mrDark420's First Grow (Bay Area)

[mrDark420]

Hey guys thanks for taking a look at my thread! I live in California and I am growing for the first time. I know I got a late start to the season but I said hey what the hell! A few weeks ago I bought some good weed from a friend that had seeds in it (well as good as it can be if it has seeds in it I guess ) and a few bong rips later, I came up with the idea to grow.

I had three seeds but chose only one at first, which was the healthiest looking of the three. I germinated it in a shot glass of water for 24 hours and planted it in a party cup full of soil. Initially I was just planning on growing one plant but after some more thinking, I didn't wanna be screwed if it was a male so I decided to plant the other two in their own cups five days later(after placing them in a shot glass of water for 30 hours).

After a couple of days, the first seedling broke the surface and began to spread it's leaves. Five days later the other two broke their surfaces as well. Add a couple more days of sun to that and that brings me all the way up until now. Plant #1 was planted on June 10 and the other two (2 and 3) were planted on the 15th.


WHAT I'M USING SO FAR:
Soil: 0.07-0.01-0.03 Potting Soil with perlite, peat, and other ingredients I can't remember but will find out. It has small pieces bark in the soil.
Water Source: City water that I let sit open for at least 24 hours before using. I'm planning on getting a pH meter to find whether or not the pH in the water is good.


What I Have On Hand:
-Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food - 24% Nitrogen, 8% Phos, 16% Potash
-16-16-16 Fertilizer

I'm willing to spend money on nutes and such but obviously i'd like to keep expenses to a minimum considering im only growing three plants. I'd say with the fencing in my backyard, the plant is getting about 12 and a half hours of direct sunlight a day. It's been pretty hot here the past couple of days, right now its 96 outside and it's been hovering between 65-70 at night. I've been keeping the soil moist and every couple of days or so i give it a pretty good watering.

I'd appreciate any advise or comments on how to make my grow successful. I know there are some people on here who have grown for a long time and even those who are more recent but know a thing or two, I thank you in advance for your time and advice!

Sorry for the bad quality pics, my only camera at the moment is my iPhone.
PIC 1: My three plants (1,2,3 from left to right) taken on June 17
PICS 2&3: Taken today (June 21)

 

[mrDark420]

I'd also like to add that, as you might be able to tell in the picture, my plant #1 has begun turning yellow these past couple of days. The two round leaves have the yellow around the tip (more one one than the other) and the two rigid leaves have them in the middle more by the main stem. Any obvious reason as to why? It's been hot, i've also been using a clean spray bottle to water the plant every once and a while if the top soil gets too dry. I also forgot to add that I have slits and holes in the bottom of the plastic cups for drainage.

 

[mrDark420]

My grandma decided to stop by my house while I was at work today to water my regular plants. She saw the three dixie cups and decided to give them some water from the hose, totally screwing up the soil. I'm pretty sure that these cups have way too much water in them and I hope it doesn't do anything to my seedlings. I pulled open the slots even more on the bottom of the cups for better drainage. That's pretty much all I can do now. SO annoyed right now!

Anyways, the seedlings are growing slowly but surely. It's nice to see some new leaves coming in, hopefully they can grow big and strong! That is unless my grandma killed them all.

edit: attached a picture of the seedlings before my grandma slaughtered them.

 

[mrDark420]

I transplanted my three seedlings into larger pots about four days ago and two out of three have started growing pretty rapidly these last few days. My first plant looks pretty sick but i'm not sure what is going on with it. The other two are growing new leaves at a fast pace but the larger leaves are turning yellow.

I found me a nicer camera so here are some better pictures.
Pic 1: The three plants in their new pots
Pic 2: Plant #1 looking sick and shriveling
Pics 3 and 4: Plant 2
Pics 5 and 6: Plant 3

The last time I gave them a good watering was four days ago when I soaked them after transplanting. The top soil gets dry very quickly (especially since we've been in the high 90's lately) but when I push my moisture meter down into the soil, it only takes 3 or 4 inches until it gives me a 10 for moisture(on a 1 to 10 scale). When the top soil dries out I give the area immediately around the plant a few healthy squirts from a spray bottle. I think i'm gonna drill some more holes on the bottom, I wish I had put rocks or something on the bottom but my cannabis-hindered brain didn't think about it before I did it.

