First Grow

[Takatankata]

Hi AFN,
I joined not too long ago, also hailing in from a recent legalization.
Anyway, I wanted to share my first grow and maybe get some tips, because I think my blooming girl (RQS Cherry Pie auto) is showing early signs of nutrient burn or low PH

3 leaves closest to the light have these small brown patches, and basically all leaves have a bright green to yellow tips. Her water had RQS Easy Bloom booster tablets dissolved in it, but her most recent watering was plain tap water after discovering the little problems.
(the white stuff on the fabric pot is residue of the boosted water, which does worry me a bit)
It hasn't changed much since 2 days ago, but I'd still rather be safe than sorry. I obviously don't want to throw her out a few weeks before harvest.
I have a very bare bones equipment, no way to test the PH of the soil or water.

I'm sure I've made a bunch of newbie mistakes.

TLDR;
Possible nutrient burn, too low PH /Both?
Cherry Pie auto from RQS
Plantop Rosenerde (I've heard that roses and cannabis like similar soil) in a 30L fabric pot.
RQS Bloom booster tablets
Mars Hydro TS600 100W ~30cm from canopy
Shitty old 60x40x200 white closet
Last watering yesterday with ~2L of plain tap water.

 

[Frankthetank]

Welcome to afn!!!

Can you get a whole plant pic, please? From what I see, she doesn’t look bad… but a bigger picture would be good, just to be safe.

To be clear, there’s no reason to get rid of this plant. Remember, it’s nature. It won’t always be as perfect as we hope, but they’ll usually finish regardless of imperfections on the leaves etc.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Hi AFN,
I joined not too long ago, also hailing in from a recent legalization.

Takatankata! This is the perfect place for new grower questions.

I think my blooming girl (RQS Cherry Pie auto) is showing early signs of nutrient burn or low PH

Based on the photo - you don't need to panic. It could just be a temporary / transient / non-nutrient issue - e.g., leaves don't like it if you drip / splash them with feed water, so they could just be local burns, etc.

Since it's on 3 leaves, keep an eye on it and let us know how it progresses. People may ask you more info / suggest possible causes / tell you things you should do different - but you're still far from it being 'bad' at this point.

That said:

(the white stuff on the fabric pot is residue of the boosted water, which does worry me a bit)

That's normal salt/mineral build-up. That will happen over the grow as the bag gets wet and then dries out. Nothing to really worry about for now based on just that amount. (We mean 'salt' in the general sense of dissolved ions.)

I have a very bare bones equipment, no way to test the PH of the soil or water.

Get yourself a $20 pH stick right now and (useful, but less important) an EC pen. That may be the most important tool / info for new growers to have. Here's the one I use. I like it because it let's you adjust the setpoint to calibrate:

Milwaukee Instruments pH 600 pH Tester With 1 Point Manual Calibration

(May also want to pick up some extra packets of pH calibration powder.)

Last watering yesterday with ~2L of plain tap water.

Next info people will probably ask you is about your tap water. Well water / city water, etc. Sometimes you can get some info about what's in it from your water reports on your local / county water company's website. But, people will mainly ask about pH / EC and say it's always better to use RO. But, that's a 'next grow' / 'next month' decision - assume your tap is fine for now until you can get more info.

I'm sure I've made a bunch of newbie mistakes.

Combining soil (Plantop Rosenerde) with supplements (RQS Bloom booster) may make diagnosis / trouble-shooting more difficult, but isn't / shouldn't necessarily be 'fatal'. Use this grow and this site to read up and learn a bit more about what you want to do for next grow.

This is usually where we send new growers as a starting point to learn about nutrients:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

Tutorial - Quick and Dirty Deficiency Guide. With photos

:toke: Folken- This thread is for compiling various deficiency pics gathered from all around,... the idea is to get several pics of each defc. and it's various symptoms, particularly the more atypical ones,... hopefully, to be included in a more comprehensive, consolidated thread for staff...

www.autoflower.org

But, it'll take you a few grows for all that info to sink in / start to make sense. So, don't worry too much about being confused by it all at first.

