Lots of issues in late flower, PLEASE HELP! First grow, Coco Coir, day 49F

Hey,

So I germ'd these seeds on April 16th, sprouted on the 20th, vegged for nearly two months and flipped to 12/12 on June 8th, so they are now 49 days/7 weeks into flowering. This was the first plant I've ever grown, not once had a houseplant or anything, so this has been a HUGE learning experience. Here is all the info on my setup, then below I'll go into more detail about the issues I'm dealing with and I'll put some pics.

My setup:
  • 4 ft x 4ft tent
  • 480w 3000K Quantum Board LED with 660nm UV red.
  • 5 gal smart pots
  • 100% Canna Coco
  • Emerald Harvest 3 part base nutrients
  • RH between 40 - 60% depending on weather and temps, I have a dehumidifier running 24/7
  • Temps are almost always below 26 celsius (79F), and always above 16 celsius (60F).
  • 2 fans running under canopy and one above.
  • They are scrogged with the net about 12" above the pots.
  • 4 plants, 2 GELAT.OG and 2 Gorilla Glue #4
Here is what I am feeding them:
  • 8ml/gal Emerald Harvest Bloom (NPK 0-5-4)
  • 3ml/gal Emerald Harvest Grow (NPK 2-1-6)
  • 6ml/gal Emerald Harvest Micro (NPK 5-0-1)
  • 4ml/gal Emerald Harvest CalMag (NPK 2-0-0)
  • This mix comes to ~750PPM and I always PH between 5.8 and 6.2
I was previously also feeding all of the Emerald Harvest additives, they have a Terpene and Resin Enhancer called Honey Chome, a premium plant tonic called Emerald Goddess, and a Bloom Booster called King Kola, I was feeding all of these until I ran out of King Kola, then I stopped feeding the other two based on advice I got online saying that I was just complicating things further.

All was going well until about a week or two ago when I started seeing some nute burn, which then turned into brown spotting, and various other issues. I posted on THCFarmer and was told to flush my plants because of possible salt buildup, so I ran 32 litres (8 gallons) of PH'd CalMag water through each plant, then followed up with that ~750PPM nute mix I mentioned above. I'm quite positive that this must have been an effective flush as I was removing gallons and gallons of clear run-off.

I also received advice to start watering twice daily instead of once, so I have been doing a half gallon for each plant twice a day, which gets me a generous amount of run-off, but doesn't seem to have done much other than help the fungus gnats multiply... At least I think they are fungus gnats, really worried they could be root aphids but I'm not sure what to do about it this late in flower, plus they don't seem to be causing any issues and no matter how hard I look I can't see any larvae crawling around in the coco.

I have also been seeing what looks like Nitrogen toxicity in a few of the plants for a long time, and no matter what I do with the nutes, that issue persists. A couple of the plants also hermied on me and have been seeded, but not super badly, I've only pulled off one set of nanners a few weeks ago, and then maybe 2 or 3 seeds last week and none since then, although it is very difficult for me to check underneath the canopy for any hiding in the lower area because I can't get under the SCROG net. I have also noticed that on my taller plants, the upper leaves are kind of curling in like a taco, and the tips are pointing up.

I am thinking it may be a potassium deficiency but I really don't know, it also looks like it could be light burn as the issues are more pronounced on the Gorilla Glue plants which stretched up much closer to the light, I can try dimming the light, but raising it will be quite difficult although it is possible. Lots of the leaves have also been feeling quite crispy.

Here are some pics and I have written all my questions below because I have some other random questions that I would love to have somebody more experienced answer for me! The darker fatter leaves are the GELAT.OG while the lighter, skinnier and more yellowish leaves are the GG#4.

Leaf symptoms:

IMG_3188.jpgIMG_3189.jpgIMG_3157.jpgIMG_3182.jpgIMG_3163.jpg

Some nice bud pics for fun:

IMG_3185.jpgIMG_3196.jpg

Some pics for scale:

IMG_3191.jpgIMG_3193.jpg

My whole crop!

IMG_3198.jpg

So here are my questions!

  1. What do you think is causing the spotting/burnt tips/leaf symptoms?
  2. If it is light burn that is causing some of the symptoms, is it better to raise the light or dim the light?
  3. Is it too late to remove lower branches? There are lots of lower branches as I didn't do very much pruning before flipping, but now I just have a lot of under developed bitch buds, if I remove these now I'd probably just dry em out in the sun and smoke them.
  4. Do the buds look the right size for 49 days in Flower? They look very small compared to photos I've seen online of plants on the same day of flower.
  5. How long till harvest do you think, is it time for me to buy a microscope to check trichs?
  6. Any guess on the yield? Was hoping for a pound so that I don't have to buy buds again, as me and the wife are struggling with funds at the moment and we smoke about an ounce a week together...
This has been causing me massive amounts of stress lately and I'd really appreciate any advice, this has been a big learning experience and I'm super excited for the next grow, but I wanna finish this one out smoothly first.
 
Also any suggestions on how to deal with the gnats this late in flower would be greatly appreciated, I've started a slightly barbaric population control method of sucking them up with my shop-vac while I remove run-off, trying to send a message to any of them still in the tent.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
For those gnat bishes. What worked for me...
Mosquito dunks. Crush them up and sprinkle all across the top of your pots. Feeding thru it will disperse the bacteria into the coco. You can also drop a donut in your nute water.

Stickys for adults.

After a week or two. No more gnats.
 

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
You look to be in pretty good shape for where your at in flower. Large, old fan leaves act as "nutrient batteries" for buds. They die off as flowering progresses. And yes, i see about a pound there.
 
You look to be in pretty good shape for where your at in flower. Large, old fan leaves act as "nutrient batteries" for buds. They die off as flowering progresses. And yes, i see about a pound there.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE NEEDED TO HEAR!!!

