Help with Drooping Kush Van Stitch!

[Hugo]

On a side note, be careful with the amount of perlite you mix, because the soil will hold less moisture.

 

[melancholy]

Hey mel,

Welcome and thank you to fill out the form. +rep for that

Regarding your question bout perlite: perlite is neutral, meaning it doesn't affect pH nor does it have any NPK capability. If the perlite you bought is plain crystal White I wouldn't worry, because it means it's pretty brand new and neutral.

Regarding the plants they are all a bit behind. The OF is a bit hot and that might have stunted your roots. So you need it to be environment friendly to the roots.
Do you have any of the following: seaweed (kelp), humic/fulvic acids and mycorrhizae? All these work like energisers and vitality boosters! They will help the roots absorb what they need and when they need from the soil, preventing stunts and recovering faster from stunts. Whenever planting a seed you should allways give her some energisers to boost up her vitality features. Attention: this is not considered to be Nutes.

You need to increase the humidity to around 50%. You can place a bowl of water or a wet towel next to the intake fan.

Regarding the pH you need to lower your soil pH to around 6,3. I get a feeling you already know that the strips are not as versatile and accurate as an electronic pH meter. You should start searching for one now I advise Hanna Instruments.

For the insects I advise Neem Oil, because you can start the treatments at the early days and it's biological.

Happy gardening!

I do not have any kelp or humic/fulvic acids - I will look into getting some tomorrow. Would something like this be good or should I get the powder concentrate or does it matter? I do have neem oil but have not seen any signs of spider mites or any other insect/pest really, should I use it as a preventative?

The HPS should be here in a few more days at most I'm hoping, then I need to either rig up a make-shift space or throw my final cab together real quick.

I'm in the planning stage of my cab and trying to figure out what I should do for the exhaust of my cooltube. At first I was thinking of having it pull outside air and then blown out thru a 2nd carbon filter because people say the duct/cooltube will leak but my friend is suggesting I just run one exhaust, with carbon filter -> cooltube -> fan -> out, basically (duct in between of course) - Can anyone comment on how smell proof this would be? I need to be as stealth as possible but some smell isn't going to be a deal breaker. I'm in an apartment so I have to keep it minimal but no one I'm living with cares about the smell - I just can't have it smellable from outside or adjacent apartments and possibly need to conceal it temporarily for various reasons (family, friends, workers, etc). This also limits my exhaust capability, I'm going to have to exhaust into my apartment as I cannot go drilling holes thru walls and everything. I'm thinking my cab will be about 2'x3'x5'-6' - my friend has already given me a nice 2'x30" SCROG screen that I think I will utilize. I just need to nail down the specifics of my cab and buy/order the necessary equipment.

Small update - same 2 plants are still looking healthy, droopy plant is looking like it is dying - first set of leaves are going dark brown. I got some regular photoperiod seeds from a friend so I am starting a total of 4 Super Silver Haze and 3 Blue Dream seeds, in addition to the other 4 Kush Van Stitch seeds I began to germinate a few days ago.

 

[PoopsMcDoogle]

It probably wouldn't hurt to have an extra filter if you can afford it. I have thought about this too. I'm about to get this new fiber carbon filter that you can wash over and over whenever it needs to be cleaned. I'm going to use my little 4in filter for the room the exaust dumps into. It might be overkill but I believe better safe than sorry. Set out some apple cider vinegar in your rooms. This helps tremendously. It evaporates after awhile so keep refilling. I use ffof also and it is very hot. Cut it with something like happy frog or light warrior. I use light warrior and ocean forest at equal parts with good results so far. OF has a lot of salt build-up so I flush at 3-4 weeks. I am still newb but I try to help if I think I can. Good Luck.

 

[PoopsMcDoogle]

Do your setup as your friend suggests. Best way I've seen.

 

[Hugo]

Good advise from poops

Regarding kelp I use BioBizz Alg-a-Mic (for reference). I never heard of powder versions of it before, but I think they should do the trick also. It looks like a good deal for the price it is. You just use whatever you feel like is your best buy that's what I do!

Humic and fulvic acids will be your best buy ever! If you can't find it locally you should order it online. It's a great add to any grow. Plants love it! Mycorrhizae would also be a seriously good buy.

