What do you start yours in?
Blue Ribbon potting soil, I can't recall if it's a Gardener and Bloom product or not. I tried starting in the topsoil I like to use, and they do ok, but they do better in the potting soil.
I would like to pick your brain on red stem/leaf stem issues if possible.
So I have 54 plants in a roon under 6 Gavitas . Old school og and 3 kings
I mixed perlite and grean bicycle at 3/4 strength into the soil. (
Ffof)
I planted and let them get established. Then Ive used gb compost tea for feeding. The plants look amazing! EVERY single leaf is up at attention thriving. Maybe 1-2 inches of growth per day. But............ I've got red stripes on the stalks and the stems turn red/purple . The new growth comes out green but then the Leaf stems start to turn color starting at the petiole.
A was told that it could be root zone temps being different from foliage temps.... any merit to that?I have not ph'd water OR checked the soil ph.
In my limited experience, if the MAINS are striped, and especially if the striping continues once put outside, it's a phenotypic trait in my own conclusion. If it's just the petioles, then I consider it to be a possible P utilization problem, and it seems to be *very* common in just about all indoor growing scenarios. I was never able to fully eliminate it in my indoor grows, mostly because I felt that pushing tons of P wasn't the answer, but at the time I didn't have the answer.
Low temps can cause this, as can pH parameters, and unavailable or low P, but also light spectrum plays a role. Go to the thread "How light spectrum affects nutrient uptake" and read through it. It's LONG, but I think there's some incredible information in there (mixed in with the usual BS).
I have never heard that
root temps being different from canopy is a possible cause, and frankly it makes zero sense. You've done a little OD growing, and so I'm sure you know as well as I do that, especially on very hot or cool days, the root zone temps
have to be different from canopy temps. But if your experience is anything like mine you observe a lot of these issues disappearing once the plants are put outside. So, what gives? Light spectrum is the one variable that cannot be fully accounted for when cultivating indoors vs out. The sun gives it all, our artificial lights are a representative at best.
So for me the long and the short of it is this--if the plants are performing and growing well otherwise, don't worry too hard about it.