Haha so many people online saying things are not good. So you think the leaf damage is ok and just part of the natural cycle? I knew that the leaves would fade or maybe die off but I didn't expect it to look like this. I should be expecting them to really start bulking up now right?
 
For those gnat bishes. What worked for me...
Mosquito dunks. Crush them up and sprinkle all across the top of your pots. Feeding thru it will disperse the bacteria into the coco. You can also drop a donut in your nute water.

Stickys for adults.

After a week or two. No more gnats.

Yeah, I think mosquito dunks are not available here in Aus but I may be wrong, I have been having a hard time finding what I see on American websites on local websites. Will get some yellow traps though.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
No fun. Been there, I grow in coco as well. And I've had similar issues.

Feeding less often with higher EC often causes problems with 'salt buildup', and lockouts.

Not familar with your nutes.

Check out cocoforcannabis.com

tox-lockout.jpg
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
This was one of my problems. Too much K. Coco has K. My nutes were high in K. Boom.
potassium-excess-in-a-cannabis-plant-e1568202330791~2.jpg

Amount of K in coco varies by brand and how prepared.
 

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
WOOOOOOOOOOOO. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE NEEDED TO HEAR!!!

Haha so many people online saying things are not good. So you think the leaf damage is ok and just part of the natural cycle? I knew that the leaves would fade or maybe die off but I didn't expect it to look like this. I should be expecting them to really start bulking up now right?
Yeah if your 49 days into flower, your issues arent bad. It doesnt look like you defoliated much throughout their life and because of that, they are killing off old veg growth on their own. Its the cycle of life.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
Seeing as I flushed a couple days ago, I may just think about reducing the Bloom nutes very slightly rather than flushing again. This does sound exactly like my issues though. This forum is wayyyy better than THC farmer hahahha
Curious. Did you ever test runoff ppm before that first flush?

 
Curious. Did you ever test runoff ppm before that first flush?

Sadly no, I was told to but the plants are stuck under the scrog and their run-off trays have some dried up salts in them that influence the reading directly in the tray. I wasn't able to find a way to get the run-off before it hit the tray. Throughout veg I did test run-off though and it was consistently half of the input ppm, not sure how relevant that is though
 
Curious. Did you ever test runoff ppm before that first flush?

I'm wondering if maybe I should stop feeding CalMag or lower it to maybe 2ml/gal? My PPMs would probably only be around 650 then I reckon, maybe a little lower. Could it have something to do with the Canna Coco I'm using, came in bags and I've heard somethign about the Calcium contained in the coco.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
I'm wondering if maybe I should stop feeding CalMag or lower it to maybe 2ml/gal? My PPMs would probably only be around 650 then I reckon, maybe a little lower. Could it have something to do with the Canna Coco I'm using, came in bags and I've heard somethign about the Calcium contained in the coco.
For where you are in flower, reducing the Calmag is common. I would lower it. Excess Ca locks out K, I've done that too! Doh. Lol

Bagged canna is good stuff.
Coco sucks up some of the Ca in our nutes. And adds K and N to the mix. How much all depends on the coco being used. Type/prepped/charged w calmg, it varies.

I roll with 1 or 2 gallon fabrics.
 
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For where you are in flower, reducing the Calmag is common. I would lower it. Excess Ca locks out K, I've done that too! Doh. Lol

Bagged canna is good stuff.
Coco sucks up some of the Ca in our nutes. And adds K and N to the mix. How much all depends on the coco being used. Type/prepped/charged w calmg, it varies.

I roll with 1 or 2 gallon fabrics.
Your plants look happy as fuck! I'll lower the CalMag to 2ml/gal starting tonight. Do you flush your plants or no? I'm not sure what the best way to go is as I don't want to deprive the plants of nutes if they need them, but def want the best end product possible.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
Your plants look happy as fuck! I'll lower the CalMag to 2ml/gal starting tonight. Do you flush your plants or no? I'm not sure what the best way to go is as I don't want to deprive the plants of nutes if they need them, but def want the best end product possible.

Thanks! Hopefully more of the same when I start up this fall.

Check your feed charts.
optimal-npk-values-growing-cannabis-sm.jpg
 
Here are some pics I got today of the worsening symptoms + a couple shots from lights out, they look crazy nice with the camera flash!

Was wondering if you guys thought I should try to adjust my feed to fix this or just keep as is till harvest? I did already move to 2ml/gal CalMag

Symptoms:

IMG_3234.jpgIMG_3238.jpg

some nice lights out pics! for my first grow I'm quite pleased with how frosty these are, just hoping they bulk up a good amount.

IMG_3226.jpgIMG_3218.jpg

I'm 50 days into 12/12 now. The GELAT.OG claims to be an 8-9 week strain and the GG#4 says it is the same. I think the Gelato will be done first but I'm not sure. Really hoping I can harvest at the same time as I don't have a separate space prepared for drying. Any ideas? Also, do you think I should get a USB microscope now so I can start checking or you reckon I could wait a week or so? I definitely don't want to harvest early at all.
 

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
Personally i wouldnt change anything. And your second side by side pic... the one on the right will finish much sooner.
 
Personally i wouldnt change anything. And your second side by side pic... the one on the right will finish much sooner.
Damn, I'm not sure how I'm going to dry then. The plan was to do it in the tent but that was relying on them finishing up together! You got any ideas for a cheap drying setup? My main concern is I'm in an illegal area (Aus), so the smell needs to be concealed, I could possible get some kind of Y-joint for the exhaust fan and run ducting to 2 areas but I'm not sure what to use for the drying area. A cardboard box thats tall or maybe a large plastic tub?

It just needs to be cool, dark and not too humid right?
 
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