Need confirmation plz - Drooping plant

[Guest 279031]

Strain: Feminized CH9 Cluster (the freebie

)
Medium: Cocoa, peat, perlite, worm castings, lime
Lights: 100w 6500k CFL's, 3-4 inches from the plant.
Temps: now, 75f
Nutes: Maxibloom 1/3tsp per gallon
PH of nute mix: 6.5

Scroll to the bottom for the pic.

I don't have a runoff PH, and that ties into the problem. I have not been able to water enough to get runoff.

For the first 2 weeks I fed only 7.0 water with a drop of Superthrive per gallon. I was using a spray bottle, and giving the top a good soaking every two days. The plant was thriving. Nice green color, leaves spread wide, not curling or drooping. During this time however, the basement got very cold and the temps were dropping into the 60's until I added stronger bulbs and turned the fans down.

So it's probable the plant got some stress and wasn't growing as fast as in many of your grow logs. 1 week ago I noticed the slightest yellowing of the cotyledons (I probably jumped the gun in my haste to get this plant moving) mixed up my first water batch with Maxibloom (1/3tsp) and fed the plant 1/4 cup. This was the most water the plant had ever received, but still was not much water at all. The pot is nearly 8 inches tall, so this is nowhere near enough to get runoff.

The next morning it was drooping very noticeably. I didn't water it again for 3 days until the top was really dry and when I watered it then I gave it only 1/8th of a cup.

She has never stopped growing (albeit still at a slow pace of one set per week) but the droop is not correcting itself either. Hence my post.

Here she is this morning:



So I am guessing it's still waterlogged but want to be sure. The yellowing of the bottom leaves just started yesterday, and that is also bothering me.

 

[Guest 279031]

Bump for some comments plz. I intend to leave it alone until at least Tuesday to give it plenty of time to dry out. Does that appear to be all it needs?

 

[SnuSnu]

have a look at the soil to check if it is actually waterlogged. should be quite obvious whether its draining properly or not

 

[Guest 279031]

Thanks. This pot (tupperware sprayed black with drain holes in the bottom) is 8 inches tall and 3 inches wide, and when I water it's of course slightly top heavy for a while and next morning it's slightly bottom heavy. At no point is it ever saturated. If anything, I have been under watering, but the plant still looks droopy and the bottom leaves are getting yellower every day.

Tonight the entire pot was light and in my mind there is absolutely no way in hell this plant is still waterlogged, but it's still drooping. I took a thin wire and pushed it down into the soil in several places to see if the soil was packed too tightly and the wire easily sank all the way down and came out clean.

So I mixed up a full strength gallon of Maxibloom mix (1 teaspoon per gallon), ph'd it to 6.5, and fed the plant about 3 ounces or so. Just enough to sit on top for about 5 seconds and then sink in.

Hopefully she will look better tomorrow and not worse.

 

[Weedninja]

Cold soil stays wet longer. Turning down your fans has the same effect. Try lifting your pot before you add any water or nutes & water. It should have almost no weight to it at all when they're ready for a drink.

Overly wet soil is a breeding ground for bad fungus, bacteria, and fungus gnats and can cause lockouts.

 

[Weedninja]

You snuck that post in on me.

 

[Guest 279031]

Cold soil stays wet longer. Turning down your fans has the same effect. Try lifting your pot before you add any water or nutes & water. It should have almost no weight to it at all when they're ready for a drink.

Overly wet soil is a breeding ground for bad fungus, bacteria, and fungus gnats and can cause lockouts.

Thanks. That's exactly what I have been doing. I have been only watering every 3 days, only when it's bone dry, and only a tablespoon or two. And for 2 weeks that was working great (although the plant was growing very slow).

My problem started when I added a little more water then it was used too, but it's been 7 days since then and it still has not recovered. Starting to worry now.

 

[Guest 279031]

You snuck that post in on me.

Haha I was starting to get a complex that nobody was responding and found that SnuSnu had posted yesterday. I never got the email.

Now this joint is practically jumping

 

[Weedninja]

I think your evaporation rate just slowed down a bit. If the problem is corrected, your new growth should start coming in normally.

 

[the gnome]

my 1st reaction, your growing medium is water logged.

your mix is Cocoa, peat, perlite, worm castings, lime
if your in coco and its the main thing in the mix your Ph is suppose to be 5.8-6.2
you said your Phing@6.6
something to consider

if your in coco I'm not sure about adding all the other stuff, perlite is alright but
the peat,castings and lime defeats the purpose of growing in coco.
is this your own mix or is it a recipe from elsewhere?

I don't grow in coco so maybe someone that does will stop by.

 

[kmk420kali]

I think your plant is starving due to high pH-- Lime raises pH and as stated above, you should be much lower than the 6.8 you are aiming for--
Also, you will need to water enough to get run off, in order to get a proper idea of what is going on, pH wise--
Not sure why the EWC either...but with coco, you should not be having any probs with overwatering...so you may want to gently remove the stuff you have in there...and replace with either coco, or soil...but I don't think mixing the 2 is the right road to follow--
I am a soil grower, and have not grown with coco before...but I have read much about it...so before you do what I said, get confirmation from a true coco grower...I am just giving my opinion--
Peace and good luck--

 

[marrdogg]

Grow in coco now and part of your problem is the peat which retains water. Just as kmk420kali stated you need to remove those plants from that medium, the only thing you need it amended with is perlite if you want don't even need that it will make you water more often. Also your ph is not in acceptable ranges for coco. You are sufering from over watering(peat) and maybe toxicity problems due to the fact peat can't leech nutrients as fast as coco. Get your ph between 5.8-6.1 and you should be good. Hope that helps, PEACE!

