First ever grow

[CreX]

1 minute ago, Prom said:

I am CT.. Blouberg.. bigger pots!!  Makes your life with watering also easier.. morning, evening.. done. I guess you have to water those 3-4 times to keep em wet all day long.

You can also build your own wind protection with some green garden webbing (builders has in the garden section), 2 posts, concrete umbrella stands. Easier to move those stands.. just has to break the wind.. not block it. 

 

Friend has a Braai spot in the middle of the wind area he wanted to use for plants.. we get easy 40-50 knots of wind here. So we wrapped the area once around with mosquito netting (also from builders).. sun passes.. air too ^^ and also didn't rip or needs replacement. Would call it a working concept  gave him a huge grow area with not to much cost and effort. 

   

He is growing in soil, so it would hold a bit more water than coco... And not dry out as fast. 

Iv found that even with low RH, a 20l soil pot takes a good 3 days to become light enough to water again. Where as an outdoor coco pot of 20l would dry up in a day and a half and probably wilt by the end of day 2. 

[SAgrower]

I am CT.. Blouberg.. bigger pots!!  Makes your life with watering also easier.. morning, evening.. done. I guess you have to water those 3-4 times to keep em wet all day long.
You can also build your own wind protection with some green garden webbing (builders has in the garden section), 2 posts, concrete umbrella stands. Easier to move those stands.. just has to break the wind.. not block it. 
 
Friend has a Braai spot in the middle of the wind area he wanted to use for plants.. we get easy 40-50 knots of wind here. So we wrapped the area once around with mosquito netting (also from builders).. sun passes.. air too ^^ and also didn't rip or needs replacement. Would call it a working concept  gave him a huge grow area with not to much cost and effort. 

   

Thanks. My plants are all in one spot, corner of the property but I obviously dont get Blouberg winds in the Northern suburbs.

I was toying with the idea of some wind protection but alas, Im married and the boss said it would look ugly but now she understands. I should be able to do the wind breaking as you have mentioned thanks.

[SAgrower]

He is growing in soil, so it would hold a bit more water than coco... And not dry out as fast. 
Iv found that even with low RH, a 20l soil pot takes a good 3 days to become light enough to water again. Where as an outdoor coco pot of 20l would dry up in a day and a half and probably wilt by the end of day 2. 

Mine is growing in freedom farm soil and it dries very very quickly thus the need to water so many times. Don't mind the watering, actually provides a bit more weight to the pot.

[Prom]

36 minutes ago, SAgrower said:

Thank you, appreciate all the information I can gather at this stage. I will try the fan leaf break and let you know.

 

What I meant with the feeding is as follows

 

Week 1 1ml. 2ml. 2ml

Week 2 2ml. 3ml. 2ml

Week 3 3ml. 4ml. 3ml

 

So now the guide stops there for example so all I did was to carry on with:

 

Week 4 4ml. 5ml. 3ml

Week 5 5ml. 6ml. 4ml

 

Etc etc etc.

 

Should I not have done this as my grow from start to finish will be more than the guide's 16 weeks.

 

Other than that I am happy with how they are growing. The plants in the plastic pots were given to me and I really never bothered to replant them into bigger pots. With my next grow I will go a bit bigger pots, just not so sure of 60L pots as the wind is sometimes so bad here in the Cape that I move them behind some shelter etc.

 

Again, thanks for the help, appreciate it.

 

 nooooooo!!! If you go on with that you will kill your plants 

Plants grow.. they use more water.. the more they drink, the more they absorb. You give em more water and boost it. I would give them a 2 day flush.. just to get the levels down a bit. You most likely over did it ^^

If you are still learning the fertilizer, you need EC and ppm meter as CreX said.. or you will end in misery. "Lets give some more" is in most cases a killer. Get contact with a person more experience with the fertilizer you use.. and get some tips. (I got a complete introduction from a guy how to use Bio Bizz) When ever you want to increase your fertilizer amount.. never do that on all plants at once.. less frustrating. Soil is not like hydro and you have a fair chance to safe them, if you mess up.. but still.. serious fertilizer burn will ruin your harvest yield and make a very long curing time. Best is to make some bubble hash with that ^^

 

