Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

larry badiner said:

i got a few questions:
1. im growing in these small, maybe 2 quart? they're pretty regular sized pots, but when the plants become rootbound, will they stop growing? i want to get em to show sex and weed out the males before i move em to a 5 gallon pot
2. im growing outdoors on a farm plot, my question is if i leave them unattended until aug or sept, will i come back to find good bud? i figure the rain will water em, but what do i do about nutes?
3. i dont have a ph control kit, so im using tap water for now. my waters tds is around 700, my question is if i keep watering them and they get sick, will i end up with less potent buds? or even worse, will they die?

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1) They'll stop growing to an extent, they'll stay relatively healthy and even harvest but as they become more root bound they'll just need to be watered more often to stay healthy. I know a guy who routinely flowers extra clones in 12 to 16 oz cups. He mainly ends up with a 12" or so plant that is all bud, kind of like a SOG plant. Thing is, by the end of flower he says he has to water daily. So as long as they stay properly watered and fed they'll stay health but they will hit a height that they'll not go beyong until you transplant.

2) Depends on lots of variables, how secure they are from people, animals, insects and birds. Also on how rich the soil is and how the weather patterns are. Planted directly into the ground with rich soil and sufficient and regular rainfall the plants in theory should be fine. If you are worried they won't have enough food you could try mixing some osmocote or time released fert into the soil although I don't know if there are any that are suited for cannabis, it would be better if you could check on the every couple of weeks.

3) Regular tap water is fine as long as it's ph balanced and doesn't have too many minerals of deposits in it. You can get water pH test kits at a pet store for fish aquariums, for a couple of dollars. If it harms them or kills them then yes that could effect how well they do which would effect potency and yield ultimately. Now if they are from seed in typical enriched soil, you shouldn't need and fertalizer fore the first 3 weeks. After that you'll need some sort of veg fert. If you are keeping under these conditions until they sex then that could take up to 8 weeks, so you'll need something eventually. One fairly low cost solution is a small bag of chemical ferts, for this I like Peter's 20-20-20 or you could go organic with fish emulsion which is 5-1-1. If you are really cheap and you don't mind something many find disgustin you can also use your own urine but you have to dilute it to 10 parts water for every one part of urine. So for one cup of urine you would add ten cups of water. Also this mixture must be used and any excess discarded right away. urine allowed to stand for too long decomposes to a form unhealthy for plants. Personally I don't recomment urine though, not when you can by more properly balance ferts for just a couple of dollars.

hey hempkat. i understand now man THANKSss alot for the info. i guess now ill just have to water with plain water and let the plant do its thang. thank you for takin your time to help me out man.. much appreciated and all love man

Makavellian said:

hey hempkat. i understand now man THANKSss alot for the info. i guess now ill just have to water with plain water and let the plant do its thang. thank you for takin your time to help me out man.. much appreciated and all love man

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No problem, glad to be of assistance

HempKat said:

Ah the good old hurricane lamp cool tube, how's that working out for you?

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Hey Hemp, so far so good, I think i'm going to take the ones in my veg cab off though. too much dust and thier only 150. we'll try it atleast

/wishes he was an old fart...
//is 20
///raised on a farm, been growing his own plants (but not weed) since he could walk
////is done thread-jacking

bostrom155 said:

Hey Hemp, so far so good, I think i'm going to take the ones in my veg cab off though. too much dust and thier only 150. we'll try it atleast

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Yeah, a cool tube on a 150 is about like putting a spoiler on a bicycle, might look cool but doesn't do much for ya :smile:

ogrefugee said:

/wishes he was an old fart...
//is 20
///raised on a farm, been growing his own plants (but not weed) since he could walk
////is done thread-jacking

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How long have you been growing weed?

Now tell me, how can you thread-jack a thread that is meant for everyone? :smile:

q1: only 2 years...
q2: very carefully

Hey HempKat - thanks for organizing this informative and helpful thread. I'm on my first grow, day 36 flower. Made lots of mistakes along the way, but learned a lot as well. My lighting is a 150w hps with 2 80w shoplites. I grew my plants way too tall for a 150, so my buds are quite small. Next time I'll adjust that (or buy a higher wattage system). I've had a lot of trouble so far when I see yellowing or spotting of the leaves to figure out whether it is nute burn, a nute deficiency, or pH problems. Early on, I had some yellowing and I overreacted by ferting too much, and three of my babies died (I started with 5). Two lived on, and both ended up female. I later had some pH problems (which I discovered after purchasing a pH pen - great investment!). A few waterings later (with pH adjusted water), I was able to get the pH to a normal range. Here's how my flowering schedule has been so far:

Feb. 25 - transplanted into final pots (3.9 gallons - Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil with 2 cups lime/5 gallons soil)
Feb. 27 - Initiated flowering
Mar. 2 - Plain watering, pH of runoff is 8.4-8.5, too high.
Mar. 5 - Watered with plain, pH adjusted water, got the runoff down to 7.3-7.5
March 9 - watered with tiger bloom and big bloom both at 1/4 strength, runoff is 7.6
March 14 - plain watering, got the runoff down to 6.9-7.1
March 22 - Watered with Tiger bloom and big bloom at 1/2 strength
March 30 - watered with plain water