 

[northstate]

ChrisQ- Three inches wide and eight inches tall sounds like a funky size container also, the perched water table is below the roots of your start so it stays wetter longer. Gnome and kmk420kali both have the same opinion as I do about your hybrid soil/coco mix and add being cold to the mix and you have a N lockout from lack of air and ph could be wierd too. Warm up your spot if you can and let it dry out almost totally and water with just ph'd water until you get some run-off. You may not have to water again for like 5-6 days after but that means your soil holds too much moisture.
Your plant should grow into the container just don't over water and I personally would be real light on the Maxi until she is a little bigger. Good luck and there is my dos pesos.NS

 

[Guest 279031]

You all are indeed correct. I misread the soil mix:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=53792

LC’s Soiless Mix #1:

5 parts Canadian Sphagnum Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts worm castings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered (NOT PELLETED) dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
...Wal-Mart now sells worm castings.

So, not having a hydro store nearby, what sort of potting soil should I use to repot this plant in?

Secondly, I was attempting to keep my pots skinny while still giving enough medium for a decent root ball. If I go to a 6 inch pot that's only 4 or 5 inches deep, will that be better?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Weedninja]

LOL, there's nothing wrong with peat; it's in practically every soil-less mix out there.

So, not having a hydro store nearby, what sort of potting soil should I use to repot this plant in?

Pro-Mix is pretty easy to find. Try here: http://growingyourpassion.com/en/retailer-locator/

Secondly, I was attempting to keep my pots skinny while still giving enough medium for a decent root ball. If I go to a 6 inch pot that's only 4 or 5 inches deep, will that be better?

Solo cups are pretty popular for seedlings. Solo cups followed by something like: http://www.horticulturesource.com/s...1250/?osCsid=f4eba1715ecdb839a7469edff9abdbc7
then 1 gallon pots and finally 5 gallon pot to flower is a decent setup.

Since we're ripping apart your entire grow now, how much light are you going to flower with?

 

[northstate]

Weedninja that made me laugh^^^ You offer some great advice and just trying to get the new guy on track, hope we aren't too hard on ChrisQ!NS

 

[Guest 279031]

I am happy to have ALL the comments. Obviously I need 'em. My problem was I read 3000 different threads trying to learn everything I could and ended up with too much info. Then I stirred it all together in my brain and now it's mush. I will break down the entire grow and ask for all suggestions:

I started off reading Anti's Micro Sog Dr Bud style thread. I decided to implement that. Keep a few bonsai moms, and harvest a few budcicles every week or two. I built an Anti Cab and set out buying up Dr Bud's nutes, lights, etc. After trying to figure out my soil I bought a whole assortment of guano (still unopened). I also bought a bag of Maxibloom after I read the KISS thread. I have settled on that.

After I built the anti-cab I realized my company's old Dell server was just sitting in a corner waiting to be junked. I brought it home and gutted it. It's set up for mothers with four 26w 6500k CFLs:

So now the Anti-cab is set up for flower on both sides with six 42w CFLs in each cab:

Finally, my clone chamber has two 18in flourescent fixtures with plant bulbs, a seedling mat, and a power strip that I can plug small CFLs in should I want to get some extra lumens on seedlings or rooted cuttings:

All that is left is to actually get some plants to grow. I first ordered 10 regular white rhinos. They came with a CH9 Cluster. That free seed was the only one I could get past the cotyledons. All the rest either molded or died trying to break out of the ground.

Right now, I have 3 Big Bangs and the free Pure Kush germing. I soaked them for 24 hours until they all sunk and yesterday I put them in a paper towel, inside a baggie and they are covered up overtop of the seedling mat. They are on the clone dome, not directly on the mat.

Left over from my soil mix I have a whole bag of perlite, nearly a whole bag of peat, and a bag of each kind of guano. I am wondering if I can mix up peat, perlite, and some Mexican guano for the new seedlings. Either that or mini hempy buckets. I have a pack of jiffy starters and am wondering if it wouldn't be easier to start the seedlings in them, and then transferring to small hempy cups like this guy:

 

[Guest 279031]

Well evidently the peat is not the problem, it's that I also added coco to the mix. In fact it was about 60% coco, 40% everything else. Evidently from the other posters I need to repot my plant into something else.

I also missed your link for pro-mix. I saw it at my local L&G so I will go pick up a bag this weekend, and repot my plant into a better container. I assume I want to mix it with perlite only?

LOL, there's nothing wrong with peat; it's in practically every soil-less mix out there.


Pro-Mix is pretty easy to find. Try here: http://growingyourpassion.com/en/retailer-locator/



Solo cups are pretty popular for seedlings. Solo cups followed by something like: http://www.horticulturesource.com/s...1250/?osCsid=f4eba1715ecdb839a7469edff9abdbc7
then 1 gallon pots and finally 5 gallon pot to flower is a decent setup.

Since we're ripping apart your entire grow now, how much light are you going to flower with?

 

[Guest 279031]

Ok final post of the night, then I will wait for suggestions.

The plant actually looks a little better after my feeding it last night:

And here is the container it's in. Deep but not very wide. This is supposed to be a bonsai mom so I was trying to find something that would allow a decent root ball while keeping a slim profile so I can have several plants in the server.

 

[marrdogg]

You are good with the coco dude, why are you so bent on having to add something to it. Repot in straight coco give about 5 grams gal maxibloom, 5ml gal cal/mag, ph to 5.8 after about week up to 7gr a gallon maxi, 5-7ml cal/mag. You should also let the solo cups get almost not dry but almost seems to give me better growth this way after transplant water when needed. I don't care if you are using r/o or tap because sometimes tap doesn't have enough add the cal/mag! Using that simple recipe I haven't had ANY issues, hope that helps. And oh yeah that peat is a problem in your coco. PEACE!