My gardening drills, the easy way....and a Help Desk if you're "needy" LOL. Questions? Fire away, I'm here to help.

[TheSquaadFather]

Glad i stumbled upon this today! On my third grow ever. Currently using royal golds king mix in 1 gal pots. First couple grows were coco/perlite, royal gold tupur. Im trying to take that same hydroponic style and add some organics and beneficials to the mix. At first glance that seems to be your style of growing as well! It will take some time to read through, but in the mean time, please dont hate me as I dump some "needy" questions here. They will likely be answered as I read, but I will surely forget them by then.:

I just rooted some clones in rapid rooters and transplanted. I put half in 1/4 gal and half in 1/2 gal. The plan is to up pot to 1gal just before Lollipopping and flipping. Do I need to worry about 1gal being too small if the plants get to big? I want to use a small pot that will dry out quickly and allow me to feed heavily as I would in coco/perlite and grow a massive plant in a small pot.

How often do you water your 1 gal grows in veg vs flower? I just transplanted clones thursday, and really want to water today but Im worried its too soon still. This soil seems much more moist than straight coco where I would say i need to wait. I also recently moved my veg area into a closer and added a humidifier, holding a 75-80F with 70%-80%RH. The added rh may just keep things moist longer, though I was hoping the heat would allow me to water more often. the CO2 also stays above 900ppm at all times as the closet is in my office!

Should I be watering to runoff in 1/2 and 1/4 gal pots? the mix I am using comes pre charged for 2 weeks of growth. I still fed the ladies at transplant, as my fertilizer in all in one with microbes etc that I wanted to get working on the soil. I watered them in and let them soak in the run off (took 2 gals to get runoff so I let them soak a bit). Half the clones are droopy half the clones have yellowing tips. My thought is they are over fed, so I should either water plain water to runoff or bottom water with plain water to redistribute the microbes?

 

[Brother Nature]

I may be over reacting a bit, but all of my grows run into big problems late flower. It starts with a few brown spots and gets out of control fast. I'm definately doing something wrong. So, I need to figure this out and tone down my whiny biatchiness...

After much reading, it really looks like a classic Calcium deficiency, and it makes sense. My PH is a little on the low side around 5.8-6.0 and calcium is best absorbed from 6.5-7.0 or so. I'll slightly adjust the PH and may give a little taste of Cal-Mag. I thnk I got this....

LED's and Calcium deficiencies seem to be a common problem for many. Not sure why but people using other light sources dont seem to have the same problems as LED? (one of the major complaints I see from people moving from HPS to LED, Cal-mag deficiencies.). Hell, half the advice I see on forums is to give more cal-mag..

I do keep a very detailed journal for all of my grows.

View attachment 18954842

Ive been using the first chart (foliage pro only) as a rough guideline for this grow. (using around 1/4 tsp Protekt or none. This may explain my slightly low PH. Protekt raises PH countering the PH drop from nutrients. (no need for PH up or down using Protekt)


View attachment 18954779

And the Dynagrow chart (I'm not using this but have in the past) Notice the PPM.s My feed is going in at around 350 -500 and runoff measure's 200

View attachment 18954780

Hey mate, I have also experienced these types of issues when moving back to soil from my coco grows in LED. With the coco runs I never experienced any of the issues people complained about with LED's so I was pretty puzzled as to why the soil grows were crapping out near the end. I'd been throwing all sorts of organic things into my soil mix and using cannabis specific bottled nutes (Bio Canna) all of which were very acidic and my PH would be super low by the end of flower, making me think I needed to add all sorts of different amendments or extra feeds to rectify, none of which really did.

