Where did my first grow go wrong?

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

I'm trying to figure out where my first grow went wrong?
Problem: Buds are airy and leafy, little potency
Strain: Star Killer
Grow Setup: 4x4x72 tent, Mars Hydro FC3000 EVO 300w, 210CFM Ventilation Fan w/ 2 osculating fans inside, humidifier & dehumidifier (not sure how well it actually works).
Temp: 75-80 over the growing period
Humidity 60-65% Veg; 50-55 Flower
Pot: 5gal cloth pot
Watering: 1gal every 3-4 days or when top inch or two of the soil is dry
Nutes: Fox Farm Trio, in flowering stage I added open Sesame, Bestie Bloomz and Cha-Chig
The only places I think I could have gone wrong is in the flowering stage and maybe veg as well. I had a little trouble keeping the humidity down, especially after watering. I did extend the flowering stage based on the strain recommendations and the fact that the buds were rather small. Hide site I think I should have extended the veg? I don't know at this point. I also was only able to get the plant to allow 65% on the lighting with the above lamp as it would go into light stress. Any help or insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Please ask if you have any questions.

Thanks for any help here!

BackwoodsCultivation · Sep 2, 2024

If you don't mind me asking, where did you source your seeds?

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

BackwoodsCultivation said:
If you don't mind me asking, where did you source your seeds?

Homegrown Cannabis Co

ArtfulCodger · Sep 2, 2024

What media did you grow in?

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

ArtfulCodger said:
What media did you grow in?

Fox Farms Ocean Forest

Blastfact · Sep 2, 2024

Not near enough light. 300w in a 4 x 4 anything is failure. And what you saw as to much light was not enough water and nutrient uptake.

ArtfulCodger · Sep 2, 2024

Without seeing the grow, it's tough to say anything definitive. I agree with @Blastfact that you're under-lit, assuming you vegged healthy plants big enough to fill the tent. Having grown in Ocean Forest many times, I suspect that you were over-watered for the entire grow, based on your watering volume and frequency. Over-watering is watering too often, not watering too much volume. I've had success watering OF slowly to runoff, only when the pots get very light in weight. That usually takes between a quarter and a third of the media volume. Correct dryback time will vary with the size of the plant relative to the size of the pot, but the only time I water OF every three days is toward the end of flower when the plants are huge relative to the pots.

Over-watering doesn't hurt the plant by making them too wet. It hurts them by not letting the roots have enough air for enough days. Soils like OF are easy to over-water because they hold onto moisture pretty hard. When a plant is chronically over-watered, it messes up the ability for the plant to uptake nutes properly. That might be why you saw light stress at relatively low light intensities.

Hope that helps. Just some ideas based on what's worked for me. There are lots of ways to grow.

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

Blastfact said:
Not near enough light. 300w in a 4 x 4 anything is failure. And what you saw as to much light was not enough water and nutrient uptake.

I can't raise the height much more than I am, and I can't even see watering more. I did turn up the light to about 90% and she did not like that, and she only wanted watered every 3-4 days. I've wondered if I should move the fan & filter to the outside of the tent to gain maybe a 1' - 1'1/2ft? I just can't see a bigger light though.

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

ArtfulCodger said:
Without seeing the grow, it's tough to say anything definitive. I agree with @Blastfact that you're under-lit, assuming you vegged healthy plants big enough to fill the tent. Having grown in Ocean Forest many times, I suspect that you were over-watered for the entire grow, based on your watering volume and frequency. Over-watering is watering too often, not watering too much volume. I've had success watering OF slowly to runoff, only when the pots get very light in weight. That usually takes between a quarter and a third of the media volume. Correct dryback time will vary with the size of the plant relative to the size of the pot, but the only time I water OF every three days is toward the end of flower when the plants are huge relative to the pots.

Over-watering doesn't hurt the plant by making them too wet. It hurts them by not letting the roots have enough air for enough days. Soils like OF are easy to over-water because they hold onto moisture pretty hard. When a plant is chronically over-watered, it messes up the ability for the plant to uptake nutes properly. That might be why you saw light stress at relatively low light intensities.

Hope that helps. Just some ideas based on what's worked for me. There are lots of ways to grow.

Are you saying, just keep the watering schedule at 3-4 days but water less by volume? Instead of one gallon, use 3/4gal.

ArtfulCodger · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
Are you saying, just keep the watering schedule at 3-4 days but water less by volume? Instead of one gallon, use 3/4gal.

I'm saying the opposite. More volume of water, more time between waterings. Again, I'm guessing, because I can't see the grow. I'll transplant into a 5 gallon pot when my plant is 1.5-2X as wide as the new pot is. At that point, I might be watering every 9ish days. Each subsequent watering will come sooner, as the plant's water requirements increase with size.

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

ArtfulCodger said:
I'm saying the opposite. More volume of water, more time between waterings. Again, I'm guessing, because I can't see the grow. I'll transplant into a 5 gallon pot when my plant is 1.5-2X as wide as the new pot is. At that point, I might be watering every 9ish days. Each subsequent watering will come sooner, as the plant's water requirements increase with size.

While growing it, the leaves would be drooping after 4 days, and anything more than 1gal was runoff?

ArtfulCodger · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
While growing it, the leaves would be drooping after 4 days, and anything more than 1gal was runoff?

