maybe 3-4 hours. Hopefully it's not a huge issue.

 

[Yeatster]

I'll post some day 30 pics in a few hours. I gave the two blue dream a feeding at half strength two nights ago and I think they responded well. However the power went out for a bit last night and temps in the tent dropped to 52f. It was maybe 3-4 hours. Hopefully it's not a huge issue.

I wouldn't worry about those temps in late flower. It may actually being out some nice colors.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

:smoking: hey Frank! ....looks like my partly completed post here got cleared out! ,.... anyway, you know the deal as per our PM! ... I'll just drop some notes in from the start as I roll through,...

-- mind the soils mate! For some time now, their quality has been very spotty. Many folks have come to the Infirmary with badly off pH issues stemming from the OF soil, sometimes HF too... I myself have measured in-bag pH's on both, and they were in the low 5's! Others get OK bags,.. it's all about the local sourcing it appears... Steer clear of them unless you can test first. I recommend the Accurate 8 soil pH probe fior getting direct measured in-pot pH, far better than the damn run-off method, a crude estimate at best usually, but if done right can do in a pinch. There's a sticky article here in the Infirmary (right above this section) that shows the improved method and calculation, along with several others! Alternate soils with good rep' are Roots Organic and Black Gold; Roots needs a little extra lime in it for better pH buffering down the road, and BG is a bit heavy, so add perlite,...
-- try fabric pots next round, same general benefits as air-pots, but less messy and leaky (if you get good ones, not cheapies)... air-pruning of the roots, and more even drying top to bottom,...

-- that one seedling with the odd color breaks is something we see time to time,.. not sure what's behind it, most grow out fine, losing it as they mature,...sometimes not! not an issue now, so on we go...

-- LST, you'll have to check out around here, but Yeatster has already covered that,.. I'm usually outdoors, so I don't bother, but I want to learn for indoor applications... The results speak for themselves! Check out A-Trains grows and tutorial... the yields he got off the Big League Chews (and others) were for sure better than untouched plants would have been!... ... plant height ain't an issue for you this time! Mate, when new at this, use the KISS principle, LST is not always the best answer, and the plant has to be in great shape and growing just right (stretching) to make it worth while,... As you found out the hard way! Also, MH spectrum and strong intensity may be why they didn't stretch much,... Is you HPS a broad spectrum type? If so, it may have enough veg wavelengths in it for early switching, even if not blooming fully yet,.. red spec' will help stimulate stretching some,... *Oh, done already!

-- if you need to acidify your soil, pH'ing your solutions and water will work fastest and best; top dressings act slow, and unevenly, and elemental S is useless slow! ... nute solutions are acidic normally, and if you need a mild pH down product, simple citric acid for canning uses is fine, no need for the harsher bottled stuff,... I used it all season for adjusting water on the "supersoil" product KindSoil, which is a pH'ed water only deal,...very small amounts worked great on 180ppm tapwater to get it around 6.6... what type lime did you use, Ag' or "garden" lime, or dolomite? the latter is slowest acting of all (chemically different than the others), especially if it's course grained-- too slow for practical use with auto's in fact! near powder grade is faster,... at least with dolomite, it won't raise the pH above 7.0-ish, but will resist consistent lowered pH in soil until depleated! Again, I see no problems, so just note this for now,... Epsoms will not lower pH, it's just for getting readily absorbable S and Mg in there quickly...

-- plants look great dude! ...get me normal light pics of the spots to diagnose... HID and LED light is lousy for color rendering, an important factor in assessing issues,...

I used dolomite lime. One tbs per gallon pot size. I probably didn't need it but in my early research I saw lots of people recommending it as "it won't hurt". It's gone and done with though, I did it without checking the soil ph and that was one of my many newbie mistakes. That was 30 days ago. Not sure if the hps light is broad spectrum but it's ipower super hps. I put this light in around the first sign of flowering on one of the blue dream. Pics coming next!

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Here they are. The first set of pics are of my least favorite plant of the 3. The second set are of my favorite. The third set are of the amnesia haze on day 25. There is some visible spots on those leaves. That is the only plant that has not been given nutrients but that's coming this week.