First Grow, New England area, outdoors, PROBLEMS! PICS!

this could potentially turn into a long post but ill do my best to keep it neat and easy to read Over the last week or so ive done alot of reading on these forums, TONS of great info, but im still in need of some expert advice my apologies in advance for the high res pics

Backround info : first time ever attempting growing, and doing it in very limited means due to mah wife not being thrilled about it. I am using the absolute minimum means necessary to be successful, and cant afford some of the nice grow setups ive seen on these forums I am pretty limited for space, and cant do much in anything larger then my current pot, due to neighbors, wife ect. Not really looking for massive yields, just hoping for something.

As far as I can remember these were planted from bag seeds end of april/beginning of may. Just basically filled the pot with some quality potting soil, made a few holes and dumped in a bunch of seeds, only expecting to see 50% of them or so actually take and grow....boy was I wrong.

As far as I can tell none of the plants are showing signs of sex yet, is it perhaps still too early? Id really like to cut the number of plants in half if poss, so the sooner I find the males and get rid of em the better!

No special lighting or feeding regiment really, they were growing like wildfire for the first month and a half or so. Watering 1-2 times a week, gave them a little sprinkle of 8-8-8 plant fert about 2 weeks or so ago, and thats when it went downhill. Started seeing bottom leaves yellowing and dropping off from the bottom up, so I quickly removed what I assumed was excess fert., replaced the top 3inches of soil, and gavem a good flush till the water was runnin out the bottom of the pot a bit. After a week or so they began to perk back up, but still losing lower leaves.

To compound the problem, last week was between 95-100 with 60-70 humidity, pretty hellish. Every day after work id come home and the plants would look worse and worse. Showing a bit of lime green from the inside of the leaves out on top, but still relatively strong stems. And drooping omg! It seems that even today, with it being 82F outside, they are still drooping When we get a slug of rain I always bringem inside because they just take a beating from the water weight. But anytime I bring them inside recently, out of the sunlight, they seem to perk up???

*update after typing some of this out*

put my babies outside for like an hour to get a lil sun today and this is what happened! (see outside60min1/2.jpg)

will try and reply with a pic in an hour or 2 to show any recovery from bringin em back inside.

I can tell you right now, that plant needs some water ASAP!!! It must've been right at that point where it was almost completely dry, then hitting the intense sun, did 'er in. Get some water on it, and it'll bounce back in an hour or so.

Secondly, there is a deficiency starting, iron, I think. At any rate, it's time for some fert with trace nutes, or some seperate trace nutes, aside from your main fert. I'm guessing you are using the pellet-type fert? That stuff isn't very good for growing cannabis, in pots, because it's too difficult to regulate. It's too easy to overdo, and too difficult to correct, if ya do. Personally, I'd scrape out as much of it as you can, then replace some soil if you have to, then try to start again, with a different fert. Even something like MiracleGrow would be better than any pellet fert. Just make sure you mix it really weak, like 1/8th strength. There's also a decent deficiency table in the Noob section that has some pics that'll help you pinpoint your deficiency/s, and better help you get pointed in the right direction.

Also, I'm guessing they're perking up when you bring 'em inside, because it's more in their idea temp range. Other than that, I can't think of anything else that would cause the problem you mentioned.

wow thanks for all of those tips. ya I brought em back inside and its been an hour or so and already seeing visable recovery, that really serious drooping caused by lack of water? i always feel im gonna overwater :-/ how much/how often should I be doing so?

you suggesting getting some sort of liquid fert? yes the fert I was using isnt necessarily pellets persay, but more granular. I know for sure that its too many plants, even for that huge pot, but once I am able to sex and remove some of them, they should still survive, flower and bud right? I dont have an alternative option as far as seperating them to seperate pots or in ground, so this is how its gotta be.

can you tell sext or pre-sex by the 2 closeup shots I posted? they look like lil hairs, but i dunno...lol

I tried lookin at the pics from that deficiency post, but its a bit overwhelming, one looks like the other, looks like a diff one, ect lol.

can I offer more pics? closer? whatever I can do to help the community help me!

heres an updated pic, brought em inside, a quick mist and just a lil water about an hour ago and already seeing better results. should i give more water? leave it inside? put it back out? im scared!

sorry about the crappy cellphone pic, didnt wanna drag my good cam out again

lowprofile said:

heres an updated pic, brought em inside, a quick mist and just a lil water about an hour ago and already seeing better results. should i give more water? leave it inside? put it back out? im scared!

sorry about the crappy cellphone pic, didnt wanna drag my good cam out again

Click to expand...

