This is my second grow but, Just for the record my first grow was a bust which went well enough to encourage me to try again. This time I went with an AC Infinity 3x3x6 tent set up. This first plant is gorilla glue at 6.5 weeks from seed.
I believe the problem is PH and or nutrient related. I’m using Coast of Maine Stonington soil mixed with pearlite. I made a tea out of 1cp Buds and Blooms, 1/2cp worm castings to 1 gallon distilled water. Tried it on them on Sunday. I did not water till run off but would say I gave them about a 8 to 10 ounces of the stuff. I use AC Infinity self watering bases to which I added distilled water with calmag in it. PLEASE I do not want to loose them. Good people of the forum I will take any and all tips, tricks or advice you are willing to share. Thanks in advance.
I would like to the organic route. Since we are on the subject of nutrients I would like to talk about water also. I was under the impression that distilled water was best. That all you had to do was get the PH between 6.0 and 7.0. Which I admit I wasn’t doing. I am thinking of going with tap water that has been left to sit for 24hrs. Will doing this remove the chlorine as I have heard it does? I knew the time was coming to get more involved with the nutrient aspect of growing. Up until now I thought my soil alone had what the plant needed. (my first grow was with a pot for pot which uses their super soil which you don’t need to add anything) In the mean time I got myself the following Botanicare products: CalMag+/ Pure Blend Pro Grow/ Pure Blend Pro Bloom Soil/ Pure Blend Tea. I have not done anything with them as of yet, because I really am at a loss as to how to use them properly. I may have bought more stuff than needed but I want to prepared for anything. I have not done ant water run off testing. They are do for a watering tomorrow at which time I will water to run off and share the results. So at this point what are your recommendations.
Deep breath… been in your shoes @mulligan just not as bad. I caught it but at the same time i did it on purpose.
First: your water. Tap water degassed for 24 hours is perfectly fine. My tap ph is about 7.5…
Worm castings… you can top dress or make tea. You cant really overdose on worm castings…
Buds n bloom : this is meant for top dressing.
Keep in mind that it can take up to 2 weeks for your plant to show any kind of improvement.
Youre in flower so your ph needs to be between 6.5 and 6.8 for optimal nute uptake for flowering.
My advice:
Water your plant SLOWLY with reg tap. Dont worry about the chlorine or anything. Your plant could prob use a dose or two.
Add a few cups to the top and wait 10 min to allow the soil to start really absorbing the wayer. Then ove the next 30 min water about a 1/4 gallon every 10 min. Do this until you see a timy bit of water come out the bottom. Let wr sit in that until shes nearly dry and do it again.
Chunk the cal mag. Its not needed. Are you using bottom feeders?
Either will do with autos. Your plants are fairly ‘leggy’ which is a strong indicator of insufficient light levels. You’ll see plants look more like this with adequate light:
Thanks for reaching out. Didn’t catch what typed about letting it sit till dry. Should I test the runoff after the second go round of watering. Will or should I add any nutrients at this time. If so could you recommend which nutrients I should use. Not quite sure what you mean by bottom feeding. If it is in reference to my ac infinity self watering basses, than no, right now there is only distilled water. I’m going to switch it out when I do the watering. By the way am I doing a flush?
If growing autos you will increase your DLI (Daily Light Integral) with some growers running 24/0 schedule. You obviously can’t do that with photoperiod.
Figure a rough gauge for growing is 200 watts of quality LED’s per plant. I run custom home made lights in a 4 X 8 room with normally one plant per bay. This is in coco with Jack’s and Autopots.
Lower light levels will flower but nutrient uptake is reduced, flower will be fairly loose and airy.
All of that said; you have some happy plants that look like they will reward you. Getting your grow space and grow style down will take time. Try different methods that interest you. For me that’s coco in 3 gallon fabric pots using Jack’s nutes and Autopots because I’m lazy. Here’s my current journal. I will be starting after New Year’s (just one grow per year):
@mulligan no not doing a flush, but saturating the soil with phd water. If youre using stonington blend, look at the veg nutes and buds n bloom nutes. They are both dry amendments. To give them some nutrients now, take a gallon of water and dump a cup or two of worm castings in it. Also add a tablespoon of unsulphured molasses. That will feed the microbes. Stir that bucket every few hours for 24 hours. Strain the castings after 24 hours and water into the soil.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. So far on this journey what you say is quite true. Try it all and find what works for you. Even though this grow has not yet made it to harvest, I really think it is going to. That said, I’m already thinking about and planning my next grow. I’m even thinking of going so far as to try manifolding or SCROG method. Good luck on your growing endeavors and again thanks for the help.
Regarding watering practice - it took me a cple of grows to learn the significance. I use Dechlorinated tap with no issues. I use a chemical sprayer that holds about 1-1/2gal. I use the wand to spray very lightly enough to saturate the soil surface. Then I give approx 1/4gal slowly and wait maybe 5 minutes or so and give another 1/4 gal. I do this until I capture enough runoff to measure. Watering this way I have no water seeping through the fabric pot.
This is the exact same watering method I have adopted as well during my current grow! Same volume of water at a time and everything. It has solved a bunch of issues I was previously having with nutrient absorption and some other things as well. Works great!
