Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to grow my first crop. I'm kind of far into the grow, I had been getting my advice from another forum, but never got much feedback, and this one seems like a better bet. Hopefully I haven't screwed up too much yet. I'll give as much info as I know offhand and some pictures, if you guys could just tell me how I'm doing, I'd appreciate any advice. I did notice some odd yellowing patterns on some of my leaves, no one on the other forum could help diagnose it. You'll notice some browned leaves, thats because some of my lights fell the other day and burned them. So I used miracle grow soil, which I was told was a bad thing (oops newbie mistake) but these plants have been in soil for a few months so there shouldn't bee too much of the original nutrients left. I am now using miracle grow fertilizer, every couple weeks during vegging its 24-8-16. I have schultz bloom fert for when i start budding its 10-54-10, but they haven't gotten any of that yet. I give them 18 hours of light a day. They are lit mainly by 2 four foot flourescent plant grow lights made by ott-lite. This is supplemented by 3 incandescant plant grow lights which are mainly in there to keep temperatures correct. They are right around 80 degrees during the day. I also have 2 small HPS lights for once I start budding, but I have not used them yet. I belive i have a ph problem. the ph is just over 7 according to a soil tester, I have tested my runoff water it shows about the same. I water with a ph lowered soloution, but it doesn't seem to come down much if at all. There is a fan circulating air in the closet and i usually don't keep the door closed tight but there is a curtain in the doorway which stays closed even when the door is open. I try to keep a C02 generator going in there but it usually runs out for a few days before i recharge it. I water when the soil feels dry about an inch deep. Untill recently I was only giving them about 12-24oz when they seemed dry but I have recently begun watering untill i have runoff coming out of the pots, and therefore water much less often.
plant advice for newbie
- Thread starter Tetley
- Start date
situation is getting worse, i'm now seeing brown spots on some of the leaves seems like i'm really getting nutrient lockout problems and i still can't bring the ph down. I watered them again with ph adjusted water, around 5.5 and added sawdust but my runoff and soil both test over 7. i'm really desparate for some advice i don't think these plants are gonna last much longer if i can't figure out what to do.
desertrat
Well-Known Member
welcome to riu. spotted a couple of things you can think about.
1. your plants are really stretched and sparse from too little/too far away lights. add your other lights and it should fill out.
2. for your next grow make sure to modify your soil with perlite to improve drainage.
3. keep it simple - soil, water, nutrients and light- its a weed and it will grow. save the advanced stuff like co2 until you've got the basics down.
1. your plants are really stretched and sparse from too little/too far away lights. add your other lights and it should fill out.
2. for your next grow make sure to modify your soil with perlite to improve drainage.
3. keep it simple - soil, water, nutrients and light- its a weed and it will grow. save the advanced stuff like co2 until you've got the basics down.
i keep the fluorescent lights within 2 inches of the plants at all times. and i added perlite to the soil before planting. i didn't think c02 could hurt the plant, its just a jug with sugar water and yeast.
How much light should I add to the setup, would another pair of 48" fluorescent do the trick? also if I add more should i get ott-lite plant tubes again, or should i just go for 1 cool white and one soft white?
could the lights be what is causing the spotty leaves, brown spots or will lights just help them be fuller? can lights affect my ph?
How much light should I add to the setup, would another pair of 48" fluorescent do the trick? also if I add more should i get ott-lite plant tubes again, or should i just go for 1 cool white and one soft white?
could the lights be what is causing the spotty leaves, brown spots or will lights just help them be fuller? can lights affect my ph?
desertrat
Well-Known Member
you should add your hps lamps now - then keep using all of your lights throughout the grow. lights are not causing your plant problems, check out
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/1469-marijuana-plant-problems-cures.html for ideas.
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/1469-marijuana-plant-problems-cures.html for ideas.
ok, i'll fire up the hps, i thought it was bad to use them before i started budding. They are small, only 120w between the two of them is that enough?
is there a way to lower ph without watering the plants more? every plant problem guide i've seen makes me think the ph is my main problem.
Thanks for the advice desertrat
is there a way to lower ph without watering the plants more? every plant problem guide i've seen makes me think the ph is my main problem.
Thanks for the advice desertrat
desertrat
Well-Known Member
1. how many plants/how big is your grow space??
2. no, but a couple of thoughts. the common type of soil ph tester is pretty cheap and subject to error. also, did you thouroughly flush the soil with ph treated water so that a lot of excess water came out of the bottom of the pot?
Dr.green Lief
Active Member
Hey I am was wondering if you can mix LED panels with flo tubes?? or when u use LED's is that all you can use with them
You have 2 four foot fluoroescents for 10 square feet? Thats no where near the amount of light you need bro, your plant is very stretched and yield will be low with that setup. 2 four foot fluoro bulbs are like 30 watts total, you want close to 700-1000 watts. gonna need more lights, shoulda had those HPS on them this whole time they work good for veg too. Incandescent grow lights are next to useless for MJ, get rid of them, if you need more heat then add more lights
If you used MG soil, everytime you water your going to release more nutrients, so don't flush it or water it anymore than it needs. get lights situated first or bottom leaves will start to yellow and die off from light starvation, then water when soil is dry. MG nutes IMO are very hot and it is almost impossible to keep from burning some part of the plant. Have you tried some organic nutes?
If you used MG soil, everytime you water your going to release more nutrients, so don't flush it or water it anymore than it needs. get lights situated first or bottom leaves will start to yellow and die off from light starvation, then water when soil is dry. MG nutes IMO are very hot and it is almost impossible to keep from burning some part of the plant. Have you tried some organic nutes?
ok... so I added the hps lights, another pair of 4' florescents (these ones aren't plant ones, i went with the traditional cool white soft white combo). Tomorrow I'm gonna get CFL spotlights to go in the 3 fixtures i had agro-lite plant incandescants in. Hopefully that should take care of the lighting issues. Really appreciate the help everyone, i wish i had joined this forum before the plants were so far gone.
Still gotta work out nutrient lockout due to high ph (at least thats what i think the problem is). i'm gonna wait till the plants dry out a bit (which i assume will be faster with the hps lights on) and water the crap out of them with ph adjusted water. Would 5-5.5 water be enough to lower my ph from 7?
Still gotta work out nutrient lockout due to high ph (at least thats what i think the problem is). i'm gonna wait till the plants dry out a bit (which i assume will be faster with the hps lights on) and water the crap out of them with ph adjusted water. Would 5-5.5 water be enough to lower my ph from 7?