Help!!! What am I doing wrong with these plants????

I would absolutely recommend this book. I had heard in mentioned in different forums. They also wrote teaming with nutrients and teaming with fungi. There’s a lot of scientific terms which made for some re-reading in the first half but it was a great read. It’s so basic. Once you’ve read it you’ll feel like you could write it.

Harry Bonanza said:

I would absolutely recommend this book. I had heard in mentioned in different forums. They also wrote teaming with nutrients and teaming with fungi.

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Would you say that these books made you a better organic grower?

GiovanniJones said:

Hi All,

I successfully completed my first grow of cannabis last year, but am struggling a lot with grow #2. I was looking up nutrient issues here, as well as other places online. I can't tell if I have too much or too little of any nutrients, it's confusing!

I did my first grow with Stepwell soil and water pretty much all the way, but things aren't going so well this time around. I have 38 plants growing right now:

• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Blueberry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Lights
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Kush Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Kush Northern Lights
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Skunk Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Skunk
• 6 x PeakSeedsBC Sweet C99
• 4 x Jordan of the Islands Purple Kush

My room is getting crowded, so last weekend I initiated 12-12 so that I can cull the males asap to make space. The majority of the plants look healthy enough. Not perfect, but quite good. However, 9 of the 38 are having leaf issues now and the problem seems to be getting worse over time.

What's different than in my first grow?

• The seedlings were in Fox Farm Happy Frog this time around. Stepwell last time.
• When I transplanted to 1-gallon pots, I used Stepwell Soil, just like last time. However, Stepwell changed their formula so the soil I'm using isn't the same as last time.
• For I while I thought I was having light-burn issues, so for weeks I turned down the brightness (much lower than in my previous grow). This didn't fix anything.

How can I salvage these plants? Have a look at the pics and I'd really appreciate any help you can give this rookie! Thanks.

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Your plants are exhibiting necrosis which is typically due to a salt buildup or macro deficiency. Could also be from your water source if let's say you have a well that uses sodium. Happy frog is kind of a heavy mix due to high content of compost which be improved by adding extra aeration. I find if you simply cut it down with some coco coir and/or perlite it may work better for you by improving drainage. If the root balls stay wet for a long time after watering this could be a problem.
Don't start giving nutrients unless you have to but if you have an issue with macros which btw help with absorption giving a soluble cal/mag like gen organics cal/mag plus could help. If you have not been giving macros you should start there. Soluble cal/mag is actually kind of difficult to provide unless in liquid form as organic sources like eggshells must be decomposed first in order to be absorbed.
If you are looking for a good primer into growing in living soil which would eliminate most of these kinds of problems before they ever start check out True Living Organics by The Rev. Covers soil recipes, amendments, teas, and general info to grow mostly water only start to finish. Compost is the key...

GiovanniJones said:

I top dressed last night for the first time with earth worm castings and they perked up today!

I guess they were malnourished. I’ll be transplanting into larger pots soon and am going to use a much more potent living soil with no peat moss.

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Ewc will almost always perk them up but that sorta proves that you either have a macro def or that the roots just need more room to breathe and or drain out. Larger pots will help; plants in organic soil need a bit more room.
While teaming with microbes is an excellent book it reads sort of like an earth science textbook. Doesn't even mention the word cannabis. Not saying don't read it because the info contained is precious but it's not really about growing weed.

My used 40%-60% ROLS mixes get better and more forgiving all the time.
Do those plant containers dry enough between watering?

GiovanniJones said:

I get so excited when I get an email that someone has responded to my thread, lol.

This is new to me and seems like great words for me to learn from, thanks for that. I'm definitely in a red zone with my VPD ... totally not good.
My problem is that with my furnace on, it's hard to ever get to 40% RH in my home. With a small humidifier, I can barely get it to go above 40%.
I am considering getting a Honeywell whole-house humidifier installed to my duct system. They're not cheap but I wanted one to make the air better to breathe. It should help the plants, but I can't get it right away.

