What next?

Hi as my name implies, I am pretty new to growing and am on my technically 4th grow. (3 being somewhat successful;1 killed before even entering flower cycle due to poor watering/environment factors I have remedied I think.)

I have 4 plants, 2 per SIP. 4 different cultivars. I am nearing the point where I want to initiate flowering, but I have a concern about one of the four plants, well, maybe two, and want to try to help them along a bit before I flip. I tested a slurry of soil around this plant and found the ph to be 6.5, pretty much ideal. I ph'd the water I am using, which is a combination of my tap water, with some RO water added. It also came out to 6.5 ph. I add a bit of RO water to my city water (7.5ph) and seems to bring the ph down to a better level.

I use a Coots Mix. I read from Kratos15 that the compost part of the mix is too high at 1/3 of the base, so I added more peat, and more perlite and rice hulls for better aeration, 40/40/20, but didn't adjust any of the other ingredients. So, for this mix of approximately 30 gallons of soil, I added 1.75 cups of kelp meal, 1.75 cups of neem meal, 1.75 cups of crab meal, 7 cups of basalt rock dust, 3.5 cups of gypsum, 3.5 cups of oyster shell flour, and a few cups of ewc.

My environment consists of LED lighting, which I purchased a Photobio Advanced Quantum Par Meter, so I could determine somewhat accurately how much light I'm giving my plants. I haven't gone any further then measuring the ppfd, and just try to keep within the range for the stage the plants are in. At the tops of these plants the PAR reading is approximately 550 ppfd as I am what I believe to be late veg. stage.

What I am noticing in this one plant, (bottom left; Fruity Pebble OG from Sacred Cut) looks to me like a magnesium deficiency, but I am newbie, so I am not overly confident in diagnosing the problem as such. There is a bit of lightening of the newer growth in general, but on this lower leaf, it looks bad. I supercropped and broke the main stem a wee bit, just below this leaf, and no other leaves seem to be exhibiting these symptoms, so maybe I am overreacting. The whole purpose of this post is so I can get some help on my decision of when to flip, and what to amend prior to flowering.

The only other plant "condition" I am a bit concerned about is the GMO zKittlez plant in the back right. It seems to droop more than the rest. Not sure if it is a deficiency or anything to worry about, but maybe someone could address this for me as well I hope. So, if you need any more information to help inform me, or more pictures, I can definitely upload some more.

Looks like they are starving and overwatered to me. Some pros will explain more Especially top right droopy plant is very overwatered.

DarkLordMelkor said:

Looks like they are starving and overwatered to me. Some pros will explain more Especially top right droopy plant is very overwatered.

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Not sure about the overwatering because all of the plants are in SIPS. If this cultivar just prefers less water than what the SIP is providing through the reservoir, maybe? Plants are drinking the reservoir in both SIPS bone dry in less than 18 hrs. Not exactly sure what the reservoirs hold, but I've been adding 17 cups of water every 24 hrs now, to the reservoirs for almost a week now. The growth on the bottom part of that droopiest looking plant looks really nice. Almost too full of nitrogen with how green those leaves look, and yet, droopy and much lighter up top. Not sure it's a watering issue, and if it was, I'd be more inclined to think that because the plants are drinking the reservoirs dry in less time, that I shouldn't be allowing the reservoirs to completely deplete, so the roots that have likely been getting a bit dry, as I only at present, refill them once every 24 hrs. But, I dunno anything for sure. Thank you for replying.

Are you adjusting your water ph often or just the one time you did the slurry test

green_machine_two9er said:

Are you adjusting your water ph often or just the one time you did the slurry test

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I just started doing it when I saw the leaf damage in its earlier stages on the one lower leaf of the plant lower left. So, for about 4 days.

I did the slurry test with RO water.

Nugnewbie said:

I just started doing it when I saw the leaf damage in its earlier stages on the one lower leaf of the plant lower left. So, for about 4 days.

I did the slurry test with RO water.