[SAgrower]

 nooooooo!!! If you go on with that you will kill your plants 
Plants grow.. they use more water.. the more they drink, the more they absorb. You give em more water and boost it. I would give them a 2 day flush.. just to get the levels down a bit. You most likely over did it ^^
If you are still learning the fertilizer, you need EC and ppm meter as CreX said.. or you will end in misery. "Lets give some more" is in most cases a killer. Get contact with a person more experience with the fertilizer you use.. and get some tips. (I got a complete introduction from a guy how to use Bio Bizz) When ever you want to increase your fertilizer amount.. never do that on all plants at once.. less frustrating. Soil is not like hydro and you have a fair chance to safe them, if you mess up.. but still.. serious fertilizer burn will ruin your harvest yield and make a very long curing time. Best is to make some bubble hash with that ^^
 

Thank you so much for the warning. I will start them on a 2 day flush but will go and make a turn at the hydro shop perhaps tomorrow.

[Bos]

Howzit@SAgrower
Those plants look healthy enough and branches are heavy, nice.

Agree with@CreX and@Prom, you will have to adjust your feeding gradually from veg ratios to flower ratios when the plants start flowering. Ramping up the nute ratios will kill your plants eventually.
If you ''google'' hortimix you will find lots of info on the ''makeup'' of the nutes, so you should be able to adjust for the flowering ratios as mentioned by@CreX.



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[SAgrower]

Howzit@SAgrower

Those plants look healthy enough and branches are heavy, nice.

 

Agree with@CreX and@Prom, you will have to adjust your feeding gradually from veg ratios to flower ratios when the plants start flowering. Ramping up the nute ratios will kill your plants eventually.

If you ''google'' hortimix you will find lots of info on the ''makeup'' of the nutes, so you should be able to adjust for the flowering ratios as mentioned by@CreX.

 

 

 

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I actually just typed that into Google now. . Now I also saw the Hydroshop is closed tomorrow.

 

Also, will it be better to just switch over to bio bizz fertilizer now as I really dont want to mess the plants up any more and I don't yet trust myself to figure out the ratios without causing harm, or more harm.

 

[Prom]

You are still in soil.. good soil... even you stop now with all fertilizer, you will get a good harvest out of those plants. I wouldn't go panic mode right now  Flush and read up a bit on the fertilizer.. if somebody in here uses hortimix, they will have some good information for you to go on. Swapping to Bio Bizz has the same result.. you have to learn the fertilizer.. so i see no help there right now. You have some kiff plants.. result should still be satisfying, just keep your calm 

[SAgrower]

You are still in soil.. good soil... even you stop now with all fertilizer, you will get a good harvest out of those plants. I wouldn't go panic mode right now  Flush and read up a bit on the fertilizer.. if somebody in here uses hortimix, they will have some good information for you to go on. Swapping to Bio Bizz has the same result.. you have to learn the fertilizer.. so i see no help there right now. You have some kiff plants.. result should still be satisfying, just keep your calm 

Thanks for the calming words. Will use some time today to do more research on fertilizers in general and what cannabis plants prefer etc.

[Bos]

Good idea to research your nutes.
Hortimix is a ''hydro'' nutrient complex iirc. There are so many on the market, but rule of thumb for cannabis.....
More N in veg than P and K
More P and K than N on flower.
Don't exceed maximum recommended ratios.
@CreX suggestion on the ratios is a good starting point.

1. Aquire a ph/ec pen

2. Do a flush or water excessively for a few days to flush any buildup.

3. Feed maybe at 50% when you start again- whether the plant is in veg or flower.

But veg plants get veg nutes and flowering plants get flower nutes. Otherwise you will develop toxic buildup.

Cheers


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[SAgrower]

Good idea to research your nutes.
Hortimix is a ''hydro'' nutrient complex iirc. There are so many on the market, but rule of thumb for cannabis.....
More N in veg than P and K
More P and K than N on flower.
Don't exceed maximum recommended ratios.
@CreX suggestion on the ratios is a good starting point.

1. Aquire a ph/ec pen

2. Do a flush or water excessively for a few days to flush any buildup.

3. Feed maybe at 50% when you start again- whether the plant is in veg or flower.

But veg plants get veg nutes and flowering plants get flower nutes. Otherwise you will develop toxic buildup.

Cheers


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Thanks for the help. Started the flushing tonight already.

[PsyCLown]

On 2/12/2020 at 10:26 AM, Prom said:

If your plants go very green and you do not know if that is good or bad, cut a fan leaf off and bend one of the fingers together. If it breaks in a funny way.. not a clean break but more jagged. The amount of nutrition in the leaf is to high and starts to crystallize. Give it a good flush for 2-3 days till the color goes more light and reduce your feeding amount.

