Biodiesel Failure to Thrive

[widespreadlovin]

So.... I obtained cuttings of the original biodiesel strain, which I was super excited about. Now I am not so sure...I have never grown any sort of diesel, but I was aware that they are pretty hard to get started. I was assured, however, that once they got established that they would go nuts and be very hardy.

They were, in fact, a total bi-yotch to get started. I use an ez-clone, and have had literally an almost 100% success rate with every other strain I have started with it. With the Bio, I had to basically do about 120 cuttings to get 30-ish viable babies. They just aren't loving life, though, and I am not sure why.

I have more or less done the same thing for every round I have done since I kind of got things dialed in as far as what worked well for me. Other rounds have been absolutely epic, so I know I have the general idea right. The babies are under a 1000 w metal halide conversion bulb. I realize that is too much for them, but I have gotten around this issue successfully in the past by doing 18/6 in veg. They are in a Happy Frog/Ocean Forest mix with microrhiza mixed in, top fed with high quality worm castings. I use Botanicare products- Grow, Liquid Karma, Cal-Mag, Silica-Blast, etc. I also give them a touch of Super Thrive on watering days during veg. I realize that every strain is different, but seriously, I have done at least eight different strains in the past year, and they have all loved it! But this Bio... meh. Yellowing leaves from underneath, sloooow rate of growth, a couple of leaves twisting over and just basically, as I mentioned in my title, a failure to thrive. I will try and take some pictures later to post if that will help.

I know *for sure* that the genetics are awesome, so this is definitely a case of "user error" somewhere. Does anybody have experience with this strain, and some insight to give me? I know there is something that I am missing as far as what will make these particular little ladies happy, but I just can't figure out what it is!

I am a medical caregiver in Co, and I have worked very hard to give my patients high quality medicine. I don't want to disappoint them now. Help!!!

Thanks!

 

[ozzydiodude]

Kinda sounds like your over fertilizing them. With all the nutes in the HappyFrog/Ocean Forest they really shouldn't need additional fert til they are a couple weeks old.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I am thinking the same as Ozzy, if they are under 2 weeks out of the cloner, that may be a bit much on the nutes(although I am not a soil grower so I could be wrong). I use an EZ-cloner as well with tremendous success. How did the roots look coming out of the cloner? how long were they in the cloner? did yu use any clonex in the water or any clone gel on them? How did yu prepare the cut end b4 going in. I have had some that have been a bit more challenging than others in the cloner. I have also found that on some strains, if yu don't take fresh growth from down low on the plant that they will be more difficult to take root, while others can be taken from the top and will throw roots in no time. Curious to know yer process from ? above :watchplant:

 

[Hushpuppy]

By the way...Welcome to the Passion. we're glad to bounce ideas with yu

 

[Mutt]

Sounds strain related to me. Some strains hate to be cloned.
I would do as the others say and just give it bare min. nutrients and build up, don't just give em the same strength as everything else.

 

[widespreadlovin]

Ugh. I just replied, and wasn't logged in so it didn't post. Let me try this again!

I know that the genetics are good, because my friend took the cuttings for our moms right off of Kyle Kushman's mamas.

I typically wait two weeks or more to start feeding, but because I am running behind on this cycle due to the issue of getting enough babies rooted, I think we may have waited just over a week this time. The only problem, though, is that the "older" babies are not doing that great, either. Better than the new ones, I will give you that, but still not awesome. I can't remember how long we waited for them, though.

When I took the cuttings, I did it the same way I always do. Clean razor blade, x-cut on the bottom of the cutting, rooting hormone. Because I was taking so many cuttings, I sort of took larger pieces off of the moms and took the individual cuttings off of those. My moms needed to be pruned anyway , so I figured doing it that way would be less stressful to them. My moms are pretty stressed at the moment because I have had to take THREE rounds of cuttings to get enough viable babies rooted.

Thank you SO MUCH for the input. It really is appreciated. I really am stumped on this one....

 

[Hushpuppy]

I went back and looked at yer symptoms again and that sounds like nutrient lockout. I don't know why yu would have a nute lockout at this point unles something has thrown the ph way off in the soil. Just for knowing, I would say when yu run some water thru the next go capture some of the runoff and check the ph on that. I don't know if soil testing ph is reliable so checking the runoff would be the next best thing I think. If Hick is around yu can check with him. He is the soil guy extraordinaire, so he tell yu better than I can. The bad thing is that this being a new strain for yu, it could be something that normally doesn't happen with other more familiar strains. Maybe even a combination of issues like ph and too much light or something like that. Hope yu can get it straight, 25% success rate sucks.

 

[widespreadlovin]

Hey, Hushpuppy! Thanks for your input. *I* am pretty anal about ph, but I can see how nute lockout is a possibility. I was out of town for a couple of weeks with a friend watching over things, so it is a possibility that they were not as precise. I've decided to put them back on plain ph'd water for a week and a half or so, and then ease them back into feeding. I actually just watered, so I can go check the ph of the run off once I have a minute. Great idea!

Interestingly enough, in just the last few days, they seem to be rallying up the will to live a bit. They definitely have a bit of recovering to do, but I am feeling much more hopeful. If they continue to improve, I will probably just leave them alone. If they don't, I will probably flush them. I don't really have much to lose at this point, right??

 

[blondeboy]

You have to treat Diesel very carefully, and devoted a lot of attention to them because the minute you stop; they will die. They are a very, very hard strain to grow but worth the time & effort afterwards. They thieve in cooler temperatures (70F) and wither away easily in excessive heat (90F). They require more acid fertilizer then Alkaline ( 6.0). Find more info on the Internet about carrying for this strain & keep us posted on your progress.

 

[widespreadlovin]

Hey, everyone! Just wanted to give a quick update. I don't know how well I described this before, but we kind of have older and younger girls, because we had to do several rounds in the ez clone to get enough viable babies. The "older" ones were really looking fried and yellowed out, and the younger ones were kind of going that way. Due to my travel schedule, the older ones did get fed considerably quicker than I normally would, and the younger ones slightly less so. I stopped feeding them all together for about two weeks.(The ph runoff has been 6.0, btw. I water today, so I will check it again) I actually just gave them their first lite feeding a few days ago, a little bit of Grow, Liquid Karma and SilicaBlast. The older ones are still pretty yellowed out, but the new growth is starting to look a little better. The younger ones are looking really green and healthy, but are still growing really slowly.

I dunno... I just don't think that I am a "diesel girl". I have access to sooo many different and interesting strains that I don't know that I want to go through this situation again. I very lovingly put a lot of work into this endeavor, but I am a single mom with a job and an almost full-time school schedule. There has to be some sort of balance! I am going to love these little ladies up the best I can and flip my moms into flower with their offspring. This round has been almost three months in the making, the plants are about half the size they normally would be with every other strain I have done and I haven't even flipped them yet! Adding in my bad luck with my genetics on the last round, I really need to get back on a normal cycle. It has been very frustrating for me and my patients. I'm going to go collect some cuttings of some good known-producers from friends and get my growing-life back together! The last three or four months have been a total debacle!:holysheep:

Thanks again for the support and help!