Ace Mentor needed...

[blondie]

confession time... I’m not the best grower. I usually have multiple issues, my yields are depressingly small. I manage to grow just enough for me but then I have a mostly constant grow going. It would be nice to improve yields and run my light once every year or more.

My last run I did a bit better but my yield was dismal. I had 5 female Malawi’s and an additional 5 indica. My yield is less than 1/4lb. Yes that does suck. So.. I’ve tried a bunch of things but so far I have not figured it out yet. Best guess is over water but middle of last run I cut back and had a few plants start wilting due to lack of water.

I’ve changed up my soil a number of times, bought expensive assed soil, read bunch of soil threads. Still not good.

So wtf gives here. I just started a new grow few weeks ago, and I’ve already got small sign something is a little off. Some leaves have small splotches on them. I popped the beans in jiffy pots and let them grow about a week half. Then transplanted into small grow containers with soil.

My soil is one quart of coast of Maine lobster blend, one quart of coast of Maine Penobscot blend, one quart of espoma potting soil, one or two quarts perlite. To this I add espoma tomato tone, which is 3-3-3. I follow the label which from memory is 1 1/2 tablespoon per gallon. I add this all together in a gallon sized container stirring constantly. This gallon is added into a 5 gallon plastic container. I have a bunch of these sitting around and tap into them when needed. I started wondering if I needed more nutes so started adding a bit of ash from hardwood fireplace. Very small amount, a tablespoon.

Last grow I had one very nice standard Malawi male and seeded three female Malawi’s. One was a very short squatty fast flowering. I popped three of this cross and have them growing now. My yield for this mother plant was maybe 1/4 z. I finished it in a few weeks. Also smoke was not the best, average is about right. The damn thing behaved and smoked like an indica. But this is what I have going along with bubba kush x kali and orient express. I selected the fast phenotype thinking everything would finish reasonably early. Next grow will be the Malawi slow tall lanky crosses I have.

So.. if you are with me so far I really need some advice. How’s my mix sound?? Advice??

Also attached some jpegs showing the small splotches on the leaves.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

I have a great book around here somewhere about agriculture in Australia. It's a big expensive tome with a fancy title like "principals of crop management" or something like that. In it is a wonderful quote; "Water is the limitation of yield for all crops". Whenever I see a cannabis grower who is struggling with yield, I always think they're not giving enough water. Then I got to this part and I knew I was right again;

Best guess is over water but middle of last run I cut back and had a few plants start wilting due to lack of water.

Overwatering and under watering chase each other around like puppies. We always follow the one by compensating too much the other way. Let's start by unpacking the situation a bit. First, there is NO such thing as overwatering. If there was, DWC wouldn't be a thing. The real issue is lack of O2 at the roots. That could be caused by lack of drainage in the soilmix, but it could also be from nutrients fermenting and robbing available O2. Using a mix with lots of sand, gravel, kitty litter (unscented) charcoal, lava rock, perlite is better than a mix with a lot of organic nutrients. You can always feed compost tea to a mostly sand mix, but you can't remove organic nutes once they're in there.

Cannabis grows too fast to adhere to any watering schedule. After repotting, the plant may not need water for 4-5 days. But, the second watering interval will be much shorter. The one after that may be only one day. By this time the plant has doubled in size and has roots all over the bottom of the container. A plant with roots at the bottom is basically impossible to over water and needs a substantial runoff container so that it can sit and soak for a few hours with each watering.

I think if you use a mix with more drainage materials and big ass runoff trays, you'll see a huge increase in yields.

Oh, and about the quality. That's totally down to the genetics. If the quality was not to your liking, you need to find good seeds!

 

[SolarLogos]

Hi Blondie,
I can tell you from experience, the biggest mistake I used to make was mixing up a bunch of different soil and ingredients. It throws the pH way off and if you don't have a way to accurately test pH and adjust it, you will have all kinds of problems. Keep it simple. Most strains can grow in a simple planting soil. You can amend with a little perlite if needed, or just grow in coco coir. Coco mixed in perlite is really easy to grow in, especially if you have a tendency to over water. When you water, pick up the container and feel how heavy it is. In a few days, pick it up again and get the feel for what a light container feels like. When it's light, water it. You don't have to feed until usually the 3rd set of true leaves. PH the water, everything. When feeding, start out small, 200 ppm or so. If you run into problems, you just flush and give it half strength nutes, pH'ed. Go slow, less is more. A ec or ppm meter and pH meter is a must.
Those are the mistakes I made in the beginning, maybe it will help you.

Peace, God bless

 

[squatty]

If I could only add one amendment to a bag of potting soil it would be earthworm castings.

