Greetings Cultivators - My First Go at Grow

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SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Greetings and thank you for this place to share our common experiences!

Since the state where I live has allowed FREEDOM to cultivate my own medicine, I have decided to give it a go since I live on a fixed income and do not have the resources to buy from a legal dispensary. I plan to journal this grow here and hope to learn from those willing to share their expertise. Since I just found the THC FARMER forum, I will explain how I got where I am, now just about the end of week 3 veg as I understand it.

I chose to go organic and have since learned there are challenges and I have a LOT to learn. But I had invested the $ and am going with it! I started using Coast of Maine Platinum organic soil. I had originally planned to use the Coast of Maine suggested supplements, but was unable due to their unavailability. To replace these suggested amendments, I found other organic products that I thought might be similar in NPK to use instead. These products include some fish bone meal, and Roots Organics Terp Tea Grow and Bloom.

I bought a MarsHydro grow tent kit which has a MarsHydro TSW 2000 LED. I positioned the light about half way up the tent and dialed it down to 25%. Inline fan with carbon filter at top of tent, smaller fan blowing on the bottom of the tent, and a dehumidifier, which I know I will need to keep our high humidity under control during flowering.

I started out purchasing some Gorilla Glue #4 seeds. My first mistake was to plant these in the "hot" Coast of Maine soil in 4" peat pots. I planted the seeds directly into the soil and kept the soil moist. All 4 seeds were sprouted within 7 days. As nutrient burn started to show itself in the seedlings, I realized what I had done through some research. I bought some regular potting soil and transplanted them into some 1/2 gallon plastic pots with Coast of Maine soil in the bottom 1/4 of the pot and the regular potting soil the rest of the way. Flushed them through and the nutrient burn problem was fixed. I learned that next time I will get some soil specifically for seedlings. I also was having some issues with overwatering, which I think affected one of the plants more than the other 3 but am learning not to overwater.

The seedlings were about 4 weeks old, when I figured they had outgrown their 1/2 gallon pots. I transplanted them into 5 gallon pots and the roots system looked great, very well established. Nice and white with no brown or yellowing and they were definitely ready to be transplanted. Not sure what the protocol is for the transition from seedling to veg, but for my purposes, I will say that they were seedlings for 4 weeks after sprouting, then I count the 5th week as the first week of veg. Today, the end of week 3 veg will be in 3 days from now. I am also not doing a lot of LST, but have been topping (done with that now) and just set up a SCROG that I will directing the branches into as they grow higher.

I've since had a bit of an overwatering problem but learning the new pots each time and getting better at knowing when they need water. But I have also had a difficult time diagnosing what is wrong when I have noticed problems. For one, I do know there were times I watered when it was not time yet, especially since going into the 5 gal pots. I also realized that I was probably getting nutrient lockout for two reasons. We are in a very rural area and live on a well. I got a PH meter and a PPM meter and tested our well water. It PH's at 8.0 with a ppm reading of 600+. Through my research, these two reading are way off! So I started buying distilled water and bought a water distiller to make more at home. (Plus I can use this to make my RSO medicine in a safer way). The distilled water reads at 7.0 PH and 4 PPM. Nearest I could tell, before I switched to distilled water, I was having a phosphorous deficiency. I knew my soil was good to go so the lockout theory was my best bet. I was getting darker green veins and yellowing in between of the leaves on one plant pretty heavy (back left). The others started getting a metallic, blue-green hue to the leaves. Changing the water seems to have taken care of my nutrient uptake issues and things are going well. I also, after transplanting to the 5 gal pots, top dressed (perhaps I should not have done this but it doesn't seem to have hurt anything) with a small amount (1 tbsp) of fishbone meal and a light dose of the Terp Tea bloom for a quicker phosphorous dose, and topped it all of with a 1/2" layer of worm castings, and watered to runoff.

I will post a few photos, and I am curious if anyone has an opinion on these plants. First off, these were all supposed to be Gorilla Glue #4 Feminized (bought from i49). Two of the plants are nearly identical, one is much shorter with very close internodal distances (front right) , and the last one (back left) has been somewhat of a problem child. The problem child has always been a weaker plant, last to sprout, but has a surprisingly good structure to the stems and branches. However, it's growth seems stunted compared to the others and it still has the dark veins with yellowing in between. I had thought about culling this one but have yet to in hopes she will come out of whatever I did to her.