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Honestly looks environmental to me. Yes some slight deficiencies but overall I think you problem is temp/humidity airflow needs dialing in.

and about skimping on ewc. It’s hard to say because everyone’s castings are unique to their own worm beds or brands. So there isn’t any one size fits all, i prefer more castings and airation and slightly less peat moss but my castings are very unique and have a lighter consistency than most.

Hey also what size containers are you working with?

green_machine_two9er said:

Honestly looks environmental to me. Yes some slight deficiencies but overall I think you problem is temp/humidity airflow needs dialing in.

and about skimping on ewc. It’s hard to say because everyone’s castings are unique to their own worm beds or brands. So there isn’t any one size fits all, i prefer more castings and airation and slightly less peat moss but my castings are very unique and have a lighter consistency than most.

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Ok. I use an AC Infinity Controller 67 and a 6 inch fan on both intake and exhaust. The intake is taped off at the end to reduce it effectively,so that during normal operation, there is negative pressure on the tent, so it properly exhausts to the outdoors through a vent. It is set so that the fans are running constantly on the lowest setting, but when humidity or temperature exceed the set point, the fans ramp up to get the environment back to within range. So, maybe what you are saying is I should up the minimum on the controller to have more airflow, but I would struggle to have enough humidity, even with current plant mass, live in semi-desert.

I started my own worm bins but don't produce the best castings yet, as I am just learning about vermicomposting. I have quality food scrap inputs, but I am learning you can be adding some the same inputs you normally add to your soil, to your worm bin, and that can be very effective, but I haven't done that yet, so my castings are probably weak. I also add some store-bought castings that I really don't know if they are much good either.

I have amended with Gaia Green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 before, (not yet with this crop), but had read somewhere that you can take plants from seed to harvest with just Coots, but I guess again, quality castings maybe, as opposed to possibly my castings.

I am using City Picker SIPs. They hold about 15 gallons. I have 2 of them w/ two plants each. There is an earlier pic.

The only other environment factor is day/night temps., and mine stay around 82 degrees F lights on, and 74-76 degrees F, lights off.

But what is the humidity set at? Or maintaining over 24 h period.

I’d see if there was any possible way to get humidity up to 50-60%. Even could push temps to a few more degrees to try to help this. A lot of times in arrid climates big humidifiers kinda are a necessity to get the plant breathing correctly

green_machine_two9er said:

I’d see if there was any possible way to get humidity up to 50-60%. Even could push temps to a few more degrees to try to help this. A lot of times in arrid climates big humidifiers kinda are a necessity to get the plant breathing correctly

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Sorry, forgot to mention I am maintaining 50-60% rh, as I have two humidifiers in my tent. I am aware of VPD, although mine is usually a touch higher than ideal. 82 degrees with 60 %rh is about 1.4 I think.

Also, I have a 6" fan, a small fan under red cup in corner, and a 12" oscillating fan zip-tied up in a corner all below my light blowing indirectly on the plants. So, plenty of air movement if not enough exchange.

Not sure how to amend before flower. Maybe I should have put this thread in the "marijuana plant problems " section.

Nugnewbie said:

Not sure how to amend before flower. Maybe I should have put this thread in the "marijuana plant problems " section.

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What's the air gap like on the city picker? Do you refill the res before it goes dry?

I am not 100% sure what the air gap ends up being when the reservoir is full to be honest. I have been letting it go dry, just refilling every 24 hrs. But, is definitely empty before that.

Nugnewbie said:

I am not 100% sure what the air gap ends up being when the reservoir is full to be honest. I have been letting it go dry, just refilling every 24 hrs. But, is definitely empty before that.

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I can't see any reason for overwatering symptoms in a sip, unless there's no air gap, or you have a heavy soil. Have the roots reached the res that you know of?

There really isn't a way I know of to determine if the roots have reached the reservoir. The plants are drinking alot, so I would like to think they have.

Maybe you’re getting a bigger swing in moisture with the rez drying completely up? Could be slightly underwatered?

Ok, will fill more often. I think I will just add a 50/50 top dress of 4-4-4 & 2-8-4 and a bit of langbeinite , covered with ewc and flip. Thoughts?

What's the soil volume of the city picker?

15 gallon