I need a professional opinion

Hey guys so I'm on my 2nd grow and its been rather complicated. I guess ill start at the beginning and give you guys the clif notes so you have an understanding.

My grow set up consists of an AC Infinity 3X3 grow tent, ac infinity inline fan and a clip fan with the s33 LED light. The fan is vented out the window.

Ac infinity 5gallon cloth pots, with ac infinity self watering cloth pot trays.

Im running Rabit creek farm "easy grow soil" ( easygrowsoil.com) I used this on my 1st grow and it worked good as far as i know, its a "just add water " soil. The label just has a picture and no list of ingredients, which became an issue. What I can tell you is its peat-based, its local to upstate ny and the guy who makes it is kinda secretive about whats in it. Before you ask yess I did reach out to him and asked what was in it and the answer was "its peat-based has wormcastings and other organic meals"

So, moving on I purchased some seeds from my local hydroponic store, I got some ethos genetics seeds. With the seeds I purchased I was given some free seeds (grandpas cookies #6 X zwag #23) before the purchase of thies seeds I was having a hard time germinating a pack of seeds I baught before. Long story short I was keeping the dome lid on to long and they, well...died. so I didn't want to waste another $50 of seeds so I took the 3 free seeds that came with my purchase of ethos mandarin cookies #2 and germinated them 1 of the 3 was ready to go in a day or 2, the other 2 took like a week.

So i finally didn't kill the seedlings. so I kept growing the free seeds and have yet to open the mandarin cookies. So when I baught the seeds the guy at the hydro store told me the free seeds were "fire" and "not to sleep on them because there free". So fast forward a bit and the plants were not doing so hot they had brown spots on them, and i was told from some members of the forum that they had bugs.Turns out there were never any bugs and it was some deficiency.

Further down the line the plants started to get light green color after i added a 4th of gaia green 4-4-4 to the plants as a top dress. The reason I did this was because my 1st grow went great until the nutrients were all used up, so for out of fear I added the gaia green in less then half the directed dose. Gaia Green is a slow release dry amendment. Unfortunately after I added the gaia green, the plants (from the free seeds) started to get light green colored shortly after. The 4th plant which was a seed I got in an 8th of Bacio Gelato, looked perfect. No deficiency no problems what so ever.

So the 3 free seed plants continued to get lighter on the top leaves and the lower leaves started to get blotchy. I was told the plants had lock-out, so I flushed 2.5 gal of water through them. A few members suggested I do this to fix the lock-out. Still not much of a change, the 4th plant still lookin great and I didn't do anything different same water ([email protected]) same soil, literally same everything.

So father down the road brings us to the current time (8 weeks) the 3 plants still lacking the normal healthy green color and now unfortunately the 4th plant turned out to be a male, still looks great but its a male so its useless. So whats left is the 3 plants from the free seeds and there not looking that great. They also got really tall for my tent, there's not much room left. They need to be flipped into flower but I've been trying to eradicate the problems there having. As of now I think the problems aren't me, or lock-out or something else. In my opinion the problem is there just bad genetics, the seeds were free. If its not the genetics then this strain is just super pussy to everything

So my questions are:

1. should I cut my losses now at 8 weeks, start over with the mandarin cookies from ethos? I'm assuming bad genetics would have bad quality/ small yelled?

2. The soil, if i was to start over would it be possible to salvage the soil i have now, atleast some of it? About a week ago I baught another bag of the easy grow soil and dug out some soil from the 5gallon pots and put fresh new soil in as a top dress. I did this thinking maybe the plants ate all the nutrients out of the soil and i figured if i added more of the same soil it wouldn't burn or harm the plants in anyway.


As much as starting over @8weeks would suck. It seems shorter to me then finishing the grow with a possible bad yelled. Not to mention the plants haven't been flipped yet and when they do it would still be months away until harvest. So if your reading this can you give me your honest opinion pls?

