Makeshift Greenhouse Problems

[brown_thumb]

^^^ Yes, my current mix is only 25-30 percent bagged Victory Sea Blend with equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and rice hulls. It drains far better and holds the right amount of moisture for winter time. During hot summer days I'll probably increase the amount of bagged soil to 40-50 percent in small pots. Even in summer time (very hot here), if I have any plants in 5 gallon buckets those will probably need to be in a 25-30 percent mix.

 

[brown_thumb]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear my babies grew one inch (25mm) in just one day. I had to move a few lights higher because some leaves were touching the emitters or heat sinks and were getting burnt. Only 22 hours ago I had adjusted the lights to be at least an inch above the nearest leaves. This surprises me because they seemed to have nearly stagnated for a few days.

EDIT: I've had the autoflowering plant that refused to revert to veg on a 10/14 light cycle for just a few days and she's growing many orange hairs now. She's also on full bloom nutes. Hopefully, I'll harvest that little darling in a week or two. Most trichomes are still clear but a few are becoming milky and a very few are turning amber. Too bad she's so tiny (my fault for the 11/13 light schedule I had her on during veg) but she smells very spicy in the evening and sweeter early AM just before the lights come one. I'm putting her on 1/2 nutes for 2-3 days while monitoring her trichomes then on 1/4 nutes after that until she's ready.

 

[TrueReligion]

woohoo glad to see its still going well.
for drainage i use mother earth size 3
60% Perlite / 40% (OF/HF)soil mix
and a layer of perlite nice and even on the bottom of the pot went from solo cups to 5gals no problem.

heres one at a month old

 

[Levitationofme]

Add worm castings next run.
10% max.

 

[brown_thumb]

woohoo glad to see its still going well.
for drainage i use mother earth size 3
60% Perlite / 40% (OF/HF)soil mix
and a layer of perlite nice and even on the bottom of the pot went from solo cups to 5gals no problem.

heres one at a month old

I'll be adding either perlite or small rocks to the bottom of the 5 gallon (19L) buckets. Is 2 inches (5cm) enough?

Add worm castings next run.
10% max.

Will do. I'll have to order them online because no one within 50 miles (80Km) of me has them this time of year. Any suggestions on the best place to order, regarding both quality and price?

 

[brown_thumb]

Well, crap... I let the plants get too cold again. Night temperatures have been in the very low 20's F lately. Apparently, the 600 watt space heater can't outrun the cold ambient air. I thought about swapping in the 1500 watt heater but decided the smaller one would be enough. It wasn't.

Today, some leaves show signs of significant phosphorus deficiency... dark bronze areas between leaf veins. The soil will probably be too damp to feed tonight but the temperature will be higher so the 600 watt heater should keep the roots plenty warm tonight.

Lesson learned here. In this particular situation, if ambient temperature is expected to drop below 45F with moderate winds or below 40F in calm air, I must swap in the larger heater. Otherwise, I must use the 600 watt unit to prevent extreme temperature fluctuations.

Even better, with all other things the same, I should buy another line-level thermostat to activate the larger heater. This way, I can set the 600 watt heater to 75F and the larger heater to 65F. So the large heater only activates if the smaller one can't do the job. I just hate to the spend the money if I'll be moving my grow inside anyway.

 

[brown_thumb]

Some good news: The three Tora Bora that went into very early flowering, due to improper lighting during vegetation, have all three reverted to vegetative state. I was unsure whether two of them would revert because they're several days behind the one that began reversion much earlier.

I still suck at growing but I'm trying to learn.

 

[iffey]

Well, crap... I let the plants get too cold again. Night temperatures have been in the very low 20's F lately. Apparently, the 600 watt space heater can't outrun the cold ambient air. I thought about swapping in the 1500 watt heater but decided the smaller one would be enough. It wasn't.

Today, some leaves show signs of significant phosphorus deficiency... dark bronze areas between leaf veins. The soil will probably be too damp to feed tonight but the temperature will be higher so the 600 watt heater should keep the roots plenty warm tonight.

Lesson learned here. In this particular situation, if ambient temperature is expected to drop below 45F with moderate winds or below 40F in calm air, I must swap in the larger heater. Otherwise, I must use the 600 watt unit to prevent extreme temperature fluctuations.

Even better, with all other things the same, I should buy another line-level thermostat to activate the larger heater. This way, I can set the 600 watt heater to 75F and the larger heater to 65F. So the large heater only activates if the smaller one can't do the job. I just hate to the spend the money if I'll be moving my grow inside anyway.

at 20*F outside ambient, you'll need the heater and a humidifier inside anyway.. and if youre on a slab, some insulation under the containers..

 

[brown_thumb]

^^^ The grow is outside in a VERY leaky lean-to greenhouse on the north side of my trailer. I don't have a humidifier and don't think one would fit inside the tiny grow box. I do realize the relative humidity is far too low in the box with the heater running full blast but I cant do much about it other than put an open can of water directly in front of the heater and I don't have anything like that at the moment.

The plants are on shelves approximately 30 inches (75cm) above the space heater so the heater warms the roots too. Because of this, I'm afraid to set the thermostat warmer than 70F. The line-level thermostat is placed on the shelf amidst the roots of the plants. When there's moisture in the soil, the temperature of the roots is a few degrees cooler than where the thermostat is set.