I've been pretty easy with the nutes and water. My current problem is more yellowing of the leaves - especially on the bigger of my two plants. Pics are below. I haven't tested pH since the 14th - so that could be a problem again. Also, the big plant might be rootbound (roots are poking out the holes at the bottom of the pot). Is it normal for plants this age to start yellowing? Should I even be worried? Could it be a deficiency, and the plant is stealing from the leaves in order to help the buds grow? I'm confused about how to tell whether I've ferted too much or too little. My temps range from 70-80, so I don't think that's causing a problem.

thanks hempkat! im gonna try to locate a hydro store and see if i can score some dr hornby's iguana grow and bloom juice, and ph up/down and a tester! thanks again!

ogrefugee said:

q1: only 2 years...
q2: very carefully

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Okay well get back to me in 8 years

GanjaGoon said:

Hey HempKat - thanks for organizing this informative and helpful thread. I'm on my first grow, day 36 flower. Made lots of mistakes along the way, but learned a lot as well. My lighting is a 150w hps with 2 80w shoplites. I grew my plants way too tall for a 150, so my buds are quite small. Next time I'll adjust that (or buy a higher wattage system). I've had a lot of trouble so far when I see yellowing or spotting of the leaves to figure out whether it is nute burn, a nute deficiency, or pH problems. Early on, I had some yellowing and I overreacted by ferting too much, and three of my babies died (I started with 5). Two lived on, and both ended up female. I later had some pH problems (which I discovered after purchasing a pH pen - great investment!). A few waterings later (with pH adjusted water), I was able to get the pH to a normal range. Here's how my flowering schedule has been so far:

Feb. 25 - transplanted into final pots (3.9 gallons - Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil with 2 cups lime/5 gallons soil)
Feb. 27 - Initiated flowering
Mar. 2 - Plain watering, pH of runoff is 8.4-8.5, too high.
Mar. 5 - Watered with plain, pH adjusted water, got the runoff down to 7.3-7.5
March 9 - watered with tiger bloom and big bloom both at 1/4 strength, runoff is 7.6
March 14 - plain watering, got the runoff down to 6.9-7.1
March 22 - Watered with Tiger bloom and big bloom at 1/2 strength
March 30 - watered with plain water

I've been pretty easy with the nutes and water. My current problem is more yellowing of the leaves - especially on the bigger of my two plants. Pics are below. I haven't tested pH since the 14th - so that could be a problem again. Also, the big plant might be rootbound (roots are poking out the holes at the bottom of the pot). Is it normal for plants this age to start yellowing? Should I even be worried? Could it be a deficiency, and the plant is stealing from the leaves in order to help the buds grow? I'm confused about how to tell whether I've ferted too much or too little. My temps range from 70-80, so I don't think that's causing a problem.

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Okay well a big thing I noticed off the bat is your soil mix, 2 cups lime? My god man that's way too much. I use 2 tablespoons per gallon of soil mix, that's plenty. Also you don't want to use just any lime needs to be dolomite lime aka garden lime. Now see, lime in the soil works as a ph buffer bringing your plant's soil pH back up to the desired range. In soil the proper range for soil is between 6.3 to 6.8. From the numbers you're giving me, the whole time the pH has been out of balance enough to lock out most of your key nutrients. The chart below gives you an illustration 6.8 should be the highest.



The reason lime can buffer the pH in the soil is because lime is alkaline meaning it is very high in pH, you don't want too much though or it brings you up to the levels you've had. Almost the whole time you had the ph high enough to block nitrogen so there's your yellowing as the plant takes nitrogen from the leaves. Also looks like you had everything blocked at one point in the beginning. At this point I would say it would be problematic to undo the cause of your problem as it is incorporated into your rootball. So about all you can really do is keep working on getting that pH down to 6.5 but be careful that the thing you add to lower it doesn't introduce additional problems.

To answer your question at the point you are at which is 1/3rd to 1/2 the way through flower it is not unusual to have some signs of ware and tear, most common is slight nute burn at the tips of the leaves from the grower testing the limits the plant can take on feedings What you got there is too wide spread to be dismssed as normal. The good news is the major point of bud growth is yet to happen so if you keep pH down from here on out the impact will be negligable. I'd also adise you think about getting a 400W HID especially if your goal is to plant and grow out 4 or more plants,

HempKat - thanks for your reply. I know now that 2 cups was way too much - I had read in a few places that that was the right amount. Too late to change it now... I'll keep checking the pH and see if it holds below 7. I noticed that you said I was 1/3 - 1/2 through flower. The strain I'm growing right now (Nirvana - Northern Lights X Big Bud) is listed by the breeder at 8 weeks flowering. I've heard that breeder times are often incorrect - do you think it will be more like 70 days? In the end I'll go by the color of the trichs, but I was just curious why you though I was only halfway through at the most. I do have one plant that is more sativa, and the other is more indica, so this might influence finishing times I guess.

