They're not doing so great... first time grower, long time listener.

I'm cross-posting, as the "Have A Plant Problem? Check Here First" thread seems dead.

Grow setup:640w PCL PhotoBoost based on lm301bs and 660nm Crees
5x5 gorilla tent, ac infinity intake and exhaust fans
two mini clip fans (I have hurricanes but i need to reconfigure to mount)
~77 F and 55% RH

Q.C.S. Feminized OG Kush Seeds from Montreal Cannabis Seeds

Started in Fox Farms Light Warrior for about a week.
3" JiffyPots - Just fed un-pH'd tap water. Seemed to do ok.
Transplanted to a 1 Gallon VivoSun fabric pots.
Fox Farms Ocean Forest/Happy Frog/Light Warrior in a 2:2:1 mix

Started pHing water when I saw leaves turning downwards
I thought I was overwatering (in an air pot, I know I know..)
I was actually underwatering them I believe.
Almost killed them all by pulling back on the water (derp)
Started watering more when I read about sticking your finger in the dirt (something I'm really good at) and gauging moisture up to 1"
They seemed to be coming back to life, but were definitely yellowing and crisping up
then I transplanted to 3 Gallon, kept the watering to about once every 2 days or so
Some of them continued to grow normally
Some of them did not.
Here is all of them for comparison.
I felt as though I had Nitrogen, calcium, potassium and possibly phosphorus deficiency?

Fed for the first-time using Fox Farms Grow Big and Big Bloom (10 ml of each in a 4 gallon watering bucket, less than half the recommended dose) and pH'd to 6.5

Should I just kill off the nastiest looking plants? I was planning on one last transplant to 7 gallon fabric pots (2 weeks before flipping to 12/12) and don't want to waste photons. If they can be better spent on some of the "healthier plants." Although, they all look kinda shitty. I can post more pictures if necessary.

I planned on feeding 4 weeks after 7 gallon transplant (2 weeks into flower), since the FF soil is already nutrient dense. I also read that there is a 2 week recovery period from the transplant. I want them to be healthy before I even attempting to transplant.


Obviously I'm new to this and a complete fuck up. Hahaha. I'm just trying to piece together info as I go. Open to any and all suggestions, criticism, and eventually praise.

Have you tested the soil? If not, then that is the first thing I would suggest you do. They look to me like they aren't absorbing nutrients so possibly nutrient lockout, pH issues, or damage from over watering. I know you don't think you over watered, but over watering is possible and still very common in fabric pots.

TDS and pH? I fed them this morning, so I'll test run off on Wednesday when I give them plain pH'd water.

Also, I didn't think I could overwater in fabric pots! I have been drowning these ladies every other day. Ugh. I read that optimally you'll want to water 1 quart/liter per gallon. Is this the same in fabric pots as well? I don't believe I've been giving them much more than that, but there is definitely runoff.

You should develop a sense of watering at the right time by checking on the weight of your pot...

hefflm said:

TDS and pH? I'll fed this morning, so I'll test run off on Wednesday when I give them plain pH'd water.

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Yes, and it would be worth testing N,P, & K to see what the levels are.

Yes you absolutely can over water in fabric, just as you can in a regular pot. I just so happen to use both, and both pots dry out in about the same time. ( I thought the same thing you did ) I typically don’t water until I lift the pot and it’s feels light. Once you get an idea of how the pot feels wet vs dry, you’ll have a better idea as to when to water, and build your schedule off of that. I know the top of the soil can look pretty dry, but that’s not a good indication that the entire pot is dry. I also don’t rely on the finger poking in the soil technique either, although it may work for some.

hefflm said:

Also, I didn't think I could overwater in fabric pots! I have been drowning these ladies every other day. Ugh. I read that optimally you'll want to water 1 quart/liter per gallon. Is this the same in fabric pots as well? I don't believe I've been giving them much more than that, but there is definitely runoff.

Click to expand...

Many people can tell when their plants need to be waters based on how heavy the pot feels. You could also just let the plant go until it’s leaves start to hang like wet rags, and that will give you a timeframe of how long it takes for them to dry out too much.

Ok thanks for the advice. That all makes sense. You guys ever mess with soil moisture probes? I'm scared to stick one in the pot because they are so long. I figured it'd probably damage the root system.

I've been reading about taking TDS measurements from the soil run off. You fine folks have a preferred method for doing that? Seems like it can be a bit inaccurate based on a half hour of Googling. I'm hoping your life experiences are more to the point than the circuitous route i'm currently taking.

TreeFarmerCharlie said:

Yes, and it would be worth testing N,P, & K to see what the levels are.

Click to expand...

NP&K testing with one of these kits?