 

[therevverend]

The fireplace ash will raise the PH, buy a PH tester and keep testing your soil until you get a feel for it. Greengenes and Logos offer good advice. There's a tendency when you're starting out to try too much different stuff, overcompensate, and worry. Seedlings shouldn't be fertilized and use low levels of nutrients. Try to use a high nitrogen fertilizer for Veg and a bloom fertilizer for flowering. The tomato fertilizer you're using is fine for Veg but it isn't dialed into a cannabis plants specific needs. It has too much N to be an excellent flowering fertilizer.

You've managed to grow average smoke, that sucks but it's better then nothing, you're on the right track. Always try lots of different strains, maybe even bagseed, to get a feel for raising plants. Ace's strains you're trying are good ones for starting out.

Ace's Malawi isn't a landrace, it's more tame, a good beginner's plant for a tropical variety. It behaves like most hybrids, it's very forgiving. If it acts 'like an Indica' that's fine. There's lots of grow mix recipes on this site, look around a bit and you can find some better amendments to add. I haven't heard of your potting soils but if other growers recommend them they're probably good. I'd add granulated nutrients to the mix. Kelp, bonemeal, stuff like that.

The spots on your plants are thrips. They aren't a death sentence like mites, they usually only get out of hand if you neglect your plants. If they're vigorous and healthy you can outgrow them. Simply rinsing them daily with water will slow them down, soap for plants and water will work. There's also a ton of posts about getting rid of pests here you can look at for help. Don't freak out, no matter what others tell you thrips aren't a big deal. If it was worse like spider mites I'd say you're in for a battle.

 

[gladysvjubb]

I am assuming you are in the U.S.. Try growing with Pro-Mix. You should be able to get it for around $35-40 per bale. Then use only tap water. NO CHEMICALS. Also get a couple of NO-PEST strips at your garden center, end of problems. I keep 1 in my germ/veg cab. NO BUGS!!!! I keep 1 in my flowering room. NEVER any bugs!!! READ the instructions. Do not expose yourself to the strips for very long they are dangerous. I've been growing this way for 15 years. Always have weed. DO NOT look for crushing numbers (Oz's) when growing your own little stash indoors under lights. Also, look into LED lighting.

 

[SolarLogos]

Ideally Blondie, you want to get a "feel" for growing. Each plant is different and there is something to learn from each grow. That is why I recommend picking up the container and getting a feel for how it feels when it is wet versus dry. You will also become familiar with each plant and how it grows. It's easy to want to push the plant, but we have to let the plant do it's thing. You will get the hang of it, just try to observe every difference in the plants each day if you can and keep an accurate log at the beginning and don't try to commit things to memory at the beginning. It's a great way to learn what works and doesn't. I can start a check list for you and anyone can feel free to add to it.
1.Get a pH meter and either an ec or ppm meter, they are a must. Soil has to be pH'ed, water and nutes in water must be checked each time, without exception. High or low pH will lockout vital nutrients and all the soil additions will be useless. A good pH for soil is 6.5-7.0, but I usually don't go over 6.8. I try to keep it 6.7-6.8 in soil. Coco is lower around 6.0. Seems everyone is different when it comes to coco, some say 5.5 or 5.7, others say 6.3 works for them. In coco, I have never had a problem at 6.0-6.3 but others may know more than I do, it's just what works for me.
2. Start with a soil mix that is already pH'ed. As gladys pointed out, maybe try promix, since it is already pH'ed and will have some additions in it. Once you get the hang of it, you can start experimenting with other additions. As Squatty mentioned, ewc are some of the best amendments you can add and a little bat guano for flower. You can try topdressing these as well after the plants are established.
3. Pest management: Therevv is spot on. Those insects can be a worse problem than pH. You can take a bar of Castile soap and drop it into a gallon of water and leave it over night. In the morning, take out the soap and pour the water into a spray bottle; this is the base for a good insecticidal soap. I use it every other night and it keeps the insects from getting too established. Of course, the soap only works on them when it's wet. I won't get too much into pest management, as there is a lot of info and others can tell you more about what works indoors, as I mostly grow outside. Pyrethrins and neem oil works, but I only use them if the insecticidal soap doesn't work.
4. Water soil when the 1st 1/2-1 inch of soil is dry. Pick up the bucket and water when it feels light. It's a lot harder to overwater when growing in coco, because it's so porous, it allows oxygen to still get to the roots, which is necessary in order to not get root rot, as Mr. Greengenes stated.
5. Always go light on feeding; less is more when you are starting out (and still is with me). Don't go by the manufacturer's recommendations on the nutrients, whether it is a grow or bloom formula. Go by ec or ppm. There may be some hybrids or indica strains that can take the dosage recommended on the bottle, but most landraces will not take it.
6. Lighting. I will let someone else comment here. Again, I'm an outdoor grower. Having the proper amount of lighting is important.
I use two LED panels that put out 1500 watts each for a 4x8x8' room. If you search, there are recommendations on how much light you should have per square feet.
7. Genetics. Choose something that you like, but if it's yield your after, find something you would like to smoke that yields more. I don't know your preferences, but I remember reading on Ace's site that Orient Express is their highest yielding plant, or at least it was before all the new strains. Ace's information on their website regarding the effects, plant yields, growing tips, etc. are very accurate.
Please let us know if you need anything, we have all been in your shoes and we would love to help if we can.
8. Relax and be patient.