My plan is 4 weeks in veg and then flip to 12/12 lighting schedule for flower. I hope to hear from folks much more experienced than I for your guidance and knowledge. Thanks in advance!

If I think of other details I will list them here and hope to keep this journal of my first grow up to date as things proceed!
 
Greetings cultivators   my first go at grow
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Greetings cultivators   my first go at grow 8
GNick55

GNick55

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hey looks good!
i’m sorry i only read about half of your grow story. so if there were any concerns let me know.
welcome to the farm!
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Thanks GNick! I was hoping someone would have some advice on my "problem child" plant, back left in the photos. As you can see, her leaves are not like any of the others and she is not nearly as developed in the lower branches. The other 3 are quite bushy and this one looks sickly in comparison.
 
GNick55

GNick55

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Thanks GNick! I was hoping someone would have some advice on my "problem child" plant, back left in the photos. As you can see, her leaves are not like any of the others and she is not nearly as developed in the lower branches. The other 3 are quite bushy and this one looks sickly in comparison.
kinda tough to really look at, but i see what your saying, firstly i see 3 fingered leaves though it’s older growth now and the new growth has normal leaves, but she must of had some sort of stress for that to happen. anyhoo the light colour in between the veins can be a few things, whatever it is, it’s not terrible,
is there a way to get better pictures of that plant?
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Thanks again Gnick. I think the stress could have been from overwatering but not sure. I have tried to treat them all equally but I am very new to this so who knows? Here are a couple more photos of my Problem Child. 😃
 
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SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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That looks like classic cal/mag deficiency. You using any supplemen?
Thanks GJM. I had read that once you start using distilled water, that you should supplement with cal/mag but had not done so because I thought the soil would have enough for at least the first 30 days and did not want to overload them. I have some home made cal/mag that I made from egg shells and vinegar, with some epsom salt added but only used it once about week 3 of seedling. I would have thought that when I was using the well water they would have had plenty of these two but I could be wrong. The discoloration of the leaves and slow growth on this plant has been an ongoing issue and its weird that it's only happening to this one and not the others.

I can probably give them some of my homemade cal/mag next time I water and I don't imagine it would hurt anything, perhaps it will help as you suggest.

Also, I was looking on the Terp Tea Grow has 4% cal, 1% mag. Terp Tea Bloom has 8% cal, 1% mag. I had planned to switch to flower soon and was going to give them a feeding of 1/2 recommended Terp Tea Grow next time I water, and then a week or so later do the same with the Bloom blend as I switch to flower. At that time I also planned to give them a bit more of the fishbone meal since it will release slowly over the following week. Do you suggest cal/mag supplements in addition to the Terp Tea nutrients?

Also, when this problem is fixed, will the leaves turn a nice green color or will it only show in the new growth?
 
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Greenjourneyman

Greenjourneyman

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Good morning,
to answer your last question yes. Once corrected the plant should revert to green.
I run viperspectra, but it’s a similar light board to your Mars. I find and have heard from others that the LEDs can leach more cal/mag out of the plants (not sure why). I use calMag EVERY watering, but only feed once a week.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Thank you GJM. I appreciate your expertise! Will update as things progress.
 
AmokNewb

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Newb here. :) Following along to hopefully learn and offer any help I can. But, other than the trouble maker plant it is looking good so far to me! I am interested to see how she bounces back.
 
Greenjourneyman

Greenjourneyman

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Good morning,
to answer your last question yes. Once corrected the plant should revert to green.
I run viperspectra, but it’s a similar light board to your Mars. I find and have heard from others that the LEDs can leach more cal/mag out of the plants (not sure why). I use calMag EVERY watering, but only feed once a week.

case in point, half of these were REALLY yellow, but I corrected the acid poisoning and now looking. better.

the plant in the far right corner, just transplanted looking happy, except cal/mag deficiency just cause of the lights.
 
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SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Once again, thank you GJM! I needed to water this morning so did so with the distilled water and my homemade Cal/Mag solution. It may be my imagination but some of the leaves seem to be already starting to regain their color. I will update as time passes.