 

[brown_thumb]

Because of the nutrient damage due to cold roots, I purchased a second line-level thermostat. It will be here in a few days. One thermostat will be set to 78 degrees F and will control a 600w heater. The other thermostat will be set to 72 degrees F and will control a 1200w heater. The current draw will be too high to run all the lights and both heaters on one 20a circuit at the same time so I'll have to run a second extension cord to one of the heaters.

 

[brown_thumb]

My girls are only going to get 12 hours of light today. After two trips to WM to buy extension cords and a timer, then rerouting all the wires in the box, trimming bad leaves, feeding/watering, etc., I feel like crap now and can't set the light timers. So I just turned off the main power to the lights.

 

[iffey]

welcome to the club... funny, my wife laughs like hell every time I have to change the timers. Something about, my day and night vs the girls day and night vs the 24 hour schedule. I feel like a moron and triple check them all more than once making sure that my night time is coordinated with their night time.. or day to day times.. then factor in 18 on and 6 off, I some times think of buying extra timers that are set correctly and chnge them out when needed.. but I'd fukit up anyway..

 

[brown_thumb]

LOL... that's my problem too. When I'm tired or feel like crap I can't do the simplest things anymore.

I set the timers yesterday morning. Since I added several 2700K lights to add that color spectrum to the mix, I start those 30 minutes before the broad spectrum lights then let them run 30 minutes longer at the end of the cycle. So the 2700K lights run 16 hours and the broad spectrum run 15 hours. I know it may seem silly but I think it better matches natural light.

I'm keeping the plants warmer but I still haven't found the right balance. If the soil is dryer the heater warms the roots more than when there's more water to provide evaporative cooling, so I need to set the heater lower when I don't water.

Fighting varying temperatures, varying humidity and insects is a PITA. I'm moving my grow inside as soon as I can afford the costs.

 

[Levitationofme]

You could use a layer of some sort of mulch to partially mitigate the evaporation and keep soil more insulated

 

[brown_thumb]

There were a few yellow leaves yesterday and I trimmed them all today at 10AM. I watered and fed the plants at 12PM. I took these pics at 4PM. The leaves I trimmed this morning were a few about half way up the stalks and a few tiny new leaves at the bottom. But leaves are yellowing really quickly.....

This happened since I trimmed just FOUR HOURS AGO. How in the hell can this happen in just FOUR HOURS?!?

 

[Levitationofme]

I saw your photos and your grow looks fine. The only thing might be some sort of buildup of salts on the outside of those coir cup planters. Same shit happens to me in my Smart Pots. The buildup may have your soil PH off a little. I have found most deficiency issues are more often slight lockouts. Over usage of cal mag, or nutrients or just a build up.
Its fixable with a couple feedings at very LOW ppm, Ph'd properly.
Then Hit the soil with your normal method.

That is the first thing I do when I have these issues. If that doesn't fix it you can look thru the charts on a google search for Cannabis deficiency

I have not heard that coir pot are like growing in Coir and need a lower PH and extra Cal-Mag

Looks like you are going to need a bigger space real soon

 

[Levitationofme]

Also, have you checked for insects? could be the start of something. Sounds like your grow space is warmer at night then the surrounding area. Could attract some nasties.
Check the underside of the yellow leaf.

 

[brown_thumb]

I saw your photos and your grow looks fine. The only thing might be some sort of buildup of salts on the outside of those coir cup planters. Same shit happens to me in my Smart Pots. The buildup may have your soil PH off a little. I have found most deficiency issues are more often slight lockouts. Over usage of cal mag, or nutrients or just a build up.
Its fixable with a couple feedings at very LOW ppm, Ph'd properly.
Then Hit the soil with your normal method.

That is the first thing I do when I have these issues. If that doesn't fix it you can look thru the charts on a google search for Cannabis deficiency

I have not heard that coir pot are like growing in Coir and need a lower PH and extra Cal-Mag

Looks like you are going to need a bigger space real soon

I do use CaMg+ every watering because I had deficiencies. Maybe I do need to cut my feedings in half once or twice... or maybe just leave out the CaMg+.

I do have some persistent tiny flying insects that I can't get rig of. These are much smaller than fungus gnats, which I also had but got rid of with BTI and yellow sticky traps. As far as I can tell, they're not harming the plants... but I'm not sure. I can't see them well enough to determine what they are. I see nothing on the underside of the yellow leaf.

What vexes me is that one plant had that one leaf turn pale yellow within just a few hours after the last pruning and the others were mostly fine. Just a few of the newest tiny leaves were continuing to yellow and not nearly as much.

BTW, I started using sea kelp yesterday and added Humax today.

I water to approximately 20 percent run-off through the coconut fiber pots so I think I'm flushing enough to prevent salt build-up. But the run-off is at the bottom of the pots, not much from the sides.

 

[brown_thumb]

We've had a very warm winter here. If I can get these to survive in this little grow space another 3-4 weeks then I might be able to move them outside in 5 gallon buckets. Then the problem will be not enough light hours. So if I do that, I guess I'll be flipping them to flower early. But that's a bad thing since spring is approaching and light hours will be increasing.

SHIT!!

 

[HarvestMoon303]

We've had a very warm winter here. If I can get these to survive in this little grow space another 3-4 weeks then I might be able to move them outside in 5 gallon buckets. Then the problem will be not enough light hours. So if I do that, I guess I'll be flipping them to flower early. But that's a bad thing since spring is approaching and light hours will be increasing.

SHIT!!

Based on the photo of that plant with the one yellowing leaf, I would highly encourage you to transplant to 3-5gal pots, soon. There isn't 3-4 weeks of space in that pot.