Any advice?

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I was also considering this route and was dreading paying that much for it and eventually found another solution.
I use one of these in my grow room to keep the whole basement as close to 55-60% as possible. It pretty much runs constantly to manage around 40-50% because its very dry here, but 40-50% outside the tents makes it much easier to keep it a bit higher inside the tents for me. When it gets super dry and drops down to the point i cant keep the space much above 30% I move it into my tent or at least right next to the air intake.
2 things with an evaporative humidifier though. There's wicks that need to be replaced now and then and the air comes out fairly cool, especially when the water going in it is cold. This wasnt much of an issue for my whole space, but in a tent already struggling for warmth, youd probably need a heater too. If you arent struggling for heat and have the space, you should strongly consider one.
I drilled in the side right above the full line and installed a float valve in it. Then I put a T in the line from my water filter and ran it to the valve with one of the shutoff blocks that comes on an RO unit. This keeps it full all the time so I just set it to the % I want and forget about it and filters the water to get best possible wick life.
5 gallon bucket for size comparison. I think they make smaller ones but im not sure. Mines actually holding 60% right now we've had some nice weather. Hope this helps some.

Richard Drysift said:

Ewc will almost always perk them up but that sorta proves that you either have a macro def or that the roots just need more room to breathe and or drain out. Larger pots will help; plants in organic soil need a bit more room.
While teaming with microbes is an excellent book it reads sort of like an earth science textbook. Doesn't even mention the word cannabis. Not saying don't read it because the info contained is precious but it's not really about growing weed.

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You could say it’s not about growing weed. But if you check out the author’s Instagram “gardenerjeff” you might see it seems he knows a bit about weed. I see he also has a new book about auto flowers. He’s from Alaska so it was a bonus that he dealt with soil that freezes every year. Again it’s not really about growing weed, it’s about growing soil.

Harry Bonanza said:

You could say it’s not about growing weed. But if you check out the author’s Instagram “gardenerjeff” you might see it seems he knows a bit about weed. I see he also has a new book about auto flowers. He’s from Alaska so it was a bonus that he dealt with soil that freezes every year. Again it’s not really about growing weed, it’s about growing soil.

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True... both of these books go hand in hand very well but I found TWM harder to read because it's more like an earth science text. TLO is specifically tailored for cannabis grows but references TWM as a major contributing source of organic info. Both of the books are recommended and go together well; you can literally become an organic expert overnight.

GiovanniJones said:

Hi All,

I successfully completed my first grow of cannabis last year, but am struggling a lot with grow #2. I was looking up nutrient issues here, as well as other places online. I can't tell if I have too much or too little of any nutrients, it's confusing!

I did my first grow with Stepwell soil and water pretty much all the way, but things aren't going so well this time around. I have 38 plants growing right now:

• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Blueberry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Lights
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Kush Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Kush Northern Lights
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Skunk Berry
• 4 x PeakSeedsBC Northern Skunk
• 6 x PeakSeedsBC Sweet C99
• 4 x Jordan of the Islands Purple Kush

My room is getting crowded, so last weekend I initiated 12-12 so that I can cull the males asap to make space. The majority of the plants look healthy enough. Not perfect, but quite good. However, 9 of the 38 are having leaf issues now and the problem seems to be getting worse over time.

What's different than in my first grow?

• The seedlings were in Fox Farm Happy Frog this time around. Stepwell last time.
• When I transplanted to 1-gallon pots, I used Stepwell Soil, just like last time. However, Stepwell changed their formula so the soil I'm using isn't the same as last time.
• For I while I thought I was having light-burn issues, so for weeks I turned down the brightness (much lower than in my previous grow). This didn't fix anything.

How can I salvage these plants? Have a look at the pics and I'd really appreciate any help you can give this rookie! Thanks.

View attachment 4457303View attachment 4457302View attachment 4457301View attachment 4457300

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Not sure it’s a problem but my first impression was light burn leafs look like a taco maybe your light is to close.

