How am I doing? First time grow, want some opinions.

[augdawg507]

Hey guys.

Just signed up for this to get some advice. Just wanted to see how people think I’m doing. These are Hindu Kush at 17 days old. They look like they might be wilting to me. I’ve been careful not to over water them, but it’s been hard to maintain a humidity above 39%. Could that be doing it? I don’t know. I know the temperature is fairly low, but it’s generally remained at around 73f during the daytime cycle and 68 during the night, as I’ve heard this stain prefers a more relatively dry and cool climate compared to others. Im very new to all of this and would love your suggestions.
Thanks!

 

[NorthernOrganics]

What king of light and how close is it? What is the growing medium? How often are you watering? Looks like light stress to me. Maybe too frequent watering.

 

[augdawg507]

Light is probably 2 feet away. Maybe less. I’ll raise it.

 

[augdawg507]

Medium is just basic miracle grow potting mix.

 

[NorthernOrganics]

Dang. It's not too late to get out of the miracle gro. It looks like it might not be providing enough drainage. How often are you watering?

 

[NorthernOrganics]

Miracle gro is no bueno for cannabis because it contains slow release nitrogen. During flowering you want relatively low levels of nitrogen, but the miracle gro will continue to release it, causing problems.

 

[augdawg507]

Got it. I started them in basic seed starter. What should I put them in instead? Will peat moss work? Should I try to shake it out of the roots completely before I transplant? Or will the bit the roots are lodged in be ok to transplant with? I’m watering every 2 days or so. I just watered prior to taking this photo. I’ve waited till the soil is dry.

 

[NorthernOrganics]

I would let it dry completely out, you might be over watering by the looks of things. Let it dry out 'til the pot feels light like it's full of sawdust. Might take a week, that little plant is in a big pot. Try to get it healthier before attempting a transplant. I would just scoop the plant out and transplant in something else. Don't shake or disturb the roots.

Peat with about 30% perlite works good. You'll have to feed it liquid nutes or amend with organics. Lots of ways to do it. Peat, compost, perlite in equal proportions is a simple base that can be expanded on.

 

[NorthernOrganics]

What kind of environmental controls do you have? You are right about it being cold and dry in there.

 

[augdawg507]

The temp was 75 when I went to check an hour later, and remained at that when I checked again this morning so the temperature is fairly easy to control. I think it just fell cause I had the tent open while I was taking these pictures and fiddling with stuff. I’ve just been using a greenhouse heater from Amazon and a fan to disperse the heat. It seems to be working. As for the humidity, when I first set it up it was at like 80-90%, so I ran a dehumidifier for half an hour or so and it fell down to 40% where I left it. It’s continued to fall despite me adding a humidifier to try to bring it back up, so I’m truly lost on that one. As for the watering, ok. I’ve got lots of experience gardening but none with cannabis, so letting it dry out that much seems shocking, but I’ll take your word for it. Won’t water for a long while. Thanks for all your help. I’ve been poisoning my poor plants with the Miracle grow. SMH, I’ve got a lot to learn.

 

[phxazcraig]

I see a number of issues, probably the worst of which is the soil type. That's going to end up causing issues. I wonder if you shouldn't try to do something about that, or simply get another seed and start over?

Problems:
-temps too low. Veg wants near 80F and good humidity. I use a humidifier inside a tent to boost humidity when plants are small. If they get big enough, in a tent, they will create their own humidity and you'll be using fans to lower it.
-unknown lighting strength - you need a meter to know, period. Unfortunately good meters are expensive (over $200, and can easily be $400 - Apogee MQ-200) The only cheap meter I've heard of that has some accuracy is using a certain model (perhaps anything newish) of iPhone with an app. Most phones will be inaccurate. That said, your plant doesn't look burnt, but you just don't know how bright that light is without measuring.
-nutrients - besides Miracle Grow, what are you doing? At this stage, and with Miracle Grow, you probably don't need to add anything, especially nitrogen.
-pot size - you have a seedling in a big pot. It's going to start slow, and it's not surprising it's a month in and looks like a week old. It's probably putting out a lot of roots more than leaves. I've done the same, and after a month to get going, it did take off.
-pot size - with a big pot and small plant, it is very easy to overwater as the plant will be too small to use much up by itself. I had 5 gallon pots of soil take 4 weeks to dry down after being thoroughly soaked and used with seedlings in Jiffy pots.