Maybe im wrong and the plants aren't that bad ....tks in advance for your time

I attached a picture of the grow to give you a visual

The plants aren't that bad and you'll learn tons finishing them. I was one who thought it was pests so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'd flip those now and get it finished. I'd also cut them back ruthlessly, 4 colas each plant.

I agree they don’t look to bad. The one in back left corner is pretty droopy from maybe over or under watering but other than they aren’t too bad off. One looks like it’s dark green while the others are looking lighter in color. So all you have added is 4th a dose of Gia green 4-4-4?

That rabbit creek farms is in Groton so not far from me at all. I wouldn’t take what the fella tells you as truth and you’re better off building your own soil.
Here is where I’m going to tell you different than most. I wouldn’t grow soil as a first grow I would do DTW coco with synthetic nutrients. It’s so simple you do the same exact thing every single day so it’s so easy to not mess up and you can automate most of it. And you will get far better results. But for your first grow just try to get them to the finish line

The catalyst is that soil - there is no reason to keep actual ingredients in soil mix “ secret “ … which usually means questionable amendments ( ingredients ) like “ aged forest products “ - in other words wood scraps / sawdust / etc. as an example. Plus no way to now where that mix falls in ACTUAL PH - so you may be chasing your tail.

I am thinking if you change that host medium to something else - lurk the grow journals and see what others use. Promix / sunshine 4 / black magic / recipe 420 / Dr. Earth.

Lots of times those “ boutique blends “ , “ super soils “ are no better than standard retail mixes.

Gaia green 4-4-4 is fine but will take some time to break down and become available.

You will find many complete bagged soils are technically “ water only “ … and will need minor recharges as plant exhausts it. Keeping things simple will solve a lot of issues.

Treesomewanted77 said:

I agree they don’t look to bad. The one in back left corner is pretty droopy from maybe over or under watering but other than they aren’t too bad off. One looks like it’s dark green while the others are looking lighter in color. So all you have added is 4th a dose of Gia green 4-4-4?

Click to expand...

The recommended "dose" is 1 tbsp for every gallon of soil. I did a little less than half of that. It was a month ago yesterday i have a reminder on my grow with jane app. I didn't add any again because I basically did a top dress with fresh soil. Like i literally removed some from the tops of the pots around the plant and filled them back to the top with the easy grow soil. Idk if thats a good idea but logically it seemed like one.

Weirdly enough some spots of the plants got darker green and some just stayed the same

curious2garden said:

The plants aren't that bad and you'll learn tons finishing them. I was one who thought it was pests so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'd flip those now and get it finished. I'd also cut them back ruthlessly, 4 colas each plant.

Click to expand...

Cut them back 4 collas?

Budzbuddha said:

The catalyst is that soil - there is no reason to keep actual ingredients in soil mix “ secret “ … which usually means questionable amendments ( ingredients ) like “ aged forest products “ - in other words wood scraps / sawdust / etc. as an example. Plus no way to now where that mix falls in ACTUAL PH - so you may be chasing your tail.

I am thinking if you change that host medium to something else - lurk the grow journals and see what others use. Promix / sunshine 4 / black magic / recipe 420 / Dr. Earth.

Lots of times those “ boutique blends “ , “ super soils “ are no better than standard retail mixes.

Gaia green 4-4-4 is fine but will take some time to break down and become available.

You will find many complete bagged soils are technically “ water only “ … and will need minor recharges as plant exhausts it. Keeping things simple will solve a lot of issues.

Click to expand...

Yea im not trying to complicate things. The 1st grow i used this soil and once a week I would water from the top with recharge. Thats what the guy at the store told me to do, he never mentioned anything about adding amendments. During the flowering cycle the plants used up all the nutrients from the soil. I baught the gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 added it and I had to wait like almost 2 weeks for it to start feeding the plants. I had no idea thats what would happen. I seen gaia green from the Canadian dude on YouTube. I think he's called "Mr Canucks". His grow seemed really easy and simple, plus he was getting great looking bud

Treesomewanted77 said:

That rabbit creek farms is in Groton so not far from me at all. I wouldn’t take what the fella tells you as truth and you’re better off building your own soil.
Here is where I’m going to tell you different than most. I wouldn’t grow soil as a first grow I would do DTW coco with synthetic nutrients. It’s so simple you do the same exact thing every single day so it’s so easy to not mess up and you can automate most of it. And you will get far better results. But for your first grow just try to get them to the finish line

Click to expand...

