Do I change nujtes for flowering?
- Thread starter JSB99
- Start date
KaliSmok3
Well-Known Member
Stop with Nitrogen nutrients at this time. The plants need more Phosphorous and other nutrients during this stage. PH level affects all the stages of marijuana growth - on a scale of 1-14 - seven (7) is neutral. The ideal PH range for cannabis is 6.5 - extremes above or below this level will slow growth and be a give-away that something is not right.
You want Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium and some Sulfur (there are other micro-nutrients usually found in good blooming feeds).
Once a plant 'shows' slow growth or visible symptoms of any kind, it has already experienced nutritional stress. Allow some time (once diagnosed & corrected) for the plant to recuperate to a vigorous growth stage. This is an entire science and I do not have enough space here to cover it all - but I want you to know the important stuff
You want Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium and some Sulfur (there are other micro-nutrients usually found in good blooming feeds).
Once a plant 'shows' slow growth or visible symptoms of any kind, it has already experienced nutritional stress. Allow some time (once diagnosed & corrected) for the plant to recuperate to a vigorous growth stage. This is an entire science and I do not have enough space here to cover it all - but I want you to know the important stuff
HazeyWorld420
Well-Known Member
6.5 is right for cannabis in SOIL! For Hydro he wants 5.6-6.2, 5.8 being ideal. Oh and by the way, you should probably cover your tubs with something to keep light out. Roots don't like light and it will help keeping algae and bacteria at bay as well.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
Florida Girl
Well-Known Member
JSB.... your plants look great... very healthy!!!! Nice thick stalks and lush foilage... WELL DONE! 
Make sure you post pics. of the harvest... I'm betting they will triple in size during flower and guessing you will easily get 2 -3 oz. dry per plant.... +Rep to you
Make sure you post pics. of the harvest... I'm betting they will triple in size during flower and guessing you will easily get 2 -3 oz. dry per plant.... +Rep to you
JSB99
Well-Known Member
I've been keeping mine just below 6.5. I'll bring them down some. Thanks
JSB99
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I have more pics on my other post. Check it out if you want...JSB.... your plants look great... very healthy!!!! Nice thick stalks and lush foilage... WELL DONE!
Make sure you post pics. of the harvest... I'm betting they will triple in size during flower and guessing you will easily get 2 -3 oz. dry per plant.... +Rep to you
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/116266-why-cut-fan-leaves-half.html
smokeybandit22
Well-Known Member
wowzie, I can not believe your root growth with light penetrating them. I have seen all root growth stopped with light penetration-must be nice hardy strain but I would cover them up with maybe black garbage bags.
as for the nutes, IMHO, your plants look a little on the light green side. i am not familiar with the nutes you are using-what are the NPK ratios? I would not, I repeat, I would not drop nitrogen when putting into flowering. I agree with calismoke that you will need more P and K, but probably not until 2 weeks or more into flowering. As soon as you switch the lights, the plant will start creating bud sites which requires alot of nitrogen. If you do not have sufficient nitrogen than she will pull the nitrogen from the large fan leaves, which is on a small scale normal when putting into flowering. But without enough, she can drop her fan leaves all the way to the top. Again your plants look a little on the nitrogen deprived side as it is so be very careful and do more reasearch before you do anything. You can add bloom nutes right away but do not cut your nitrogen until much later in flowering, after all the bud sites have developed and she has stopped gowing upwards. And ease the bloom nutes into it so as not to disturb the current ratios.
As for the Ph, Hazeyworld is correct-for hydro and DWC, 5.5-5.9 is ideal.
you have been doing something right, they look healthy-keep up the good work-movements in DWC need to be accurate as heck, alot less tolerance for erros than soil.
as for the nutes, IMHO, your plants look a little on the light green side. i am not familiar with the nutes you are using-what are the NPK ratios? I would not, I repeat, I would not drop nitrogen when putting into flowering. I agree with calismoke that you will need more P and K, but probably not until 2 weeks or more into flowering. As soon as you switch the lights, the plant will start creating bud sites which requires alot of nitrogen. If you do not have sufficient nitrogen than she will pull the nitrogen from the large fan leaves, which is on a small scale normal when putting into flowering. But without enough, she can drop her fan leaves all the way to the top. Again your plants look a little on the nitrogen deprived side as it is so be very careful and do more reasearch before you do anything. You can add bloom nutes right away but do not cut your nitrogen until much later in flowering, after all the bud sites have developed and she has stopped gowing upwards. And ease the bloom nutes into it so as not to disturb the current ratios.
As for the Ph, Hazeyworld is correct-for hydro and DWC, 5.5-5.9 is ideal.
you have been doing something right, they look healthy-keep up the good work-movements in DWC need to be accurate as heck, alot less tolerance for erros than soil.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice. I think most of the light was being blocked by the top of the box. However, I did take your advice and covered the front up with black towels.
The leaves are on the light side. I was wondering about that. I even mentioned that in one of my other threads and no one said anything.
So I started flowering today. I got bloom food (same brand as my veg nutes). I changed out the water. The new water consists of 750 ppm veg grow and 250 ppm bloom grow. As I fill the water I will replenish the nutes with the bloom food until that's all that's in there. Probably take a couple weeks for it to be completely replaced. So, should I go out and buy some kind of nitrogen boost or something? Is there such a thing? How much should I add?
