Philosophical Question.

I love you guys. You love bud like me. Im growing because Im almost 60 and dont have a decent connect. I lost my last great connect about a year ago. He was a grower of bubbeljack clone. A real green thumb. He was a great grower. He got me going. Unfortunately he is now out of business for reasons not interesting here.

I lost the clone crop he gave me. He gave me too much, with too little education. It was a big loss.

Now Im trying on my own from seed. I have white widow and another seed Im calling “heart of stone”.

Can anyone tell me why growing a weed is so hard? Ive had about 10 crops in my time and everyone has been a hassle. Whats the deal?

Thanks for the website!

June 23

Im using a sun system with an HPS enhanced specturm hot lux 600 watt lamp. My ballest is a galaxy.

I used it for a failed hydro crop using 5 gal buckets in a deep well system. It was hard and time consuming to change water. I should have had drain plugs. That crop was a fialure but I learned a lot about managing a solution and got introduced to the nutrient side of things.

This crop is going into dirt. I used peet germinating pots and a couple of flourescent grow lights from first appearance of the plant. I have them in a closet. After about a week they were spindly and tipping over.

I have now switched over to the sun system using the hand check method postioning about a foot from the plants.

I have used plastic sticks and plastic bag ties to hold them up and plan to transplant them into five gallon buckets with soil, some rock on the bottom and drain holes. Im thinking about burying the plants so most of their stem is underground. The plant should be sturdier then, but am wondering how deep? Im probably going to try as little dirt as possible around the stem to get the plant self supporting.

If the plants survive their first crises Im hoping my stronger light and better bulb will put an end to this problem. Ive got 2 weeks or a little more into it so far.

June 24

Moved 4 plants into 5 gal pails using dirt from rapid grow. Its a light dirt with an earthy smell. I put 2 plants in each bucket because I dont have enough room for 10 buckets.

I buried the plants/peat pots about 3 inches down to support stems leaving about 1 inch up. I still have six plants in the pots.

I figure some of the plants will be males so maybe half the pots will end up with one plant.

Plants seem to be doing ok. Leaves got bigger but not growing real fast.

The 5 gal pails take up more room. The main shine field of the light wont be able to cover the plants as long as it remains about a foot above. ONce the plants get stronger and generate more follage Ill raise the light higher. Then the problem of the young stems getting spindly will be over.

June 25

slight yellowing appearing on two plants in one of the buckets. all other plants look good. Not transplanting any more until I see how the first ones do. I think Ill wait at least until Saturday of Sunday.

June 26

One of the plants with yellow spots also has a split on one of the yellowing leaves. This is not dryness plants are turged and moist. I applied an anti fungal although the directions were cautious about putting it on young plants.

June 27

Ive noticed the transplanted plants are doing much better than the plants in the peat germanating pots. Im going to move all plants over to 5 gal. buckets tom. Im staying with 2 per bucket. Some will be males and on average every female plant should, in the end, have the room it needs.

My wife and I have decided we want a crop. Optimization will come later. For now we have held seeds in reserve and are trying to get a few buds. We still have 10 "heart of stone" and 20 white widow.

The plant I treated yesterday with the anti fungal has turned black a long a split that appeared in the leaf. I crumbled the dead tissue off. It is not doing well but hanging in there. Its pot mate has picked up and looking good but the yellow spots persist. they have not spread to the other plants, I should add these are the pots I had my hydro failure crop in last winter. (I did smoke some dead leaf from that crop tonight and caught a minor buzz)

Im having some leaf turn down and yellowing on the plant leaves that remain in the peat germinating pots. I hope tomorrows transplanting will lead to a better condition for these boys.

What type of ventilation do you have? Do you have a fan blowing on the plants? It helps with stem development. It sounds like the 5 gal pots maybe a bit big for just seedlings (Iam ripped so maybe I misunderstood )

Also, let your soil get good and dry before you water again. Marijuana doesn't like wet feet. I would also suggest you not "fuss" over them so much. No nutes, no fungicides...check your PH and try to keep it around 6.5

SuperThrive seems to help my plants get off to a good start with proper root development. It's more a plant vitamin than nutes. I am not familar with the soil you are using but make sure you have about 30% perilite. It helps get air to your roots. Remember, if you take care of your soil, your plants will be beautiful.

