First Grower Makes Mistakes

One more… what was the Ph and EC of that runoff :smiling_face_with_sunglasses::wink:

Hey @Lostgirl :waving_hand: Hope ur doing well :hugs:

They are 37 days old . ILGM white widow seeds . the small girl in the back got heavyily stunted and is just for funsies now so don’t mind her hanging out haha. and its a 5 gal fabric ACI pot but i only used one bag of ffof so its like 2/3ish full …
@SeaOhAreWhy the runoff ph was 6.56 and the ec was 4.2ms!!

1 Like

Yikes!

Ph in the zone :flexed_biceps:

I just want to make sure that you know this as I’ve seen many people truly mess up their soil by using RO water because they don’t know how to properly ph RO water. With that said, RO water should have zero (0) ppms. When you receive it. You can NOT pH plain RO. As there are no minerals for the pH to stick to in the water. You must have at least 200 PPM (per gallon) in your RO water of minerals ie (nutrients such as NPK, calcium magnesium ect). However, you can use plain RO water which has a neutral pH that will adapt to your soils pH by simply watering it with no nutrients and no pH adjustment your water will then take on the pH of your soil. I hope this makes sense. The moral to this story is never pH adjust plain RO water.

With that being said, if you have been pH adjusting plain RO water it can mess up your pH in the soil. Discontinue that immediately.

Let me point this out to you. Happy Frog ocean Forest is what we call a pre-charged nutrient soil. Yes it is hotter than normal pre-charged example Happy Frog. This precharged nutrient supply should last you up to 30 - 45 days without ever having to add any nutrients. I’m glad you now have your new pH PPM meter because you’ve been making a very big mistake by adding any nutrients to your water except for the exception of maybe calcium magnesium. Discontinue any feeding of nutrients until your ppm’s drop to 1,000 ppms

Looking at your plant I don’t think you’ve done too much damage but you’re severely overfeeding your plants which can lead to many different catastrophes in your plant growth and proper soil management. Your plant has more than enough nutrients to survive a couple of just water feedings.

If you don’t understand any of this let me know as it’s important that you got this right. This is textbook growing 101 right here. Avoiding these types of mistakes are crucial for happy healthy growing. Let me know if you have any questions.

@SeaOhAreWhy what’s happening my friend? How was your holidays? Everything’s all good here. Just enjoying life and my family. :victory_hand:

3 Likes

Wow that was an amazing explanation on all that.

In regards to the Phing RO water, I may have tried to balance the PH of the water once or twice throughout the waterings. The jug water has been within 6.3-7 every reading but I may have been to critical and tried to get in the 6.6-6.7 sweet spot a few times so I’m guilty of adding some of the ph stuff to the water, sure that hasn’t helped but great to be aware of it now.

In regards to the overfeeding, I just cant believe the handful of drops of grow big and calmag I’ve given her can cause such drastic effects on my soil. I must be underestimating how powerful each drop is. Her first feeding wasn’t until 24 days into the grow so I just assumed it was ok to add a small amount of the grow big and calmag.

Few questions!

Any recommendations on water sources? I gotta be kwik trips top water jug buyer but there must be a better way. I’ve read mixed things on tap water but I’ll check the EC and Ph of my water tonight and see if its worth trying in the future. I could also try buying spring water instead which would have more minerals in it. 2.50 a jug and a few jugs a week between my humidifer and waterings is adding up :joy:

Would that mean you should never add Grow big to FF soil when growing autos since they mature so quickly and by the time its pre flower you probably don’t want the extra nitrogen?

1 Like

Although not much help with current rH, I use a dehumidifier in the basement to maintain humidity levels and the water that I capture is essentially RO water. I collect more than enough for my needs. I’m also fortunate to have one of the few wells in Burnsville. I have water treatment that removes most of the Calcium from the well water. I’m not sure that you have a problem with high calcium, Iron may be an issue. Melted snow may be useful.

1 Like

I prefer RO water as I control all the nutrients that go inside. This can be a big bonus. Fortunately I get my RO water at no cost. But I do know it can get expensive. Do me a favor check the ppms of your tap water and tag me in your results. Sometimes if you have a low PPM tap water source it can be beneficial as it contains some of the micronutrients like iron etc that’s beneficial to your plant.

It’s okay, anytime I hear a newbie say RO water for some reason I have to explain what I explained to you as the mistake is made so many times and could be devastating to the end result.

As far as spring water I do believe there’s a negative side to spring water if you were going to utilize a store-bought water source I would go with distilled as it’s the same as RO water more or less.

I would stick with the manufacturers recommendation on what to use and when. It would not be ideal to take away nitrogen at the end as nitrogen also helps the uptake of other nutrients like phosphorus and potassium. I personally do cut back but I never discontinue.

Get back to me on your ppms of your tap water. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a low PPM that you can work with. I know Fox Farm nutrients (the trio) can take up a lot of PPM value when mixing. This is why I don’t suggest tap water when someone has an enormous PPM value

Also, you might want to visit your local water suppliers website as they report the breakdown of what’s in your tap water.