 

[Takatankata]

Thanks for the fast and informative responses

Based on the photo - you don't need to panic. It could just be a temporary / transient / non-nutrient issue - e.g., leaves don't like it if you drip / splash them with feed water, so they could just be local burns, etc.

Now that you've mentioned it, I always try to avoid hitting the plant with water and I do my best to dry any wet leaves off, but I've had leaves with a small salt build-up on them, a day or 2 after watering.

Milwaukee Instruments pH 600 pH Tester With 1 Point Manual Calibration

That specific one isn't sold in/to Europe, but there should be a similar one available.

Next info people will probably ask you is about your tap water. Well water / city water, etc. Sometimes you can get some info about what's in it from your water reports on your local / county water company's website. But, people will mainly ask about pH / EC and say it's always better to use RO. But, that's a 'next grow' / 'next month' decision - assume your tap is fine for now until you can get more info.

It's city water. I haven't found anything about the EC of our local water, but the PH is rather high at about 7,5 to 8, and it's described as 'soft' which I assume means a low EC?
Do soils change the PH of the water, or does it help to let the water stagnate for a day? Maybe use rainwater instead? That's abundant here anyway.
(Oh the beautiful grey Frisian skies)

But, it'll take you a few grows for all that info to sink in / start to make sense. So, don't worry too much about being confused by it all at first.

With the abundance of information online, it's more frustrating than confusing at some point, because it feels like everyone has a strong opinion on everything, and the other one is always wrong lol. But yeah, that's something I'll figure out on my own, especially because I'd like to get better equipment and try my hand on fems, but that's a long way ahead of me.

Can you get a whole plant pic, please? From what I see, she doesn’t look bad… but a bigger picture would be good, just to be safe.

She's not the prettiest, my training didn't quite work out as expected. The other plant visible in the picture is a week younger.

I do think that she looks good enough, it's just great to have a 2nd, 3rd and maybe 4th opinion from people who know what they're doing. I don't have that available in real life because, well, none of us have done it before.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

It's city water. I haven't found anything about the EC of our local water, but the PH is rather high at about 7,5 to 8, and it's described as 'soft' which I assume means a low EC?
Do soils change the PH of the water, or does it help to let the water stagnate for a day? Maybe use rainwater instead? That's abundant here anyway.

That pH is high, but may not be an issue if it's lower EC (soft). In the general chemistry sense, low EC usually means the pH will change quickly once you add nutrients or 'mix' it with any nutrients in the soil.

The overall 'soil pH' really refers to the water in the soil - which is your tap water, any nutrients you add, any already in the soil, or any nutrients not previously absorbed by the plant. Cannabis likes soil pH ~6.0 (IIRC, double-check), and there's methods to measure it (more reading and research!), but that's another discussion

Regarding full plant pics:

Tips & brown spots in OP don't seem to be an issue and it looks healthy to me. But, I can't quite tell if that shade of green is 'too green' and/or if that's some slight clawing developing - which may indicate too much N.

Can you find or send a photo of the label / nutrient / ingredient info for your soil? Someone else may be able to provide a second opinion.

 

[Frankthetank]

She’s completely fine…. She looks great, I wouldn’t spend the time worrying…

 

[Lil Dab]

Just reduce the amount of nitrogen your feeding her. She looks pretty good just little heavy in N which is very typical this late in the grow. I wouldn't change much just note for the next grow

 

[Takatankata]

That pH is high, but may not be an issue if it's lower EC (soft). In the general chemistry sense, low EC usually means the pH will change quickly once you add nutrients or 'mix' it with any nutrients in the soil.

The overall 'soil pH' really refers to the water in the soil - which is your tap water, any nutrients you add, any already in the soil, or any nutrients not previously absorbed by the plant. Cannabis likes soil pH ~6.0 (IIRC, double-check), and there's methods to measure it (more reading and research!), but that's another discussion

Regarding full plant pics:

Tips & brown spots in OP don't seem to be an issue and it looks healthy to me. But, I can't quite tell if that shade of green is 'too green' and/or if that's some slight clawing developing - which may indicate too much N.