Im in the 607 brome County area. Is that what you do when you grow? What bottle nutrients do you use? Idk if its true or not but one of the reasons I wanted to grow organic is because from what I hear the bud taste better and what not. I cant say one way or the other from experience though

Also the pic i uploaded doesn't really show the plants from the bottom up. I basically "lollipop'd" them so idk how much I could cut back. I toped them when there was 5 or 6 nodes. Since then ove been doing the "low stress training" but like I said they got tall as I was trying to solve the problems. So now there tied down some are even in an "S" shape. I had to tape one of them because it got a little split in the noode. Looking back I guess that was a bad idea.

Here's a few more pics, still think they aren't that bad?

Jimi O'Connor said:

Also the pic i uploaded doesn't really show the plants from the bottom up. I basically "lollipop'd" them so idk how much I could cut back. I toped them when there was 5 or 6 nodes. Since then ove been doing the "low stress training" but like I said they got tall as I was trying to solve the problems. So now there tied down some are even in an "S" shape. I had to tape one of them because it got a little split in the noode. Looking back I guess that was a bad idea.

Here's a few more pics, still think they aren't that bad?

Click to expand...

Don't expect to get everything right starting out! They don't look to bad! It took me many years before I had a green plant from start to finish. Cheers!

Jimi O'Connor said:

Im in the 607 brome County area. Is that what you do when you grow? What bottle nutrients do you use? Idk if its true or not but one of the reasons I wanted to grow organic is because from what I hear the bud taste better and what not. I cant say one way or the other from experience though

Click to expand...

Yeah I’m in 607 chenango county area so we are close. I was in Binghamton all day today working.
Some may say the organics taste better but the nutrients are the same wether they come from an animals ass or synthetic all synthetic nutrients are is attached to salts until it’s mixed with water then they separate. But it’s the same ingredients as far as I know. I do know for sure you will get bigger tighter buds growing in any hydro medium like coco or straight water hydro. If you want to try coco go to the hydro shop in endicott and get a bag of cloud coir and a bottle of flora nova bloom and of coarse the PH solutions and run DTW and start feeding shortly after they sprout at very low dose say just few drops per gal then as they grow slowly bring up the feed rate. I use a PPM pen and never go over 700ppm at peak bloom so start at say 250-300 and work up to that during the stretch. You can hand water once a day to runoff and you don’t need anything bigger than 3gal pots. Feed every single day to runoff. You can get away with every other day during the early stages of veg but come bloom do it everyday.
You can DM me for more details. I have a buddy on here that lives in Broome county that can attest to this working great for him. He started in soil and will never touch it again lol. But I would try to finish these first before changing everything

Jimi O'Connor said:

The recommended "dose" is 1 tbsp for every gallon of soil. I did a little less than half of that. It was a month ago yesterday i have a reminder on my grow with jane app. I didn't add any again because I basically did a top dress with fresh soil. Like i literally removed some from the tops of the pots around the plant and filled them back to the top with the easy grow soil. Idk if thats a good idea but logically it seemed like one.

Weirdly enough some spots of the plants got darker green and some just stayed the same

Click to expand...

Affected leafs won’t turn green again just pay attention to the new growth. Don’t get hung up on the damaged stuff

Jimi O'Connor said:

Also the pic i uploaded doesn't really show the plants from the bottom up. I basically "lollipop'd" them so idk how much I could cut back. I toped them when there was 5 or 6 nodes. Since then ove been doing the "low stress training" but like I said they got tall as I was trying to solve the problems. So now there tied down some are even in an "S" shape. I had to tape one of them because it got a little split in the noode. Looking back I guess that was a bad idea.