2 Likes

@Lostgirl




… included the water report because I’m not 100% sure what’s a red flag

2 Likes





Jan 8 - Day 37 - yellowing didin’t spread much overnight/during the day but the leaves that are yellow and corroding look a bit worse than last night. Guessing they will progressively look worse until I give her more magnesium. She’s about 19-20” now , six solid flower spots with a few more creeping under the leaves. Have the ionboard s22 at max height clipped to the top of my 4 foot tent at 80% on 18/6 and my ionbeams at 30% for 10 hrs a day. She smells more sweet flowery than gas skunky right now.

Fun side note: the stunted baby who is the same age as the main plant is coming along pretty good. She’s significantly darker in color and she smells more gassy than her taller sister. She almost died like two weeks into life after I transplanted her and she’s been fighting ever since . I’ve been giving her way more nutrients than my big plant just as a test and the stunted baby looks better than my main girl somehow :rofl: :person_shrugging:t3:

3 Likes

I think the pre charged nutrients inside your soil mixed with the additional nutrients that you’ve applied over the last few waterings have really giving you a nutrient imbalance within your soil from simply too much nutrients. I strongly believe this is what’s causing the yellowing of the leaves.

I would stick to giving your next feed 200 ppms of magnesium (the Epsom salt) if you have it and doing the next couple of watering only feeds and you’ll notice the yellowing stop.. also keep in mind yellowing leaves will not be restored to the original green color however, don’t cut them off let them dry up and fall off as your plant is Young and can still use the leaves for a while

I’ve grown many stunned midget autoflowers and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how pungent the weed actually comes out. For some reason midgets produce weed two times stronger than if it was a normal plant and trust me I’ve grown lots of midget autoflowers. I just took this picture today. She’s about ready for harvest she’s not even 12 in tall she’s 11 and 1/2 in and she’s got probably about 2 oz of weed dried on her and the buds are so sticky if I threw one against the wall it would stick to the wall. She’s just one big gigantic bud

3 Likes


:rofl:
Well grown, gonna be fire! Holidays were good, spent lots of time off the road and at home with the fam. U? Hope all was well :folded_hands:

2 Likes

@Lostgirl @SeaOhAreWhy quick update after tonight’s watering and epsom salt feeding , her bottom leaves that were yellow are slowly looking worse but I don’t see the yellowing spreading. Runoff was way better tonight, still high but coming down! :partying_face:

1 Like

On track Growmie. :clap:

1 Like

Do the next watering only once your girl becomes bone dry… Be sure that the girl feels like a loaf of bread when you pick her up before you water her again as your plant needs a day of dryness for oxygen uptake. This is crucial.

As I said before yellowed leaves are going to simply get worse and die they will not get better. The spreading is when you need to start worrying. Existing yellow leaves ignore for now as they’ll die off fast.

Your "main focus* right now is getting your ppms in check (dialed in to 1,000 PPM runoff with a 6.5 pH) keep in mind, autoflowers require far less food/nutrients then photo period plants do.

You’ve caught your problems and rectify them at the correct time. You should be just fine. There’s so much to learn and it takes time. You’ll get better as each grow comes. I like the fact that you take notes this is key. Always document maybe on a calendar every time you feed your girl exactly when you feed how much feed in ppms that you gave them (intake) and document the runoff PPM and EC as well as this is crucial documentation that you’ll use Time after Time to keep your numbers under control.

Note/questions (please answer them all to the best of your ability)

1.) took a look at your water report it doesn’t look bad. What is the PPM of your tap water? (Pour some in a cup and test it)

2.) Also, what size pot is this girl in?

3.) you have two Auto flower plants the same age correct?

4.) give me a list of every single nutrient and additive that you have in stock for your plants.

I noticed that your second girl I believe you call a midget/stunned is in a plastic pot.

5.) What size pot is it? Are there adequate drainage holes at the bottom for proper water runoff.

6.) what is her current PPM and pH readings on her last runoff?

7.) what are the current temperatures and humidity with inside your tent?

8.) what temperature and humidity are you shooting for?

9.) how are you controlling your temperature and humidity?

:+1::victory_hand:

3 Likes

@Lostgirl
I’ve always tried to wait an extra day longer than when I feel she’s needs watering just to make sure I’ve let her dry out because that was the most common mistake I read new growers make. So I waited 4-5 days between waterings the first few weeks and just increased water frequencies to every three days last week. I’ve never watered her more frequently than a three day gap so hopefully that’s ok. She feels light when I water her too and the bottom of the fabric pot is pretty dry.

Roger that in regards to the yellow leaves, I’ll stop updating on those since they are gonna die. I’ll focus on the new growth to gauge the deficiency.

