Throughout the last days we have analyzed some of the problems testers have encountered, after confronting them with our specialists, we can share some of our opinions on the topic.
We noticed problems occured on different levels, from germination, vegetation through flowering, usually in these situation we try to take a closer look at the methodology deployed by the testers.
@jingo – the plants might have been stunned due to initial 500ppm strenght feeding. If the plants are drooping, it usually is because overwatering or overfeeding. Calmag is not neccesary in the first 7 days of the seedling phase.
The rootzone photo you supplied
@bigsm0 – If the plants stayed too long in plastic cups, it might have been a factor which cause them later to slow down and limit their growth. As much as we want, we are unable to control the way the seedling leaves the seed, we hope you can undestand this.
@pop22 – the plant might have not developed very fast due to delicate source of light you have used (50W). Transplanting autoflowering plants is best avoided, in some occasions it might stun the growth and limit their final size.
Eventhough autoflowering strain contain the ruderalis genetics within the line to make them independent from the day lenght, it might happen that few seeds do not receive ruderalis genes in portion big enough to induce the autoflowering reaction. In theory the seed you had might also develop into what we call "Fast Flowering" version of the strain, in this case it might require the switch do 12h day to induce the flower production. If that is the case the plant should finish the blooming cycle significantly faster. We encourage you to try to induce flowering in this plant by switching it to short day if it is possible for you. If this solution does is not working for you, we can offer you a replacement seed from the same strain to ensure you have one more attempt at this one.
Some of the people claimed problems with germination of the seeds, we noticed people utilised different techniques, conditions, times and even supplementary products and soils. All these factors should be taken into consideration while germinating the seeds. We do the germination tests in humid paper towels, placed in dark place for 3-7 days in temperature of 20-22C. These are the optimal conditions for germinating Cannabis seeds. We do not recommend germinating seeds directly in the soil or your own "super soil" mixes. A germination test performed in the paper towel give you an option to control what is happening with the seed and evaluate the germination properly, while in the soil it might be problematic. Some of the users encountered trouble, others came out with 100% success rate.
As for the hermaphroditic condition. Normally the hermaphroditic condition is a defense mechanism that plants use to survive tougher situations. In nature, if the plant does not receive the pollen, in some rare occasions, a mother plant tranform into hermaphroditic plant, to ensure the genetic preserverance.
In the nature this is a defense mechanism taking place as a reaction to prolonged stress, end of the season etc. Statistcs show that around 90% situations of hermaphrodic conditions are cause by the environmental factors. These can be: light leaking, nutrient stress, water deficiency, too long flowering and many others
As for feeding schedules and environment condition, we noticed a lot of people using some unorthodox setting which might also be the cause of stunned planned growth or even hermaphroditism
Some of the users keep their plants in temperatures above 29C. The thing is that at 29,2C the photosynthesis processes drastically drop in efficiency, due to closing of the transpiration apparatus in the leaves. Above this temperature plants simply cannot exchange gases and grow. We recommend temperatures between 22-28C max.
The same applies to humidity, as much as Cannabis plants are draught liking ones, they have specific levels of humidity they feel comfortable at. Unfortunately some of the testers got way out of balance if it comes to young plants. We have seen information of humidity levels as low as 32% at the beggining of vegetation which can be almost damaging to the plants.
For vegetation we recommend humidity inbetween 60-80%. For the flowering period 40-60% while reaching the lowest values in the last 2 weeks of flowering. Some of the testers reported humidity levels way below 40% during vegetation. These kind of conditions are not helping the plants to develop better growth. As much as lower humidity 40-55% can help in the flowering, extremely lower values, especially in other stages of growth might be slowing and bringing down overall performance of the plants.
Another place where we noticed irregularities are the pH values utilised. Some grower started vegetation around pH=6,8 and kept it way above 6,5 almost at all times. Elements absorption in the soil is dependent on the pH of the environment they are in, there are specific values that help uptake specific elements, while outside of them, transport and absorption might be blocked.
Recommended pH values in soil are around 5,8-6,1 for vegetation and around 6,0-6,3 for flowering. Maintaining pH around these levels ensures the plant can access all the food and it is available for them to use.
@sanguine and @stepside – your plants might have stretched due to high nitrogen doses in the initial stages of flowering. In case of abundance of this element, some cultivars tend to stretch their internodes.
@2stoned2care- throughout the growth it seemd like the plants developed properly. When did the hermies flowers show up ? Do you have some photos ? Did you encounter any stresses, , overfeeding, pH imbalance, light leak or other complications with these plants ?
pops – white cheese – the picture of seedling shows something irregular, it might have been a single seed issue. Further veg photo reveals a sideburn which might be cause due to nutrients like you mentioned. Do you have a picture of the hermaphrodite flowers ? When did they develop ? Did they show up on all plant or one specific branch/budsite ?
little dwarf – humidity 41% is way too low for vegetation, that might have stunned the growth
@ripper – one dead plant per how many seeds ? One hermie per how many plants ? What kind of feeding did you use ? You mentioned the plant is constantly drooping, this might be a sign of overwatering or nutrient overdosing, prolonged stress like that might cause the hermaphroditism to develop. Did the plants suffer light leak etc ?
@scally420 – good job, plant looks really healthy. Candy caramelo
@Tripaholic88 – Both plants seem to grow quite ok, they represent totally different genetics, so it is natural that they show differences in the growth patterm. Nycd, Power Kush
