Feedback/Constructive Criticism Please..

also what would happen if you flowered the plant but left it.. would the buds just fall off?

sebbay said:

DannyGreenEyes your a bit of a nut at this growing malarkey. ill bare what you said in mind..

And about doing this grow properly- im moving house in a couple of months so im not putting a lot of effort into it.. just using it for experience for future when i grow in my new digs.. and for fun of course.
but i will definatly look back over this thread when i do move..

one other question- how safe is it posting info about growing on this website? cant police monitor stuff that goes on here?
thanks!

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I might be a bit of a nut, but I'm gonna be growing monsters. lol

If you saw the reaction my plants had the last time I fed them, you'd be a nut too. I have 1 runt that I've been worried about and haven't been able to figure out. When I fed them the FF Tiger Bloom which has some of all the major & minor nutes except 4 of the minor ones, all my plants stood strait up and said thank you, thank you. lol The runt grew about an inch in 24hrs, she was starving for some of those nutes.

Posting here is safe for me, I'm legal. In the US it's not real safe if you're not because of the "Patriot Act", dam thing needs to be burned. In England it depends on your privacy laws, I don't really know them. After they read the post they have to get your IP addy from the moderator of this site, then they have to use it to get your physical addy from you internet provider. I remember when that used to be illegal for them to do here, those were the days. lol

If you're worried about it, you can figure out how to post one of those permanent things at the bottom of each post like robert 14617 has at the bottom of his. There you can write something like, "Everything discussed is all in fun and not serious in any way
", or "learning to grow tommatos" or something like that. That may or may not offer you some level of protection.

And if you're really worried about it you can get storage somewhere under someone elses name and grow them there. I'm sure they can't do much if they don't find the plants.

sebbay said:

also what would happen if you flowered the plant but left it.. would the buds just fall off?

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Depends on what you mean by left it. If you mean just leave them alone with no water or light or anything, they'd die before the buds matured. If you mean just give them water & lights and nothing else, then you're going to notice nute deficiencies and they wont get as big. If you mean leave them in the pots, they'll become root bound very quickly which will limit growth even worse and give them root rot which can kill them if all the roots get infected.

If you meant something else let me know.

i meant 'nutter' as in you know everything to know lol- you probably knew that..
about the police, im just not going to not think about it- works well with things like this lol no one seems to have been busted from using this site

and by leave it i meant not touching the buds just left them on the plant.. pointless question i guess!

sebbay said:

i meant 'nutter' as in you know everything to know lol- you probably knew that..
about the police, im just not going to not think about it- works well with things like this lol no one seems to have been busted from using this site

and by leave it i meant not touching the buds just left them on the plant.. pointless question i guess!

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I am kind of obsessed about growing right now, it's my new career. Made mad money in my last career but had to retire because of a health issue. Hope to make mad money here, I'm short on money now, and I have nothing to do all day but do research. Perfect set up for obsession. lol But I actually didn't know what you meant.

After I read it I thought to myself "well Frankenstein was kind of nutty, and I am trying to create monsters" lol

Yeah, cops usually don't send SWAT teams for a few plants, but I woulnd't advertise either. If a cop smells it, he'll come knockiing.

I think I know what you mean, if you just let the plant keep flowering for an indefinate ammount of time. The plant will let you know when she's had enough, the leafs will start dying. You can veg for as long as you want with most strains, but flowering is different.

i swear it is a hobby isnt it!

and yeah thats what i meant about the flowering..

i took your advice and went down to the garden center. bought perlite and 3 pots, i think they're big enough..

heres a few photos..

sebbay said:

i swear it is a hobby isnt it!

and yeah thats what i meant about the flowering..

i took your advice and went down to the garden center. bought perlite and 3 pots, i think they're big enough..

heres a few photos..

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Oh it's more than a hobby, it's a full time job. lol I just had to transplant 49 clones because I got some bad advice and they were taking too long to root.

Sorry it took me soo long to get back BTW, been busy learning and upgrading. Man does my back hurt. lol

Those roots are a thing of beauty, and definately in need of a transplant. They were about out of space. How were the runts roots? Were they as thick as the others?

BTW, you should watch the roots around light. Light can harm roots with too much exposure. I'm sure you didn't have them in the light long enough to hurt them, but it's something every grower should be cautious of.

And you're gonna hate me, but if you plan on vegging them for much longer, you're probably going to need to transplant again before flowering if the roots keep growing at that rate. Remind me again, how many weeks into veg are you? And are those 3 gallon pots or smaller? And how long do you plan to veg?

