Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[HempKat]

Thanks for the replies I think what I will do is take a couple more popcorn buds, to see me through a few days or a week (I dont smoke much at all) and cut and cure maybe half. Like you say it is at peak TCH goodness right now, and I dont always like a couch lock stone during the day anyway. I'll let the rest go on till I see a bunch of ambers, then cut AND cure propperly. Everyone says the cure is important so it would be silly for me to ignore everyones advice.

I have a LSD and himalayan gold, both at a week old at the moment, so im hoping the AK47 will last me a good few weeks. I hear that himalayan gold should be prety good for pain. Like I say im just starting out and trying to find a strain that suits me.

Once again thanks for the help, reps coming your way if i can figure out what button to press

I'll try do a smoke report of both the weed I cut in a week and the stuff I let go on if im not to spaced out

Peace

Sounds like a good plan. This hobby of ours is much easier then it seems at first you'll get the hang of it quickly and then you'll find that it is afterall just a weed. :smile: Good luck and feel free to come by any time. :tup:

 

[HempKat]

thank you sir.

No problem, glad to be of assistance. :smile:

 

[Rooster449]

My new De-Humidifier is doing great

My new De-Humidifier is doing great

And I was needing it, My Humidie was at 75 this morning so I just had to get one. I was so afraid of Mold, But I think this will do the trick for me here and in my new bigger Room. These pixs are a week later than my last pix post and they are just Growing so Gooooooood I just had to share

Hope all injoy becouse I sure do injoy all the posts here that Have helped me so far.

Rooster449

 

[Woall]

Question for anyone who feels like answering:

does a plant have to be in 100% total darkness, during the 12 hour periods? Sealing off my grow space has been the most challenging aspect of my entire grow. My plants are in a wooden wardrobe in a basement. There are 4 small windows in this basement and I have 3 out of the 4 blacked out. I could not black out the 4th because the meter reader comes by once a month to look through it at the electricity meter (I don't know which day they come). This window is on the other side of the basement from the wardrobe. And I have draped sheets of black plastic behind the meter to deflect some of the light coming through this window. My light cycle starts at 10:30 in the morning so of the 12 hours of darnkess there is about 4 hours when sunlight is coming in this window. During this time the basement is still pretty dark, but not completely. I have tried to glue weatherstripping all around the interior of the warddrobe door frames. I went through several packs of this weatherstripping tape material and tried to glue it using a hot glue gun because it doesn't stick well by itself. I thought I did a pretty good job but today I noticed it was coming off in some places and that there were very tiny cracks where light could come in. Any light coming in would be very dim, since it could only come from a small window from 40 feet away on the other side of the basement, but I am concerned. I'm going on 10 days flowering and tomorrow I am going to get more weatherstripping to reinforce it. How do you know if your grow space is completely light tight if you cannot be in it yourself with the doors shut tightly? To close off my wardrobe I push a table against the doors to keep them shut tightly. I could probably get in there but I don't have anybody to push the table up against the doors while I'm in there. If I had to guess, I would say that it's pretty close to pitch black but not quite 100% during the last 4 hours of each dark period. Even if there are tiny cracks it's not like there is a light source right outside the doors... the only light in the basement comes in through the far window and bounces off the wall, which is what happens, but it's very dim. From what I can tell, the weatherstripping has to get pinched by the edge of the doors on the inside where they hinge, so that it squishes together when you close them. I try to look and make sure this is happening as I close the door, but like I said I cannot be sure there isn't one little tiny crack somewhere without getting in there and having the doors shut on me. Ok this question is getting way too long... I guess what I want to know is if there were tiny cracks where the foam met the inside edge of door, in these first 10 days of flowering, letting in a tiny amount of already dim light, could that have already ruined my whole grow? I am going to add more weatherstripping tomorrow and have it sealed off even better going forward... but I don't know how I could ever say without a shadow of a doubt that my wardrobe is 100.00% light tight. If my plants go hermi and I don't get any buds I will be devastated.