The way I fixed this was to essentially stop thinking about it so much. What I mean by this was I kept it very simple, started using a locally produced bagged soil that had a few amendments and held a ph rating of about 6.5, mixed in some osmocote and some guano for the phosphorous, the osmocote I can source is very low in it, which my plants were also telling me. Just using this basic mix has significantly increased my plant health in all but the most fussy plants. For the fussy ones I have found I just need to apply an extra top coat of the osmocote/guano mix and that tends to be enough. I haven't checked ph or ec for my last 3 runs, though last night I did do a soil test of some c99 that is near harvest and she had a soild 6.5 My main problem is getting lazy with watering, 16 plants of differing strains can be a bit of a pain to manage when you have a busy work/life schedule. I know my situation will differ from yours, but hopefully you can find some help from my expereince and the other posters here. Good luck mate, your plants still look pretty good, but I totally get the desire for perfection, it's what we all should aim for.

 

[singlecoiled]

It's back quite a few years when I switched from 600W HPS to LED brand 357 Magnum. There was a lot of people at the time who wouldn't even consider a LED. I was not disappointed with it. I realized with experience the wattage and the area covered was exaggerated. Also, down the road there would be growing problems.
I learnt that when my plants got to around 4 weeks into bloom time after time there was problems with the fan leaves and the plants would start to go downhill. I struggled through a couple of crops with disappointing quality/yield. Then learnt through ICMAG forums I should use cal/mag, that worked. The ph of my water out of the tap is 7 and the water is not treated the same as big city water. I mostly use organic fertilizer/dolomite and the ph does not change.
Keep it up and you will find a system that works for you, you look well on your way.

Thanks, I was trying to keep things simple this grow, but we'll see if Calmag is needed. It can be throw things off a bit if over done but I'll try to find a balance. I appreciate your advice, its sounds like I'm not the only one struggling mid to late flower.. Now I just need to figure out why.

Besides going to a concert/club, other memories of music are about sitting around a persons house, some instruments come out and people get into the music, fond memories of those times, some go back 55years.
My son turns 41 in a couple of days, I know he use to listen to music, I don't think as much these days. I believe he has other interests and commitments.

Yep, times have changed in the internet age. Music is still around, but not as much of a centerpiece as it was for us. Its more of a background thing. My kids are 12 and 17 and I ask them about music all the time. They dont have much to say. Asking about video games, thats another story..

Thanks again for the flower advice. Now I leave my plant alone to do its thing. (Ive found the less I mess with my plant the better)...

 

[singlecoiled]

Just topped this pure Afghani lady, newly sexed. She's green, healthy and gets nothing but Osmocote she got when I upcanned her back in Dec. Gets a thorough rainwater drench daily, nothing more, nothing less. She'll get a dusting of an oldie - 1990 Master Kush X Afghani 90, when they're both ready in a few weeks.

View attachment 18954741

View attachment 18954742

One of 2 males destroyed. MicroKote worked really well. Root system was extremely dense and fibrous. Yellow leaves are caused by a lack of watering. I just forget to check all 9 pots.

View attachment 18954744

Plants are looking great ! I think I may have a tendency to underwater a bit too. Seeing this helps to explain some of the problems I might be seeing.

Im liking the white roots as well, mine wind up light brown when I look at them after harvest...

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

I just rooted some clones in rapid rooters and transplanted. I put half in 1/4 gal and half in 1/2 gal. The plan is to up pot to 1gal just before Lollipopping and flipping. Do I need to worry about 1gal being too small if the plants get to big? I want to use a small pot that will dry out quickly and allow me to feed heavily as I would in coco/perlite and grow a massive plant in a small pot.

See post #28. https://www.icmag.com/threads/soil-...ling-to-harvest.18127836/page-2#post-18536395

How often do you water your 1 gal grows in veg vs flower?

When they need it.

I just transplanted clones thursday, and really want to water today but Im worried its too soon still. This soil seems much more moist than straight coco where I would say i need to wait. I also recently moved my veg area into a closer and added a humidifier, holding a 75-80F with 70%-80%RH. The added rh may just keep things moist longer, though I was hoping the heat would allow me to water more often. the CO2 also stays above 900ppm at all times as the closet is in my office!

