A few (hopefully) small problems....

[Substorm]

Hey everyone this is my first grow that is almost 6 weeks into vegetation. I have some plants that seem to be growing a lot slower than others, 1 plant that is lime green (not dark green like others) and also 2 plants that appear to have been munched on. Here is my "Universal Question List" Let me know if anymore information is needed or if I left anything out. In my pictures (starting in order) I tried to show my tent set-up showing the distance from light to plants, the lime green plant compared to the darker colored plants in background, the munched plants with "chew marks" and the smaller plants compared to the 3 monsters that are growing in miracle grow.


1. How tall are your plants now? Plants range from 5.5" - 8.5"

2. How far from the lights are the tops of your plants? Is this a constant distance or have you changed it recently? Height varies from plant to plant due to size. But on average is 18-24in. from plants.

3. How old are they? 5.5 weeks

4. What strain are they? PPP (Pure Power Plant) indica/sativa cross

5. Did you start them from seed or clone? Seed, no germ method, just placed seeds in soil and kept wet.

6. What type of containers are you using and what size are they in gallons? 10in. wide plastic pots not sure how many gallons.


WHAT TYPE OF GROW DO YOU HAVE?


7. Dirt? Yes

8. What mixture of dirt or type of dirt did you use? Planted initially in "Hyponex" potting soil in biodegrade-seed pots. 3 largest plants are growing in "Miracle grow", other 4 are in a mixture of hyponex and top soil w/ compost already added

9. Is it a type that has added nutrients like "Miracle Grow"? The top soil only contained compost sheep manure that I'm aware of.

10. What mixture of perlite, vermiculite and other additives have you used if any? None

11. Hydroponic? No

WHAT TYPE OF LIGHTS DO YOU USE?


18. Fluorescent

19. Halide 400w MH

20. HPS

21. Wattage? 400w

22. Ballast, is it digital or analog? Analog

23. Is it remote or in your grow area? Remote

24. What nutrients are you feeding your plants? Watered plants with a bare root/transplant solution the first 2 weeks until I realized that nutes are not to be applied until AFTER germination. No problems though, plants initially grew VERY fast.

SOIL FERTS?


27. What brand? What strength? What mix? I used Shultz Starter Plus Concentrate solution for transplant/bareroot plants, contains Nitrogen 5% Phosphate 10% Potash 5% Iron .10% Vitamin B12 .02%

28. How often, and when was the last time? Used only for germination the initial 2 weeks then stopped using.

28.1 What is PH of soil. 6.7 - 7.0


ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF THE GROW AREA


29. Do you use ventilation for your indoor grow? Yes

30. If so, what do you use? Oscillating fan, carbon scrubber with built-on fan installed last week to draw air out.

31. Do you use a fan? Yes

32. What type of fan and where is it pointed? What speed? Fan is positioned right in front of plants, oscillating at low speed

33. Temperature of the grow area? Temperature varies, estimate 75-80f degrees during daytime, 50-65f degrees night time

34. Humidity of the grow area? Estimate about 60% on average, may be lower at times due to location

35. Is CO2 being introduced? What method? Not directly, however I am on intersection of busy street. Does that help

36. Do you use Odor Control, (carbon, ionizer, ozone gen)? Activated carbon

37. Do you use LST? HST? None


Much thanks in advance!

 

[Muddy Paws]

Here's how I use MG soil..it works everytime; don't let haters talk you into spending 20 bucks on dirt


1 medium size bag Miracle Grow Moisture Control Soil (Wal-Mart)

-- 2 cups of dolomite lime for Mg and PH control (Lowes/Home Depot)

-- 1 bag of Earthworm castings (Wal-Mart-yellow bag)

-- One half bag of perlite (Lowes)

-- One half bag of vermiculite (Lowes)

This will give you enough soil for 6 - 1.5 gallon pots; nothing is static, change the quantities as you see fit

The Miracle Grow soil will run out of nutes at about 3 weeks in...perfect for the beginning of flowering.

I supplement with Molasses during veg; I use PureBlendPro and Humbolt Big Up during flowering.

Water plants as needed; feed using the schedule on with whatever nutrients you use and use less nutrient if plants appear burned.

If you use this soil for cuttings or seedlings FLUSH well first
-----------------
For this grow, since you didn't use any Lime, you may have an Mg issue show in your leaves later. Use Molasses in your water and put some Gardening Lime on the top of the soil and work it in with your fingers a bit. This will help keep the PH where it needs to be as well.

 

[Substorm]

Muddy Paws thank you for your quick response! This post does not necessarily have to do with M-Grow soil, this is my first post so I just threw the pole out there for shits and giggles. However your information on how to grow correctly on M-Grow soil is very good and I think I will try your method next time around. Now back to my main concern which is the light green looking plant and the 2 plants with spots and slow plant growth of my 4 smaller plants. I did some reading last night and from what I read it looks like my smaller plants just need to be closer to the light, I gave them a boost and the light green plant looks like its getting a littler darker. So my main concern is the "spots" or chew marks on the plants and the small plant growth. Also I'd like to know if its ok to use my Shultz Starter Plus Concentrate solution on my plants at this stage even though the solution is specifically for bare root and transplants. The solution contains Nitrogen 5% Phosphate 10% Potash 5% Iron .10% Vitamin B12 .02%, is this ok to use as a nutrient on the plants this late into vegetation? Also since I did not use lime or molasses could this be what is causing the spots on the leaves?