You're about to hate me more too. I learned about something that's gonna make you want to go back to the garden center. Mycorrhiza. You can read up on it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza It will help your roots grow bigger and stronger, and it will help your roots fill in all those empty spots. Also, it also helps roots absorb and digest a lot more.

You may want to wait till your next grow so you can mix some in when you mix your pots. But if you want to use it now, what you would do is dig 4 holes in each pot right at the edges of your root system and put a tablespoon in each hole, then cover it with dirt. When you water it will feed the roots.

I think this might be the "trick" to making those monsters who need more nutes than their roots can possible absorb and digest. I think I showed you a pic.

There are several different products that have it. Oh, and you can dilute it in water and water with it, and it helps clones root faster.

And I may have already told you this, but I found a fertilizer with all the nutes, major and minor. Dyna-Gro www.dyna-grow.com I think you can order from the website, but I'm not sure if they'll deliver out of the country. It's hard to find here, not sure if it's available there.

Anyway, it's good to see you're on your way. Expect to see some growth over the next couple of weeks. They'll probably take a day or two before they get over the transplant and start growing again. Don't worry, it's normal.

And start looking for more lights. You're gonna need more as your girls get bigger. Here's a pic with a harness made for multiple CFLs. Hope it gives you some good ideas.

Well, it's 5am, I better hit the sack. I'll try to get back on line tommorow and see how things are going.

i'm sorry, i couldn't tell you how big the pots were.. they're definatly not huge though.. im sure they will be just about fine. i cant be arsed to spend anymore on them to be honest as i have no money and also my parents found them in my cupboard and want me to give them away not because its illegal but because its a fire risk!? so im trying to buy time before i move out lol

cheers for the heads up on the fertilizer- ill check that out

and your right, iver hardly seen any growth in the last couple of days

couple of questions- i am looking for more lights.. i want to use a few 50w cfl's ideally because of electricity costs so my parents dont get antsy about the bill but i dont know where to get any cheap. 'ebayers' only sell 250w so i might go with that..

also when i was re-potting i picked out a few worms.. does it matter if they are in there in the pots?

and one other thing.. its started getting very cold here in england, been snowing last few days and my pots are in an attic sort of place, you can see from the photos.. how does temp affect them?

thanks a lot!..

sebbay said:

i'm sorry, i couldn't tell you how big the pots were.. they're definatly not huge though.. im sure they will be just about fine. i cant be arsed to spend anymore on them to be honest as i have no money and also my parents found them in my cupboard and want me to give them away not because its illegal but because its a fire risk!? so im trying to buy time before i move out lol

cheers for the heads up on the fertilizer- ill check that out

and your right, iver hardly seen any growth in the last couple of days

couple of questions- i am looking for more lights.. i want to use a few 50w cfl's ideally because of electricity costs so my parents dont get antsy about the bill but i dont know where to get any cheap. 'ebayers' only sell 250w so i might go with that..

also when i was re-potting i picked out a few worms.. does it matter if they are in there in the pots?

and one other thing.. its started getting very cold here in england, been snowing last few days and my pots are in an attic sort of place, you can see from the photos.. how does temp affect them?

thanks a lot!..

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Actually those pots probably wont last you to harvest, and it really is a good idea to transplant before the roots get to the edges of the pot so you don't disturb the roots. If you don't disturb them they plants will keep on growing like nothing happened.

Your parents sound pretty cool, wish mine were that cool. lol Just let them know the lights don't get hot so they wont start a fire. Just keep all the electrical cords hung on the wall and away from water, and don't overload any 1 circuit and you're golden.

The only cheap CFLs I know about are the ones I used to sell to retail stores. You can get them for a couple of dollars each, but you have to buy them by the case (6s, 12s, 24s), just go to wholesalecentral.com and do a search on CFL. And the lower wattage one's (32w to 50w) are a better range to use. Once you get over 100w ( if I remember right) the watt to light ratio isn't as good and gets worse as they get stronger.

Worms can be bad, depends on what kind of worms and if they turn into anything else. Earthworms are only moderately bad as they'll only eat the nutes in the dirt. But there are other worms that will eat your roots. Didn't you buy potted soil from the garden center? If you did I'd tell them and have them give you different dirt so you can transplant again. If not and you decide to get rid of them, let me introduce you to my little friend http://www.territorialseed.com/product/39/175 They're carnivorous so they'll eat the other worms then die off from starvation and help to fertilize the soil. It's a win/win. lol They're the only way to really get rid of worms in dirt that I know of.