 

[noproblempablo]

Ah man, here we go again

Ah man, here we go again

Is this look like a diseases or a deficiency? I am having the same problem I had last time despite the fact that i vegged longer, have ferted only twice in 3 weeks, and have kept the light far away. I am at a loss. Can anyone tell me what this is?

Could any of these cause this?

Mixing Neem/soap/water 3 days in advance before spraying on plants.

Some mold around the base of the walls in the room that contains my tent.

My water PH is 8.5 Do I need to balance it before watering my soil? The runoff is around 7.0.

My first few grows were with standard curly CFL bulbs and some shop reflectors. I watered them every three days, at least 10 percent runoff usually more, and used the same soil and had no problems.

Could this be from under fertilizing? Can my 600 HPS cause the plant to suck nutrients out of the soil faster than I am putting them in? I've only ferted twice in three weeks. My Black Gold Organic Soil comes with a 0.05-0.0-0.0 fertilizer in it. That seems week to me but I keep reading that my plants should be fine for a few weeks without fertilizer. I used a 1/2 tbs of Earth Juice Grow 2-1-1 and Bloom 0-3-1 2 weeks ago and 1 tbs of each (always mixed in a gallon of water) one week ago. I just switched to 12/12 after almost 4 weeks of veg.

I've been so worried about over watering or over feeding and now that I am not doing that they're going bad again. So do I feed them? Everything I look at doing seems wrong.

Any ideas or questions for me would be very helpful. Thank you!

 

[HempKat]

Question for anyone who feels like answering:

does a plant have to be in 100% total darkness, during the 12 hour periods? Sealing off my grow space has been the most challenging aspect of my entire grow. My plants are in a wooden wardrobe in a basement. There are 4 small windows in this basement and I have 3 out of the 4 blacked out. I could not black out the 4th because the meter reader comes by once a month to look through it at the electricity meter (I don't know which day they come). This window is on the other side of the basement from the wardrobe. And I have draped sheets of black plastic behind the meter to deflect some of the light coming through this window. My light cycle starts at 10:30 in the morning so of the 12 hours of darnkess there is about 4 hours when sunlight is coming in this window. During this time the basement is still pretty dark, but not completely. I have tried to glue weatherstripping all around the interior of the warddrobe door frames. I went through several packs of this weatherstripping tape material and tried to glue it using a hot glue gun because it doesn't stick well by itself. I thought I did a pretty good job but today I noticed it was coming off in some places and that there were very tiny cracks where light could come in. Any light coming in would be very dim, since it could only come from a small window from 40 feet away on the other side of the basement, but I am concerned. I'm going on 10 days flowering and tomorrow I am going to get more weatherstripping to reinforce it. How do you know if your grow space is completely light tight if you cannot be in it yourself with the doors shut tightly? To close off my wardrobe I push a table against the doors to keep them shut tightly. I could probably get in there but I don't have anybody to push the table up against the doors while I'm in there. If I had to guess, I would say that it's pretty close to pitch black but not quite 100% during the last 4 hours of each dark period. Even if there are tiny cracks it's not like there is a light source right outside the doors... the only light in the basement comes in through the far window and bounces off the wall, which is what happens, but it's very dim. From what I can tell, the weatherstripping has to get pinched by the edge of the doors on the inside where they hinge, so that it squishes together when you close them. I try to look and make sure this is happening as I close the door, but like I said I cannot be sure there isn't one little tiny crack somewhere without getting in there and having the doors shut on me. Ok this question is getting way too long... I guess what I want to know is if there were tiny cracks where the foam met the inside edge of door, in these first 10 days of flowering, letting in a tiny amount of already dim light, could that have already ruined my whole grow? I am going to add more weatherstripping tomorrow and have it sealed off even better going forward... but I don't know how I could ever say without a shadow of a doubt that my wardrobe is 100.00% light tight. If my plants go hermi and I don't get any buds I will be devastated.