The soil pH has been anywhere from 6 up to 7. I'd love to hear any comments or ideas, rep to anyone who can take some time and help me out! Cheers

 

[mrDark420]

Please help me! I have yellow leaves and since this is my first time growing, i'm a little unsure as to what is happening with my plant.

My plant has yellowing on the large fan leaves, mostly in the lower to middle part of the plant. So about four weeks ago I started giving my plants Fox Farm Big Bloom, starting with a smaller dosage at first since I heard that's what you're supposed to do. It said on the bottle to give 1 tablespoon per gallon of water for transplants (which I had transplanted a couple weeks before). I put in 2 teaspoons which is 2/3 of a tablespoon into the gallon and gave it to all three plants for about three waterings after that (alternating between fresh water and FF water of course). Within a week or so after giving the plants the FF Big Bloom, I noticed I had leaves starting to curl into ramhorn shapes so I immediately flushed all three pots with fresh water.

That all leads up to about a week ago when I left for a week on vacation. I told my mom to water my plants and told her not to drown them but to keep the soil moist. I'll never know how much water she gave them but when I saw them when I got home, i noticed the soil was very dry and the plants had large yellow leaves.

ANYWAYS (sorry for my rambling, just smoked some quality and now i'm taking it out on my keyboard ). My question to you is what should be my next move? Should I give it more Big Bloom? Or maybe since my pH is usually in the range of 7.0-7.2, should I focus on lowering my pH to a more ideal 6-6.5? I just want to know why my leaves are turning yellow and the best way to heal my plants, i've had to remove several leaves already that were brown and yellow. And the leaves that were once a nice green on my plants are slowly starting to turn yellow.

I'll attach some pics, the plant on the left is a sativa (which I hear sativa's curl very easily if given fertilizer). The middle is my indica that is slowly dying, and the plant on the right....I don't even know what the deal is with that one!

 

[Metasynth]

So lets get this straight...you started giving them bloom, they didn't like it so you flushed, left town and let mom water, and haven't given them any nutes since? Nitrogen maybe, they're gonna need nitrogen rich nutes for a little while until they really start clustering up pistils in high numbers. Sounds like they've had lots of fresh water and no nutes, try some Grow.

 

[mrDark420]

So lets get this straight...you started giving them bloom, they didn't like it so you flushed, left town and let mom water, and haven't given them any nutes since? Nitrogen maybe, they're gonna need nitrogen rich nutes for a little while until they really start clustering up pistils in high numbers. Sounds like they've had lots of fresh water and no nutes, try some Grow.

Thanks for your response Metasynth. The one plant that didn't like the Big Bloom the most was my sativa, my biggest plant on the left. Pretty much every large leave on that plant was curling and while it has gotten a lot better, there are still one or two curled leaves. As for the other two plants and the Big Bloom, they didn't seem to care about it very much. Nothing nearly as drastic as what happened to my sativa, which I find funny since my sativa is the largest and healthiest of the three.

So not enough nitrogen you say? I'll look into getting some Grow but I only have this Big Bloom because my sister (who used to grow) gave it to me. I have other fertilizer that is 16-16-16 I believe, would it be a bad idea giving it that? I also have MiracleGro All Purpose Plant Food which has 24-8-16, that's even more nitrogen.

 

[Metasynth]

I might get trashed for this, big time, bit I'd hit them with the Miracle Grow for the next 2 feedings/waterings at 1/2 strength...1/2 strength though, it's east to burn plants with MG, but if they need a quick nitrogen boost, it's like anabolic steroids...lol...Not good in the long run, but gets the job done.

You could actually use the 16-16-16...It's more balanced and NOT Miracle Grow. I dunno, it's up to you, but I'd definately try to get a little more nitrogen into the mix and see if that starts to help...And I wouldn't be surprised if the leaves that are already yellow just wilt and die eventually, but maybe more N could prevent it from spreading...You said your pH is in the 7 area, thats cool for soil...hope it works out!

 

[mrDark420]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing too. I'll try my best not to burn them, might even start at 1/4 dosage and work my way up from there just to be safe. I'm gonna look around at people who used the two different kinds and see how they made out in the end and then i'll make the call and give it to my plants tonight when I water them. Most likely i'll give it the Miracle Gro.