I personally never feed more as the max set by the producer. I do not know Hortimix, so I can't give any advice . But on Bio Bizz for instance, the 12 week table is for Autoflower. Using that table on a feminized will hurt her to kill her.

 

Good example is a friend, he started his first proper grow this year. The cage plant pic is one of his (amnesia haze). He gave Fish-Mix in a 4ml per liter dosage when the plants were big and before flowering. That is the max Bio Bizz has on their 12 week table. I stay on 3ml per liter for instance.. enough in my opinion for thirsty fems and also a lot cheaper ^^ Then his plants went flowering and he just thought, lets jump to grow and bloom directly and gave 4ml per liter of each to the water. If you do not use "hard" fertilizer, mixed into the soil, your plants will drink nutrition when you water. If they get to much from something, they try to store it. If they run out of space for .. in his case to much P and K.. he ran into over nutrition problems. But flushed and went back to 2ml each... and plants went back to normal. How much fertilizer you have to add depends on the stage of your plant. The general rule is very simple.. is better to give less than to much. If you don't know what is correct.. always stick to the given limit of the producer, never raise by your own without knowing what you do. For my Autos, I follow that time table more or less 1:1 and just adapt it depending the time a plant needs.. 8-9 week plants.. you have to reduce those 12 weeks to fit the feeding.. same counts for plants needing more for time to finish. 

 

I really do not recommend to go over the limits you find written on the fertilizer

What issues did your friend notice?

 

 When I was using BioBizz I tried going higher than their recommendation, especially with Bloom and did not notice any ill effects.

I do agree that with the amount I was using, it was overkill for sure but I was pushing the limits to see what happened.

 

Around 4ml of fish mix for veg I found is pretty good and the larger plants love it! Once I got a feel for the BioBizz I stopped following the guide exactly and went based on what the plants were telling me and their size etc. with regards to the strength - but still never went above 4ml of fish mix. Was no need to.

[Prom]

Fertilizer is a double edged blade.. at least when you give recommendations to use it. I try to stay below the "killing range".. just to not get a rant how my advice killed somebodies crops 

The measurements I posted shouldn't be in the critical area and not hurt any plants.. but I agree with you.. the sky is the limit and you can bring the dosage up still easy. But only do that, when you understand what you do with fertilizer.

As a beginner in using it, stick to the rule: Less is always better!! And once you have a few harvests done and feel experimental.. go ballistic!!  

 

[Prom]

3 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

What issues did your friend notice?

Sorry.. forgot to answer this one. His leaves slightly curled and rippled and got lighter spots on the leafs edges. I didn't diagnose it on that.. when he told me that he gave 4 grow and 4 bloom per liter.. "but my autoflowers are way smaller and get 4/4, didn't think it would hurt the big ones".. my answer was: Is the amount of flower material using the nutrition. You have hardly any flower substance yet, where should all the P and K get used?

Understand why a plants needs what type of fertilizer, gives you the best idea how much to give. And again the same rule: Less is always better, if you are in question what to do.

 

If you actually log the water consumption of your plants, you will see the first change.. they stop drinking, when they run into a problem. Have a plant going down in water.. she is on the way into a lock out. If you can figure out now why she is stressed, you have the shortest stop in growing time. Once they go into a lock out.. you lose around 2 weeks of growing and development on the plant, till you have sorted your fuck up 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Prom
typo

[SAgrower]

So I flushed the ladies and this is what they look like now. I fed them half of where I stopped previously on Sunday but no change yet. Not sure where to from here.

 

Theres also no more bud development or bud size increase.

 

 

 

[Prom]

Soil Ph?

[SAgrower]

Soil Ph?

6.2pH

[Prom]

Not growing right after a good flush, can also mean that the root system got very swamped. Check that you let the soil dry down and have your fabric bags raised to have air circulating below.

If she is still not doing anything, is most likely a lock out. Plant shows you this one: 

But she should bounce back.. doesn't really look tragic to me.. but once more.. soil is rather new to me. 

Have you checked up on your fertilizer? 

[SAgrower]

Not growing right after a good flush, can also mean that the root system got very swamped. Check that you let the soil dry down and have your fabric bags raised to have air circulating below.
If she is still not doing anything, is most likely a lock out. Plant shows you this one: 
But she should bounce back.. doesn't really look tragic to me.. but once more.. soil is rather new to me. 
Have you checked up on your fertilizer? 