Well first off, if you made sure they're females before you went to 12/12 and they did end up going hermie you would still get buds the problem is you would also get seeds. Those seeds would be feminized but would also carry the hermie trait. Second off, if something has the potential to be devastating to you, you should try to get answers to any concerns you have, before moving ahead. As opposed to waiting 10 days later. If the light issue was enough to stress the plants into going hermie it likely would have already happened by now.

Okay on to the good news. The good news is that in doesn't have to be completely dark where your grow box/closet/room is it has to be completely dark inside the grow box/closet/room. Given what you are describing you should be fine. The test though (if you can get in your grow space) is to be in your grow space for 5 minutes with the lights out. After 5 minutes hold your hand out at arms length in front of you. If you can clearly make out your hand then there is too much light, if not then you're fine.

100% light free is an ideal but not an absolute necessity. I don't know what percentage would represent the minimum amount of darkness to avoid light stress though. Consider this, in the wild it's never 100% dark, there's moon light, star light, and man made light, so there is nothing that would cause the plant to evolve a nned for absolute darkness.

The thing is, the plant has evolved to detect light. Once enough light is percieved the plant then considers it day time, even if the light level at the moment it decides that seems pretty low to us. Now the plant's trigger for flowering is when the dark period becomes 12 hours or more long. If enough light gets to the plant to make it think it's day, but it's actually in the middle of that 12 hour dark period then it can mess up the plant by causing light stress and that can lead to hermies. An occasional brief slip up isn't likely to do it though, it has to be repetitive and it has to be of a long enough duration (5 minutes or more). Simply turning the light on for a few seconds and turning it back off shouldn't trigger it. Now if for some reason you have to do something with your plants during the dark period it is reccommended you use some sort of green colored light. Green light is essentially invisible to plants.

 

[HempKat]

Is this look like a diseases or a deficiency? I am having the same problem I had last time despite the fact that i vegged longer, have ferted only twice in 3 weeks, and have kept the light far away. I am at a loss. Can anyone tell me what this is?

Could any of these cause this?

Mixing Neem/soap/water 3 days in advance before spraying on plants.

Some mold around the base of the walls in the room that contains my tent.

My water PH is 8.5 Do I need to balance it before watering my soil? The runoff is around 7.0.

My first few grows were with standard curly CFL bulbs and some shop reflectors. I watered them every three days, at least 10 percent runoff usually more, and used the same soil and had no problems.

Could this be from under fertilizing? Can my 600 HPS cause the plant to suck nutrients out of the soil faster than I am putting them in? I've only ferted twice in three weeks. My Black Gold Organic Soil comes with a 0.05-0.0-0.0 fertilizer in it. That seems week to me but I keep reading that my plants should be fine for a few weeks without fertilizer. I used a 1/2 tbs of Earth Juice Grow 2-1-1 and Bloom 0-3-1 2 weeks ago and 1 tbs of each (always mixed in a gallon of water) one week ago. I just switched to 12/12 after almost 4 weeks of veg.

I've been so worried about over watering or over feeding and now that I am not doing that they're going bad again. So do I feed them? Everything I look at doing seems wrong.

Any ideas or questions for me would be very helpful. Thank you!

Well based on what you've said I'd say your problem is a ph issue. 8.5 or even 7.0 is too high a ph for soil, it should be at 6.5. Now with a ph imbalance you get what's called nute lockout which is where even though nutrients are present in the soil the plant can't get to them. This will cause what looks like a nutrient deficiency. A common mistake in that situation is the grower thinks it's just a deficiency and adds more nutrients. This ends up cause toxic levels of nutes to build up and if the ph becomes what it should be then suddenly the plant will get overdosed by a toxic level of nutrients. That's why the suggested treatment for nute lock out caused by a ph imbalance is to flush the plant with twice as much water (ph adjusted) as normal to wash out the excess nutrients.

Now a low ph in soil is going to give you much worse looking plants usually because more of the nutrients the plants need will be locked out. With a high ph some of the nutrients might still get thru but not all depending on just how high the ph is exactly.

