Second grow problems

[Waira]

View attachment 1085483
I started these white wido autos in April. They started to flower about 3 to 4 weeks ago. I have them in 3gal plastic pots. I used Natures own super soil concentrate and a organic potting soil foxfarm i think. The first grow was pretty good with no real probs at all. I just used tap water . Ph about 7.5. This time i used the same seed and soil and water. Oh the lights were Kind 1000w leds. Two of them. I have a fan set up to keep the air moving. I am in an air conditioned building. On the first grow no liquid nutrients . This time around everything looked normal until i noticed that 4 of the plants kept growing much bigger than one. That one was about 2ft tall when it started flowering. The other 4 plants kept growing and are now over a foot taller than the other one. I got my seed from ILGM. Supposed to be WW autos. It seemed to me it took a long time for them to start flowering. About the time they started showing the little hairs at the junctions i started noticing yellow spots on some leaves. I started feeding 1/2 tsp Bloom when i watered usually every 3 days. That Bloom is byDyna Grow 3-12-6. The spots started getting brown and is progressing to more of the plant. I have one plant that has a lot of buds but are small and thin . The others are just barely a few hairs at the junctions. The growth looks like veg and odd for a flowering plant. I started them all on 24/7 light schedule and switched to 18/6 when it seemed they werent budding in what i thought was appropriate time. I have some pics . I sure hope this helps. For this grow i have flushed the pots with 6.0 tap water for 2 watterings then started back with the Bloom . No change. Also the runoff shows a ph of 6.8 now.

hey shutter' --
So, this is a mix-in supplement to make your base soil "water only"? Same lights as the first grow? That Kind is a powerful unit, how far above the tops is it? Any tinkering with the spectrum mix (not sure if this one does that, just checking).... the stretch does seem odd, lights/spectrum can factor in on that.... good that you got away from 24/0, that's a waste on several levels unless your grow is absolutely dialed in on everything else, and even then, some strains simply do not like it... As with nutes, in lighting, more is not necessarily better!
...Seed source, could be dubious, this name rings a bell and not a good one... shoddy genetics are very prevalent nowadays, sadly! The looks of these plants, the build, leaves, give me pause,... do I see one that has a bunch of single finger leaves on the tops? Not a good sign either, that's often a stress symptom, common with reveg'ed plants, but with some half baked genetics too... that long veg' time, way overdue, is a hint that these may be iffy auto's... if blooming notably improved after dropping the hours, that seals it... not fully "auto", a common problem... Remember, each seed is genetically unique, a little gamble, same pack can have winners and turds! could be these are simply shit pheno's, and nothing to be done about that...
... soils are not to be trusted either, as a general bit of advise.. [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] problem soil we see in here... Often badly acidic, undercooked, full of garbage bits (stones, sticks, et.).... I'm not sure it's part of the issue here, but a heads up regardless... find a different brand. Roots Organic is a commonly available brand that's decent...
... flushing has queered the "water only" deal now, so stay on the nutes through finish..., likely you are now short on certain nutes, imbalanced now... that's the bitch with such amendments!
..symptoms: the chevron pattern forming on top zone leaves smacks of Zn defc., and if your soil is above 6.8pH, that's entering lock-out range for a few things, all micronutes.... The funky yellow spotty patches, harder to say,.. could be Ca or P defc. or both, they have some overlap is appearance, that this isn't definitive in looks enough to be sure... betting P though...

>> how are you taking in-pot pH readings? And have you calibrated your pH meter recently?
.... it'll take some time to see if the bloom feeds will help, several days at least... pH confirmation is also key.. Keep adjusting the final solutions to low 6's pH for now... pending what you say about the meter's accuracy/calibration....

 

[Shutterbug1]

hey shutter' --
So, this is a mix-in supplement to make your base soil "water only"? Same lights as the first grow? That Kind is a powerful unit, how far above the tops is it? Any tinkering with the spectrum mix (not sure if this one does that, just checking).... the stretch does seem odd, lights/spectrum can factor in on that.... good that you got away from 24/0, that's a waste on several levels unless your grow is absolutely dialed in on everything else, and even then, some strains simply do not like it... As with nutes, in lighting, more is not necessarily better!
...Seed source, could be dubious, this name rings a bell and not a good one... shoddy genetics are very prevalent nowadays, sadly! The looks of these plants, the build, leaves, give me pause,... do I see one that has a bunch of single finger leaves on the tops? Not a good sign either, that's often a stress symptom, common with reveg'ed plants, but with some half baked genetics too... that long veg' time, way overdue, is a hint that these may be iffy auto's... if blooming notably improved after dropping the hours, that seals it... not fully "auto", a common problem... Remember, each seed is genetically unique, a little gamble, same pack can have winners and turds! could be these are simply shit pheno's, and nothing to be done about that...
... soils are not to be trusted either, as a general bit of advise.. [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] problem soil we see in here... Often badly acidic, undercooked, full of garbage bits (stones, sticks, et.).... I'm not sure it's part of the issue here, but a heads up regardless... find a different brand. Roots Organic is a commonly available brand that's decent...
... flushing has queered the "water only" deal now, so stay on the nutes through finish..., likely you are now short on certain nutes, imbalanced now... that's the bitch with such amendments!
..symptoms: the chevron pattern forming on top zone leaves smacks of Zn defc., and if your soil is above 6.8pH, that's entering lock-out range for a few things, all micronutes.... The funky yellow spotty patches, harder to say,.. could be Ca or P defc. or both, they have some overlap is appearance, that this isn't definitive in looks enough to be sure... betting P though...

