First Grow going slowly! Tips appreciated 😊

[KBC]

Hello there,

I have decided to try my first Grow just recently. I am currently growing indoors in a tent with a exhaust fan, a 600w LED lamp and plenty of air circulation. The strain is Northern Lights. The pictured plant is halfway through its 4 week.

Currently have 2 little ones who I believe are in their vegetative stage. However, it has been quite a while since I have noticed any growth. I have them in Canna Professional Coco Coir mixed with perlite. They are watered when their pots feel light, which ends up being every second day or so. The grow room temp is kept at around 25° Celcius. I am also currently running a 16/8 lighting cycle.

I have not been feeding them any nutrients, and as far as I can tell they haven't needed any.

I am just concerned about the speed of their growth as they have been sitting steady for the last week or so. It seems that their lowest most leaves have curled up and the stems have gone purple. I have included a couple images of the plants just outside of their tent to see if I can get any opinions on whether they are lacking something, over watered/underwatered or just seem stressed to more experienced eyes.

Any recommendations or suggestions would be appreciated. Please let me know if I've missed some information that might help. Thank you.

 

[oldfogey8]

i wold feed them and give them 24 hours a day of light

 

[Buzzy]

they need nitrogen badly.

 

[Kyfarmerb]

It does appear that they need some nitrogen.i usually run foxfarm trio line.but there's many good brands out there.but other than that keep up the good work bro, study, study, study.check me out here at my current grow journal.its called ( Back in the saddle again).any and all questions are welcome.happy growing to you bro.

 

[Buzzy]

I'm with you on the FF liquid nute trio, Kentucky. Until I find better I'll stick with what works for me consistently, homemade compost teas I may start doing next grow. Do an experiment, I'll research the best NPK ratio exactly and make my own batch. Apply that to half the grow, use FF liquid nute TRIO on the other half of the grow. And see how they compare.

Reading only tells you "so much." Doing it yourself is the best teacher, imo.

 

[Papa Indica]

I used FoxFarm nutrients for years and I much prefer what I'm using now, a product called Veg+Bloom. It works all the way through the grow and works well. Start feeding them something either way and the most important thing to do in the process is to pH everything you pour into them to 6.5 and you definitely want to give them more light if you want them to grow. Go to 18/6 or far better would be just going to 24 hours on as @oldfogey8 said.
Good luck!

 

[KBC]

Apologies, I already have them on an 18/6 cycle. I have applied a Bloom Cal which has mag and nitrogen in it also.

How long would you recommend doing a 24 hour light cycle? Right up until the end or just until it hits flower?

Thank you all for your replies

 

[oldfogey8]

You should be using nutrients designed for vegetation or ‘grow’ not ‘bloom’. Are these auto flower plants or photoperiod? I go 24 hours of light thru the vegetative stage the flip to 12/12 for photoperiod plants when the plants are mature. Alternating leaves as opposed to leaves opposite one another is a good indication of that. I would recommend you do some reading on other peoples grows here or on other sites to get yourself up to speed.

 

[Papa Indica]

@oldfogey8 has you covered.

 

[KBC]

You should be using nutrients designed for vegetation or ‘grow’ not ‘bloom’. Are these auto flower plants or photoperiod? I go 24 hours of light thru the vegetative stage the flip to 12/12 for photoperiod plants when the plants are mature. Alternating leaves as opposed to leaves opposite one another is a good indication of that. I would recommend you do some reading on other peoples grows here or on other sites to get yourself up to speed.

I believe the name of the brand - or product series - is Bloom Advanced Floriculture. Not 100% sure. The person at the Hydroponics store said its fine for use through Veg/Bloom.

I applied 1ml of this to 1L of water as per the instructions. I watered the plant normally. Since doing so about 16-18 hours ago I have also adopted a 24 hour light cycle, as well as pinched the top of the plant to promote growth. Since applying the mixture the plant seems a bit more droopy (I believe overwatered) and decently more yellow. I am hoping its new leaves will grow out healthier than the old ones thanks to the feed. Not sure what else I can do at this point.

 

[KBC]

You should be using nutrients designed for vegetation or ‘grow’ not ‘bloom’. Are these auto flower plants or photoperiod? I go 24 hours of light thru the vegetative stage the flip to 12/12 for photoperiod plants when the plants are mature. Alternating leaves as opposed to leaves opposite one another is a good indication of that. I would recommend you do some reading on other peoples grows here or on other sites to get yourself up to speed.

They are not Auto Flowers. I have been looking through some journals, so many different situations and variables!! Very interesting.