This is what it looked like yesterday in my grow room. After I took this pic, I watered them lightly with some molasses and cal-mag mixed in. I’ve never added nutrients before, so I don’t think this will cause a problem. I used spring water this time, instead of reverse osmosis. When I went to bed last night, the leaves looks straighter, they didn’t seem as droopy. Not sure if I was imagining that though. I’m also curious to see what happens after I toss the males out this weekend, and transplant the girls into larger pots with a different soil.

If you can find the red solo cup in the photo, then you must be good at the Where's Waldo books, lol.

At first glance, the room might look good. Looking closer though, if you turn a blind eye to four terrible looking blueberry plants because they're so tough to grow, a lot of the plants have leaf issues.

I don’t do straight Blueberry well at all.

Fwiw, I have a little PSBC SC99 seedling in my room which I'm using as a test. It's in a red solo cup in just earthworm castings. It looks really healthy, I'm liking it!

It'll probably go into a 1 gallon pot this weekend, using Gro4 brand living, organic soil. This company is based out of Toronto and they were at the Lift show in BC earlier this year. The soil is well-fermented and its base is 40% EWC, with no fillers in the rest of the ammendments. No peat moss either. Let's see how it goes.

hillbill said:

I don’t do straight Blueberry well at all.

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Apparently, neither do I!

Just finished a 2 plant run of Northern Berry and have 2 3 week Northern Skunk, 1 is a little runty but we will hang with her.

hillbill said:

Just finished a 2 plant run of Northern Berry and have 2 3 week Northern Skunk, 1 is a little runty but we will hang with her.

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I have four of each growing, they’re some of the healthier looking ones in the room.
Northern Skunk and Kush Northern Lights also seem pretty robust.

How do you like the Northern Berry?

So last night I watered with spring water (instead of RO). I mixed some molasses and cal/mag into it first, this being my first time ever adding any nutrients.

When I came into the room tonight, the leaves seemed straighter and more level, instead of curved and droopy. They definitely seem a touch more alive, which is similar to the change I noticed when I topped with EWC last Friday. I thought I was imagining this but I confirmed after comparing to photos I took yesterday.

If they're looking better with added nutrients, then I feel like I've corrected at least one issue (realizing that there may be several). I'm starting to feel like they've been starved of certain nutrients, as opposed to suffering from nute-burn.

I culled 14 definite male plants tonight so my grow room is starting to look more manageable. I'm guessing I'll find maybe 5 or 6 more by the end of the weekend. In the meantime, I have about 50 gallons of a different brand of organic living soil being delivered to my home this Saturday. I'll be transplanting the girls into larger smart pots with this soil and see what happens.

GiovanniJones said:

With all of the reading I've been doing, it seems like they might be Cal/Mag deficient.
Is this likely? If it is, what's the best organic way to deal with it?

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More times then not you will run into cal mag issues in veg more then flower. I always feed calmag in veg whether it looks like it needs it or not and rarely have issues of any kind in veg along with grow nutes and floraMicrob

MicroHaze said:

Atmospheric conditions are a huge deal indoors dude. Particulary with soil in my opinion. I would make sure that your VPD is in check. VPD or Vapour Pressure Deficit
is sort of just a fancy way if saying “relationship between temp and humidity”. This relationship needs to be sussed out as part of the troubleshooting process. For example if you have temps of 80f and RH of 29% your plants are going to look miserable. I just want to throw that in there as it should be part of the conversation in the same way cal mag / compost teas / brands of soil are discussed as possible solutions. Google “cannabis VPD” in images. Print out one of those charts and make sure you are in a Temp/RH safe zone.

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This is accurate info, good job. The main thing affected by bad VPD is the rigor of the stem and limited ability to uptake nutrition. I find top dressings (light) of worm castings just above the root zone can help, some. But that VPD eventually has gotta raise up in veg.

Foliar spray of epsom salt solutions works fast magic in veg