Thanks for the assistance. I will let them dry out and take it from there. I have dialed the nutrients back as suggested earlier.

[Prom]

Fabric pots you should always raise above ground and not let them stand directly on the ground. 

Due to the the vaporization of the water you put in, I would also recommend not to go 1:1 on dosage a person knowing the fertilizer tells you, but he is using none fabric pots!

Friend lives 5 mins walking from my spot. So same climate, same plants, same size, both use rain water.. he uses fabric pots, I use plastic pots. He gives them 12 liter a day per plant, i give 6. His plants never ever use 6 liters more ^^ so the additional fertilizer will stock up.. and did.. he had to make a flush like you and reduce to every second day fertilizer, to balance for the fabric pot and the heat we have here. Tick to hot here to use fabric outside in SA.. otherwise great pots  

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Prom
typo.. has more for sure ^^

[SAgrower]

Fabric pots you should always raise above ground and not let them stand directly on the ground. 
Due to the the vaporization of the water you put in, I would also recommend not to go 1:1 on dosage a person knowing the fertilizer tells you, but he is using none fabric pots!
Friend lives 5 mins walking from my spot. So same climate, same plants, same size, both use rain water.. he uses fabric pots, I use plastic pots. He gives them 12 liter a day per plant, i give 6. His plants never ever use 6 liters more ^^ so the additional fertilizer will stock up.. and did.. he had to make a flush like you and reduce to every second day fertilizer, to balance for the fabric pot and the heat we have here. Tick to hot here to use fabric outside in SA.. otherwise great pots  
 
 

Thanks for the help. Throughout the grow I have only ever fed once a week and only started increasing it to twice since I forced the 3 into flower.

I have now gone back to feed only once a week again but I reduced "Part B" and increased the MPK as indicated. I will monitor them from here on out but should they not bounce back etc I will see it as a learning curve so not all lost, can probably make hash, dab or edibles with it.

Thanks again, appreciate all the help I can get.

[SAgrower]

Can the sun burn trichomes brown? My lemon haze has lots of brown/amber trichomes on the biggest buds but not sure if its from the sun or actually ready to harvest as its about 12 days early, according to the internet.

[SAgrower]

This is the best pictures I could get

[Prom]

Good Morning 

 

I guess you refer to the "hair" of the flowers. They will go brown, when you come towards harvesting time.

The trichomes (the crystals) you check with jewelers magnifying glasses or a pocket microscope.. (40x and up). Those little bubbles change their color by time. Going from clear to white to amber.

When to harvest is a bit each owns choice.. and one of the most discussed topics between growers hehehe

I give you my 5 cent, then you all can roast me 

 

I wouldn't harvest anything, before the trichomes have not changed at least 10% to amber. That is the earliest stage to cut the babies down.. and plan in a 2 week of flush before that!

The more amber the trichomes get, the more "couchy" the weed gets. It also gets more tasty by time. So a very tasty weed is usually also a couch weed.

Most tasty stuff you get when the trichomes have change 50-65% to amber... but not always you want a couch weed.. so I harvest depending on the effect I want the weed to have. 20%-65% amber is my harvesting range.

Energizers more early.. relaxers more late.

[SAgrower]

Good Morning 
 
I guess you refer to the "hair" of the flowers. They will go brown, when you come towards harvesting time.
The trichomes (the crystals) you check with jewelers magnifying glasses or a pocket microscope.. (40x and up). Those little bubbles change their color by time. Going from clear to white to amber.
When to harvest is a bit each owns choice.. and one of the most discussed topics between growers hehehe
I give you my 5 cent, then you all can roast me 
 
I wouldn't harvest anything, before the trichomes have not changed at least 10% to amber. That is the earliest stage to cut the babies down.. and plan in a 2 week of flush before that!
The more amber the trichomes get, the more "couchy" the weed gets. It also gets more tasty by time. So a very tasty weed is usually also a couch weed.
Most tasty stuff you get when the trichomes have change 50-65% to amber... but not always you want a couch weed.. so I harvest depending on the effect I want the weed to have. 20%-65% amber is my harvesting range.
Energizers more early.. relaxers more late.

Yes I saw the hairs are brown and curling in, its the trichomes Im asking about as Im not sure if its the sun that burnt them amber or if they turned amber due to being ready to harvest.

If it was the sun I can leave them longer, if its due to age I would want to cut them now already so not sure how to differentiate between sun burnt and being ready to harvest.