Once you get comfortable, you may want to try scrogging. A lot of good stuff here on scrog and high yeild growing. For now though, just get comfortable growing good weed.
Hope this helps. Praying for a bountiful harvest and good smoke.
Peace, God bless

 

[Hookahhead]

Great job admitting your shortcomings and asking for help blondie, that's one of the best things you can do for yourself as a grower. Lots of great comments and recommendations in this thread, hopefully you get it figured out and have a bountiful harvest this time!

 

[therevverend]

Last grow I had one very nice standard Malawi male and seeded three female Malawi’s.

Missed this bit the first time. Honestly your plants look fine in the picture except for the thrips. Seeded cannabis will always be average and the yield small. Try several different strains and remove the males when they start to flower. If you need seeds you can let the males produce pollen in a different room and apply the pollen with a q-tip to a couple branches so you don't seed your entire crop. Once a plant is seeded it stops producing bigger buds and makes less resin, all it's energy goes to producing offspring.

 

[blondie]

Thanks everyone. I can’t imagine I have thrips as I’ve never seen one in the grow tent. But that may explain at least some of what’s going on. I decided to spray some captn jacks dead bug brew I had around. Drenched the hell out of them. If I have thrips no reason not to get these when the plants are young and small. I’m going to pick up a no bug strip this weekend if my garden center has it.

I’m going to begin to incorporate the ideas here. I should have ph meter in a day or two for starters. That should be a good tool to have.

About the seeds. I removed the male from the grow tent a few days before it opened. I did use a qtip and seeded one bud per plant. The point I was making is my Malawi mother was not real strong with the seeds I started. It was one of the lowest yield plants I had. Im hoping this generation does better. I am hoping something stronger but still fast finishing comes out. I do have two other Malawi I seeded and will be growing those out next, as long as the smoke is good. Those two were better performing, but took 14 weeks in flower. I’m going to look into coco or promix unless I really get thing going this run. My soil is supposedly top notch.

On a happier note, I just hit my first good Malawi from last grow. It’s aged a month now. A bit harsh yet, but a few hits got me going. Good night my friends and thanks for advice so far.

 

[Jammal]

switch to hydroponics, DWC is very easy if you let it be.

Seriously I think you'll like it

 

[therevverend]

switch to hydroponics, DWC is very easy if you let it be.

I'm an organic grower, that's my bias. Personally I'd perfect soil growing first because it's more forgiving and less time consuming. Hydroponics costs money to buy the solutions and equipment, not a huge amount but enough that you don't want to screw it up. A lot of people love hydroponics and like the control it gives the grower. I've always seen it as more of a commercial thing because you can bump up the yields and flower quicker. Organic will always taste sweeter. It's possible to grow hydro organically but that's tricky.

My one other piece of advice is to keep planting seeds until you find something you really like. Don't waste too much time on lines that aren't what you're looking for, life's too short. Keep the very best, cull everything else ruthlessly.

We all have different taste, a strain someone else loves may not be what you like. Don't worry as much about yields until you get dialed in, some of my favorite plants gave terrible yields. If you're trying to make a buck yield is very important but you always want your personal to be the best.

 

[Jammal]

I'm an organic grower, that's my bias. Personally I'd perfect soil growing first because it's more forgiving and less time consuming. Hydroponics costs money to buy the solutions and equipment, not a huge amount but enough that you don't want to screw it up.

Hydroponics DWC is way easier and cheaper than indoor organic soil....seriously and its not even close...

the OP has had a hard time of obtaining a green thumb,,,largerly I believe to over watering and inconsistency....A simple hydroponics system would make OP a PRO in no time flat.

 

[blondie]

I’m thinking I finally got it figured. I’ve neglected lime for some reason. I think my ph is off and I’ve over watered. Add lime, buy smart pots. Haven’t got my ph meter yet but that is being worked on. My plants don’t look so good. They are OK but clearly growth is retarded and leaves show sign of necrosis.

 

[Jammal]

Yeah bro, basically give it a shot on the cheap easy diy way... cheap DWC,,, with MG tomato plant food... you'd be surprised by how well this works.

