I Need a Mentor. Someone please help me.

[ballplayer 2]

Hey all. I am writing this post in hopes if finding a mentor to help me sucessfully complete a grow. I started this hobby 5 YEARS ago. I have had four semi successful harvests in that time. I have not had a single successful harvest in over two years.

I have tried strong fertilizer concentrations, dilute fertilizer concentrations, no fertilizer. I have tried synthetic fertilizers, organic liquid fertilizers, organic dry amendments, and a combination of synthetic/organic nutrients.

I have tried Peat Moss, Sunshine Mix, Pro-Mix, Ocean Forest, Happy Frog, FF Planting Mix. I have tried mixing in lime, I've tried not using lime. I have tried Atami Coco (though only for about 2-3 weeks now), I have tried rockwool (about 2-3 weeks now). I soaked my rockwool as directed, the pH still climbed rapidly and locked nutrients out.

I have tried using my tapwater (pH 7.2 850 ppm), I have tried using 50/50 tap RO, I have spent countless hours lugging water back from Grocery RO machines in order to use all RO water. I have tried keepinhg my mediums moist, soaked, on the dry side, and almost bone dry.

I have tried all the fertilizer formulas. I have tried Lucas formula, I have tried the organic recipes in the organics forum. I have tried the Botanicare line. I have tried following the exact fertilizer reccommendations on the labels.

I have plenty of light and my environments are absolutely dialed in. I have all the necessary instruments to measure pH and ppm, Co2, temperature and humidity.

I have spent thousands of hours scouring the various forums for information. I own several grow guides and read them almost daily to try to find what I am doing incorrectly.

I hate to say this, but at this point I feel like I am wasting my life trying to figure this hobby out. I could not have felt better about growing my own meds when I was successful, but that was so long ago now I can barely remember.

All the plants that germinated two weeks ago are now basically dead. Some MJ, tomatoes, and peppers. 90% of the plants I try growing begin showing deficiencies within two weeks; OR basically either right before or right after their first transplant. The rest do show some deficiencies within the next 4-6 weeks. Usually what I suspect to be Cal/Mag/Potassium deficiencies. I try to flush but then my medium just gets all sorts of waterlogged and the plants stunt. I try to give them the nutrients I suspect they are lacking. I try adjusting pH ranges. Nothing EVER works for me.

Instead of giving me a sense of peace and serenity like it used to, gardening now makes me angry and depressed. 2-3 years is a long time to continually fail at something, ya know? At this point it is making me crazy.

What I am asking is for a kind expert to take some time out of their lives every day or every other day to walk me through a grow step by step. Help me with fertilizer concentrations, what to do about my water situation? I can germinate seeds, there is no problem there, I can clone. But that is it, when it comes to actually growing the plants I am the worst gardener in the world BAR NONE.

As far as methods go I can accomodate just about all methods that a mentor might use. I currently have Sunshine Mix #4, Atami coco, Rockwool, and hydroton as possible grow mediums. I also have a homemade drip/DWC system that seems to make roots explode (Too bad the plants leaves done look as good as the roots), and I also have a waterfarm available for use.

Guys this is my last resort before I quit this hobby and move on with my life: At this point those are my options I have NO CHOICE, my mental health is suffering due to continuous failure in this aspect of my life. My unlce got me started in this hobby, but he is no longer available for consultation. I see many folks around here make this hobby look effortless. While I am very happy for those folks who are great at what they do, it also makes wonder what the heck I am doing wrong. I am begging and pleading for someone who is very good at what they do to take me under their wing and share their wisdom with me, and tell me exactly what works for them.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

BP.

 

[Budley Doright]

Its hard to believe....you do know its just a weed???

I mentored at OG and did mostly sick plants...


But I have time to help.....

Normally I suggest finding one person whos system you like and go from there....

I find listening to too many people is a killer....so pick a mentor and stick to him....


Its really hard to mess up a promix and botanicare grow....It wont be the biggest yielder but you wont starve either.....

Do you have some druthers????



<<The rest do show some deficiencies within the next 4-6 weeks. Usually what I suspect to be Cal/Mag/Potassium deficiencies. I try to flush but then my medium just gets all sorts of waterlogged and the plants stunt.>>


Let me point out that flushing a potassium def is the one time you can do more damage than help.....

most people cant tell the differerence between cal mag and potassium defs...

Maybe the ex sick plant mentor from og would be the right mentor for you.....


I would also suggest to keep the nute thing simple....one bottle in veg...one in flower.....

its not necessary to do more....

 

[bicyclebenny]

You didn't mention your watering habits (unless I missed it). Do you keep them too wet? I guess in rockwool, that's not an issue. What do you do with your run-off? What is the ph of the nutes going in and the run-off water? Can you provide pictures? (I know that may be too depressing.) You say your environment is ok. Did you mention room temps? Got any cats? What is your light source? I am a huge fan of coco. How is that going after a few weeks?