The degree, amount of moisture being lost from the soil or root medium is relative to the wicking affect based on foliar mass. The more leaves you have, the more you'll need to water, there's more transpiration going on especially in high temps with air movement. Gardening is dynamic and asking somebody for advice who doesn't have your particular garden profile doesn't work. It will only confuse you cause you'll get 10 answers, most if not all of them wrong for your setup.

IOW, it's your call.

My thought is they are over fed, so I should either water plain water to runoff or bottom water with plain water to redistribute the microbes?

Huh? I think you'll over thinking this. Relax and learn to read your plants.

Good luck,
UB

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Plants are looking great ! I think I may have a tendency to underwater a bit too. Seeing this helps to explain some of the problems I might be seeing.

Im liking the white roots as well, mine wind up light brown when I look at them after harvest...

Thanks but I too have my "problems". Have some that are too light colored for my liking, some stretching a lot, some with new leaves that are clawing like crazy. I don't worry about it.

Like I said, the game here is have a decent photosynthetic factory going on. If you have plenty of healthy green leaves it doesn't matter in the end if you have some claw or brown spots going on which we all do especially getting into flowering. I do some tweeks. For example yesterday I added some Osmocote and a good handful of soil to one of my pots.

UB

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Had one plant that under the LED's looked really paltry, over all yellow and pale. Pulled it and in natural light the color is perfect. It's a C99, hit it with 2% Paclo month ago. Rainwater, nothing else.

An no, the clawing doesn't hurt a thing - those leaves are green and productive too.

 

[oldmaninbc]

Thanks, I was trying to keep things simple this grow, but we'll see if Calmag is needed. It can be throw things off a bit if over done but I'll try to find a balance. I appreciate your advice, its sounds like I'm not the only one struggling mid to late flower.. Now I just need to figure out why.

Yep, times have changed in the internet age. Music is still around, but not as much of a centerpiece as it was for us. Its more of a background thing. My kids are 12 and 17 and I ask them about music all the time. They dont have much to say. Asking about video games, thats another story..

Thanks again for the flower advice. Now I leave my plant alone to do its thing. (Ive found the less I mess with my plant the better)...

I am glad that my son is grown, married and has a family of his own. He lives in the next province over which is about a 12 hour drive from here. They travel a lot and can be gone for months at a time. I enjoyed the past years of fishing, panning gold, camping and looking over old mining sites for goodies from the past. When he was 4-5 he would carry his little bucket of water to my few outdoor plants.

I am not to keen on giving advice because I only know the system that I use, which is mostly organic and basically it's what I have done for 50 years with cannabis, in/out. Sometimes because of my age and medications I might get confused, I don't even trust my own advice to myself. LOL. By the way, I never had cal/mag issues until I used LED, never with HPS.

I am not an organic purist or a master gardener, I just do what works for me. I think back to when I was 12-13 years old and my grandfather was my gardening mentor. He was a tinsmith by trade but when he was not working he tended his flower beds, fruit trees, berry patches and row upon row of vegetables. He had bins of compost, mounds of mulch, fresh and aged manure. He had cold frames and a small greenhouse. When he wasn't doing his own gardening you could see him around the city planting flower beds at traffic stops, he lived and breathed gardening. When he was teaching me about planting veggies/flowers in flats then transplanting to larger containers; one piece of advice he gave was, "don't love your plants to death".

 

[oldmaninbc]

Glad i stumbled upon this today! On my third grow ever. Currently using royal golds king mix in 1 gal pots. First couple grows were coco/perlite, royal gold tupur. Im trying to take that same hydroponic style and add some organics and beneficials to the mix. At first glance that seems to be your style of growing as well! It will take some time to read through, but in the mean time, please dont hate me as I dump some "needy" questions here. They will likely be answered as I read, but I will surely forget them by then.:

I just rooted some clones in rapid rooters and transplanted. I put half in 1/4 gal and half in 1/2 gal. The plan is to up pot to 1gal just before Lollipopping and flipping. Do I need to worry about 1gal being too small if the plants get to big? I want to use a small pot that will dry out quickly and allow me to feed heavily as I would in coco/perlite and grow a massive plant in a small pot.