Can you find or send a photo of the label / nutrient / ingredient info for your soil? Someone else may be able to provide a second opinion.

Can I assume that the PH levels are fine-ish? Since both girls don't grow that bad, after all. I'll still get a tester as soon as I can, gets at least one 'burden' off my shoulders.

Regarding the clawing, she's been doing this on and off on a few leaves throughout her grow. One day the ends point a down a little and the next day it was back to normal.

Here's the look of the packaging and a copy paste of the nutrients, directly from the seller.
It says it's nutrients feed up to 8 weeks.

Nutrients (nominal value)
Nitrogen (N):	150 mg/l (CaCI²)
Phosphate (P²O5):	150 mg/l (CAL)
Potassium (K²O):	1500 mg/l (CAL)
Magnesium (Mg):	150 mg/l (CaCI²)
Sulfur (S) total:	150 mg/l (CaCI²)

I still don't know how to interpret this 'NPK x-x-x' format, I hope this is sufficient.

Salt content (KCI/I) 1,2 grams
PH(CaCI²) 6

Ingredients:​

Moderately to highly decomposed raised-bog peat (H3–H8), vegetable materials from forestry (bark humus, wood fibre), vegetable materials from horticulture and landscaping (compost from green waste), lime, clay, perlite.

Plant examples:​

Tree roses and rose beds

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Can I assume that the PH levels are fine-ish? Since both girls don't grow that bad, after all. I'll still get a tester as soon as I can, gets at least one 'burden' off my shoulders.

Here's the look of the packaging and a copy paste of the nutrients, directly from the seller.
It says it's nutrients feed up to 8 weeks.

Nutrients (nominal value)
Nitrogen (N):	150 mg/l (CaCI²)
Phosphate (P²O5):	150 mg/l (CAL)
Potassium (K²O):	1500 mg/l (CAL)
Magnesium (Mg):	150 mg/l (CaCI²)
Sulfur (S) total:	150 mg/l (CaCI²)

I still don't know how to interpret this 'NPK x-x-x' format, I hope this is sufficient.

The plant's perfectly fine right now - I'm just looking ahead.

The challenge with using pre-blended soils is you can't control much or how fast/slow its 'releasing' the nutrients over time. So, in a sense, you'll be stuck with whatever the soil does for this grow. If other issues show up, the soil info will be good to have available.

As far as pH - I'd assume it's fine for now given what's in that soil. It's a 'you'll want to have it / know more about it eventually' thing.

So, I don't see anything to worry about - just read up on soil pH and nitrogen toxicity so you know what to look out for.

Eventually, though, that soil may start to run out of nutrients ('lasts 8 weeks') or it could last the whole grow. At that point, that's when the booster tablets would become more important. You'll just need to guess when / if they actually 'need' them or just follow the recommended usage / wait for symptoms / etc.

But, yeah - they look great! Good job!

 

[Takatankata]

The plant's perfectly fine right now - I'm just looking ahead.

The challenge with using pre-blended soils is you can't control much or how fast/slow its 'releasing' the nutrients over time. So, in a sense, you'll be stuck with whatever the soil does for this grow. If other issues show up, the soil info will be good to have available.

As far as pH - I'd assume it's fine for now given what's in that soil. It's a 'you'll want to have it / know more about it eventually' thing.

So, I don't see anything to worry about - just read up on soil pH and nitrogen toxicity so you know what to look out for.

Eventually, though, that soil may start to run out of nutrients ('lasts 8 weeks') or it could last the whole grow. At that point, that's when the booster tablets would become more important. You'll just need to guess when / if they actually 'need' them or just follow the recommended usage / wait for symptoms / etc.

But, yeah - they look great! Good job!

Splendid. That's basically all I wanted to know for now. At least I now know where to go when I need help
Now, as of writing this, I discovered thrips damage. Time to get started getting rid of them.