 

[ToughGirl]

Perhaps you're just not meant to grow pot? Not to sound mean or anything but it's pretty easy to grow. 5 years no harvest? That's a bad ratio. Maybe try opium poppies or something

 

[phr3d0m2gr0]

If your really want to make sure your doing everything correctly, short of having someone come to your place to check up on your plants, then start a grow journal on here. Get a camera and take photos every few days, or every week, of your plants. Explain in FINE detail what your doing to your plants. With all the information and photos people will be able to tell you what your doing wrong or right.

Don't give up, just put a little more time and have some patience and you'll have nice buds to smoke in no time.

First can you explain your setup in detail? What lights? Ventilation? Nutrients? Grow method? Tell us what your running RIGHT NOW.

One more factor is expecting too much. Don't expect to get a certain weight from your plants, just give them TLC and accept what they give you.

-Phr3

 

[maryj315]

I have been growing in ocean forest for going on five years now but have been doing a couple of plants on the side in straight coco for the past couple of cycles

If you are capable of monitoring your ph and e.c. then you should be able to finish a crop its all in the flush so simple a caveman could do it lol

Go check out Heads thread in the coco section easy read simple formula to follow and if you get into trouble you just flush it out until your ph and e.c. is where you want it

And if you want a couple of mentors try B.C. or Major PotHead if you take the time to read their all their threads you will learn a lot shoot them a pm anytime and they will answer when they get a chance

Mj

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Just a first observation...and don't take anything I say personal...

You seem to question each and every method and formula that you have tried...but you seem to stand firm on your having the environment dialed in.
OK, start there. I bet you will find the problem if you actually concede that you may not be quite as dialed as you think.

I mean, seriously...if you have been at it for that length of time, and not one grow to show for it...how can you possibly state that your set up is dialed in?
Maybe show us what you got and let us help from there. (shrug)

 

[Johnny Rotten]

coco, GH, tap water, head's formula. Thank me later.

 

[Elevator Man]

If you're using quality soil and nutrients, then there shouldn't really be any deficiencies at all. I use Canna Pro Soil, and Canna nutes, and I barely even test the pH now - the right combo of veg nutes, Cannazym and Rhizotonic give me a pH around 5.8 with my water, and I just feed one time, plain water the next, and so on. I let my plants dry out quite a lot before watering, so they feel light when picked up. That way I know the roots are never waterlogged.

For flowering, I stop the Rhizotonic at three weeks in, and switch to flower nutes, PK 13/14 and bat guano, again, alternating between feed and plain water. If I can afford it, Boost Accelerator too. Again, no deficiencies at all with this regime, and letting the soil dry out seems to work well for me.

I suspect your watering regime is incorrect, your lights may be too close/far away, and your air is not rich enough. You don't mention your environment, but just adding CO2 with a cheap method like yeast/sugar will make a huge difference in vitality and vigour, and really help them grow better if your air temps are too high (if the lights are too close etc. etc.).

If you've tried all the methods you list, then the problem is clearly incorrect technique somewhere, or incorrect application of a fundamental principle. A friend of mine is in a similar predicament - he's started growing, bought all the gear (I'm jealous), and cannot get his plants to grow properly, even with my help. For some reason, it's just all wrong.

Problem is, he's dived in so quick he hasn't learnt the fundamental principles of just getting plants (any species) to grow, and you don't need any gear to do that. I would just put a clone in a small pot in the window (if you can), and just watch it grow naturally, and slowly, and try and resist adding anything other than water when it starts wilting!

I gave a Vanilluna clone to a friend the other week at two inches, and in two weeks she's got it into an eight-inch bonsai bush, just sat in the window. I have two-foot plants at another friend's in 3"-diameter pots that were germed three months ago, and they're happy as Larry, so even in hardly any soil, they'll still grow. But closely watch what they do when they grow, and you'll be halfway there.

I hate to sound like a hippy, but attitude and relaxed, regular observance work far better than fancy nutes and equipment - otherwise my friend would be rolling in weed right now, and he hasn't even got flowering plants in six months, and that's with over £1K of gear, brand new and all the clones he ever needed...

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Just a first observation...and don't take anything I say personal...

You seem to question each and every method and formula that you have tried...but you seem to stand firm on your having the environment dialed in.
OK, start there. I bet you will find the problem if you actually concede that you may not be quite as dialed as you think.

I mean, seriously...if you have been at it for that length of time, and not one grow to show for it...how can you possibly state that your set up is dialed in?
Maybe show us what you got and let us help from there. (shrug)

Straight up, there's something basic that you're missing and it seems to affect every method you try. The good news is that once you figure out what that is, a whole lot of stuff is going to click in you head from all the different methods you've gone through

 

[Johnny Rotten]

He just doing the what every noob does...too much of everything. On top of that he's not giving himself time to learn a medium before giving up and moving on.

