It’s been 3 days since the transplant and the girls are doing well and growing quickly. Current conditions 29RH 79F. No water has been given since the full watering/feeding after the transplant. The soil is starting to dry on the surface but no where near ready to water. Pots are still heavy.
Remember the watering method we used since the beginning, flood and drought. Water fully and let it dry . Wet dry cycles is what we are after.
Let’s take a look at the over watering experiment. She’s been sitting in wet soil for about 7 days now and is starting to not look so good to me. A little droop starting, irregular leaf growth, uneven coloring, ‘splotches’ in the leaves, all signs that something bad is starting to happen.
Over watering is not something that happens with a one time event of giving too much water at once, except in tiny plant/big pot situations - which is not the case with our transplants here, the girls are big enough to dry the 3 gal pot before any over watering issues occur, and I’m not going to water til that pot of soil is dry and light. It will take 5-6 days for this to happen and that’s not going to be a problem. It won’t take that long for the next wet/dry cycle, days will be less as plants grow until we’re watering these girls every couple days, which will then be time to do another transplant.
Over watering occurs when plants are given water too often, and takes a while for symptoms to show up. This girl looked great for a week, making you think all is good so you keep on giving it some water everyday and she looks happy, til she’s not. It’s the pattern of watering too often that keeps the roots constantly wet and eventually leads to root rot (or damping off when you’re dealing with small sprouts).
Also, fungus gnat problem under control, rarely see one any more. Thanks Mosquito Bits!
Have a plan for when/if your light dies? Got an extra exhaust fan? Extra bulbs for your HID?
Always plan on the critical items of your grow failing and what you will do when that happens. Lights and ventilation specially, as well as water and air pumps for hydro growers.
Last week I had 2 light failures. One was a 600 watt HPS bulb that burned out, OK no biggie, got plenty of spare bulbs so back in business. A few days later, once again came home to a dark flowering tent, this time it was the ballast that went. That wasn’t a problem either because I have spare ballasts, so back in business in no time. Had not had any issues in years, then 2 events in one week.
Damn good advice right there. Just because you don’t need something at this moment, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have it. I don’t have a headache right now, but there’s Advil in my medicine cabinet, lol.
I always go solo cup to 12" planter to a 10-gal fabric pot. I do that so I can layer in several good doses of myco on each transplant and so I can bury them up to their necks each time. It helps manage height and provides a good structural base when the stem sticking out of the soil is a 2" trunk during flowering.
It varies considerably based on the phentotype. I have a maui wowie and an orange barb in flower right now. The MW is only 18" tall and the OB is a good 3 feet tall. I do quite a bit of training (topping and supercropping) too, so those training methods keep them on the short side.
I use the 10-gal pots for those I veg longer. If I only veg for 6 or 7 weeks then I will use a 5-gal pot too.
Pretty much, though the commercial moon rocks I bought in San Diego a few months back also were dipped in hash oil or some liquidy dab before the roll in kief but close enough. I was pretty useless after smoking half that moon rock last night.
First Timer here. I was looking for harvest tips on another thread and read a great Hellraiser reply…it was so good I made my way to this thread. This is what I needed in January when I started!! This journal is so easy to understand, packed with years of detailed knowledge and your smoke breaks feature some killer nuggs you grew…I am here to learn…you rock Hellraiser!!
Wish I had dispensaries where I live, someday I suppose. Would be nice to just go to the weed store and get some new stuff to smoke on. But I travel enough so that I get to do that now and then.
Found this under the bed and thought it could be useful for new growers.
Stuck it in the pot to see if it still works. it seems to work just fine. Though we will test it at different moisture levels to see if it can be trusted.
A lot of new growers buy the 3-1 soil test thing, problem is it sucks for pH, sucks at telling the light level, but the moisture meter is actually quite useful, if you know how to use it correctly.
This is not a 3 in 1 device, just a dedicated moisture meter.
Right now the soil is still pretty moist under the surface and the pot is heavy. The moisture meter confirms this with a high moisture reading. We will do further testing with it and see.
I have gotten where I can tell by weight of pot. But I used one of these meters for first 2 grows. I would give a lot of credit to meter keeping me from either drowning or letting plants getting to dry.
@Chasfitter, before Hellraiser brought up the method of cup swing. I had a solo cup of just soil, and would compare weight by picking it up. Almost weighted them, but thought it would be silly.
Thanks Hellraiser! Your journal is stuffed with such helpful instruction/explanation! I have one of those 3 in 1 meters- it doesnt work at all. What do u use to check ph?