 

[Metasynth]

Don't even fuck around with 1/4 strength...go 1/2...You might not even see results with 1/4 strength, and then we'd be having this discussion all over again in a week or 2. In my experience, the burn my plants get from MG is a little leaf tip burning, and its nothing to cry about...I hit my plants twice with the stuff a week or 2 ago and they're all nice healthy deep green...And I think I hit them at full strength...so 1/2 is my recommendation.

 

[mrDark420]

Alright i'll hit 'em with a 1/2 dose of Miracle Gro, why not.

I checked the 16-16-16 I had in my shed and its not even powder, it's these small pellets that you push into the top portion of soil. Thanks again for your help, i'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Metasynth]

Good luck! Hope I didn't give you advice that kills your plants...lol...Naw, a little half strenght MG shouldn't hurt 'em if they're nutrient deprived already

 

[whojahbless]

They could be rootbound.

 

[mrDark420]

My plants seem to have recovered fairly well thanks to the Miracle Gro, so thank you for that bit of advice Metasynth.

However, I have some distorted leaf shapes on both the middle plant and the smaller plant on the right. I'll attach some pictures to show what the leaves look like. There are still slightly yellow lower leaves on the two larger plants but the plants themselves look much healthier than a couple weeks ago and the yellow isn't spreading nearly as much as it was before.

Also, I know I should let the plants do what they want to do but if I was to start giving them the FF Bloom, would it induce flowering? I don't see any sign of buds yet and I believe the plants are already at the size that I want them to be. But if i'm not thinking that through right, I wanna hear about it before I do it. Cheers

 

[mrDark420]

I'm thinking one of my plants might be a male. Here's a pic, I just took a bunch and this is the only one that came out clear because my camera hates these closeup shots.

Would those be pollen sacks? Or is it starting to form buds? I'm having trouble telling since it's my first grow.

 

[dirrtyd]

I'm thinking one of my plants might be a male. Here's a pic, I just took a bunch and this is the only one that came out clear because my camera hates these closeup shots.

Would those be pollen sacks? Or is it starting to form buds? I'm having trouble telling since it's my first grow.

Them is some nuts my friend. You can always pollenate a branch. Good Luck dirrtyd

 

[mrDark420]

Yeah I had a feeling that's what they were. My other two plants have small white pistols here and there and there's not one white pistol to be found on this one.

 

[mrDark420]

Hey all, just took some pics and thought i'd post an update. So I ended up getting rid of one of the plants because it was a male. One of the two females I have left has already started flowering and the other one still isn't quite there yet, but it looks like a sativa and i've heard those flower later in the season.

The plant on the left (the one that hasn't flowered) has several branches of leaves rolling over and showing the bottom towards the sky (see picture #6). The top part of the plant has also become very limp and wilted (picture 2), but the plant itself still seems to be fairly healthy (although it is a noticeably lighter green than the plant that is flowering, which is a nice dark green). I checked the drainage holes at the bottom of both pots and saw small roots but nothing that would clog the holes or anything. The pH has been between 7.0 and 7.2. Should I be worried about the plants being rootbound? I was hoping to keep them in these pots their whole life and I don't think transplanting would be smart at this stage.

I've been giving the flowering plant a gallon of water usually two times every three days lately because it's been warm here and the soil has been drying out quicker. I've been switching between Big Bloom (normal amount) and fresh water each watering. As for the other plant, I believe it's still vegging so I'm still giving it the Miracle Gro for the nitrogen. I'm planning on giving it Big Bloom when it shows signs of flowering.

Any advice? Ideas? Concerns? I'd love to hear from you, thanks.

Pic1 - My two plants
Pic2 - Top of the sativa leaning over like it needs some Viagra
Pic3 - My other plant's early flower growth
Pic4 - Flowering plant
Pic5 - Top of the main stem on my flowering plant
Pic6 - Leaves that are turned over on the sativa
Pic7 - Sativa

 

[Gopedxr]

Another bay area cat here! East bay and all over the place. Cant wait to get back! So nice up there in the north bay. Looks real green from what i can see. You ever go to harborside in oakland?

 

[mrDark420]

Nice! Nah never been to Harborside but i've been to Oakland a bunch of times for A's games and such. I live in the south bay. Yeah north bay is very nice, I've only been up there a couple times but I remember how pretty it is up there. Probably a real nice place to grow.