 

[augdawg507]

The temp was 75 when I went to check an hour later, and remained at that when I checked again this morning so the temperature is fairly easy to control. I think it just fell cause I had the tent open while I was taking these pictures and fiddling with stuff. I’ve just been using a greenhouse heater from Amazon and a fan to disperse the heat. It seems to be working. As for the humidity, when I first set it up it was at like 80-90%, so I ran a dehumidifier for half an hour or so and it fell down to 40% where I left it. It’s continued to fall despite me adding a humidifier to try to bring it back up, so I’m truly lost on that one. As for the watering, ok. I’ve got lots of experience gardening but none with cannabis, so letting it dry out that much seems shocking, but I’ll take your word for it. Won’t water for a long while. Thanks for all your help. I’ve been poisoning my poor plants with the Miracle grow. SMH, I’ve got a lot to learn.

 

[augdawg507]

I see a number of issues, probably the worst of which is the soil type. That's going to end up causing issues. I wonder if you shouldn't try to do something about that, or simply get another seed and start over?

Problems:
-temps too low. Veg wants near 80F and good humidity. I use a humidifier inside a tent to boost humidity when plants are small. If they get big enough, in a tent, they will create their own humidity and you'll be using fans to lower it.
-unknown lighting strength - you need a meter to know, period. Unfortunately good meters are expensive (over $200, and can easily be $400 - Apogee MQ-200) The only cheap meter I've heard of that has some accuracy is using a certain model (perhaps anything newish) of iPhone with an app. Most phones will be inaccurate. That said, your plant doesn't look burnt, but you just don't know how bright that light is without measuring.
-nutrients - besides Miracle Grow, what are you doing? At this stage, and with Miracle Grow, you probably don't need to add anything, especially nitrogen.
-pot size - you have a seedling in a big pot. It's going to start slow, and it's not surprising it's a month in and looks like a week old. It's probably putting out a lot of roots more than leaves. I've done the same, and after a month to get going, it did take off.
-pot size - with a big pot and small plant, it is very easy to overwater as the plant will be too small to use much up by itself. I had 5 gallon pots of soil take 4 weeks to dry down after being thoroughly soaked and used with seedlings in Jiffy pots.

Thanks for the response. I’m on my way to get new soil right now. I put them in the bigger pot because the roots were busting through the jiffy pot and I figured they needed more room. I haven’t added any nuitrients besides what was in the miracle grow. It’s a 1000watt light, I raised it and turned it down to 75% just in case.

 

[TSD]

Best practice with weed is to fully saturate and let dry almost completely before watering again... all the soil, not just around the plant, testing the weight is the easiest way to gauge that as others have mentioned. Avoid any soil with slow release fertilizer like the plague. If it says miracle grow, keep on walking... there are a million ways to make a soil mix they will be happy in. You can buy a soil made specifically for weed, like ocean forest, or you can mix something up. I usually mix about 60% of a nice dark organic soil from my local garden shop, 20% peat or coir, and 20% perlite for my indoor starting pots... but I make the top third of the pot plain seed starter to avoid burning them in the first few days, this is just something I do to try to be extra gentle and avoid one transplant. I use gallon pots, but it's usually recommended to start small, like solo cups... I'm ok with a slower start and more root growth because mine will go outside and they need a robust root system to withstand the elements. I make a nice amended organic soil mix for my holes and let it cook in the sun for a month before the ladies go in. So many ways, don't take anything anyone says as law on here, there are so many opinions, but every grow is different... you are a gardener so you will learn to listen to what the plants are trying to tell you over time, over mothering them is easy to do, and has been many a grower's downfall... read and learn, take it all in and use what fits your situation. Good luck!

 

[phxazcraig]

Thanks for the response. I’m on my way to get new soil right now. I put them in the bigger pot because the roots were busting through the jiffy pot and I figured they needed more room. I haven’t added any nuitrients besides what was in the miracle grow. It’s a 1000watt light, I raised it and turned it down to 75% just in case.

I don't really know why, but if you put the Jiffy pots into solo cups for a week or so, they start a lot faster once you move them from the cup to the pot. Still tricky to water in the cup - easy to overdo it there too.

As for the light. I have a 600w light. It's at about 80% and 14 inches distance. How much light is hitting my plants? Kinda hard to tell, eh?

