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

[gtron]

No problem, you answer so many posts i am sure it is tough to keep them all straight.
just checked soil with A8, range was 6.4 -6.8
The Lowberry is 34 days out of the ground 60day Wonder is 33 days out of the ground.
The 1/4 strength nutes were given at about 21 d o , 27 d o, and 33 d o.
Water source now , is city water buffered down to 6.5 (mol, But within 6.3-6.7) kept in a 40g ,aerated, unpopulated fishtank.
They are both showing pistils, so doesn't that mean they are in flower? Should I still keep them @ 18" ?
I will post better pics in the morning.

 

[astronomy420a]

hey gtron, muddy is a pro, he will get you through. i would like to follow this thread if you dont mind?

 

[Muddy]

That's good on the water. Those are pre flowers. Full flowering won't start until vertical growth slows and stops, usually around week 6. Keep the light high until then so they continue to stretch.

No problem, you answer so many posts i am sure it is tough to keep them all straight.
just checked soil with A8, range was 6.4 -6.8
The Lowberry is 34 days out of the ground 60day Wonder is 33 days out of the ground.
The 1/4 strength nutes were given at about 21 d o , 27 d o, and 33 d o.
Water source now , is city water buffered down to 6.5 (mol, But within 6.3-6.7) kept in a 40g ,aerated, unpopulated fishtank.
They are both showing pistils, so doesn't that mean they are in flower? Should I still keep them @ 18" ?
I will post better pics in the morning.

 

[gtron]

Pics

Ok, so here are some pics that are not affected by the LED light,Taken in overcast sunlight.
One of my many problems is colorblindness so hopefully these are give you a better sense of what is going on. That is a regular lighter in the background,the rim you see is the party cup, (which is tiered into it's 1.5g pot) so you should get a sense of how truly microscopic this plants are.
The pics in order are 60dayWonder @34days, Lowberry @33days, UnknownPhoto @21days, White Jem @66days, and Auto Assassin @ 60days.
The last two are from the original attempt.

 

[Muddy]

Okay, with the pictures I can get a better sense of what is going on. I'm suspecting that the root cause of the problem may be your soil. When you stick your finger in to check the moisture, does it feel hard and compact? As I mentioned before, sand can cause the soil to be come compact. Also, I've never seen shale in a mix and don't know if that could also contribute. That soil mix doesn't look to contain much nutrients, plus you mixed it with a lot of perlite, also lowering it nute content. They probably would have benefited from light feedings starting around week 2. I think they are lacking in P, and maybe a little N. If the soil is indeed compacted, that could contribute to a P deficiency.

You also mentioned that you are watering when they feel damp at the second knuckle. That could be a little too soon. How do the pots feel when you water? They should feel very light. If the soil has still been wet around the roots, a lack of oxygen to the roots could also contribute.

They look to be stunted pretty good at this point, but lets not give up hope. You said you have nutes. Which ones?

 

[JM]

thanks muddy for calling my attention to this... hate to see a new grower have issues...

You mentioned city water... I'm thinking possible issues are combo of or one single:
1 Soil (as muddy mentioned)
2 City water
3 potential ph meter issues....

or
4 probably not but possible TMV (Tobacco Mosaic Virus)

I'd start with using rainwater or some other source than city water as they have both chlorine and fleurides

also... those plants are not likely to recover vewry much at this poinnt... if you decide to reset... use promix bx soil

hope this helps.

 

[gtron]

Thanks for the reply Muddy,
the pots never feel really"light" to me, lighter, but not light, so I generally wait until about 3rd day after last watering or feeding and check the soil with my finger, the ones that are definitely still wet get nothing the ones that I can still percieve a little bit of moisture on I generally go ahead & water or feed.
The pots do have drainage holes.
My intent in adding the perlite was to help keep the soil from compacting as I did notice it seemed fairly dense on my first attempt.

I got the liquid Big Bloom, Grow Big, & Tiger Bloom.

Day 21 & 27 was 1/4 strength of Big Bloom & Grow Big = 1.5 tsp of BB & .75 tsp of GB per gallon (same gallon)

Day 33 the plants that have showed sex got 1 tsp of BB, .5 tsp of GB, & .5 tsp of TB per gallon (same gallon)
the ones not showing sex got a dose of the former mix.


JM,
Thanks to you for weighing in also.

Soil. I went with the brand I did because a friend of mine that is a photo grower recommended it and it is a local product.
I am not committed to its use by any means.

I will try to find a source for the Promix bx if that is a pretty reliable way to go.

City water is really my only practical option for H20. I live on the beach, and we have been in a long drought. Salt covers EVERYTHING, so catching rain water would mean diverting the water until we had enough steady rain to wash all the salt away before storing it, and that is assuming the rain has blown in from the north or west, if it has come from the south or east, it will have picked up its own salt. And it just isn't really possible for me to collect and use without drawing alot of attention & curiousty to why.
The city water is treated by me days before it ever gets used to water my plants and it is in a vacant 40g fish tank with aeration & biofilter, So I am sure there is no ammonia, cholaramine, or chlorine in it. Fluoride is not added to our water but occurs naturally @ about .6-.8 mg per liter.
(Former fish breeder so I keep up with H20 parameters of our city water.)

Ph meter is a Hanna that I calibrate every week with both 4.01 & 7.01 calibration solution.

It is not very likely that it is TMV as no-one in my house smokes tobacco saving my very occasional hookah puffing, which is never even remotely close enough to contaminate my grow box (seperate building) and I always wash my hands before messing with my grow equipment & plants and no-one but me has ever seen them in person. I guess it could have been introduced by a seed supplier or vendor, but I would think my tomatoes (outdoor plants) would have succumbed to it before my cannabis did. As I am not nearly as careful with them.

 

[Muddy]

It's looking like a combination of poor soil and over watering to me. Your pots should be almost totally dried out before you water again. If they still feel moist at 2" they are going to be a lot wetter farther down in the root zone. Your Accurate 8 also has the moisture meter. When you think they need more water, stick it down into the middle of the root zone and see what the reading is. I'll bet it will probably peg the meter.

At the stage you're at, almost 5 weeks, I doubt there is enough time to get them turned around to the point where they will yield much. You might think about chocking this one up to experience and start over with some proper growing media. Here's a link to Premier Horticulture, the mfg. of Pro Mix. http://www.pthorticulture.com/ Click on the Distributor button and it will show you dealers in your area. If you can't get Pro Mix, look for Sunshine Mix.

Also, the Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom aren't really needed till after they are switched to flowering, about week 5-6.

 

[JM]

gtron... sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable about the stats for your grow.. whichnleaves me to reason along with muddy... soil and /or overwatering....

def get promix bx... havent had any issues since i switched to it... used to be a big OF fan... but theor quality dropped big time... so promix is my reccomendation....

hope you get this sorted and keep us posted so we can help you correct these issues....

 

[gtron]

It seems as if ProMix BX is about 90 miles away and Sunshine Mix is about 45 miles away.
Assuming I can get either one ( i will make some calls, hopefully i can find some closer than that)
Will I need to amend it in anyway?
Will I be able to put germed seeds straight into it? or will I need to use a seed starter like Thompson & Morgan Seed Starter?