Two other things I noticed. One if you're growing from seed and you're only vegging them for 4 weeks then the plants are still immature and won't flower as well as if you let them get mature (6-8 weeks of veg). The second thing is that you're plants are in veg and yet you're feeding them bloom ferts as well as veg ferts. Use ferts that are considered a grow formula (ie Earthjuice Grow) for veg and save ferts that are bloom formulas (ie Earthjuice Bloom) for when you're in flower.

Also moving lights away can be a problem if you move them too far away. A 600W light should be no more then 18 inches above the top of your plants. If having it that close makes it too hot then your method of cooling is insufficient for the light. If you move a 600W light let's say 4 feet away from your plants, the room is going to seem bright to your eyes but to the plant it's going to seem like there is hardly any light there.

 

[noproblempablo]

Thanks again, Hempkat. I have a liquid test ph kit for the runoff and a ph meter for the soil. Both show my soil right about 7 but my water going in is very alkaline at 8.5+ (I assume it could be 8.5 + since the liquid test is giving me the highest reading at 8.5) The thing that is confusing me is based on my earlier grows with CFL I had no problems water or otherwise. Does the power of the light cause different problems/deficiencies? If I have a highpowered light is it sucking up more of the high PH water before it has a chance to even out in the soil and match my runoff? I had a feeling it was PH problem but the runoff always seemed ok. Should I balance my water to 6.5 or so (including my ferts?) with lemon juice before watering? As for the ferts, I added some bloom because I was thinking phosporous deficiency and Earth Juice recommends using it before flowering for best results mixed with grow. But I have only ferted twice at the mild level and Bloom show sup super acidic when I test it.

(I vegged for 3 weeks after the same amount of vegging by a friend who gave me clones.)

My soil mix was 3-1 organic soil and perilite with a tbs of dolomite lime mixed into each 3 gallon portion. Could my high PH water be hitting the roots and causing the problems? They do seem to be sucking water slower but they are still doing ok. This would seem to fit with your comments on high PH plants not looking as bad as low ones. I will start ph balancing my ferts and water and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[HempKat]

Thanks again, Hempkat. I have a liquid test ph kit for the runoff and a ph meter for the soil. Both show my soil right about 7 but my water going in is very alkaline at 8.5+ (I assume it could be 8.5 + since the liquid test is giving me the highest reading at 8.5) The thing that is confusing me is based on my earlier grows with CFL I had no problems water or otherwise. Does the power of the light cause different problems/deficiencies? If I have a highpowered light is it sucking up more of the high PH water before it has a chance to even out in the soil and match my runoff? I had a feeling it was PH problem but the runoff always seemed ok. Should I balance my water to 6.5 or so (including my ferts?) with lemon juice before watering? As for the ferts, I added some bloom because I was thinking phosporous deficiency and Earth Juice recommends using it before flowering for best results mixed with grow. But I have only ferted twice at the mild level and Bloom show sup super acidic when I test it.

(I vegged for 3 weeks after the same amount of vegging by a friend who gave me clones.)

My soil mix was 3-1 organic soil and perilite with a tbs of dolomite lime mixed into each 3 gallon portion. Could my high PH water be hitting the roots and causing the problems? They do seem to be sucking water slower but they are still doing ok. This would seem to fit with your comments on high PH plants not looking as bad as low ones. I will start ph balancing my ferts and water and see what happens. Thanks!

Okay if they're clones then 3-4 weeks veg is fine. The light being stronger will change the rate at which the plant drinks because of the added heat but still not so quick as to not allow enough time for the ph to do whatever adjustment it does in the soil.

It's definately the high ph, like I said before even 7.0ph is too high even though that's considered nuetral. With what you are saying though 7.0 is the lowest ph it's seeing. A nuetral ph is fine for just water but to allow the plant to feed properly you want the ph between 6.2 and 6.8 with 6.5 being ideal.

I would adjust your water when mixed with nutes to be 6.5 and see how that does.