 

[SolarLogos]

I’m thinking I finally got it figured. I’ve neglected lime for some reason. I think my ph is off and I’ve over watered. Add lime, buy smart pots. Haven’t got my ph meter yet but that is being worked on. My plants don’t look so good. They are OK but clearly growth is retarded and leaves show sign of necrosis.

The pH meter is necessary for checking liquid pH, unless you got one for soil. Probes for soil pH are usually expensive. You can get Luster Leaf Rapitest from either a hardware store or at amazon for about $14. You add a pinch of soil, water and powder, shake it and check the color chart. It also comes with a soil test for N, P, and K. After mixing the lime into your new soil, water and let it sit to get an accurate pH measurement. I usually wait a week. Test and adjust before repotting or using it.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Peace, God bless

 

[PandyFackler]

I’m thinking I finally got it figured. I’ve neglected lime for some reason. I think my ph is off and I’ve over watered. Add lime, buy smart pots. Haven’t got my ph meter yet but that is being worked on. My plants don’t look so good. They are OK but clearly growth is retarded and leaves show sign of necrosis.

Hey blondie. This happened to me in my last grow before my current one. I used bagged soil that was new to me and after 3-4 weeks my plants weren’t looking good at all. Added lime and things got a lot better. I’m a stubborn grower that refuses to check pH, I go by the notion that soil should be self buffering. Great job for (hopefully) solving your own problem. It’s this kind of thinking that will help you to grow as a horticulturist.

As others in this thread have said, fresh worm castings are a must. They will do so much for your soils biological activity.

Good luck!

 

[vcasqui]

What kind of light are you using btw? It looks pretty white/blue to me.

 

[dubi]

Hi blondie,

The base for any organic soil mix is the choice of high quality peat.
Instead of debating about the specifics of branded soil mixes in each part of the world, i think it's more worth to comment about some general basics for soil mix.

I've been using the same basic soil mix for 20 years with great success: approx 80 % of high quality peat + 10 % high quality worm casting + 10 % coco fiber + a fistful of guano per every 7 liters of soil mix. This produces a basic, but rich and well aerated soil mix with a stable PH between 6.5-7 range. If you are an expert organic grower then you can add other additives, but always knowing how they interact with the PH and EC of your soil. Don't add more additives if you don't know well what they are doing in your soil mix.

To really improve your growing skills is a must to get and use properly a digital PH and EC meter. Then you will be able to learn about the PH and EC of your soil mix, waterings and feeedings, and therefore you will learn what's happening with your plants with any change: whether is an improvement or a failure.

Seedlings need lesser nutrients and prefer a very well aerated soil, a soil mix of 2/3 parts of high quality peat and 1/3 part of coco fiber works very well for the first 3 weeks of life of a seedling, then transplant the seedlings to a richer soil mix, as stated above.

Unless you are very experienced grower growing the same clones for a long time (and this take years growing the same clone/s in the same conditions), it's better to learn when your plants are asking you for water and feedings rather than force them with them.

It's very easy to overwater and block the growth of a seedling.
Let the soil dry properly before you try to correct something with your plants. If your seedlings are overwatered, it's also very important to provide a gentle but constant air flow and warm temps around 25º.

The use of good and new lights is also very important to improve yields in indoors grows (along with the variables previously commented), and of course, choose easy to grow and good yielding genetics until you get enough experience to start to grow more difficult genetics.

Hope it helps.

 

[blondie]

Thanks everyone. My plants are still not going well. my worst grow in quite a while. I bought a bag of master nursery bumper crop potting soil as it’s a balanced ph soil, supposedly. To this I added a bit of lime anyways then transplanted into one quart container. They seemed to do better for a few days then kind of plateaued. More on this later.

I mixed up my soil and am letting it age a bit. Wondering what everyone thinks of this mix. (Per gallon measurements)

2 quarts of : https://coastofmaine.com/product/gardenersgold/

1 quart of: https://coastofmaine.com/product/lobstercompost/

1 quart of: https://coastofmaine.com/product/penobscot/

1 quart of perlite
About quarter cup of ewc.

6 tablespoons of: https://www.espoma.com/product/tomato-tone/#tab2

1 tablespoon of: https://www.espoma.com/product/garden-lime-3/

Mixed up and it’s cooking right now. Ill Put them in about another week maybe. Depending on how things grow.

This seems like a great mix to me. I’ll get some jpegs later tonight. It’s sad how slow these are going. The lime should help..

Oh also somehow I’ve got fungus gnats. Little bastards. I’ve been keeping things very dry and hunting them actively. I’m seeing fewer so I may be near getting them all.

Comments on the mix are welcome. Jpegs coming in some hours. I’m about to chow some old school brownies. Made from half Malawi sativa and half (kali connect gsc crossed with bag seed) . Ground up the bud and oven cooked.