Hey everyone…
I need some help…
Specifically looking for anyone who’s successfully used GrowDots (@Graysin, @Twelve1)…
Pics above are of a DoSiDos auto, 12-14 days in preflower. Popped 4/6. It’s in a mix of 75% re-used FFOF + 25% Coco, under a Migro Aray3, currently set at 80% and ~15" above tallest top. It was topped in week 5 and LST’d since then.
Fed Silica early on once.
I use Recharge every other watering. Water is degassed tap pH’d to 6.6-6.8. Because of GrowDots I water/Recarge till minimal runoff.
As you can see in the pics I’ve got a number of leaves showing some kind of stress, or distress!! It usually starts with sporadic brown spots leading to necrosis of the entire leaf.
Veg went great…lots of really fast growth with zero issues…things went downhill at the first sign of preflower…
Can anyone who’s experienced issues like this when using GrowDots suggest what’s going wrong here please? Any and all help is appreciated…
Thanks in advance…
What dosage/how much Grow Dots did you use? Too much can cause burning.
Have you successfully used that FFOF soil before? There can be PH issues (too low) with FFOF.
Have you successfully used the FFOF + coco before? Sometimes mixing soil and coco without composting/“cooking” can cause PH issues, as each has different PH needs.
Have you measured runoff PH? I’m guessing not, since you aim for minimal PH.
I’ll see who I can tag, as I’m honestly not the best person to answer, since I have minimal experience with PH issues and other problems, if that’s what’s going on, based on your answers.
Thanks for the quick responses ya’ll… @Midwestguy: I add coco to FFOF or FFHF to assist with aeration and to lighten the bag mix, but no more than 1/2 brick for a 5 gallon grow bag. So you think mixing is causing “pH confusion”??
@Twelve1:
What dosage/how much Grow Dots did you use? Too much can cause burning.
This was an experiment mostly, so I mixed a full 75g bag in with the soil mix. The FFOF was depleted of nutrients as I re-used from a previous grow.
Have you successfully used that FFOF soil before? There can be PH issues (too low) with FFOF.
Yes, all my previous indoor grows have been in FFOF or FFHF, usually a layered mix with FFHF on top and FFOF down low, both with coco additions.
Have you successfully used the FFOF + coco before? Sometimes mixing soil and coco without composting/“cooking” can cause PH issues, as each has different PH needs.
Yes, I’ve had no issues using the FFOF /coco mixes before now.
Have you measured runoff PH? I’m guessing not, since you aim for minimal PH.
No…I was following the Real Growers instructions for their product…they said no need to go to runoff…guess I was naive to believe it…
…but I can, it’ll be a few days till next water tho…
The Grow Dots don’t need any flushing, so there isn’t a need to water to runoff. I like to thoroughly water my pots, so I aim for a very small amount of runoff, just so that my brain knows that the pot has been fully watered, but any certain amount of runoff isn’t needed with the Grow Dots, neither is flushing.
How many gallons is your pot/grow bag?
The full 75g bag of Grow Dots is the heavy rate for a 5-gallon pot/grow bag. So, if your current pot is a 3-gallon, for example, then that would causing too much burning, especially on autoflowers, I’ve seen that happen with other growers. The instructions on the Grow Dots bag aren’t too clear, in my opinion, though I really like the product.
I’m using a 5 gal grow bag for this plant…the instructions indicated their 75g bag was good for that size pot…
I was thinking the batch of FFOF I used was depleted of its available nutrients since it was recycled…BUT…it also had coco mixed in so my coco% is higher than I was thinking…
Growdot site has a calculator I err to lighter side then results, but first time using them on maters and weed maters are rocking it so far, will know more in a couple weeks on the Weed plants
had the same issues with them before and it was always a ph issue
as a side note, growdots are ok but you may still want to add armor si, cal mag and i even top dress with gaia green 444 and 284 in flower tbh, especially for the hungry ones
This ended up being a cal-mag deficiency. The Grow Dots folks said:
“When you used old FFOF and the brick coco, it stole the calcium and magnesium out of the Grow Dots to replace what was missing in the media. You should start adding that cal-mag at the manufacturers recommended dose every watering.”
I just watered 2 days ago so I gave it a good cal-mag foliar application a couple hours before lights out last night to quickly give it some and will add C/M going forward per their suggestion.
The foliar application really helped…she looks much better today. Hoping I’m over the hump on this issue.
A big TY to all who replied!!!
Yea be careful. They gave me bad advice before telling me to do foliar spray in flower just like they told you. When I reminded them they are in flower they said sorry, don’t do foliar sprays in flower… duh…
I also do not recommend watering or foliar spray before lights out in general.
In their defense I did the foliar spray on my own, figuring it was the fastest way to get some c-m into it…
This was actually the first time I’ve foliar sprayed a plant, and really don’t plan on doing it again outside of any urgent need, which I felt this was…
I figured 2-3 hours of light would be ok after spraying and it didn’t seem to be an issue…I’ve got pretty good air circulation in the tent.
At this point I’m probly not gonna go the GrowDots route again…just isn’t for me…with them being integrated into the medium it makes dealing with issues more difficult…for me at least.
I DID learn something about mixing Coco with FFOF tho and plan on using only perlite for aeration going forward…
I DO like FFOF and have had pretty good results using it in the past…probly just stick with it since it’s readily available in my area…
Thanks again for all the responses…MUCH appreciated!!
@Twelve1 :
Here’s some pics I just took…
I think it needs something more than what the GrowDots are providing at this point…it’s day 47 since popping…
The N should be depleted out of the dots by now and the PK should have kicked in, if I’m understanding how they’re supposed to work…
I have available:
Alaska Fish Ferts (5-1-1)
Advanced Nutrients Overdrive
(1-5-4)
Flower Fuel (1-34-32)
Tiger Bloom (2-8-4)
Silica Boost (NA)
I’m thinking it needs more N than it’s getting…I don’t wanna add any PK and get in the way of the dots…
Would you add any of the above at this point?? Can I give it some light N?
I’ve also come to realize this poor thing is not getting enuf water…it seems to be drying out faster than I thought…I’m gonna up it to water or mix every other day…
Besides tagging @kaptain3d who can help tag some nute specialists, I’ll think of who I could tag, especially if it’s someone who has had experience with Grow Dots. Before I used Grow Dots, I only had experience using “super-soil only”.
I’ll tag @MidwestGuy , he is very knowledgeable, though I believe he hasn’t used Grow Dots. MidWestGuy, see NoBrownLettuce’s post just above this one. Thanks!
Yeah, if the plant is thirsty, it also hasn’t been getting as much nutes from the Dots.
And yeah, adding too much PK could end up being too much, so all that I can say is that go easy, which it seems you’d do, anyway.
Last year, I had a plant that looked a bit N-hungry/bit pale early in flower (Green Crack), and I considered some other nutes, but I didn’t add any, in part because I didn’t have any on hand, lol. The plant turned out well, though, and grew big with very nice weed. So, what would I do, well, I’m not the best to answer.
Sorry…I didn’t mean to put you on the spot…
Thanks for the referrals too!!
As always…any and all comments and suggestions are welcome…and appreciated!!