 

[Papa Indica]

That's not what they need for nutrients though. That stuff is only providing calcium and magnesium. You need to find a nutrient solution designed for vegetative growth so that they're getting the nitrogen and other nutrients that they need. (Nitrogen is essential to all plants, at some level, through all stages of growth.) Then you'll need something for the flowering stage. Or you could kill two birds with one stone and use what I'm using, Veg+Bloom. It works all the way through, no need for separate nutrients. Either way, you need to get some nitrogen to those plants!

 

[KBC]

I bought a separate bottle of just (GP3 Micro 5-0-1) as well. Pictured below. I didn't add this to my feed as I believe that there is the same amount of Nitrogen in the Bloom CalMag too, as it says it has 5.2% Nitrogen so 5.2-0-0. Unless I am mistaken of course as I am very new to this. I will definitely look into getting a bottle of Veg+Bloom stuff. If you reckon the ingredients of the Bloom CalMag wont meet its Mag/Cal/Nitrogen needs I will add some of the GP3 Micro the next time I give it a nutrient feed.

These are the ingredients of the Bloom Cal I added to my recent feed.

 

[oldfogey8]

i ahve not sued that product line but general hydro makes a product called micro which is designed to work as part of a 3 parts system. the micro is usually where these systems provide the micronutrients. the macronutrients(NPK) are contained in the other 2 parts. i am using stuff from kelp4less right now that is a 2 part system for veg and a separate 2 part system for bloom. i used to use general organics organic line but there are like 7 or 8 different bottles and it gets messy(though if you follow the directions you will get some very nice healthy plants so it might be a good starting point - the gobox is a kit with all you need for a couple small grows - look for gobox on amazon or at your local hydro shop). @Misanthropy Gardens and i agree. i wold go back to the hydro store and speak with someone other than the guy who sold you the first bottle of stuff. there is a lot to know to grow some good weed and i don't think the hydro store guy was being very helpful.

 

[KBC]

On

i ahve not sued that product line but general hydro makes a product called micro which is designed to work as part of a 3 parts system. the micro is usually where these systems provide the micronutrients. the macronutrients(NPK) are contained in the other 2 parts. i am using stuff from kelp4less right now that is a 2 part system for veg and a separate 2 part system for bloom. i used to use general organics organic line but there are like 7 or 8 different bottles and it gets messy(though if you follow the directions you will get some very nice healthy plants so it might be a good starting point - the gobox is a kit with all you need for a couple small grows - look for gobox on amazon or at your local hydro shop). @Misanthropy Gardens and i agree. i wold go back to the hydro store and speak with someone other than the guy who sold you the first bottle of stuff. there is a lot to know to grow some good weed and i don't think the hydro store guy was being very helpful.

I appreciate the help everyone.

Some of the products I have to order out for, and my local shops are limited. Would something like this be better?

Aqua Gardening in QLD Australia is the store I use mainly. General Hydroponics is apparently extremely hard to get over here.

Thanks for your time

 

[KBC]

I appreciate the help everyone.

Some of the products I have to order out for, and my local shops are limited. Would something like this be better?

Aqua Gardening in QLD Australia is the store I use mainly. General Hydroponics is apparently extremely hard to get over here.

Thanks for your time

 

[KBC]

It's been 3 days and the Coco is drying up, its come time to water my plants again. Should I be adding Nutes to every water or every second water to fix the deficiencies? I've been reading conflicting things, but as far as I can see it would be every second water. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[oldfogey8]

i feed every 2nd or third watering personally. from what i have read, coco can have ph issues. i think if it isn't washed well it is acidic out of the bag, can have a lot of salts left in it and that could be causing nute lock out as well.

 

[Papa Indica]

From everything I've heard from my growing buddies Botanicare is the only coco that isn't terrible that way, it's usable straight out of the bag, where others are not. I just recently got some to try. That could definitely be a problem if you're using a different brand and haven't properly prepped it first. Personally, I feed pretty much every time but, I'm going on the light side with my nutrients too. @oldfogey8 is right about the Macro too, both of those things that you have there are part of a larger nutrient system and by themselves don't provide all that the plants need.

 

[Kyfarmerb]

Hello my fellow cultivators,
Yes all of the above stated by my peeps is def true.the Coco mg speaks of is in my opinion the best on the market.i use it straight out of the bag.but I do a mix of promix,Coco and perlite.ph my water or water and nutes to six.five and I never have pH or lockout problems.as far as feeding schedule if I'm using full strength nutes I'll keep it simple and just feed every other watering.you also want to be sure to continue use of veg nutes atleast ten days into switching to flower,this insures the girls have anuff nitrogen for the explosive growth that happens when switching to flower.its early and I'm still waking up but you can check out my specs on my current grow journal here it's called Back in the saddle again.come over and check me out, any and all questions are welcome.happy growing to you bro