May be a while before I can do something like that, considering the world is in shutdown mode. But I have a PPM pen and I know my tap water is like 500 or so. I have an RO filter and a big bottle of calmag, I may just use that moving forward. Remove any variables I can't control.

Something like this kit would let you know if you have excess or deficiencies and they aren’t expensive.

Alright cool, I picked one up. Looks like shipping is delayed. They won't be in hand until the 7th of may. Plenty of time to do further damage, I'm sure.

Any recommendations in the interim? I'm guessing I should hold off on that final transplant and flowering until these ladies are healthy...?

Yeah, I’d keep them in veg until they are happy again.

Thanks. Hopefully this kit helps. I was looking for a digital pH/TDS meter for soil when I first started and there seemed to be no consensus on the efficacy of such devices. I suppose I should've been looking for something more manual, like these test kits.

I'll keep dosing with light nutrients every other watering, unless things get worse. If that happens, I'll try to flush with RO and get back to some semblance of baseline. I feel bad for the plants, but worse for my fledgling quarantine stash.

Thanks again for all the help. Great community here...

I’ve never tested my runoff, and when I say never I mean NEVER. Being cautious about what you put in your plant should prevent you from having to do so. Not that it doesn’t serve a purpose for some people, I just think prevention is a recipe for success. I got a TDS meter free with my ph pen and have yet to use it.

Yep, makes sense to me. I tried to be careful, but this being a first run and all... I think the watering did me in. Although it may also be the quality of my tap water. My RO system is one of those under the sink systems and would take quite a bit of time to fill up a watering can.

Next time, I'll be more judicious with watering, but still stick with tap water. However, I'll pH the tap water right out of the gate. I actually picked up some Blumats to remove some of the operator error from the equation. I need to do some research around the setup for cannabis plants, but I'm sure it can't be too difficult. I'm worried that a 5 gallon bucket may have to be replenished daily (or more!) for 5 adult females in 7 gallon fabric pots. However, the payoff is less crouching and hopefully a better experience for the plants!

I'll also avoid transplanting so frequently next run. I went from jiffy pots to 1g to 3g and plan on a final move to 7g. My thought process was that the continuous replenishment of fresh (upon transplant) nutrient dense FF soil would allow me to not feed until the last month or so of growth. I'm not sure why I thought this preferable to just feeding them the premixed bottled nutrients, but it sounded cool in my head? I knew it stressed the plants out, but I kind of just brushed it off.

Next time I'll leave em in the jiffy pots a bit longer, but go straight to a 3g pot. Feed them a bit after a couple of weeks then transplant to 7gal two weeks before flowering. Hopefully that gives them a bit if time to recover.

I'm glad this is an iterative process and we don't need to pass a test to do it. I'd be fucked.

Use a log bamboo Squewer to stick down in the pot and leave it there. Pull it out and feel the stick, for moisture. This will be better than getting your finger dirty. And it can reach down the bottom.

Get a pH and tds meter they can be very useful to diagnose issues. They won’t guaranty the exact reality of the issue but they can be useful. If you were afraid you may have over fertilized you could run some R.O. water through and collect the run off. If the run off says 4000 ppm or something then you know a little more.

With pH you could maybe tell if the soils pH was higher or lower than your input water by what the run off water pH is. Of course it is not a definitive answer but it helps get an idea.

So the real problems started after you started pHing the water, what did you use to measure the pH of the water?

I believe the problems started right around that time, but I wasn't writing everything down as I should've been. If I kept a log, this probably would've been easier to tackle. I believe I did so many things incorrectly at once, it will be difficult to retrospectively hone in on the exact root cause. The next run will be documented much better. I'm writing some software to take daily pictures of the individual plants and log enivornmentals, like RH and temp. I believe I can get a soil moisture sensor integrated before my next grow as well. This is going to be a personal troubleshooting tool so I'm not so dense when asking folks on forums for help. I'll just be able to "rewind" my grow to exact moments in time. I'm too stoney to do that manually in excel. haha.

And to answer your question, a $10 vivosun pH pen. It always matches the (GH) reference solution, so I believe it is accurate. I store it properly as well.

RO water is good, bout the same as distilled in my opinion, both require calmag from what I’ve experienced. But tap water is good as long as you leave it sitting out for 24-48 hours to evaporate the chlorine, then you don’t need calmag at all, even though I still use it with my tap as a security blanket. But you seem to have narrowed down your issue. Keep us posted.

hefflm said:

Also, I didn't think I could overwater in fabric pots! I have been drowning these ladies every other day. Ugh. I read that optimally you'll want to water 1 quart/liter per gallon. Is this the same in fabric pots as well? I don't believe I've been giving them much more than that, but there is definitely runoff.

Click to expand...

That's your problem . Don't water for a while and make sure u don't do it again haha