I've learned a ton in the past year doing a couple of grows in a 4x4, but I've learned that much more in the past couple of months reading and writing here during my 3rd grow. I've thrown a lot of money and effort into things. Here are the most expensive bits:
1. 600 watt LED - over $600
2. Bluelab pH controller - $400 (but I'm running an automated watering system with reservoir - the Bluelab keeps the res where I want it. Not needed otherwise)
3. Growtent kit - $500, but I've replaced everything that came with the tent, including light, fan, timers, and the tent itself.
4. Bluelab pH pen - $90. You can get cheap pH pens, but they don't work accurately. I think the cheapest decent pH pen I've seen was around $60.
5. PAR meter - $400 for Apogee MQ-200. You might find something for $250 or so, but cheap meters will plague you with misinformation. If you have a recent iPhone, you can use an app for this, but it seems few phones have any accuracy other than (at least) one particular iPhone.

 

[augdawg507]

Best practice with weed is to fully saturate and let dry almost completely before watering again... all the soil, not just around the plant, testing the weight is the easiest way to gauge that as others have mentioned. Avoid any soil with slow release fertilizer like the plague. If it says miracle grow, keep on walking... there are a million ways to make a soil mix they will be happy in. You can buy a soil made specifically for weed, like ocean forest, or you can mix something up. I usually mix about 60% of a nice dark organic soil from my local garden shop, 20% peat or coir, and 20% perlite for my indoor starting pots... but I make the top third of the pot plain seed starter to avoid burning them in the first few days, this is just something I do to try to be extra gentle and avoid one transplant. I use gallon pots, but it's usually recommended to start small, like solo cups... I'm ok with a slower start and more root growth because mine will go outside and they need a robust root system to withstand the elements. I make a nice amended organic soil mix for my holes and let it cook in the sun for a month before the ladies go in. So many ways, don't take anything anyone says as law on here, there are so many opinions, but every grow is different... you are a gardener so you will learn to listen to what the plants are trying to tell you over time, over mothering them is easy to do, and has been many a grower's downfall... read and learn, take it all in and use what fits your situation. Good luck!
thanks so much! I started them in tiny jiffy pots and moved them to the 1 gallons after the roots busted through the burlap, so I’m not super concerned with slower growth. I think the fertilizer could be my downfall. I just picked up some peat moss and hopefully that will do the trick as a medium. Worst case scenario I have some seeds still on the way if these guys die.

 

[augdawg507]

Alright. I raised and turned down the light a little bit, I’ve increased the heat to 77f, I’ve replaced the medium with coco coir and peat moss, and I’m currently raising the humidity slowly but surely. Any other suggestions?

 

[TSD]

Alright. I raised and turned down the light a little bit, I’ve increased the heat to 77f, I’ve replaced the medium with coco coir and peat moss, and I’m currently raising the humidity slowly but surely. Any other suggestions?

Ok so, all coco and peat is going to require more frequent watering... I know if it's all coco it needs to stay moist, not sure if that changes when it's mixed w peat, I've never run all coco because it's a different beast, not technically soil... maybe @Aqua Man has some tips, and I know he has a sticky thread in the coco forum about watering practices for coco... I would link it if I could figure out how lol, but it's pretty easy to find... again, not sure if the same rules apply with a coco/peat mix... I know they are similar as far as water retention goes but that's the extent of my knowledge there. I'm sure one of the moderators/experts will chime in eventually.

 

[TSD]

Thread 'HOW TO WATER COCO FOR BEST RESULTS.' https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/how-to-water-coco-for-best-results.122334/

Ok there we go... but again, yours is not full coco... so we need another brain here lol.

 

[augdawg507]

Yeah it’s mostly peat. I did an 80/20 ratio with peat as the dominant material. I dampened it prior to transplanting. The seedlings looked significantly healthier when I checked on them this morning, I think turning the light down was a big help too. I noticed tiny burn spots on one of them, but I think I caught it in time. The wilting seems to have reversed overnight. Right now the issue is maintaining temp too. It’s absolutely freezing here today and my tent is in a non temperature-controlled barn, so the intake air was so cold it brought the interior temp of down to 64. I’ve got it back up to 71 for their nighttime cycle (from 12-6pm) but I essentially wasted 18 hours of grow time because it got cold overnight. This is gonna take some getting used to