Og Kush Growing Pains

[SKB]

Sooo, I have had general good luck growing more basic strains such as Blue Dream, Cinex, Super Silver Haze, really most anything that was not straight OG. Since attempting to grow this strain I have gotten one round in and achieved 1.5lbs per light which I was ok with for my first round. The problem has been getting to my second round. The veg plants for my finished round took twice as long as any other plants I have ever grown and still had pathetic root mass and vigor.
My first transplants out of the clone box were frosty white and ready to go after about 8 days. After transplanting they never really took off with super slow growth and eventually a thrip invasion. I attributed the problem to the pests, and an attempt to copy a friends success with planting directly into 2 gallon pots.
I started over and again got nice roots in about 7-9 days. This time I noticed some pm and spider mites a few days after transplanting. About ten days after transplant I sprayed with Azatrol and Seranade. It seems to have slowed the pm and mites but freaked out the girls a little. The cinex is sitting right next to all of these and has nothing on it. I have had more pests in the last four months with these plants around than I have ever seen.
They are growing faster than the first batch that I killed but still not drinking much. The first round I used Flora Nova Grow at 300ppm (500 scale) which is my usual effective routine as an initial dose. The second round I fed 500 ppm of the expert program Botanicare Kind in 4" pots with Botanicare Aeration Formula, also my usual go to. Over the last several years I have questioned the quality of this medium, wondering if it is a vector for pests or potentially high in salt or for whatever reason inconsistent enough to cause major lock ups or growth problems.
I am tempted to use avid and eagle 20 to nip this problem but am fairly positive that they are not in good enough shape to take the abuse. The problem is that if I leave them be the pests could come back and finish the job. If I had new starts I would scrap them but it's not an option. I am trying a side by side with BlueDream in BCuzz and the Aeration with hopes that I can notice some difference as my friend is doing everything the same as me with only the soil being different.
In addition during the first batch my T5s were maybe 18"-24" above and the second they are almost 4' above after seeing my friends thriving garden with the same set up. Just assuming they were super sensitive to light. I have moved them back down in hopes they will get thirsty faster. Three to four days in 4" cups at the beginning of week three seems crazy.

Temp has been around 75 avg with a low of 70 and a hi of 80.
Humidity has been around 60% right now its up around 70% but bringing it back down to avoid pm.
PH 5.8


Any ideas?

 

[straincreation]

First off welcome to the farm.
I have grown og since i began growing indoors back in 2007 i feel your pain. It took alot of time and fustration and effort to get my girls to be produce the way they do today.
A fewthings i wanna touch on first.
I am not familiar with botanicares mix.
I grow with organic and synthetic ferts and try and find the correct balance.
i am familiar with kind (in veg at least) great product just picked up some samples a few months back my momma loves it.

So i have had mites in my garden when it was remote and i could only visit once a week, shitty partner. Lesson learned.
thrips im guilty, ive had to deal with these nssty little bastards, and persistant.
Here is what i did: day one hit um with mighty wash. 24 hours later 98% of the adults were dead with a good drench. Following this up with a fresh water rinse.
Next morning if they look in decent shape ,IF and only IF they do look in decent shape .your plants are not the same as mine. Mine were fine after this, so i followed up with a neem spray. Which consisted of.
1/2 gallon water
1/2 oz of neem (any i prefer einstien oil)
1 ounce of MW
1/2 tsp of coco wet
tsp of sticky from humbolt nutrients. ( this one is optional, but if your having problems with root mobility,i suggest some form of nitrogen to give your plants a jump i think it has a bit of fulvic acid. Dont quote me on that last part.)
This seemed to do the trick i did this once then check the scope 36 hours later dead as a door nail with a few eggs remaining. So i waited for the 76 hour mark and see where this went. Still eggs from what i could find. Stipled leafs seized but eggs where there. 4 days later mixed that up once more hit um one more time, by this time they looked alot better, so hit um once more with this spray. later picked up some caps bennies and been i love since. This was about 2 yrs ago mind you. Been thrip free since.
Ooh oh oh i forgot. I stripped every thing down to 3 healthy plants while doing this. Cleaned everything sprayed MW on my tent walls. Then when all signs of them were gone, i flowered 2 and mommed one. It was a big chunk of time but worth it in thee end.

Ok that covers the bug issue. For your root mass. May i ask what you are using for your roots. Be it organic or not?
do you hit your ladies with myco during transplant?
Also you mention you grew them in 4"pots.
How long do you keep them there?
Threw flower ? i would hope not. Ogees imo tend to not have the biggest and root system. Structure yes, system is not as elaborate as a sativa, or even sativa dominant og. Ive had some that never filled a 2 gallon pot on 3 months but priduced quality herb.
if your roots are unhealthy on the other hand that means your rhizosphere is all outta whack, and you need to feed your soil. Now listen im not sayin to go dump some stuff with a picture of fuzzy roots on it.
Breww some tea, or even something from organicare. some microbiolotea.lol stoned.