Neem works very well for keeping gnat numbers down. The cold-pressed extraction is superior to other types of neem being sold. Have a read at this: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg111733153759.html

And yes, you can use it preventively

 

[melancholy]

Thanks for the help everybody - I'll try to remember to update this thread when everything gets going. I think I'm gonna stop by the hydro store on my lunch break today and invest in some humic/fulvic acid, mychorrhizae, and/or kelp. I actually just bought a $80 2' x 4' x 6' grow tent on ebay as well, so that should be here not longer after my light. I figured $80 for the tent was a steal - even if it turns out to be somewhat cheap, I figure another $20-40 investment in it and I can reinforce weak spots, get light leaks sealed up, etc. A lot easier than starting from scratch and building a lightproof wood cab. Also will be lighter and easier to move around, if I should need to.

One thing that concerned me is the description specifically mentioned putting a fan OUTSIDE the tent - I (and my lady haha) want all my grow stuff "contained", so I would want all lights, fans, filters, etc inside the tent - I can't see a problem with having a fan inside and running duct to one of the exhaust ports but maybe there's something I'm not seeing. Here is the tent I bought (also has "customer satisfaction guarantee" so I guess if its complete shit I'll just send it back and not much harm done) What does everybody think? Good buy? Rip off? Won't know until it gets here? I've read some reviews of cheaper tents and the main complaint seems to be weak/plastic ends on the top supports for lights. I'm thinking I will either reinforce these if need be, or (probably more likely) hopefully my cooltube and set up will be pretty light weight since it looks pretty small in size and hopefully I won't need to reinforce any of the tent structure.

EDIT: What does everybody think about using something like these for the exhaust? I was thinking instead of buying a nice $150 vortex (or similar inline), I can go for a booster on intake and a booster on exhaust - would this be comparable or workable? Should I pony up and just get the nicer fan? I'm working with 40cu ft so I was thinking about going with around a 250cfm fan to ensure air flow and decent air exchange after I get and attach a carbon filter. Input?

 

[melancholy]

Regarding the humic acid, myco, and kelp - Should I get some Happy Frog (contains humic and myco) and then a bag of kelp/kelp concentrate? Or should I get them all individually? I've heard of people using Happy Frog and Ocean Forest mixes so I was thinking maybe I would try that. Input?

What is the difference between Alg-a-Mic and Root Juice? According to the only analysis I could find, they both contained the same % of both humic acid and kelp

 

[melancholy]

Can anyone answer my question abpve? Should I pick up some happy frog or get all things separately? Any thoughts Hugo? :smokebuds: My light should arrive today. I am thinking about modifying a Wardrobe Box to house my light and plants while I wait for my actual tent to arrive. I want to get some HID light on these plants ASAP - Should I even bother putting in the MH bulb or should I go straight to HPS? With the small number of plants I have (2 healthy ones, 1 not so healthy - all autos so not much of a veg period) should I dim my bulb? I will be receiving my electronic dimmable ballast and I'm wondering if I should maybe go for something in 100-200w range since I think 400w on these little ladies is too much, but maybe I'm wrong

 

[Hugo]

Hey Mel,

Sorry not answering sooner, I can't give you an experienced answer there. Common sence would tell me to use my money wisely, so I'd do what's best for the wallet long term wise. GrowMore was recently brought to my attention and they also look legit. Good word of mouth and inteligent products in my opinion.

I'm experienced with Alg-a-Mic and really happy with it, Root-juice looks really similar except not sure if root-juice has any vitamines though.

 

[melancholy]

Well the healthy one turned out to be a male, I was going to keep him and pollinate but ehh fuck it, I don't want to mess with seeds anymore - I think I'm headed towards clones and regular photoperiod plants. On a happier note, the runt of the group turned out to be a female and has just started flowering! I'm doing some LST on her and she's start to look and smell awesome! Also have 4 Super Silver Haze (x Unknown) seedlings, 1 Blue Dream x Convict Kush seedling, 4 White Berry Seedlings, and 2 Bastard Bubba seedlings currently growing. My tent is filling up nicely