I went into this first grow with the mindset of learning and expecting to make mistakes so it’s nice to have people to help me understand the mistakes early on. I have been recording water amounts and ph readings for my waterings, just got the ec meter last week but I’ve been tracking that since I got it as well. Already feel more prepared for the next grow but I’ve got many more mistakes to make along this first one :rofl:

Answers:

  1. Sounds like I’m gonna have to order a PPM pen because I don’t have one, just the PH and EC so I’ll report back once it lands
  2. main girl is in a 5 gal pot filled with a 12qt bag of FFOF so the 5 gal pot is 2/3ish full, i rolled the sides down for better air flow so it might look smaller.
  3. yes the two girls are the exact same age and seed type
  4. Fox Farm Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, CalMag and then pennington epsom salt for plants

STUNTED GIRL
5. second girl is in a 2.5gal plastic pot that has 5 drainage holes on the bottom. I filled this pot with a small pocket of happy frog and then the rest with ocean food. She got transplanted two weeks into her life and I ripped most of her roots when I did it because I had no idea what I was doing. Somehow she lives.
6. Because I thought she was gonna just die, I haven’t been tracking watering amounts, ph, ec readings or anything for her. I didn’t really plan to have two plants because my tent is so small but I’d feel bad letting her die so I’ve been letting her do her own thing and randomly watering her when the soil looks dry. She’s probably gotten more nutrients than my big girl because I randomly sprinkled grow big into the water when she was younger a few times. Kind of just an experiment at this point but she smells amazing. I wish my big plant smelt like my stunted one did.
7/8. Temps in the tent sit between 70.5-73 with lights on, 65-68 with lights off. Humidity between 50-63%. I have the AI set to control the VPD and keep it between 1-1.2kPa right now. If I could realistically raise my temps in the tent and have it 75-80 I’d do that but without a heater in the tent, its too cold in my townhouse to get them up. So I figured my best bet was focus on VPD via my ACI Humidifier which I have inside of my tent. As far as temp control, my lights are the only thing raising temps and the ionboard doesn’t give off much heat so its fractional. I’ve had my townhouse temps set to 71-72 throughout the grow just to try to keep my tent temps up.

1 Like

What’s up @MNQuincy how ya been man.

2 Likes

You’re watering habit is commendable. And you’re absolutely correct this is the most common error in new growers. I have no doubt that you’re giving them sufficient dry time.

10/4

Do not order a PPM pen you have an EC meter which is totally fine and EC can be very converted to ppms very simply simple. Use the chart below. You can continue to use EC as I already am familiar with EC. No need for a new pen. By the way I commend you for buying the brand name pen that you did it’s one of the best on the market you’re just fine.

Keep in mind your ppms with your meter is the 500 scale not 700.

Also understand the easy conversion of PPM to EC or EC to PPM a PPM of 500 is simply 1,000 EC or 1.0 if you really want to break it down further ppms are simply times two X’2 to get the EC

Extremely simple math

Good job on your temperature and humidity and the ability to control your environment environmental control is extremely important. You’re absolutely on the right path now. I don’t recall seeing what your last runoff of this girl was who’s in the plastic pot?

3 Likes


Jan 11 - Day 40 - Main girl is sitting just about 22” above her soil. Yellowing still subsided for now, and her new growth looks pretty good to me. I installed a second 6” ACI fan today because I was worried about airflow to the lower part of the plant. Might be overkill for such a small tent but I’ll need fans for my bigger tent eventually anyways. Last watering was Friday night, probably won’t water her till tomorrow or Tuesday night, and I’ll be sure to give her a small dosage of the calmag to keep that correction going.

Few questions about flowering nutrients:

I’ve seen fox farm has a three pack powder flower kit I could possibly order (cha Ching, beastie bloomz, and open sesame) anyone have an opinion if those are worth it or is tiger bloom enough? I’m cautious to go too deep into the fox farm hole if other brands like floragro or Athena are significantly better. Just curious if the fox farm is worth the $60 for the three pack. I still have ilgms flowertime and plant booster I could use instead.

@SpaceyX Yo! Been busy with work and family but doing great, surviving the winter. How’s it going for you? How’s the grows going? Still doing that solo cup grow too?

@Lostgirl thank you for saving me the money on that ppm pen! Easy enough to convert. I never measured the run off on the plastic pot girl but I’ll report back next watering

Hope everyone had a good weekend! :grin:

I’ve used beastie. I’m not really experienced enough to say, but in my limited experience with Beastie Bloomz, fox farm makes a ton of kinda unnecessary stuff that up sales the hell outta u. I think tiger and Big Bloom is plenty, beastie is decent but all those extra products…it’s just target marketing.
The original trio is great.

2 Likes

I’ll probably end up getting the whole trio of the flowering kit but I just don’t understand nutrients enough to know what it’s actually providing over the Og Trio. Need to spend more time watching videos on it before I buy it.

I was just checking out you’re micro grow, which looks awesome by the way, and I saw you said you got a tent but didn’t see if you posted an update, did you get that setup ? :tent:

3 Likes