GanjaGoon said:

HempKat - thanks for your reply. I know now that 2 cups was way too much - I had read in a few places that that was the right amount. Too late to change it now... I'll keep checking the pH and see if it holds below 7. I noticed that you said I was 1/3 - 1/2 through flower. The strain I'm growing right now (Nirvana - Northern Lights X Big Bud) is listed by the breeder at 8 weeks flowering. I've heard that breeder times are often incorrect - do you think it will be more like 70 days? In the end I'll go by the color of the trichs, but I was just curious why you though I was only halfway through at the most. I do have one plant that is more sativa, and the other is more indica, so this might influence finishing times I guess.

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Well the breeder times are approximations so they aren't dead on accurate but they're usually close. I said 1/3rd to 1/2 because I didn't know if it was sativa or indica. Indica's generally take 2 months sativas generally take 3 months or more.

I have not grown that strain so I couldn't even begin to guess at how long it would take. I did grow some plain Big Bud and that ended up taking about 8 weeks.

sorry

sorry

sorry it took so long for me to get back to you between mom and had to get ahold of him.he wants to have 2 grow rooms and lights just for 1 so he is going to try just sunlight but i showed him how to line the plants up in front of the windows and now he's up to 6-8 hr, of dirrect sunlightand we will see what grows !thanks again and have a buzzed day

HempKat said:

So Proto, can I officially call you an old fart and welcome you to the team? ]

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HC, you sure can call me one of the old farts. Aged 55 and growing outdoor and now indoor for 35 years.

I plan on hanging around this thread and contribute when I can. Been away for three days and see I have some reading to catch up.

Had a quick peek at my Black Russian scrog (day 25 flowering) when I returned, and they had taken a nice growth spurt with the flowers. Probably a mental illusion from not looking at them several times a day. The purple is starting to come so I will try to get around to starting a gallery.

Must go pay attention to the wife. The joint I used on her so I could check into here will soon need to be renewed or....

Protostele

Protostele said:

HC, you sure can call me one of the old farts. Aged 55 and growing outdoor and now indoor for 35 years.

I plan on hanging around this thread and contribute when I can. Been away for three days and see I have some reading to catch up.

Had a quick peek at my Black Russian scrog (day 25 flowering) when I returned, and they had taken a nice growth spurt with the flowers. Probably a mental illusion from not looking at them several times a day. The purple is starting to come so I will try to get around to starting a gallery.

Must go pay attention to the wife. The joint I used on her so I could check into here will soon need to be renewed or....

Protostele

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Okay well welcome to the team No particular routines are anything, just help out with what you can when you can. :smile:

Yeah it's the time away that did that to you. It's like when a person tries to lose weight they don't knotice weight loss as much because they see themselves daily and they don't see dramatic changes day to day. But let someone else see them who hasn't seem them in a while and they're more likely to notice.

buzzed day said:

sorry it took so long for me to get back to you between mom and had to get ahold of him.he wants to have 2 grow rooms and lights just for 1 so he is going to try just sunlight but i showed him how to line the plants up in front of the windows and now he's up to 6-8 hr, of dirrect sunlightand we will see what grows !thanks again and have a buzzed day

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Well if he's getting 6 to 8 hours he'll probably be okay. When I did outdoors I didn't really pay lots attention to details but I seem to recall you want a minimum of 6 hours direct light.

Hi!
With a 400 watt fluoro grow in a 2.5' l. x 4' w. x 7.5' h. closet, would you flower at 12" or veg. after 6 weeks? Would you go for a LST or a ScrOG? If keeping the plants small, do you think with enough side lighting I could get an optimal for a fluoro grow?

There are 4, 4' lamps above the canopy, and 1, 4' lamp placed horizontally against the wall. I want to add more lights, to the sides of the walls.



In the picture I left out the fans I have in there, but they get the job done.
I can add more fluoros but not HID. I just cant afford the equip to cool down my space with a bigger lamp.


I'd love to hear anyone's reply!

IAMX said:

Hi!
With a 400 watt fluoro grow in a 2.5' l. x 4' w. x 7.5' h. closet, would you flower at 12" or veg. after 6 weeks? Would you go for a LST or a ScrOG? If keeping the plants small, do you think with enough side lighting I could get an optimal for a fluoro grow?

There are 4, 4' lamps above the canopy, and 1, 4' lamp placed horizontally against the wall. I want to add more lights, to the sides of the walls.

In the picture I left out the fans I have in there, but they get the job done.
I can add more fluoros but not HID. I just cant afford the equip to cool down my space with a bigger lamp.


I'd love to hear anyone's reply!

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Well if you are going to add side lighting you could go a bit bigger but realistically you never want to use your full hieght with fluoros, the reason being they lack penetration. With no additional lighting I'd flower now but if you are going to add side lighting then maybe you could go to two feet and then flower. If it were me I'd want to maximize the short range of energy they have and keep the plants LST'ed real low. Scrog would probably be okay too but personally I think those are better done with a HID.