On another note, I notice you said you add 1 tablespoon of dolomite lime per 3 gallons of soil mix. That's a bit low, the recommended rate is 1 to 2 tablespoons per gallon. In your case however, with your water having such a high ph, lime might not even be needed at least not for buffering the ph. Dolomite lime is also a good source of calcium and magnesium. What I would do if I was you with the water having such a high ph, is I would discontinue the dolomite lime. In addition and since you're already familiar with the product line, I would use a product called Earthjuice Micro-Blast. This is an excellent product for supplying your plants micro nutrient needs, including calcium and magnesium.

 

[noproblempablo]

My plants where pretty dry so I mixed up a batch of mild nutes ph balanced to 6.5-7.0 according to my liquid test kit and fed them last night. What's a general time frame that I can expect to see things improve/stop going bad? I know my toasty leaves will stay that way but how about the ones that still look good? Can I expect them to stop yellowing right away or should I give it a few feedings? I'm going to order up some micro-blast come payday. Thanks again!

 

[Gold123]

just my opinion but I like to feed in the morning close to lights on so my plants have a whole day of light to absorb what they need. If you water at night nothing is going on with lights out except the roots are sitting in water.

 

[ScrubNinja]

just my opinion but I like to feed in the morning close to lights on so my plants have a whole day of light to absorb what they need. If you water at night nothing is going on with lights out except the roots are sitting in water.

I thought roots grow the most at night?

 

[Woall]

thanks for explaining, hempkat.

 

[MobbDeep]

Hey ye' old coots..do any of you lot ever give the plants 36 hours of darkness before harvest..

 

[HempKat]

My plants where pretty dry so I mixed up a batch of mild nutes ph balanced to 6.5-7.0 according to my liquid test kit and fed them last night. What's a general time frame that I can expect to see things improve/stop going bad? I know my toasty leaves will stay that way but how about the ones that still look good? Can I expect them to stop yellowing right away or should I give it a few feedings? I'm going to order up some micro-blast come payday. Thanks again!

If the problem is corrected any progression of the effects of the problem should stop right away. I get from your postings that money is tight but when you can afford it you should invest in a decent ph meter. Those liquid test kits are okay but they only get you in the ballpark. I would reccommend the PH Checker by Hana:

http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=426

They're reasonably priced and much more accurate then those liquid test kits. There are other more expensive options that can do more and/or are even more accurate but for the price and quality I think the one in the link above is the best choice. Avoid those rapidtest meters, they're not very reliable for what we marijuana growers do, IMHO.

Another thing I noticed. You said previously you were working from clones. It also sounds like from what I'm reading that each and every time you've added nutes you mix up a mild batch of nutes. Really the only time you should need to mix a mild batch of nutes is when you first start feeding nutes to a plant started from seed. Even then it's more a precaution then a necessity. As growers we do that to avoid overwhelming a young plant with something it hasn't had yet. When working from clones they really shouldn't need that precaution as much. If it were me, I'd only go reduced strength on the nutes the very first time I gave it to them if at all.

 

[HempKat]

just my opinion but I like to feed in the morning close to lights on so my plants have a whole day of light to absorb what they need. If you water at night nothing is going on with lights out except the roots are sitting in water.

Not true, there is plenty going on during lights out we just don't see it. Basically during the day or during lights on plants focus most of their energy on just collecting light energy and converting it to sugars, starches and the like. During night or lights out since there is no light energy to collect the plant then takes what it made from the light and combines it with water and nutrients to create new plant material.

 

[HempKat]

Hey ye' old coots..do any of you lot ever give the plants 36 hours of darkness before harvest..

I don't, there is no reason for it. There is nothing in nature that has required the plant to evolve a response to an extended dark period like that. After you harvest typically the plant is placed into a dark spot to dry for a week. If there was any effect an extended dark period before harvest had on a plant it would happen while it was hanging to dry.

