New grower, need help...

[OutdoorGirl971]

Hi everyone and thanks for having me. I'm a pretty avid grower of vegetables and figured growing my own marijuana couldn't be too hard. I'm not a smoker LOL but I wanted to try my hand at growing.

My daughter gave me some seeds (7) from her personal stash a few years ago (yes years). She was on medicinal marijuana until they made it legal in Maryland and she also worked at a growing plant that sold to distributors. I have no idea what strain of seeds she gave me and neither does she so that's my first obstacle after reading through some of these posts. I planted the seeds directly into potting soil which I may still have some so I can double check and let you know what it actually is if needed when I started my vegetable garden in April. Five of the seven seeds sprouted, three look like they would survive, but only one did.

My plant was doing very well but not flowering so this is when I decided to do some research because I didn't before I started this process and discovered that I had to start the flowering process by changing the light schedule.

I had it sitting on a window sill so that was my first problem with it not flowering due to the light I guess. With my new knowledge of a 12-12 light schedule I was going to start that when I return for my vacation.

We went on vacation for 5 days and the plant was doing well, I was watering it every couple days when it felt dry or the pot was light, but when I came back from my little vaca my plant looked like it was dying. Here are a few pics of before and what it looks like now. I did switch over to a grow light one for 12 hours and in a dark closet for 12 hours but it hasn't changed. :/

Was it over watered, underwater , too much light , no nutrients ? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[carlosescobar]

did it look like that when you got back? or did you get back and give it loads of water? looks a bit wet to me. or it might have been too hot behind the glass in sunlight.......it also looks a bit spindly, i think its been a bit light starved and its stretched up . i would be tempted to snip off the dead stuff and 4 inches off the top and try and keep alive whats left. It could take 2 weeks to see a change , if you see little white hairs forming where the new growth is its changing.
shame because its was looking good for a first grow , before you went off and abandoned it, her. you can't do that if your gonna grow the sacred herb, you have to sit and home and worry about little brown spots and insects and stuff.

 

[OutdoorGirl971]

did it look like that when you got back? or did you get back and give it loads of water? looks a bit wet to me. or it might have been too hot behind the glass in sunlight.......it also looks a bit spindly, i think its been a bit light starved and its stretched up . i would be tempted to snip off the dead stuff and 4 inches off the top and try and keep alive whats left. It could take 2 weeks to see a change , if you see little white hairs forming where the new growth is its changing.
shame because its was looking good for a first grow , before you went off and abandoned it, her. you can't do that if your gonna grow the sacred herb, you have to sit and home and worry about little brown spots and insects and stuff.

Thanks Carlos. When I got back she was a little dry so I gave her a little water, but not much and yes, that is what I came home too. :0( She was left in front of a window while gone so I do think too much direct sunlight. I move her to a different location a couple times a week to another spot with indirect light, but for the 5 days I was gone, she sat in the window waiting for me to come home. We went away in May for 4 days and she was fine so I thought this trip would be the same.

Oh, and the soil is wet in this picture because she was dry and I watered her, then took the pic, this morning.

If I "snip off the dead stuff and 4 inches off the top", should I keep her under the grow light for 12/12 or put her back to direct/indirect light like I did in the beginning? Also, should I feed her any nutrients? Should I transplant? My daughter who gave me the seeds and worked for a big grower said I should replant in a 5 gallon bucket. I don't think I should yet because she is stressed.

 

[Ninjadogma]

Looks like it got successive days of 110 degree temperatures. Was it giving off a little hay smell too?

 

[ST.Sweeper]

I’m a rookie, so don’t listen to me. I’m Also a bit of a vegetable gardener and just tried my first round of bud. But it looks to me like it was reaching for light and couldn’t support itself. From what I’ve learned direct natural sunlight is a good thing, you only limit the light in a controlled environment. In veg stage they can handle around 18 hours. If you restrict it they will reach for light. It creates a weak plant. Even though it gets taller it can’t support itself. Your lights in the pic appear to be in a bad position. A plant with also cut off what is not helping it survive. If it’s reaching and the other limbs and or leaves aren’t helping it will drop them.