Thanks for all your advice
Oh, and my Ph is now at around 5.8
smokeybandit22
Well-Known Member
I think I may try your CO2 method-looks like it is making a big diff in your grow. Can you tell me what the NPK ratios are on your veg and bloom formula? It looks like you are on top of everything. I am not sure that you may need any nitrogen boosts, but VitaGrow is a 4-0-0-5 nutrient. You will have to keep a careful eye on the bottom fan leaves as you progress into your first 2 weeks into flowering. 1 or 2 or even 3 fan leaves that go yellow is normal, I believe, but anything more than that you would want to add some additional nitrogen for a short period of time. Maybe instead of just adding bloom nutes, you could decrease the veg and increase the bloom nutes to avoid any problems. Again, only careful monitoring will dictate your necessary course of action. Different strains have different characteristics, tolerances and needs. Nitrogen is easy to overdo in DWC, and I can attest to seeing both ends of the extremes from deficiency to toxicity. I think the most important thing is checking your PH daily. Prob 2x a day is best. Having a ph out of range can lead to a host of problems with nutrient lockouts, which in turn lead to deficiencies or toxicities. Also, monitoring the ppms 2x a day will help keep everything in check. If your plants are drinking up the nutes more than water, than you would want to replenish to maintain the same levels. I think your ppm's are in line with the size of your plants. One last thing to keep in mind is the temp of those 2 res's. 72-78 is ideal. Anything higher and there is a significant decrease in dissolved o2, limiting the plants ability to uptake what it needs.
All things being said, I probably have given you alot of information that you may have already heard or read about. All of this is just MHO. A plant introduced to flowering undergoes significant biochemical changes, and the margin for error decreases
exponentially, especially in DWC. You have a great setup, your plants look great and you should be able to get around a lb for those 8 girls. May be considerably more given your co2 setup. Trust your instincts, they have led you this far. Keep up the good work!
All things being said, I probably have given you alot of information that you may have already heard or read about. All of this is just MHO. A plant introduced to flowering undergoes significant biochemical changes, and the margin for error decreases
exponentially, especially in DWC. You have a great setup, your plants look great and you should be able to get around a lb for those 8 girls. May be considerably more given your co2 setup. Trust your instincts, they have led you this far. Keep up the good work!
JSB99
Well-Known Member
I think the CO2 really helped in the growth. I started them in the last week of August so they've grown a lot in a short time. I've also kept a real close eye on my nutes and Ph levels. Since this is my first grow it's a lot of fun to be watching everything that happens
Did you look at the other thread I had where I went into my CO2 setup? If not, it's
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/116266-why-cut-fan-leaves-half.html
Keep on throwing me advice. A lot of what you were talking about is all new to me so I'm listening very well
Here are my nutes
Grow
3-1.25-1.25
Bloom
1.5-4.5-3
Oh yeah, my temps have dropped to around 78 since it's cooled off around here.
smokeybandit22
Well-Known Member
nutes seem fine. i think blending them during the first 3 weeks would be best bet. they should increase their thirst this time too so watch those ppm's and ph. I believe this is the most critical time in a plants life when the reproduction cycle begins. needs can change daily so only careful continued monitoring will do. if they start stretching alot, do continue the N. as they stop stretching, wind down the N. goining into the second half of flowering N should be very low, i.e., only bloom nutes. again, SOME, yellowing is normal but only the first 2-3 nodes on the plant's fan leaves. also watch the new growth as they unfold, as they can be an early indicator of problems.
rep me up if all works out.
rep me up if all works out.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
Sounds good. I'll blend them over three weeks. I've noticed that the larger plants have stopped growing and the shorter ones are catching up. I also noticed that they are consuming a lot more of the nutes now, like you mentioned. I'm watching them very closely, especially for the sex. Once I clone I won't have to worry about this, of course.
I'll keep you up to date.
Thanks
smokeybandit22
Well-Known Member
cool. one idea for cloning...start them in rockwell cubes for a week and than can take them out of the rockwool and put them in a mini dwc. clones straight to dwc without the rockwool stages yeilds less successfully rooted clones, but try different things. also take clones from bottom and top secondary branches and leave at least one node-usually with the fan leaf-on the stem as 2 new secondary growths should develop out of these sites.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
I've heard that rockwool cubes aren't as good as the hydroton clay pellets (which is what I've been using).
So, as soon as I find out the sex of the plants and pull the males, can I start getting my cuttings? If I do (and I cut where you said to cut), I'm guessing it's not going to hurt the plants any. I've put together a cloning / early veg box so that I can have a two stage perpetual grow. I should be able to grow them to about 6 inches before having to move them into the big box. I think the timing will be just about right to start cloning as soon as I find the sex. I think the would be about the mid-point.
Here are the latest pics. They've gotten quite big (and healthy as far as I can tell).
These are one week after flowering. The very tallest one (which I used LST to maintain its' height in the box) is probably about 36" tall. The second tallest one is 30". That's the one just to the left of the hanging thermometer.