Presumably one who does this monitors their plants and decides at some point it's ready to harvest. They then put the plant into a 36 hour dark period then cut it down, trim it and hang it to dry. All the 36 hours of darkness is really doing is allowing the trichomes to age an additional 36 hours. They don't age differently by doing this. Many believe that the plant freaks out, thinks it is dying and because of that puts out a bunch of additional trichomes to try to avoid dying. That's total nonsense though, plants don't freak out for one thing and the only way a long dark period would cause the plant to do anything other then die slowly, would be if there was an extended dark period in nature that the plant evolved a response to.

Fortunately putting a plant in a 36 hour dark period before harvest will not really harm it and so if it makes the grower feel like his harvest is better for having done it then go for it.

 

[MobbDeep]

What about the ld grower wives tale that the plant is most potent right before dawn??I used to always read this for outdoor grows..besides,theres lots of people who swear by it..also,a seedbank had in there white widow description.."plants benefit from giving 36hours of dark before harvest..this was stright from the breeeder?..

 

[noproblempablo]

Looking 50/50

Looking 50/50

If the problem is corrected any progression of the effects of the problem should stop right away. I get from your postings that money is tight but when you can afford it you should invest in a decent ph meter. Those liquid test kits are okay but they only get you in the ballpark. I would reccommend the PH Checker by Hana:

http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=426

They're reasonably priced and much more accurate then those liquid test kits. There are other more expensive options that can do more and/or are even more accurate but for the price and quality I think the one in the link above is the best choice. Avoid those rapidtest meters, they're not very reliable for what we marijuana growers do, IMHO.

Another thing I noticed. You said previously you were working from clones. It also sounds like from what I'm reading that each and every time you've added nutes you mix up a mild batch of nutes. Really the only time you should need to mix a mild batch of nutes is when you first start feeding nutes to a plant started from seed. Even then it's more a precaution then a necessity. As growers we do that to avoid overwhelming a young plant with something it hasn't had yet. When working from clones they really shouldn't need that precaution as much. If it were me, I'd only go reduced strength on the nutes the very first time I gave it to them if at all.

Yeah, dolla bills are at a premium but I can afford that one come next payday and if it will help me out I am all for it. Are moisture meters helpful? I have been ferting with the mild setting to make sure that over fert wasn't part of my problem before but that seems OK so I ma going to regular strength on the next feeding. 2 of my 4 plants look like things have corrected or at least not worsened but some of the leaves on the other two have started to develop the curled on the sides straw look but no extra browning. From looking around, I'm not sure, but my guess is over watering or ph fluctuation. I did the lift the pot and stuff my finger in the dirt test but I guess 2 of them were still wetter than I thought or perhaps I am just completely wrong on my guesswork. On the plus side, these ones are already light years ahead of where my last crop was at this point though I do appear to have fungus gnats now so that's a new prob to deal with. Baby steps. Thanks again!

 

[3rdEyeWonder]

Hello ole' wise stinkers...

I'm two weeks away from harvest, using two 400w CMHs, in a 4x4 area. I didn't get to do any training(being it's my first grow and I felt I needed to learn some more important things on this run) so the canopy is pretty uneven. Damn that wonder haze's stretch!

Anyhow, being that the summer is over and the heat isn't limiting anymore, I thought introducing a 400w HPS to the gang would be a good idea to fatten' up my girls(so 3 400w in a 4x4 tent....I had to squeeze' the last light in, dropped it low on the smaller ones and at the same time it's hittting the lower bud sites on the taller ones). Should/could there be a significant increase in yield? Any adverse effects in changing their environment during the last stages?

Also, I understand allowing your plants to yellow up during the end is a good thing...but I think with the extra light I might want to give the girls a small feeding instead of beginning to flush as previously planned....Would something with a 3-10-8 value at half dose be bad for their next watering? I've got this one monster who's losing many fan leaves at the moment, so it's hungry, but I obviously want a well flushed product...BTW, it's all organic goodness. Can't wait!

I'll post pics when they're done for y'all. Need to get the camera I lent someone back