How often do you water your 1 gal grows in veg vs flower? I just transplanted clones thursday, and really want to water today but Im worried its too soon still. This soil seems much more moist than straight coco where I would say i need to wait. I also recently moved my veg area into a closer and added a humidifier, holding a 75-80F with 70%-80%RH. The added rh may just keep things moist longer, though I was hoping the heat would allow me to water more often. the CO2 also stays above 900ppm at all times as the closet is in my office!

Should I be watering to runoff in 1/2 and 1/4 gal pots? the mix I am using comes pre charged for 2 weeks of growth. I still fed the ladies at transplant, as my fertilizer in all in one with microbes etc that I wanted to get working on the soil. I watered them in and let them soak in the run off (took 2 gals to get runoff so I let them soak a bit). Half the clones are droopy half the clones have yellowing tips. My thought is they are over fed, so I should either water plain water to runoff or bottom water with plain water to redistribute the microbes?

This is not a recommendation but I water 1 gal in veg @ 500ml per soil container,just enough to trickle out the bottom. I use a 5 gal for bloom. This is just myself, I try not to feed anymore than I need to. Most of the nutrients are already in the soil, when I do fertilize I only had a TBSP of an organic mix at a time, depending on the flowering period I only fertilize 2-3 times during bloom and once with a veg mix during stretch. At the 3-4 week into bloom I use cal/mag 1ml per L at each watering. The ph of my tap water is 7 so I don't mess with ph. I add 2 TBSP of dolomite per gal of soil, 15% of perlite and earth worm castings. I put 3/4 TBSP of slow release organic veg in the top layer and equal amount of an organic bloom mix in the bottom of the container. I get 1/2 to 3/4 gram per watt on a regular basis depending on strain. Using this method I did have a strain/cuttings once that produced a solid ounce in about 1'/30cm, it was an old strain called Kong. I have had strain that would prematurely flower in a 1gal if root bound.

 

[CocoNut 420]

OuB would you mind casting an eye over this dry nutrient?
I've not much choice for dry nutrient (Europe)

Hydrocrop Soluble Dry Powder Complete Hydroponics/Coco Nutrients Plant Fertiliser Feed (1.0kg each HydroSol A & B)

Rated the UK's best hydroponic nutrient by Microsoft's MSN website. Universal water soluble plant nutrients for liquid feeding. Promotes healthier crops with optimal growth, flowering and fruiting. Versatile and economic for all types of hydroponic c

ibspot.com

I'm looking for a alternative to canna coco ab, what do you think?

Thanks

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

OuB would you mind casting an eye over this dry nutrient?
I've not much choice for dry nutrient (Europe)

Hydrocrop Soluble Dry Powder Complete Hydroponics/Coco Nutrients Plant Fertiliser Feed (1.0kg each HydroSol A & B)

Rated the UK's best hydroponic nutrient by Microsoft's MSN website. Universal water soluble plant nutrients for liquid feeding. Promotes healthier crops with optimal growth, flowering and fruiting. Versatile and economic for all types of hydroponic c

ibspot.com

I'm looking for a alternative to canna coco ab, what do you think?
View attachment 18955889
Thanks

Can you get Dyna-Gro? A quart will last years.

Looks like it's pretty complete assuming you use a 50/50 mix, a bit high in Ca. NPK looks to be a final 20-17-36 if you go 50/50?

Little high in K. Guess you'll just have to try it and read your plants. I'd like a little more N and usually choose something close to a basic 3-1-2 NPK.

Good luck

 

[CocoNut 420]

Can you get Dyna-Gro? A quart will last years.

Looks like it's pretty complete assuming you use a 50/50 mix, a bit high in Ca. NPK looks to be a final 20-17-36 if you go 50/50?