If one gallon of water is giving you runoff in 5 gallons of OF, you might try slowing down, or even watering in multiple sessions on watering day. Like I said, I'm guessing based on the info you provided. Lots of ways to grow.

Blastfact · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
I can't raise the height much more than I am, and I can't even see watering more. I did turn up the light to about 90% and she did not like that, and she only wanted watered every 3-4 days. I've wondered if I should move the fan & filter to the outside of the tent to gain maybe a 1' - 1'1/2ft? I just can't see a bigger light though.

Math does not lie. Hybrid fufu plants do lie. You have 18.75w per. sqft. The bare min. in the old days with HPS was 25w per. sqft. The new bare min. with quality leds is 30w per. sqft. and going up. That's why most lights now for a 4 x 4 are 500w min. to a common 600w plus. You have to get the light to the plant and water/food to make the engine run.

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

Blastfact said:
Math does not lie. Hybrid fufu plants do lie. You have 18.75w per. sqft. The bare min. in the old days with HPS was 25w per. sqft. The new bare min. with quality leds is 30w per. sqft. and going up. That's why most lights now for a 4 x 4 are 500w min. to a common 600w plus. You have to get the light to the plant and water/food to make the engine run.

With that being said... Why can't I turn up the lights higher than 65% with the current lamp. How would a 500w lamp be better? Am I missing something?

Blastfact · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
With that being said... Why can't I turn up the lights higher than 65% with the current lamp. How would a 500w lamp be better? Am I missing something?

Could be crap genetics. Lots of market share crap fufu hybrid junk out there. If you have your lighting, environment, water/feed down you can push right up to needing C02. But if any one of those inputs gets wonky then they all fail.

Omaha101 · Sep 2, 2024

Blastfact said:
Could be crap genetics. Lots of market share crap fufu hybrid junk out there. If you have your lighting, environment, water/feed down you can push right up to needing C02. But if any one of those inputs gets wonky then they all fail.

Where have you been getting seeds from? What Xtra High TCH indica or hybrid have you had success with?

BackwoodsCultivation · Sep 2, 2024

Blastfact said:
Could be crap genetics. Lots of market share crap fufu hybrid junk out there. If you have your lighting, environment, water/feed down you can push right up to needing C02. But if any one of those inputs gets wonky then they all fail.

This was my first assumption as well.

BackwoodsCultivation · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
Homegrown Cannabis Co

I am betting it is an issue with genetics. If you're pushing near light stress with the environment you talk about, you should be getting good bud. I say this because I grew crap right beside quality once and the buds were massive but they were light and slightly airy, also the cola molded a touch so I discard the entire plant. The mephisto beside it was an absolute BANGER. Same lights, same tent. No mold, tight dense buds. Genetics are extremely important in this hobby. I suggest finding one breeder in particular and sticking to them. Mine is Reverse genetics, every strain is a garuanteed banger. I source from them directly. Good luck on your next grow buddy you're on the right track!!

Blastfact · Sep 2, 2024

Omaha101 said:
Where have you been getting seeds from? What Xtra High TCH indica or hybrid have you had success with?

I've been blessed with landstrains most of my life. Except I lost a really close friend while on a international seed hunt late last year. I get my fufu weed seed from a local breeder. He has more misses than hits. A lot of folks claim high thc and it looks like the best ever grown and it's bunk. I can't get truly stoned on it. I give away most I grow and there glad to have it. I'm just not a fan at all of the new bunk fufu super weed out there. To get truly ripped I have to contrate and eat it.

Blastfact · Sep 3, 2024

ArtfulCodger said:
Without seeing the grow, it's tough to say anything definitive. I agree with @Blastfact that you're under-lit, assuming you vegged healthy plants big enough to fill the tent. Having grown in Ocean Forest many times, I suspect that you were over-watered for the entire grow, based on your watering volume and frequency. Over-watering is watering too often, not watering too much volume. I've had success watering OF slowly to runoff, only when the pots get very light in weight. That usually takes between a quarter and a third of the media volume. Correct dryback time will vary with the size of the plant relative to the size of the pot, but the only time I water OF every three days is toward the end of flower when the plants are huge relative to the pots.

Over-watering doesn't hurt the plant by making them too wet. It hurts them by not letting the roots have enough air for enough days. Soils like OF are easy to over-water because they hold onto moisture pretty hard. When a plant is chronically over-watered, it messes up the ability for the plant to uptake nutes properly. That might be why you saw light stress at relatively low light intensities.

Hope that helps. Just some ideas based on what's worked for me. There are lots of ways to grow.

IMHO you really can't over water if you have a healthy grow. Sure one can drown seedlings. But one of my major goals is to grow roots. Push them hard and have the plant root bound like hell by harvest time and almost no organic matter left in the pot. When I pull my root ball out of the pot after harvest and I barely get any dirt back. The plant, hardware, inputs and myself have in fact done the best that can be done. Everything in that finished pot has been turned into food/energy for the plant. My smallest pots are 5 gal. Fav. pot size is 7 gal. I do like 10/15 gal. pots for growing trees in tents. I may end up with so little organic material in a pot at the end of the grow I have to finish them on liq. ferts and pouring the water like a coco grow. With very little run off. It's easier to have not enough light, water, food and bad environment for a new grower. Than to much light, water, food and a good environment.

Where did my first grow go wrong?

Where did my first grow go wrong?

Omaha101

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