The temp & temp change tollerances change from strain to strain, it depends on where the strain originated. What you might try to be on the safe side is to make sure the lights stay on at night and are very close. Those bulbs do give off some heat though not too much. So group them together, move the lights as close as you can, use those blankets as walls and move them in close, and use a thermometer to check the temp under the bulbs at night and see if you can control it some that way. You can also close any attic ventillation that you have at night. Try not to let it drop more than 10 degrees if you can, 20 degrees is getting into dangerous territory, 30 degrees and you have real problems.

If everything else fails, you can get some flexible duct from a hardware store with an in line fan (about $50 all together) and take warm air from the house and blow it right onto your plants. Temp is one of the 3 most important things for your plant (temp, light, water) so that & the worm are things to pay attention to.

Hope that helps.

well seems like everything going alright.. apart from what seems to be fertilizer burns on one of the plants.. maybe PH? (i dont have the means to test it) but then again looks like the other two are doing alright..
strung up the HPS
do you reckon its too close? (its 400w) ALSO is it alright to use for vegging cause its orangey?
cheers!

sebbay said:

well seems like everything going alright.. apart from what seems to be fertilizer burns on one of the plants.. maybe PH? (i dont have the means to test it) but then again looks like the other two are doing alright..
strung up the HPS
do you reckon its too close? (its 400w) ALSO is it alright to use for vegging cause its orangey?
cheers!

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MH is better to use for veg, but there's no problem using an HPS.

Well the light is pretty close. There are 2 things to check to see. First do the hand test. Put your hand right at the top of your leaves and leave it there for 20 to 30 seconds. If it's comfortable for your hand, then it's ok.

2nd is the heat. You have to get a thermometer and put it right on the edge of the planters, you know lay it down on the tops of the planter edges. You want to try to keep the temp between 72 and 80, but you should be OK up to 85 or so.

And the plants are going to grow, so at some point you're going to have to move it because you have no way to raise it. You can move it to a part of the attic higher in the pitch where the roof is farther above the plants. If not then you can mount the light sideways, make a bracket of some kind using spare wood, and use it like a spotlight from the side of the plants if you know what I mean. Just keep spinning the plants daily so they don't start growing sideways.

As far as the yellow leaves with spots, it can be a mg burn caused by that Miracle Grow Dirt & it could be a N or K deficiency probably caused by a pH lockout. Either way you're going to need to flush and you're going to need to buy an aquarium pH test kit.

The test kits aren't expensive, they're under $10 so they're well worth it. You want it to be between 6.3 & 6.5. When you test the water you're using, if it's a long way outside of that, you have to change it a little at a time. In other words if it's an 8, pH the water at 7.7 the next watering, 7.4 the following watering, etc.... If you change it too rapidly you end up with pH fluctuation, check the leaf in the pic.

Once you get it in the right range you'll have to flush the soil. If it was the Miracle Grow soil, then you need to flush those nutes out off all 3 pots. If it's a pH lockout, then the lockout has caused salts to build up which you need to flush out, and you'll want to flush all 3 either way.

To flush you'll need to use 3 gallons of water for each gallon of soil and you need to adjust the pH in the water that you use. Just put the plant in the tub and pour the water in one gallon after the other, let the plant drain for a while (till it stops dripping when you pick it up) then even out the soil and put it back. You're soil will then be salt & nute free (almost anyway) so don't be surprised if your plants start asking for nutes in a few days or a few weeks (hard to tell exactly).

Either problem is serious and can kill your plants. Here's a link to look up plant problems, save it to your favorites, you'll be referring to it time & time again. http://www.ganjaguerrilla.net/index.htm

Also, if you're using tap water you need to let it sit out for 24 hrs in an open container. If you haven't been doing that, you really need to start. This gets rid of the chlorine which isn't good for the plants when there's too much, and anything more than 0.1% is too much.

Nice light by the way, that should kick the growth into overdrive. Just make sure you don't over due it. There are examples of heat & light burn/stress on that link. You should take a quick look so you know what it looks like so you can identify it right away if it happens.

Other than that, your plants look good. You've been doing a great job. Most people have problems long before now.