>> how are you taking in-pot pH readings? And have you calibrated your pH meter recently?
.... it'll take some time to see if the bloom feeds will help, several days at least... pH confirmation is also key.. Keep adjusting the final solutions to low 6's pH for now... pending what you say about the meter's accuracy/calibration....

I have been trying to get the root level ph into the 6.5-7 range on my best plant . You may well be right about the genetics. These seeds were part of a" 10 free for" deal last time. I still have some left. I will germinate them and watch, and do some culling. I am going to use the same soil concentrate but Strawberry Fields soil. I tested the ph with my meter. Which i calibrate each time. A slurry with my water gives me 6.5 for the soil. The fox was like 7.6. So with a small adjustment my tap water is 6.6 for watering. I should have a much better feeding soil this time. 1st time was beginners luck combined with good genetics prob. All my plants on the first grow were short and bushy. 24in at the most. Only one this time . Live and learn!lol. Wish i could save these . Even thought about transplanting. Anyone have info on transplanting once they go into flower? Oh also i use the meter for runoff testing but a cheap one witb prongs for getting down to the roots.

 

[JS550Fan]

A lot of good input from Waira, above.
I would just recommend larger containers when running a "water only" soil. I use 5 or 7g for autos inside. More rarely 3g, but that makes small plants.

 

[Waira]

... saw new pics,.. wow, it's crowded in there! that narrow build can be caused by a lot of shadowing and weaker penetration as height goes up, forces the plant to stretch and stretch... meantime, lowers start to go shitty,....
Wait, whaaaat? soil was 7.6, you mean right out the bag? If so that weird as hell, and bad news... usually it's the opposite with their crap.... but then, quality control is dubious in general, and it could be you have a bad batch, maybe poorly mixed and you ended up with a shit load more lime than should be.. this will drive pH up, and resist change like a mo-fo'!
The pH probe is not to be trusted if it's the cheapo skinny rod type,.. best of this kind is the Accurate 8 (Control Wizard), or the exact same unit under a different brand name and usually less $,... check Amazon, and other online places...

 

[VitaMan]

It has been interesting to read about your soil pH issues.
This will be my first try with organic compost. Hopefully I can avoid it from the beginning.

@Waira
I just bought a big bag of "Sea Soil" container mix which is bark/fish which has been composted for 2 years, then azomite, moss, perlite and coir is added.
( https://www.seasoil.com/container-complete-sea-soil.html for more info )

I just read from their website that the pH is 5.5, far too acidic for cannabis. I have never used lime before. Any hints about how much to lime to add to bring it closer to 6.2-ish?

It will be going into 1 gal air pots.

 

[Waira]

:smoking: Mate, be careful with that stuff, it looks very rich,... I'd mix it with a premium soil, cut 50/50 at least... You can ask then directly, just let them know you have "nutrient sensitive plants", or roll the dice as is,... It's not a water only deal either, not fully complete as is from the looks of it,...
That pH is too low, another hint at it's hotness; you can use dolomite, or garden lime (faster effecting) to adjust it, but if you blend, you may not need to... regardless, you need a way to test the soil's pH, a good pH probe, or do a slurry test with a pH meter...

 

[VitaMan]

:smoking: Mate, be careful with that stuff, it looks very rich,... I'd mix it with a premium soil, cut 50/50 at least... You can ask then directly, just let them know you have "nutrient sensitive plants", or roll the dice as is,... It's not a water only deal either, not fully complete as is from the looks of it,...
That pH is too low, another hint at it's hotness; you can use dolomite, or garden lime (faster effecting) to adjust it, but if you blend, you may not need to... regardless, you need a way to test the soil's pH, a good pH probe, or do a slurry test with a pH meter...

Great, thanks Waira! I have a decent meter.

I will pick up a bag of soil. Luckily,it is a legal environment now so I don't have to be so cryptic about my "tomatoes"

I have already picked up some dolomite. The guy at the hydro store suggested 1 tablespoon per gallon. I hope that it will buffer by the time I soak, germ, and start the seedlings.