 

[Substorm]

Ok I think figured out the problem, the leaves with "spots" are starting to dry out, after closer examination of the leaf I noticed that it felt very dry and actually started cracking in places, I stuck my finger deep in the soil and noticed that ithe soil was very dry even though I had watered 2 days ago. So I watered the **** out of the soil (hopefully not too much) and moved the big plant (with the spots) to the outside of my tent. I'm hoping this solves the problem. As for the smaller plants I boosted them up closer to the light and am pretty sure this is going to solve the problem. Also I am going to throw some dolomite lime into the soil to take the PH down from 6.7-7 to 6.5. Hopefully this does the trick, I will keep everyone updated.

 

[blancolighter]

Many senior members here are "haters" on MG soil because just about every other post in the sick plants and problems section is brought about by people using MG soil and having no idea of what to do with it. Its easier for beginners to start with something much less potent and better suited for weed. Nothing is actually wrong with MG soil, its just not as user friendly as some other options, by all means, if you can grow well with it, do it!

 

[Substorm]

Hi Blancolighter I appreciate your response, I would just like to put out there that I read up on MG soil before I started the grow and read how it is not good for growing. I do find it funny though that my 3 biggest plants are all in MG soil and are growing the best. Also I'd like to note that the only reason that I used MG in the first place was because I had 3 plants that were outgrowing their peat pots and it was the only soil that was available "out of season" at Walmart. I dont drive so I couldnt take the bus all the way to the next city and back to visit Lowes or Homedepot with a big bag of potting soil. I had intended to transplant these into regular soil as soon as it was available at Walmart, however when I was finally able to get plain soil I noticed that the roots had already grown pretty far down into the pot, so I just decided to keep them where they were so as not to risk further shock. The two plants that I am having trouble with are in seperate types of soil, one in MG and the other in the Hyponex + topsoil blend. I am having problems with 2 different plants that are in the two different soils that I used which leads me to believe that there is something else wrong. I just watered about 4 hours ago and did a PH test, and now I am getting a PH reading of about 6.7 - 7 on all plants. The spots on the leaves are getting a lot worse as I stated in my post above. Here are some pics to show what has went on in the past 24 hours. ( Please note that this is the same leaf from picture of the bigger plant above)

 

[blancolighter]

Hmm, yea, whenever you use different soils, the water and nute holding properties change in them, so what your other plants can be thriving on may kill the same plants in a different soil mix. Those spots are reminiscent of heat damage, which is a bit odd since your other plants are fine, but nute burn can also look like that and the little bends/twists in the leaf also support this theory. A thing I've noticed in my growing (i havent read it anywhere yet, but I consistantly screw up my grows, so I've got a good theory or two on plant problems) is that when plants get a little more severe nute burn, they become more sensitive to heat and bleaching out. I think this applies to you, because I can see leaf twisting, a classic nute overdose sign, and then I can see those spots, a classic heat damage sign. Put two and two together and you get a nute overdosed plant that is now heat sensitive from the overdose.

Now here is where the problem with using MG soil comes into play. if you were using any other soil, I would say flush it on out right away and all will be good, but MG complicates things. Whenever you water MG soil, it releases its fertilizers, and boy does it have some fertilizers, so fixing a nute overdose with MG is pretty complicated. It also has time release ferts engrained in the soil, which are almost impossible to flush out anyways. Now you gan give flushing it a shot, there's a chance it may work, but be very attentive. If your plant continues to twist and grow spots after you flush, take the plant out of the container, gently rinse the dirt off the roots, and repott it in soil from your yard or something, because if its still going wrong at this point, any soil will be better than what you have it in now.

Good luck man, wish ya the best!

 

[clanchattan]

3 parts plain top soil
1 part perlite/vermiculite
1 part manure

all availible from just about anywhere......

and cheap too.

 

[Substorm]

1 part baking soda
2 parts cocaine
1/2 part water

all available just about anywhere

everything but the cocaine (not so cheap)

lol just being a smart ***

 

[Substorm]

Your theory makes a lot of sense, when I water the plants it is by eye not by measurement so maybe in the coarse of the past few weeks since transplant Ive been flushing out the other plants while these two just didn't get flushed out very well, which could be what's causing a nute oversdose. It does get pretty hot in the grow tent with the 400w MH running 24 hours a day, I tried compensate by leaving as most of the air duct flaps open on the tent HOWEVER when I got my carbon scrubber last week I change the ventilation to just one vent hole on top which the scrubber draws air out of and then one on the bottom where I have the oscillating fan pulling fresh air in. So I guess another thing I'll do since I dont have to worry about light leakage is open up some more vent holes. Unfortunately I kinda freaked out yesterday and watered the plants down prett well but didn't take into account the fact that MG soil has the self feeding nutes and all that crap when you water them. So hopefully this doesn't cause any more problems or make things worse. I'm going to go check on them right now since its been a little over 12 hours since I watered. This is becoming difficult to identify the exact problem, anyone else with some constructive feed back?