Here's a few more pics, still think they aren't that bad?

Click to expand...

Yeah they don’t look to bad. Your tent is pretty full and you probably should have flipped them to flower a little sooner but it’s best to wait till they are fully healthy before flipping them. But for a first grow your doing fine don’t get down on your self and don’t stress it to much and definitely don’t over love them remember it’s just a weed really not much different than say golden rod it’s a tough ass plant.

Jimi O'Connor said:

Im in the 607 brome County area. Is that what you do when you grow? What bottle nutrients do you use? Idk if its true or not but one of the reasons I wanted to grow organic is because from what I hear the bud taste better and what not. I cant say one way or the other from experience though

Click to expand...

Myth

Treesomewanted77 said:

Yeah I’m in 607 chenango county area so we are close. I was in Binghamton all day today working.
Some may say the organics taste better but the nutrients are the same wether they come from an animals ass or synthetic all synthetic nutrients are is attached to salts until it’s mixed with water then they separate. But it’s the same ingredients as far as I know. I do know for sure you will get bigger tighter buds growing in any hydro medium like coco or straight water hydro. If you want to try coco go to the hydro shop in endicott and get a bag of cloud coir and a bottle of flora nova bloom and of coarse the PH solutions and run DTW and start feeding shortly after they sprout at very low dose say just few drops per gal then as they grow slowly bring up the feed rate. I use a PPM pen and never go over 700ppm at peak bloom so start at say 250-300 and work up to that during the stretch. You can hand water once a day to runoff and you don’t need anything bigger than 3gal pots. Feed every single day to runoff. You can get away with every other day during the early stages of veg but come bloom do it everyday.
You can DM me for more details. I have a buddy on here that lives in Broome county that can attest to this working great for him. He started in soil and will never touch it again lol. But I would try to finish these first before changing everything

Click to expand...

607 grew up cortland county smallworld, glad to see some neighbors

Jamie0715 said:

607 grew up cortland county smallworld, glad to see some neighbors

Click to expand...

I’m just outside cortland county. It’s one hill over to my east.

I agree with ditching that soil and using anything else for your next run. I would try to keep this one going if nothing else than to gain more experience. Then when you have a better soil you will feel like it's a breeze..

Treesomewanted77 said:

Yeah I’m in 607 chenango county area so we are close. I was in Binghamton all day today working.
Some may say the organics taste better but the nutrients are the same wether they come from an animals ass or synthetic all synthetic nutrients are is attached to salts until it’s mixed with water then they separate. But it’s the same ingredients as far as I know. I do know for sure you will get bigger tighter buds growing in any hydro medium like coco or straight water hydro. If you want to try coco go to the hydro shop in endicott and get a bag of cloud coir and a bottle of flora nova bloom and of coarse the PH solutions and run DTW and start feeding shortly after they sprout at very low dose say just few drops per gal then as they grow slowly bring up the feed rate. I use a PPM pen and never go over 700ppm at peak bloom so start at say 250-300 and work up to that during the stretch. You can hand water once a day to runoff and you don’t need anything bigger than 3gal pots. Feed every single day to runoff. You can get away with every other day during the early stages of veg but come bloom do it everyday.
You can DM me for more details. I have a buddy on here that lives in Broome county that can attest to this working great for him. He started in soil and will never touch it again lol. But I would try to finish these first before changing everything

Click to expand...

So what pen do you have? I suppose it would be a good investment for the future. Right now I'm low on fund's, just got hammered at te vet with bills for my now special needs dog. So id be in the market for a good but not expensive ppm pen in the near future

ALPHA.GanjaGuy said:

I agree with ditching that soil and using anything else for your next run. I would try to keep this one going if nothing else than to gain more experience. Then when you have a better soil you will feel like it's a breeze..

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Will I even get good bud to smoke? Or is this a total shit show?