Markalister
Member
So it is my first time growing and I am starting off with Hash Plant from BC Bud Depot. Here is a primer for what's happened so far and from here on out I'll post with regular updates.
Weeks 0, 1 and 2: I started with 15 seeds which were "cracked" in moistened paper towel and then planted in an off-the-shelf potting soil. Sprouted in a trough planter with plastic wrap over the top over 3 days while I was away for the weekend. Came back to some leggy sprouts (read 3-4" with just cotyledons!) reaching for the skies. I moved them to my attic while I sorted out a proper growroom and equipment (lost one seedling during this time, down to 14). In the first 2 weeks they were under 24hrs of 6400K light from 4 T8 fluorescents in a kind of shoplight tube structure with a fan on them (light at about 6"). The direct fan was to induce stronger stems since they were so leggy and keep fresh air supplied. Watered from a can every couple of days and cultivated soil surface.
During this time we had some serious heat issues and the plants were exposed to 85F-plus temps for many days, plus the direct fan. Leaves started getting blotchy and yellow with some interveinal leaf tissue puckering, plants looked kind of rough.
Weeks 3 and 4: I moved them into the bedroom with the light backed off to 3 feet, in air conditioning (73F) and repotted in 6" pots with 80/20 potting soil/top soil mixture. I figured the symptoms were a combination of wind burn and temperature. During repotting, noticed plants had nice clean white roots. During these two weeks, plants grew little but color returned and leaves stopped yellowing. Watered by soaking threw once per week.
Week 5: Moved plants to finished grow room. I was going to be gone for a week and didn't want the risk of someone tending to them so I took a risk and automated my entire grow room. Air conditioning was on a timer for 18hrs, the 6hrs it was off a window fan came on that exchanged the air in the room. A humidifier ran for the first few days as well. 4 T8 6400K fluorescents were on the same schedule as the air conditioner, roughly 6 inches from the plants. 2 fans were on air circulation duty 24hrs a day. I even CO2 doped the room with some dry ice (I'm a researcher by profession, have tons of the stuff at my disposal). Oh and I also put stones on the soil to minimize water loss/drying out.
Week 6: When I got back from my week away, my plants looked amazing! I walked in to roughly 3-4 inches of new growth on most plants, lots of new and healthy-looking green leaves. When I got back I had to do some monkeying around with the air conditioner and so the plants saw a day and half of unusually high temps (maybe hit 90F for 8-10 hours) and rehumidification.
Week 6.5, 8/25: When I first got home most of the plants if not all of them had very rigid petiole and leaf positioning, almost perfectly perpendicular to the stem/truck. After the little bit of heat they saw, some leaves drooped. I decided to water them and rinse out the soil with 3 total volume exchanges. A couple hours later the leaves had started drooping even more. The soil was not dry when I watered, still had lots of moisture.
Wondered if it was Nitrogen deficiency but have temporarily decided to wait for stronger signs before fertilizing them. Plants also have purple dots or marks on the petiole which is apparently a sign of nitrogen deficiency but also a natural coloring of some hash plants.
After noticing some of the plants had interveinal leaf tissue puckering, I remembered reading that high humidity coupled with wet soil can cause the plant to want to slow respiration by closing the stomata and puckering the leaves. In response I turned off the humidifier and turned on the dehumidifier.
Week 6.5, 8/26: This morning leaves weren't drooping too much and seem to be picking back up. Perhaps the humidity was the issue after all....
Weeks 0, 1 and 2: I started with 15 seeds which were "cracked" in moistened paper towel and then planted in an off-the-shelf potting soil. Sprouted in a trough planter with plastic wrap over the top over 3 days while I was away for the weekend. Came back to some leggy sprouts (read 3-4" with just cotyledons!) reaching for the skies. I moved them to my attic while I sorted out a proper growroom and equipment (lost one seedling during this time, down to 14). In the first 2 weeks they were under 24hrs of 6400K light from 4 T8 fluorescents in a kind of shoplight tube structure with a fan on them (light at about 6"). The direct fan was to induce stronger stems since they were so leggy and keep fresh air supplied. Watered from a can every couple of days and cultivated soil surface.
During this time we had some serious heat issues and the plants were exposed to 85F-plus temps for many days, plus the direct fan. Leaves started getting blotchy and yellow with some interveinal leaf tissue puckering, plants looked kind of rough.
Weeks 3 and 4: I moved them into the bedroom with the light backed off to 3 feet, in air conditioning (73F) and repotted in 6" pots with 80/20 potting soil/top soil mixture. I figured the symptoms were a combination of wind burn and temperature. During repotting, noticed plants had nice clean white roots. During these two weeks, plants grew little but color returned and leaves stopped yellowing. Watered by soaking threw once per week.
Week 5: Moved plants to finished grow room. I was going to be gone for a week and didn't want the risk of someone tending to them so I took a risk and automated my entire grow room. Air conditioning was on a timer for 18hrs, the 6hrs it was off a window fan came on that exchanged the air in the room. A humidifier ran for the first few days as well. 4 T8 6400K fluorescents were on the same schedule as the air conditioner, roughly 6 inches from the plants. 2 fans were on air circulation duty 24hrs a day. I even CO2 doped the room with some dry ice (I'm a researcher by profession, have tons of the stuff at my disposal). Oh and I also put stones on the soil to minimize water loss/drying out.
Week 6: When I got back from my week away, my plants looked amazing! I walked in to roughly 3-4 inches of new growth on most plants, lots of new and healthy-looking green leaves. When I got back I had to do some monkeying around with the air conditioner and so the plants saw a day and half of unusually high temps (maybe hit 90F for 8-10 hours) and rehumidification.
Week 6.5, 8/25: When I first got home most of the plants if not all of them had very rigid petiole and leaf positioning, almost perfectly perpendicular to the stem/truck. After the little bit of heat they saw, some leaves drooped. I decided to water them and rinse out the soil with 3 total volume exchanges. A couple hours later the leaves had started drooping even more. The soil was not dry when I watered, still had lots of moisture.
Wondered if it was Nitrogen deficiency but have temporarily decided to wait for stronger signs before fertilizing them. Plants also have purple dots or marks on the petiole which is apparently a sign of nitrogen deficiency but also a natural coloring of some hash plants.
After noticing some of the plants had interveinal leaf tissue puckering, I remembered reading that high humidity coupled with wet soil can cause the plant to want to slow respiration by closing the stomata and puckering the leaves. In response I turned off the humidifier and turned on the dehumidifier.
Week 6.5, 8/26: This morning leaves weren't drooping too much and seem to be picking back up. Perhaps the humidity was the issue after all....
