Wilting/shriveling leaves.

Hello.

First time grower. On one of my plants the leaves are wilting/shriveling, I let my sister watch them for about 2 weeks and when I returned the leaves were like they are in the picture.

I have been taking care of them for the last 2 weeks and the leaves are just the same. They are still green, and not brittle. The yellowing was from using nutes to early, which I leeched the soil and they started doing allot better.

None of my other plants are doing this.

Also how often should I leech the soil out? Every 3 weeks maybe?

I have a 400w MH, two 40w cfl 6500, and one 40w 6500 fluorescent, and osculating fan, lights and fan are on an 18/6 timer. Temps are around 65f.

Miracle grow, and 8-6-4 miracle grow fert every 2 weeks.

So what looks to be the problem?

Thanks for any and all input.

My bet is you are giving it too much nutrients, in addition to the nutrients already in the soil.

Miracle grow soil already contains nutrients - if it is MG vegetable/garden soil it provides nutrients for up to three months. If it is MG potting soil, it provides nutrients for up to six months. Don't know about the organic MG soil, but I'm guessing it has some kind the nutrients too.



Assuming the MG soil is "new", probably you really don't need additional nutrients for awhile.

Alright, that makes sense. I didn't really know how effective the soil was at providing nutrients. I would prefer to make up some better soil with guano but funds are limited.

Would leeching the soil help out with this problem?

Also the plants are around 2 months old give or take 2 weeks. Do they look like the correct size?

In the second picture if you look at the two smaller plants in the front, they are the same age as the rest of them they got pretty sick but they are green and healthy now. When should there growth resume?

I'm sorry for all the questions which I know are on the forums if I search for them but Its why there if a forum for it. So I will ask the questions I'd like to get specific answers for.

Whats the best way to get the plants ready for the outdoors? Should I use a large nursery pot, 5 gallon bucket or dig a hole larger than I need and put extra potting soil in and then transplant the plants?

I am looking for the biggest possible yield by the time September comes around. I've heard people tie down the top of the plants, what exactly does this mean?

I've heard about putting a nail in the base of the stem to stress the plant into producing more yields, any truth to this?

Now sexing, I read you need to put them into flowering to find this out. Am I correct? I'm just growing a bunch of seeds the bigest pot head I know saved. I don't smoke, I just want to enjoy growing a beautiful plant(s).

Also once I put the plants outdoors, I am going to assume I will be dealing with mites, and some sort of fungus possibly. Best way to treat these problems if they arise?

One more thing, from what you can see of the other plants are they healty.

Thats it for now, sorry for all the questions.

Thanks.

Question

#1 - That one plant should come out of its funk in over time. I would just give it water when needed.

#2 - Really can't tell from pictures and some strains grow faster than others.

#3 - Yes

#4 - You can do either - I find planting in ground gives the most yield. I add extra potting soil i the ground. The 5 gallon pots work too - then you could move them around.

#5 - I "top" - there's others ways also - FIM, super cropping, etc. There's a thread on RIU - search for Uncle Ben's topping techniques. There's youtude videos on super cropping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vacg2FZWtrk&feature=related

#6 - I don't do that, but i heard of that too. I think that there's no need and it might damage the plant.

#7 - Don't know what sex they are until they start flowering, although you can sometimes tell from the spacing from nodes prior to sexing (real long spacing). But I never destroy until I see "balls".

#8 - Not all plants get mites or fungus. I would deal with that if/when the time comes.

#9 - Can't tell from above.


That's a lot of questions j/k

first check your pH... prob well under 6... either that, or one of your lights were way too close and you got light bleaching on the plants that were too close...

or a combination of factors one being your babysitter dont be too hard on her lol

you say they are 2 months old and they are that stunted??? thats def a pH problem...

View attachment 2143199View attachment 2143200 Here u go check these out they're a couple diagrams I have for when newer growers ask these questions just a lil reference for you. And yeah u can bend the plant to control its growth its called either LST low stress training, or HST/Super Cropping. LST u bend the plant over and tie it down it allows the side branches to grow up almost the same as the main cola would be, super cropping is pretty much the same thing except you don't just bend and tie it down, you actually wanna break the inside of the stem which will make it stronger when it heals, but do it carefully you don't wanna bend it too much and snap it off.

Nice plethora of information. Thank you all.

I've also been reading anything over 85 degrees stunts growth. If thats the case this summer will be quite harsh. Does it stunt the growth or just slow it down?

By the end of the day I will start with lst, and once the plants get a bit bigger I will move to super cropping.

Thanks again.

it just slows it down... you can get away with up to 95 without too much issue... especially not a problem with certain landrace equatorial strains, but anything above 100 without a break in the heat during its nighttime period... then your looking at some major issues...

in the vegetative state the plant can do much better with heat... however when you get later in flowering say 4 wks and on then it can languish miserably if too hot...

ideal range of temps for an average cannabis plant to where it can thrive in is 70-90 daytime temps and nighttime temps anywhere from 55-70...

they like to have a temperature differential from daytime to nighttime, which should be easily accomplished with what already happens when you shut the light off...

you can get away with having constant temps night and day around 70-80s but it really does thrive and like it much better to have at least a 10 deg temp diff from day and night...

and you can get away with having high temps as long as there is good air circulation and a fan blowing the directly heated air that is just under the lights... to where it moves that hot air away from, and off of the tops of the plants...

so if you want to try to be "perfect" about it... shoot for temps 77 light on / 65 light off...

Or as in the extremities no more than 90 in the day and no less than 50 at night... but again some genetics like it to be warmer, some cooler, but none of them really like it to be colder than 50... you'll get to know their preferences soon enough

an easy solution to temperature differentials is to have your lights on during the night when it is typically cooler outside...

during their flowering cycle if you choose to have the lights on at night and lights off during the day... to avoid sunlight, or any other light... be sure that you can seal up the plants from any light during its nighttime period when you have the lights off, so as to avoid light leaking in on the plants etc...

good luck and enjoy the grow

Thanks again for the info. I am going to be doing some guerilla growing at an abandoned quarry site with about 300 acres. And I am just wanting to make sure they thrive. Id assume about a month and ill be putting them out.

Nice grow room for first time grower!