Try coco with a simple veg and flower formula and pay close attention to the plant and it's needs but don't make drastic changes. Keep it simple, don't overwater/feed, water until runoff, don't let it dry out all the way and you get a successful harvest under your belt.

Read Head's coco thread and follow his basic guide: General Hydroponics Micro and Bloom @ 6 + 9 ml per Gal. for veg and 0 + 9 for bloom.

I've turned a couple complete noobs on to it and they pulled successful grows there first go. It was good buds, not harsh or leafy, just chunky buds, all calyxs. 10x better than some growers around here that think they know what they are doing.

 

[Lex Dysic]

You cant grow wrong with 0-6-9 GH and good coco...I like botanicare...

5 years trying with no crop??
I honestly find that hard to believe.

It could be that the purpose of your growing career is only to serve as a warning to others.

 

[Hazy Lady]

I see you had 4 half decent crops before your 2 yr drought, what changed?, why did you change things then as opposed to tweaking them?. Just thinking another way a minute....you kill everything you say, have had the ground tested for gas?, there are many gasses that can leak into the first few feet above ground, they will suffocate any plant, or small animal for that matter but you would be too tall to notice, or have you been sick?, something to think about maybe?.

 

[ballplayer 2]

Hey all, I am ecstatic and humbled by the overwhelming response to my thread. Um I'm not sure where to start with doing my best to respond to all interested parties.

I'll start with my environment. My veg room is pretty simple 216 W HO fluorescent 4 ft tubes. 256 CFM fan with can filter. approximately 6x3, but I only use the space directly under the light to try to veg in. All walls are drywall, painted flat white. C.A.P environment controller set to turn on above 45% humidity and 81 degrees F. I also use a small space with 2 15 watt regular floro tubes to start seeds in.

My flowering room consists of a room 6.5 x 3.5 with 2 400W Sunmaster Warm Deluxe. Hydrofarm Daystar air cooled hoods. Air cooled with 449 cfm Vortex fan. All ducting for air cooled setup is tin, no flexible, installed by a professional electrician. Room air is being circulated by two 10" fans pointed away from plants at the wall (when there are actually some that make it to the flowering room, their leaves sway in the breeze but are not getting windburnt). Air is being evacuated by 256 cfm Dayton fan. Cap environmental controller. CAP ppm3 CO2 monitor hooked up to 50 lb tank. I have decided the last couple tries to keep CO2 unhooked, just to eliminate it as a possible problem. Entire Room painted flat white.

I also have another veg space a room over, which is very basic. Simply a 400 watt MH and 250 W HPS that are adjustable and a circulation fan, no exhaust per say. But that is not to say there is no air exchange, there definitely is. It is a large room with just a small area dedicated to a few plants in the space. I usually only use this space when I am particularly unsuccessful with my dedicated veg area. I was able to grow three pepper plants in this space this winter, they made it about 2-3 months before ish hit the fan. But have since recovered somewhat since biing place outside.

The thing about using tapwater is that my water is so crappy it scares the heck out of me. It comes out at 7.2-7.4 pH and 850-880 ppm. Yes, my meters are calibrated correctly. The local shop verified my results (as I brought them a sample).

When I was successful My setups were totally ghetto fabulous. I have had plants make it start to finish with almost no problems 2 times. Ohh how nice it was. At that time I was using organics. My medium was Sunshine Mix #1, nothing added. I used my tapwater. I used very dilute mix of Maxicrop and Peru SB guano from seedling through veg (slowly increased concentration, no meter then though). Then I used Liquid Karma and PSG until week 3-4 Flow. Then switched over to a bit of PSG and small amount of Indo Bat Guano and LK. All this in tapwater. Used small amount of pH down and liquid dropper kit (keeping it near 7.0). This was in 2006, but it seemed like I used mostly liquid Karma in Flower. Maybe like two applications of PSG and INDO Bat Guano. I think I remember adding just a pinch of Marine Cuisine to the bottom of the planting hole upon final transplant. Once they really started drinking I was able to flush through and have them use the water in 24-48 hours. They were under the 2 400 W Sunmaster Warm Deluxe.

I JUST switched to hydro like 2 weeks ago, so I definitely dont mean to knock that method at all. Just that I assumed the rec. flush of Rockwool and Hydroton would be sufficient, it was not, but still completely my error, lesson learned. I have been solely using Sunshine Mix and Fox Farm up to this point. I seem to constantly have problems with Sunshine Mix pH dropping down to 5.4 or lower, and that is with at least 6.0 input water. So I hypothesize that my early experiences were successfull because I used water with a stable high pH. Peruvian Seabird guano tends to be high pH. and the Maxicrop and Liquid Karma would not drop the pH too much. However, this method has not been successful for me recently. Really nothing has changed, except obviously the batch of Sunshine Mix.