I hope some of these ideas help. There are alot of good growers on this site. Just keep asking for help and listen to what the guru's say. I always learn something from reading this site. Good luck with your grow and your strains are next level. I have a White Widow in veg as we speak.

Agree with Rocky Top High. Pots sound a bit big for seedlings - they will take way too much water so your roots are going to be saturated for a long time before the seedlings can use it up. Can leads to root rot and your plants won't get enough food. Smaller pots with one plant per pot would be a much better way to go. And perlite is a must for proper drainage and getting air to the roots. A fan is a must also - it will strengthen your stems and get more CO2 to the leaves which helps growth no end.

Don't feed the plants until they show signs of needing it. All soil, even soil without added nutes, has enough nutrients and trace elements to feed plants for several weeks. Soil with added nutes (I don't know "Rapid Grow" but it sounds like it probably has extra nutes) can feed for several months. Adding even more nutes prematurely can cause nute burn to the roots and leaves, so best to hold back.

As Rocky Top High said, try not to fuss too much. Good soil, light and air-flow is all they need at the moment. Only water when they need it (in the right sized pots every three or four days is the norm). Keep an eye on temperature and ph and don't feed too soon and all should be well. Good luck, hope it works out for you this time

Thanks for the replies. I have been putting a little water on each pot every day. Ill let them dry a bit. Unfortunately I let some seedlings get rootbound. they arent doing as well as the others but all seem healthy.

I guess I dont understand why a big pot is better than a little one. I planted in the ground before which is an infinite size I guess.

I pulled one pot outside and am letting it enjoy the sun. The seeds I have explicitly said indoor only.

Right now Im sure Im going to get some bud. Its going to be about 4 weeks away or so.

Ive been reading everything and have to really be amazed at the talent displayed on the site. Ill be growing now for the rest of my time.

Right now Im working on my camera and will have pics soon. Grow good bud! Help each other out and get a nice buzz!!

Ps. Ill get the fan. Im also going to build the oder neutralizer machine found in another thread.

well I am on my first grow but I know what you mean. I was having all kinds of problems with my plants at first. them I switched to Hempy bucket witch is a simple hydro system anyone can do just like soil. I have had exploded growth with my two I am doing this way. I have two females and a male the male has always been 3 inches taller than the girls but since I have put the girls in their hempy buckets they are taller than the male that is still in dirt. they are easy and great search them on here and you will have tons of info.

Weed is only hard to grow when you fuss over it, I put a seed in a big pile of dirt that I had from digging a garden and the stalk on it was the size of 3 of my fingers, no nutes, no extra watering...nothing. Just let mother nature do it's work growing your plants, save your electricity bill during veg, then bring them inside during flowering

A little lesson is to not pay too much attention to seedlings,
you should only start to care when they get to a foot high and you can actually help them, other than that you got to just leave them alone I'd say.

growing weed is not hard as long as u know what u are doing..

Hello, High Top ...

Most of us had difficulty when we first started growing. Most of the time the diffiulties come because we "love" our plants to death. These MJ plants are tough survivors and yet, we manage to kill them. Usually its due to over watering, burning them by over fertilizing them, too much heat, or doing something really dumb. One thing to keep in mind is that not all advise given on these various cannabis boards is valid. Remember ... school is out. ~lol~

Here's some tips for you: Based upon your post, your babies are quite small. You're using a 600 watt lamp only one foot away from the little ones. Raise that light up to like 36" above the plants until they really get going. Then lower it gradually over a period of a week or two.

Go to your local nursery and buy a Moisture Meter. They cost around ten bucks. Water as indicated by the moisture meter.

Use a good soil mix and fertilizers. Here's a link for the fertilizers. You can order them on line from this site: http://www.jacksclassic.com/

Vegging: Peter's "Jack's Classic" 20-20-20.
Flowering: Peter's "Jack's Classic Blossom Booster" 10-30-20.

MJ plants LOVE this stuff. Just be sure to not exceed 1/4 strength throughout the grow.

Hope this helps ...

Vi