New Grower Second "first time" grow attempt. Continuous until Succesful harvest.

[gtron]

Well the first-first grow attempt was an abysmal failure as far as I am concerned.

So here goes again.
My goal is to keep this thread running and begging for help until I get an acceptable harvest from at least one plant.

And by acceptable, is half an ounce from one plant too much to aim for?

Muddy & Joe Dirt, please don't be afraid to call me a dumbass and get me lined out here.
So within this grow is:

a tiered 60DayWonder that was started in a 18 oz party cup with Thompson & Morgan Seed Starter as the medium. Bottom was removed and cup was planted into 1.5 gal bucket that had "Ladybug brand-Vortex organic soil" -company description is organic compost, mineral sand, expanded shale, perlite, & Biozome. I did mix this with a ratio of 2 buckets soil +1 bucket perlite to help the soil drain faster.
As of today this has been above ground for 13days

a new Lowberry that was started in a 18 oz party cup with Thompson & Morgan Seed Starter as the medium. I have not transplanted it yet. I wanted to see if maybe I should blow off the tiered method and just do a transplant from the cup to ??????
As of today this has been above ground for 12days

a White Jem and an Auto Assassin were literally just set to soaking in ph'd 6.5 water.

Which brings me to my H2o- I now have a 40g tank ph'd to 6.5 and holding.
I measure the ph with a calibrated Hanna (red) ph pen.

Lighting is 240w Blackstar set to 18" above plants.

No nutes at this point. I am open to suggestions. I am in the US. There are some hydro/grow stores within driving distance. Lets go with something that is relatively idiot proof & reliable. Cost should not be an issue unless we are talking ridiculous money.
I do have “N” Bat guano, “P” Bat guano, Bone Meal, powdered lime, Epsom Salt, unsulfered molasses all on hand, but if store bought nutes will help take some of the unknown variables out of the equation I am all for it.

So Please and Thank you!
Hopefully, you guys can advise, I can listen, and the plants will grow!

 

[Autobot]

The thread title alone got me interested as it sums up my exact situation at present. Glad you can look back with some humour on your first attempt.

I'm subbed and will watch your progress and wish you all the best. Hopefully we will both be hugely successful this time around ha-ha :smokebuds:

 

[coszumel]

Likewise. Learned alot though. Best of luck to you guys. I will be following.


Cosz

 

[Autobot]

If you can take something from it then it's worth it bud or no bud. I fortunately managed a small harvest so got some fruits for my labour but also learned how to spot deficiencies, learned not to chop the plant to make it prettier, to PH my water and more ha-ha

Good luck on yours and keep us posted. I'll keep an eye out for sure!

 

[gtron]

sigh....
All parameters are still virtually the same as the 1st post in this thread.
with the exception of using 1/4 strength Tiger bloom & Big Bloom in the 4th week from breaking ground every other watering. (about once a week)
Even at that, I got some nute burn and plants are still stunted.
I am beginning to suspect to wonder if there may be an issue with the BlackStar as I have seen plants in just seed starter in small 2"x2"x4" pots that that were at least 5 times the size of my plants.
Of course, it is more likely to be the growers (me) fault. But shit, I do not have an f-ing clue as to what could be the problem.
So far, regardless of the medium, the plants all reach the essentially the same size & stage and then either die or sex. After sexing there is very little growth.
1st pic is Lowberry 2nd is 60day Wonder

Advice would be appreciated.

 

[gtron]

I let the soil get pretty dry between waterings, it isn't bone dry, but starting to pull away from the sides of the pot and just barely moist at the second knuckle when I stick my finger in it.
Lady Vortex is supposed to have its own myco's already added, so no.

 

[Trifid]

Hey Gtron I'm sure you have gain a great deal of experience from your mistakes. We all learn this way. I'll coming along for the ride mate so i'll subscribe..

 

[Muddy]

Okay, you're a dumbass! Just joking . . . Sorry I missed this when you first posted. Wish you had let me know, I would have taken a look then.