Cheers M8, hope you and yours had a nice holiday.

yo im back!
flushed it like you said i should.. used 4 times the amount of water to soil.. PH was probably a bit too high, usedd vinegar to lower it but i dont think i used enough. and was vinegar a good idea? lol
plants look a bit worse after flushing- more yellowing but one of them had a growth spurt..
i've decided to veg till summer and then stick them on the roof.
hears some pics

ALSO some weird shit going on with one of them.. look at pics.. theres thin bits in the middle of the leaves and the leaves just developing have turned purple and look quite strange.. small and under developed..
cheers!

sebbay said:

yo im back!
flushed it like you said i should.. used 4 times the amount of water to soil.. PH was probably a bit too high, usedd vinegar to lower it but i dont think i used enough. and was vinegar a good idea? lol
plants look a bit worse after flushing- more yellowing but one of them had a growth spurt..
i've decided to veg till summer and then stick them on the roof.
hears some pics

ALSO some weird shit going on with one of them.. look at pics.. theres thin bits in the middle of the leaves and the leaves just developing have turned purple and look quite strange.. small and under developed..
cheers!

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You're probably looking at some nutrient deficiencies, the flushing gets rid of everything including nutes, so you have to feed them. The yellowing is probably a nitrogen defiency and I think the brown in the middle of leaves is a MG defiency.

Give them a half dose of a fertilizer and see how they respond. Fox Farm Tiger Bloom is a good one to use because it has all the major nutes and all but 3 of the minor nutes. It's a little light on the Nitrogen though so you probably also want to give them a half dose of a fish emulsion fert. (high in nitrogen, but nasty nasty stuff).

If they look better after feeding, and they probably will, you'll have to feed them a little more every once in a while. How much depends on how big they are, plus every strain has different needs. So just wait till they ask for more (yellowing leaves, brown spots in the middle, etc...) This is a good site to use to figure out what they're asking for. http://www.ganjaguerrilla.net/index.htm

I don't know what the purple is about though, never seen or heard of that before. Just see if the feeding sorts it out.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes.

this is what i have- see photos.. 20-30-10 & (Mg) 225mg/kg

i also have some Miracid soil acidifier plant food, bright blue stuff..
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(xbifx4ntmn1s1z55qzfrtbzh)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=72058

thanks again!

Them coppers are looking for a noobs grow. They have one guy that sits and watches the net. they will only come after you if you have less then 15 plants.

sebbay said:

this is what i have- see photos.. 20-30-10 & (Mg) 225mg/kg

i also have some Miracid soil acidifier plant food, bright blue stuff..
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(xbifx4ntmn1s1z55qzfrtbzh)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=72058

thanks again!

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First thing, make sure both of those are organic based. Call the MFG if you have to. Chemical based nutes are not good to mix with organics.

If they are, then make a mix of half strength of each. Then give your girls a cup or two depending on the size of pots. Can't remember how big they are.

If they respond well, then stert feeding every other watering and adjust strength as needed.

Stumps. Cops are always watching the net, but they can't get an addy or phone number from here unless you give it to them. Try to relax a little or you're gonna give yourself an ulcer. lol

Hope that helps Sebbay

yeah that helps a lot.. but are you saying it IS ok to use the Miracid? cheers

oh yeah i guess you are haha
but what if it makes the soil too acidic? or acidic too fast? PH fluctuation? lol see i remember what you teach me!

It's ok to use that stuff as long as they're both organic & not chemical based. It's important that you check that.

After adding nutes to the water check the pH. If you don't have a tester and are short on cash, you can get an aquarium tester pretty cheap (under $10). If you have the cash invest in an electronic tester, it's more accurate. But the aquarium tester is better than nothing.

pH Up & pH Down are best to use to adjust the pH in the water/feed. But if money's tight you can use baking soda to raise & distilled white vinegar to lower the pH.

You may also consider picking up some blood meal if you have a few extra dollars. It will put nitrogen back into the soil. It stays with the soil for a while, so start with a half dose, see how the plants respond, and add from there if needed. All you do is sprinkle some on top of the soil, rake it in (with your fingers if you don't have a little flower bed rake) and then water and/or feed. When you get ready to flower, Bone Meal puts phosphorous back into the soil. Not really sure if there's anything that puts potassium back into the soil.

If you're getting ready to needing a transplant to a larger planter, you can just use Fox Farm Ocean Forrest for the extra soil you'll need for the bigger pot and avoid everything else. FFOF is rich in everything you'll need for about a month or so before you'll have to start feeding. As long as your roots can get to it of course.

so whats meant to happen? does the yellow just fade to green? no change yet..