 

[ST.Sweeper]

Do you see how good your limbs looked in the window pics? In the pics under the lights, they look like vines. They were stretching for light.

 

[OutdoorGirl971]

Looks like it got successive days of 110 degree temperatures. Was it giving off a little hay smell too?

No 110 degree days. Never been outside and A/C works great. But, has been in front of a window with some direct sunlight. No hay smells

 

[OutdoorGirl971]

I’m a rookie, so don’t listen to me. I’m Also a bit of a vegetable gardener and just tried my first round of bud. But it looks to me like it was reaching for light and couldn’t support itself. From what I’ve learned direct natural sunlight is a good thing, you only limit the light in a controlled environment. In veg stage they can handle around 18 hours. If you restrict it they will reach for light. It creates a weak plant. Even though it gets taller it can’t support itself. Your lights in the pic appear to be in a bad position. A plant with also cut off what is not helping it survive. If it’s reaching and the other limbs and or leaves aren’t helping it will drop them.

Thanks ST. It's been in sunlight since birth, lol. I literally JUST put it under the grow light when I got back from vaca thinking that may help.

Should I put it back to natural light until it recovers? How do I make her trunk & limbs stronger because they have always been thin? Could it be the strain itself? Again, don't know the strain unfortunately.

 

[carlosescobar]

if you snip the top off it would redirect the energy to the rest of the plant instead of growing taller, same with those long bits with no growth on, ...you can keep it going with any houseplant food or tomato feed, in fact you could leave the pot to dry and give it a foliar feed with some diluted food.
I would have snipped the top shoot out at pic 4 then it would stay shorter and more managable. I think the plants like consistancy so if you move them from sunlight to leds it will mess them up, they just get used to one thing then they have to re-adjust again.
if you repot it try and put it in a fabric pot or a mesh bin with holes , it will allow it to dry out quicker and hopefully you wont get a build up of water in the pot.

 

[Merkle]

No 110 degree days. Never been outside and A/C works great. But, has been in front of a window with some direct sunlight. No hay smells

Hi OutdoorGirl971,
I may have missed this in the replies, but have you been feeding her. This picture looks as though she is starving for some nutes.

 

[OutdoorGirl971]

Hi OutdoorGirl971,
I may have missed this in the replies, but have you been feeding her. This picture looks as though she is starving for some nutes.

No, I haven't. I just purchased a 3-pack of nutes. I am waiting for her to dry up then feed her. Or should I go ahead and do it?

 

[TannedViking]

Looks like the light getting in didnt really reach the back and top. The back is trying to reach for the front, stretching and dying off in the process because why grow there when the front gets all the light and there are few nutes around. A grow light would be your best bet to get her back up on all sides unless you can put her outside in direct sunlight for at least 12h, but pref. 18h.
If you havent fed her beside what was already in the potting soil you might want to start with a light feed, see how she reacts.

 

[TheGoldenRoad]

No, I haven't. I just purchased a 3-pack of nutes. I am waiting for her to dry up then feed her. Or should I go ahead and do it?

If you’ve given her water, don’t water with feed until the soil is dry enough. The color actually doesn’t look too bad. On the plant with the purple pot, was the side that was damaged the side facing the glass?

 

[Merkle]

Hi OutdoorGirl971,
I may have missed this in the replies, but have you been feeding her. This picture looks as though she is starving for some nutes.

No, I haven't. I just purchased a 3-pack of nutes. I am waiting for her to dry up then feed her. Or should I go ahead and do it?

It is best to feed throughout your plants growth. Refer to the manufacturers suggested feeding schedule, I always dial it back as far as what they recommend. Your plants will tell you what they want. Your plant looks like it is telling you to feed her. Good luck!