I couldn't find any information on your seed starter soil but did on the Ladybug. Have to say, I'm not too crazy about it. Sand isn't needed in auto grows and can compact the soil. I also think with the perlite and expanded shale in the mix, a 2:1 ratio with perlite was probably too much. You also mentioned that you have guano, bone meal, lime and epsom salts. Did you add any to your mix, and if so, how much? Also, have you checked your run off when you feed? If you did, what was the pH? It looks like there is a little discoloration on your leaf edges. Can you post some pictures in natural light. Hard to see under the LED.

I'm suspecting they are either over fed or you have a pH issue. Give me the information and I'll see what we can do to get you back on track.

sigh....
All parameters are still virtually the same as the 1st post in this thread.
with the exception of using 1/4 strength Tiger bloom & Big Bloom in the 4th week from breaking ground every other watering. (about once a week)
Even at that, I got some nute burn and plants are still stunted.
I am beginning to suspect to wonder if there may be an issue with the BlackStar as I have seen plants in just seed starter in small 2"x2"x4" pots that that were at least 5 times the size of my plants.
Of course, it is more likely to be the growers (me) fault. But shit, I do not have an f-ing clue as to what could be the problem.
So far, regardless of the medium, the plants all reach the essentially the same size & stage and then either die or sex. After sexing there is very little growth.
1st pic is Lowberry 2nd is 60day Wonder

Advice would be appreciated.

View attachment 48456View attachment 48457

 

[gtron]

Okay, you're a dumbass! Just joking . . . Sorry I missed this when you first posted. Wish you had let me know, I would have taken a look then.

I couldn't find any information on your seed starter soil but did on the Ladybug. Have to say, I'm not too crazy about it. Sand isn't needed in auto grows and can compact the soil. I also think with the perlite and expanded shale in the mix, a 2:1 ratio with perlite was probably too much. You also mentioned that you have guano, bone meal, lime and epsom salts. Did you add any to your mix, and if so, how much? Also, have you checked your run off when you feed? If you did, what was the pH? It looks like there is a little discoloration on your leaf edges. Can you post some pictures in natural light. Hard to see under the LED.

I'm suspecting they are either over fed or you have a pH issue. Give me the information and I'll see what we can do to get you back on track.

Thanks Muddy. I did not amend the soil at all on this attempt as I wanted to limit variables as much as possible.
I checked the soil wet with my Accurate 8 and the reading was 6.6 and seeing that I check my H20 and H20+nutes to make sure it is between 6.3. and 6.6 with a calibrated Hanna, I didn't really think to do so.
I probably won't need to water again until Tuesday or Wednesday, I will check it then. i will just be using H20 on that one so, It should be pretty accurate.
One of the things that has me stumped is they don't seen to grow much at all after the first 10 days of breaking ground. then they just seemed to go dormant until they sexed.

Oh yeah, I added a 4bulb 2' T5 fixture to the grow box last week to see if the additional light helps with the veg growth all 6500k bulbs. There was no appreciable change to the temps which depending on the weather has been 76-83 in the box.
And as a reminder the grow box is 23"w x 34"L x 48"H, lined with standard silver bubble insulation, exhaust ventilation is 80 cfm, intake is 4" computer fan.
I have the T5 set to about 4"-8" above the youngest plant tops and the blackstar 240 was just moved from about 17" down to 14" above the flowing plant tops.
I will take some better lighted pictures with the LED reflecting on them tomorrow and post them.

 

[Muddy]

I forgot you had the Accurate 8, so you won't need to test the run off. The Accurate 8 gives a truer reading IMO. The pH of the soil and water are both good, so that really just leaves the nutes. How old are they now, about 3 weeks? Get a natural light picture up so I can see what the leaves look like. Also, what's your water source? Sorry, I know we talked about some of these things before, but I help too many people to remember everyone's details.

And raise your light. If they are still in veg it should be between 18 - 24". I would suggest 18" for the time being.