Sorry for being so long winded, but I’m struggling and failing. I grow tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers without and issues, however this is really stumping me. I keep strict records on everything I do day by day. Any suggestions would help. Please see below.
Thank you in advanced.
I’m really new at this. I have 3- 4x4 tents and 1- 4x8 tent. The small tents have 1-1500 light and the 4x8 have 2-1500 lights. This is what the light manufacture recommended. All have Veg and Bloom switch’s. How do you use the and why? Can you use both at the same time? How many plant can go into each tent? Currently I have 9- 4x4 tent and 18- 4x8 tent. They are all in 3 gallon bio containers. I have 2 fans in each tent, and they run 24-7. My lights are on timers. 18 on 6 off in grow stage and 12-12 in bud stage, however I don’t know how to identify bud stage and when to switch the timer for bud and or harvest. Again I’m very new to this and struggling. As you can imagine I spent a lot of money purchasing the needed items to be successful.
I have a room in my home set up for seedlings with grow lights and plastic domes with heating mats. I current have 10 domes and mats and can plant 720 plants at one time. Each tray has its own grow light. ILMG seeds are the best bar non. They are started in pet pots and after about 2-3 weeks and they are hardened, and trans plant in the tent where they really flourish. I get 90% seedling yield or higher (except for one time and they were replaced by these good people). Seedlings are not my problem its what I’m doing incorrectly after 4-5-6 weeks? The rooms are very clean. No insects.
I keep my ph at 6.5 and use the best soil you can purchase. Temp and humidity are controlled daily…Average 60-70 % relative humidity. I use Fox Farms liquid fertilizer. I purchased all three from seeding though bloom. I alternate the fertilizer one day Fox the next day water both are kept at a strict 6.5 ph. Temperatures during the summer average 85-95 degrees F due to where I live. Note: during the day (summer) I open the tents to relieve the temperature inside the space. It doesn’t freeze here in the winter, however it gets cold and to off set the temp I use a second light to keep them warm. 70 plus degrees. I probably wont plant anything until February to keep them safe.
Again thank you in advance for any suggestions. Note: I also sent picture to the ILGM team via email two days ago.
First thing is lights, as quoted above 1500 is not likely the actual wattage. If these are amazon lights they are likely not much more than 150w each. So you are probably needing to get more lighting.
Next you say the best soil money can buy. Trust me cost isn’t the most important factor. If it’s not specifically buffered and amended for cannabis it may be causing multiple issues.
You can upload pics directly to forum, so you really need to put up pics.
You don’t really say exactly what the problem is. So it’s difficult to help.
Plants start to yellow out and leaves die. This is after 44-6 weeks and then down hill from there? Soil is good for growing. They thrive until they get about 3’ and then the problems start. Pictures have been down loaded by the good people from ILGM.
Just a side note I had two light in each small tent and 4 in the bigger tent. When I cut it back to 1 light in the 4x4 and 2 lights in the 4x8 it helped out a lot. To much light is as bad as insufficient light? Soil? not sure, they grow good until what I explained abouve.
The Fox Farms nutrients need to be flushed every 2-3 weeks or a salt build up will occur and you can get lockout. Using Fox Farms Sledgehammer is one way to flush without having to uses gallons upon gallons of water.
Fox Farms nutrients have insufficient amount of cal-mag and you need to add that to your routine.
The pH NEEDS to vary in the 6.3-6.8 range. The various nutrients are utilized easier at various pH levels so using the same exact pH every time favors certain nutrients over others.
3 gallon pots are kind of small but if you are trying to grow as many plants as possible as fast as possible you can get away with it. You need to keep on top of the nutrients since everything in the soil will be depleted by the time they start flowering.
You are trying to grow way too many plants. 4 square foot per plant should be considered a minimum. The 4x4 should grow maximum of 4 plants and the 4x8 a maximum of 8. You are going to have a jungle that won’t improve the harvest and will make it really hard monitor, trim and maintain.
Moisture meter says other wise. I live where its very hot in the tents 93 F I open the tents during the day to alleviate the heat, however its hot. The tents are not under direct sunlight they are outside undercover. My soil dries out rapidly, that’s why I purchased a digital combo, soil moisture/light/ph meter to control my process. And I’m still failing when they get bigger.
Based on the LED light manufacture recommendation: 1 light for 4x4 tent and 2-lights for 4x8 tent. Following OEM instructions. The problem is after 4-5 weeks they start to turn yellow and systematically start dying from the bottom up. Leaves turn yellow. Could it be that I’m trimming the bottom fan leaves and branches to much? I’m using the lollipop method.
I’m getting so much conflicting advice that I’m as or more confused now than before. I grow tomato’s, peppers and cucumbers with out any major issues, but this is really different and almost zero success. I keep detailed records, soil moisture, light, soil ph, humidity, temperature and still I’m missing something. 4 weeks good 5 weeks on most, not all start turning yellow from the bottom up and die off or look really bad and no or stunted buds that never grow.