Imo all store bought medium is going to be at the same risks for pests. It about keeping it clean and having the microbiology to keep it in check until the room becomes nuetrual and your plants are strong enough and resistant enough to not make worth the pests while. Also your clean ass room wont be to inviting.

Hope to here from you
happy farmin;)

 

[straincreation]

Sooo, I have had general good luck growing more basic strains such as Blue Dream, Cinex, Super Silver Haze, really most anything that was not straight OG. Since attempting to grow this strain I have gotten one round in and achieved 1.5lbs per light which I was ok with for my first round. The problem has been getting to my second round. The veg plants for my finished round took twice as long as any other plants I have ever grown and still had pathetic root mass and vigor.
My first transplants out of the clone box were frosty white and ready to go after about 8 days. After transplanting they never really took off with super slow growth and eventually a thrip invasion. I attributed the problem to the pests, and an attempt to copy a friends success with planting directly into 2 gallon pots.
I started over and again got nice roots in about 7-9 days. This time I noticed some pm and spider mites a few days after transplanting. About ten days after transplant I sprayed with Azatrol and Seranade. It seems to have slowed the pm and mites but freaked out the girls a little. The cinex is sitting right next to all of these and has nothing on it. I have had more pests in the last four months with these plants around than I have ever seen.
They are growing faster than the first batch that I killed but still not drinking much. The first round I used Flora Nova Grow at 300ppm (500 scale) which is my usual effective routine as an initial dose. The second round I fed 500 ppm of the expert program Botanicare Kind in 4" pots with Botanicare Aeration Formula, also my usual go to. Over the last several years I have questioned the quality of this medium, wondering if it is a vector for pests or potentially high in salt or for whatever reason inconsistent enough to cause major lock ups or growth problems.
I am tempted to use avid and eagle 20 to nip this problem but am fairly positive that they are not in good enough shape to take the abuse. The problem is that if I leave them be the pests could come back and finish the job. If I had new starts I would scrap them but it's not an option. I am trying a side by side with BlueDream in BCuzz and the Aeration with hopes that I can notice some difference as my friend is doing everything the same as me with only the soil being different.
In addition during the first batch my T5s were maybe 18"-24" above and the second they are almost 4' above after seeing my friends thriving garden with the same set up. Just assuming they were super sensitive to light. I have moved them back down in hopes they will get thirsty faster. Three to four days in 4" cups at the beginning of week three seems crazy.

Temp has been around 75 avg with a low of 70 and a hi of 80.
Humidity has been around 60% right now its up around 70% but bringing it back down to avoid pm.
PH 5.8


Any ideas?

Also suggest gettin those lights little closer than the 4 ft.

 

[SKB]

Thanks for your responses, I dropped the lights back down to my usual 18" right before the first post and they are starting to drink now and looking better. I'm hoping to be at a point where they are drinking daily soon. I think that it took them awhile to bounce back from the spray, I wonder if the stomata are clogged, I don't usually spray with anything. It's torturous watching these ladies grow so slow. I'm used to whole new sets of leaves popping up almost every day. I fed with 700 ppms of flora nova grow and added cal mag, sea green coming in at a total of 850 ppms.
I add great white into my first drench after transplant. I usually add it directly to the root zone in transplant but had a suspicion that possibly too much in direct contact with the roots had something to do with them being so stunted. Any opinion on that? I keep them in 4'' pots until they are drinking every day then go in 2 gallons and then into 10 gallons. I will probably whip up some og biowar bennies to have in the mix soon too. My root system is healthy its just not elaborate. I think I might get my water tested as well just to make sure that I'm all good there. My outside garden had no problem with the same water so I have a hard time believing its that. I do see rust colored water and sediment coming out of the tap and spigots in my home though. I think my pipes are aging. While I'm on the topic of water, does anyone think that adding warm water has negative effects. Is there build up from the inside the hot water heater that could be contaminating my res water. Also, I have heard of the possibity of sump pumps attracting certain minerals to the magnet in the motor, stripping your nutrient solution of its balance. Could these build up in your nutrient solution or just not be getting to your plants. I mix with and water with submersible 1/4 horse power pumps.
I am concerned that there is a virus or something in the plants. Do thrips, mites, or pm carry anything that would stop me from continuing my use of these plants for genetic stock or will just make growing them pointless. I am starting over with a fresh mom that is untainted but would like to take cuts of these plants that are going once they get on track. Thanks for your input :)