To be honest I have not really been following the labels recently (I did back in the day though, or I followed the directions then maybe diluted it with tap just a bit more). I have become extremely skittish of overfertilizing due to recent experience. My problems seem to be pH related, where it drops too low, and then Mag becomes unavailable. I can tell when trouble is coming either by my growing tips dieing off and twisting/shriveling. Or around the leaf edges where it is either CAL deficiency or overfert. Known by consulting stich's book, I have seen the damn deficiencies so many times they are seared into my memory, NIGHTMARES.

One last note is that there is a sump pump and an ejector pump remotely near my space, but not even close to being in the same room. But they have always been there, for the last 20 years, even when I was successful. They were actually closer then.

WOW that was a mouthful eh? Sorry guys I MUST go to bed now, I have to get up and box in like 4 hours. I will address ALL unanswered concerns tomorrow when I get home from boxing, say about 8 and a half hours from now.

I am completely overwhelmed and taken aback in a great way by all concerned parties.

P.S. I would hate to quit now as I went on an absolute mission to procure some genetics, and put myself at risk to do so. I have DJ flo, Fed Rom, Willy jack White Rhino, DJ Blueberry, Mota Sour Diesel. Then I also have maybe 10-15 saved bagseeds to practice on. But seeds are so hard to come by I would rather practice on veggies.

Thank you all so much,

BP.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Let tap set for at least a day before using to outgas the chlorine. Also, some tap water is being treated with (toxic to plants) chlorimines, and it won't outgas. Ask your water supplier.

Just a heads up...Co2 in concentrations above 1500ppm can be toxic to plants.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Let tap set for at least a day before using to outgas the chlorine. Also, some tap water is being treated with (toxic to plants) chlorimines, and it won't outgas. Ask your water supplier.

Considering the ppm of his tap water, I seriously doubt he's on a regular water supply, more likely a spring or well. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the ppm and what makes up that ppm fluctuates throughout the year, as the seasons change. (Without that information, trying to grow consistently is whacked and hair-pulling frustration)


You're going hydro so you're going to NEED an RO machine with a high quality booster pump (Unless you have insane water pressure). Without that you're going to be hauling a lot of water. Without the booster pump, you're not going to be able to remove enough crud and your ppm will still be high. A bit over $200 will get you a great machine, pump and parts off the RO machine seller on E-bay. The units are $150, pump is around $80 and you'll need additional parts.

You're almost there and, without your water issues, you would have had great success long before now. I think I see the glimmer of light at the end of your tunnel.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Wow, you've tried a lot of different complicated-sounding things. How about keeping it simple? At least to start.

I grew for almost 20 years with nothing but 5-gal buckets, basic potting soil, some fluorescent shop lights, and bagseed. Oh, and tap water. No ferts, no fans, no thermometers, no pH probes. Literally nothing else, including knowledge. I just put the seeds in the dirt, watered them, and they grew. Rarely had any die and never had a single hermie. Granted, I didn't get massive yields, but I at least kept myself in weed. In fact, sometimes I think I was better off then not knowing or worrying about all the stuff I didn't know or was doing wrong.

 

[resin_lung]

very true Tony, Ignorance was kinda bliss.

 

[Rudedewd]

I'll agree with Tony on this. Go back to the basics and keep it simple for a run or two. I'm not sure what your goal is yieldwise but for now, forgetaboutit, just make your goal a successful harvest of nice bud. There is no doubt that more advanced techniques will increase yields but you have to learn how to walk before you can run. Use a simple feeding routine with a basic growing medium, Ocean Forest is good shit or even Pro Mix will do the job very well. Find one good all around simple to use fertilizer and use only that, and if you are using a mix like OF I wouldn't even add nutes until the plants show a deficiency and don't add anything else at all unless you run into an insect problem. The K.I.S.S. acronym will be your best buddy right now, Keep It Simple Stoner.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I'll agree with Tony on this. Go back to the basics and keep it simple for a run or two. I'm not sure what your goal is yieldwise but for now, forgetaboutit, just make your goal a successful harvest of nice bud. There is no doubt that more advanced techniques will increase yields but you have to learn how to walk before you can run. Use a simple feeding routine with a basic growing medium, Ocean Forest is good shit or even Pro Mix will do the job very well. Find one good all around simple to use fertilizer and use only that, and if you are using a mix like OF I wouldn't even add nutes until the plants show a deficiency and don't add anything else at all unless you run into an insect problem. The K.I.S.S. acronym will be your best buddy right now, Keep It Simple Stoner.

In short:

Dump everything but the basic nutes and feed that throughout the entire grow. Until you get 3-4 real harvests, adding boosters and other additives is just shooting yourself in the foot.