Little high in K. Guess you'll just have to try it and read your plants. I'd like a little more N and usually choose something close to a basic 3-1-2 NPK.

Good luck

Thanks Uncle Ben no i can't get dynagrow over here.

The hydrocrop is recommended to use at 50/50 or 60/40% depending on the stage.

I've used canna for years but it's £60 for 2.5k litres versus £25 for 2k ltr dry powder, I'm not big on the name tbh, all the popular nutrients I've used have worked fine.

At £25 I'll give a try, I've got a dtw and autopot running atm so it's a good opportunity to try it without committing it to a full crop.

Side note...
I also like to leave green growth where possible, I don't subscribe to removing it unnecessarily.

Cheers OuB

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Looks like it's pretty complete assuming you use a 50/50 mix, a bit high in Ca. NPK looks to be a final 20-17-36 if you go 50/50?

Little high in K. Guess you'll just have to try it and read your plants. I'd like a little more N and usually choose something close to a basic 3-1-2 NPK.

Good luck

Thanks Uncle Ben no i can't get dynagrow over here.

The hydrocrop is recommended to use at 50/50 or 60/40% depending on the stage.

I've used canna for years but it's £60 for 2.5k litres versus £25 for 2k ltr dry powder, I'm not big on the name tbh, all the popular nutrients I've used have worked fine.

At £25 I'll give a try, I've got a dtw and autopot running atm so it's a good opportunity to try it without committing it to a full crop.

Side note...
I also like to leave green growth where possible, I don't subscribe to removing it unnecessarily.
View attachment 18956167
Cheers OuB

Looking good!

 

[CocoNut 420]

I'm growing with dtw and also test running a autopot, surprisingly the autopot is holding its own with dtw.

Autopot ^^^
For the maintenance required for dtw I'm not so sure it's worth the trouble.

it's early days yet fair enough but I doubt it's going to suddenly change now?

 

[CocoNut 420]

Is it worth soaking all of my coco in H202 or bleach?

I've been recycling the coco and using again,
the last thing I need is hassle from it.

Why risk it, I've put my coco into a tote and covered it with a hydrogen peroxide solution, it's soaking atm in H202 12% 3ml per ltr of H202.

Is it safe to assume if damping off can happen with clones it can happen with seeds?

I've got a few pks of seed to get through this year and I don't want any ruined.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Why risk it, I've put my coco into a tote and covered it with a hydrogen peroxide solution, it's soaking atm in H202 12% 3ml per ltr of H202.

Is it safe to assume if damping off can happen with clones it can happen with seeds?

I've got a few pks of seed to get through this year and I don't want any ruined.

I've successfully germinated 20 year old seeds. Kept them with a little rice in a small gem baggie in the fridge.

I'd use a copper fungicide to prevent pythium rot.

 

[GrandpaMillenial]

@Old Uncle Ben Hello, I’ve seen many of your old posts and Im excited to talk to you.

I am a big fan of your 4 cola method and pretty much use it exclusively.

Also, I have been using the JR Peters/Jacks Dynamic Duo.

I’ve found the best luck when I blend the 20-20-20 and the 10-30-20 about 50/50 for the flowering cycle.

I just got caught up on this thread, it looks like your now using osmocote, but you did give mention to Peters.

How would you recommend to use JR Peters nowadays. Im basically just using recycled soil so I need to feed.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

Collecting pollen. I cut branches off, stick in a vase of water, sit over a big piece of butcher paper, vibrate, fold the paper and dump it in vial with about 1/2 tsp. of flour. This is a 1990 Master Kush X Afghani 90 male. Will hit a Kwik Seeds "Afghani Mix" lady. Amazing how the leaves stay green in spite of low light and being fed water.

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

2nd collection.....lots of goodies.

 

[buteo]

I want to pull up a chair here on your thread. I really like your pollen collecting technique!