I'd say give them Miracid.Miracid (Miracle-Gro Acr) 1.5#
At Their Next Watering. Half the indoor houseplant strength or less. So many in the one pot makes them go through a lot of water. It'll help.
Daniels

Overwatering, is caused by growers constantly watering, keeping the soil eternally soaked. That either drowns the roots(starves them of oxygen), or washes all the nutes out of the soil, and they go deficient. In your case, it's definitely neither.lol You asked how much water to give them? They should be watered heavily, til water trickles out the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot, or right near to that point. Most guys like to let a little water bleed out, because it helps remove toxins and wastes from the soil. At any rate, water that thing heavily, especially being that it just came from the Sahara Desert, and was drooping badly.lol When you're done watering, pick up the pot, and that'll give you an idea of how heavy it is when it's fully watered. It should be alot heavier than when you carried it outside this morning. Take note of that, and eventually you'll know when to water it, based on the weight of the pot. Sounds like alot of BS, but trust me, alot of guys do it, and it works great once you get the hang of it. Also, you can water them as heavily as you want, as long as you let them dry out between waterings(at least every 7-10 days). THAT'S the key.

P.S. In a pot that size, as long as the top inch or two, of soil, is dry, you're safe to water again. The damage comes from soil being soaked constantly, not just being a little moist.

Also, expect some yellow leaves to be coming soon, so don't panic. I don't know the exact science behind it(yet.lol), but everything you let your plants get to that point of drooping like that, when they recover, some of the fan leaves will die off. My theory, is that the plant was using them as back up energy, while it was close to death. Not sure about that, just a theory. Anyway, the leaves will die, so don't worry, it's not another deficiency starting.

wow thanks for the great responses! any particular reason you chose that fert? ill likely order or check my local outdoor store for some. will this help the lime greenish color pushing thru the middle of the tops of the plants?

thanks for the tips on watering too, gonna definatly water tonight and do the weight test. if i water em in good tonight will it be safe to leavem back in the sun tomorrow? sposed to be around 90F or so, and I dun wanna come home to a funeral

any thoughts about sexing? too early?

^I think he mentioned that fert, because it's more biased towards the tomato plants, rather than the plain MG ferts. It'sa little more acidic, but I'm pretty sure the ratios are the same, or pretty close to the regular stuff. Either will work. There's also a brand called Jacks Classic that's supposed to be pretty good for growing, better than MG ferts. I'd grab that, if they have it. They'll all work, so it's not a life or death decision. It's the potency that matters, most. It's easy to fert burn with that stuff, so be careful, and start with a weak mix.

Yep, they're ready to go out into the full sunlight, no problem at all. Just don't let 'em run dry again, and they'll be good to go, and well on their way to a decent harvest.

I looked at the pics, and it's a little early for sexing. Maybe another week or two, I'd say. Those hair-looking things are called "stipules"and are commonly confused with female preflowers. The males have them too. Keep your eyes on those internodes, and pretty soon you'll see little preflowers starting, then can chop the males. Be patient, it's coming soon.

Miracid has micro nutrients and it's cheap. Walmart usually has it. Go light (for str) on your next watering. If you can, put it in a partial shade spot if your gonna leave it outside. Good Luck.
Daniels

^Regular MG has the micro nutes too. I agree though, the Miracid would be the better choice.

awesome, ill check for some Miracid tomorrow @ lunch, and puttem back outside tomorrow with a good watering. how often should I use it? everytime I water? thanks for all the great advice, check back ill report back in a few days

Hi there. Are you growing outside or inside?

A good rule of thumb is 1 plant per pot. If you have more than 1 their roots will get tangled. This is problematic for several reasons.
1) they begin to compete for water / nutes.
2) if you have to remove males you risk breaking the females roots if you pull them. Or they will die and rot (this can cause disease) if you cut them.

Okay I can only think of two but they are both very troublesome.


What are the grow conditions? And what's the soil?

outside. soil is a miracle grow potting mix, temps in the mid 80s-mid 90s on hotter days, with some humidity. when its gonna be a scorcher, i always put up an umbrella over em to givem a lil relief from the sun. i definately didnt expect all of em to germinate and survive haha, just waiting to sex so I can hopefully cut the number in half!

few of em are startin to get a bit taller then id like to see, and will be peeking over my privacy fence very soon, any thoughts? too late to tie em down? id hate to top/trim them with such little experience.

ive never taken a ph test, so ive got no idea what the ph in the soil is like, but they were doin great for a while.

^You can tie them down at any time you like, even during flowering(although I don't recommend that). You might also want to look into topping, FIM'ing, or supercropping, as they are also used to control heigth. They create more main colas too.

P.S. Take that umbrella off 'em. I don't think the sun puts out as much light as those hungry bastards can use.lol Let 'em have it.

P.S.S. I just had a brainstorm, and thought you might want to give it a try.....

....when you identify the males, chop them down waaaay low, almost enough to kill them, but not quite. Leave like one or two leaves, and that's it. That way, the roots won't die, and hurt your females(as mentioned), or cause overcrowding and competing for nutes. It sounds like a good theory, to me.(and yes, I'm 100% sober. Scary, huh? )

If you leave even a small amount of plant alive the roots still continue to grow. This will be a better option then killing them though. I think jawbrodt has a solid idea.

Ps next time use fox farms soil not MG (it's not weed friendly)