I measured and my light is at about 28" from the top of the canopy, set at 50% power. It was at 25% until about a week ago when I raised it to 50. Sound about right?
 
Greenjourneyman

Greenjourneyman

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I’m bad with the lights. I always have them as low as possible. If the plant starts to have alligator backed leaves. You’ll know it when you see it, edges look spikey. Then I back the lights up some, but I max lumins.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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June 16, 2021 update:

My first grow continues, not without challenges, but things seem to be going well.

As for my problem child (back left), she seems to have been going through a slow recovery from what must have been a cal/mag deficiency. Watered twice now with the homemade cal/mag and while not 100% recovered, she has a lot of her color back and is now growing again. Last time I did feed her a TBSP of organic fertilizer 6-2-5 as a supplement in case there was some N deficiency as well.

On the 12th of this month, last time they needed water, I gave them all a 2 TBSP dose of fishbone meal as a top dressing. I also made 3 gallons of tea for them using 1 cup of worm castings, 2 tsp Roots Organics Terp Tea Grow and a couple TBSP of molasses, and watered with cal/mag and distilled water.

Today, they were ready for water again and fed them with a top dressing of 4 tsp Roots Organics Terp Tea Bloom, 1 tsp of Roots Organics Terp Tea Grow, and about a cup and a half worm castings, and watered with cal/mag and distilled water.

I also threw a thick dictionary under the short bushy gal (front right) to get her even with the rest of the canopy. I also started a scrog net, but it's a cheap piece of crap so I ordered a better one, should be here early next week.

Tonight we flip to 12/12. I'm psyched to get this far. Thanks for all the great help folks!
 
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SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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I have been at a loss for exactly how to use this the Roots Organics Terp Tea Grow and Bloom and have so far not received any response to my inquiry from Roots Organics. If/when I do, I will post it here. I did get some advice from @ImpulsiveGrower that I am using going forward despite no communication from Roots Organics.

So I went ahead and fed my plants yesterday, 1 tsp of Terp Tea Grow and 4 tsp of Terp Tea Bloom. I also flipped to 12/12 lighting schedule last night for the first time. Next week, I will go with the straight 5 tsp of Bloom but will probably supplement the N midway through flowering much as I did this time. I was surprised this morning to see some fairly impressive progress with the plants as I didn't expect to see any difference for several days given that I expected because of the organic nature of this product. One thing that had me wondering is that all of the new growth is showing to be a light lime green. Is that normal? I expect that it is normal but wasn't expecting to see such a contrast in the lime green. See photos-
 
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iX_Lazy_Xi

iX_Lazy_Xi

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I have been at a loss for exactly how to use this the Roots Organics Terp Tea Grow and Bloom and have so far not received any response to my inquiry from Roots Organics. If/when I do, I will post it here. I did get some advice from @ImpulsiveGrower that I am using going forward despite no communication from Roots Organics.

So I went ahead and fed my plants yesterday, 1 tsp of Terp Tea Grow and 4 tsp of Terp Tea Bloom. I also flipped to 12/12 lighting schedule last night for the first time. Next week, I will go with the straight 5 tsp of Bloom but will probably supplement the N midway through flowering much as I did this time. I was surprised this morning to see some fairly impressive progress with the plants as I didn't expect to see any difference for several days given that I expected because of the organic nature of this product. One thing that had me wondering is that all of the new growth is showing to be a light lime green. Is that normal? I expect that it is normal but wasn't expecting to see such a contrast in the lime green. See photos-
Color is supposed to be like that on new growth 👍
 
iX_Lazy_Xi

iX_Lazy_Xi

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If you flipped consider stripping the lower fan leaves on each branch to help increase light penetration through the canopy. It feels wrong after you do it but you will be rewarded later. In a week you'll hardly be able to tell you did anything.
 
iX_Lazy_Xi

iX_Lazy_Xi

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Depending when you did that as you don't want to stress the plant yes. But this is your grow so do what you feel comfortable with. Strictly talking fan leaves i try and take all but the top 2-4 off on each branch depending where they are in canopy (i.e. outer edges 4 inner branches 2) leaves plenty to continue photosynthesis. Looks weird at first but have seen it work well for a ton of growers
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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I did most of that lower trimming last week, but did a tad bit more before I took that photo in response to your post.
 
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