I am a new grower as well and have purchased FF but I am a bit confused. Started Purple Haze from seed on May 4th and replanted in one gallon pot of Fox Farm soil on May 12th. Made mistake of giving nutrients shortly after. One of my plants did get nute burn but not bad on this one. I repotted in a 10 gallon fabric bag with FF Ocean Forest on July 6. She is growing very well. I am not feeding any nutes just water. This is an outdoor grow and I think she may be starting to flower. Confusing because I don’t get 12 hours nights until the end of September. Been monitoring the run off. 7/19 1743 ppm, 8/3 1741. Live in deep south and we are experiencing very hot and humid days breaking heat records (mid 90s this week). PH is running 6.3 She is looking so good I don’t want to mess her up but I am afraid to give too much nutes after my recent experience. I think she is somewhere between veg and flower but not sure if she is in preflower. I have the FF trio and FF schedule She looks good but some of the leaves have spots on them are a couple are turning yellow. They are near the main stem of the plant. I think it may be Cal/Mag deficient and I should be getting some tomorrow.
My questions:
When do I start feeding her again? Is she in preflower?
How much nutes do I give her and how often?
Do I use the runoff to determine when and how much to feed? What are those numbers? FF schedule is different from what I read on this forum.
Any help to guide me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Seems to be lots of very knowledgeable and experienced growers on this site. If you could please please take a few minutes to guide me I would be so grateful. Thanks in advance.
The spots look like some kind of water damage. The leaves around it look normal so I don’t think it’s bugs. The plant looks very healthy so don’t be concerned about a couple of leaves yellowing. It’s not in the flowering stage yet @Coco27
Thanks @OldSkunk for the reply. I agree about the bugs as I do check her daily for them. Can you tell me what to look for that would be the beginning of flowering stage? I have not been able to find that info in any of the forums and I do want to treat her right when the time comes. Thanks again for replying
What are the physical characteristics of a plant to recognize when she is starting to flower. I see people post they are in X week of flowering. Feeding is different as well as knowing how long she is in flower. Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but this is my first grow and I have definitely messed up with my lack of knowledge. Thanks for your reply @CMichGrower
Showing of sex and begining of flower are two different things. Sexing usually shows up on the main stem and flowering shows at the tips of branches. When they throw a bunch of pistils vs just a few is when flowering has started. At least, thats my understanding. Great looking plants by the way!
Really appreciate the guidance. PPM yesterday was 930 with water and a teaspoon of CalMag. I assume when it drops a lil more I should start adding nutes to keep it around 1000, I have a rain barrel and have been using that water for my plants. Recently got a PH meter and when I tested the rain water its hovers around PH 5.9 and 30 ppm, but my tap water runs about PH 8.1, 400 ppm. Thinking I could add a small amount of tap to my rain water. What number should I shoot for my PH? 6.5? Thanks again for the response.
The PH of 6.5 to 6.8 is where the plant can optimally absorb all of the necessary nutrients. Too high or too low and you are “locking out” nutrients.
@ShockDog@Docnraq thanks again for the great info. However, I could really use your help again. While this is my first grow, while I was waiting for my seeds to arrive I had a friend come over and asked me to take a plant that he had gotten from someone else. I believe it was about 2 months old and this was the beginning of May. I have no info on the strand or anything about it but I could see it was in a small pot with dirt from the yard and sand mixed in. I immediately replanted in a much larger pot but (I didn’t know at the time) I used Miracle grow and compost. Since I’e been reading so much now I know not to use Miracle Grow. She has been doing pretty well until recently (located outdoors in the woods). I have fought off crickets, stink bugs, worms, catterpillars and other bugs that I don’t even know what they were. I was out of town for a few days and when I got back I immediately saw something wrong with one of the small buds. It was the dreaded bud rot. I have cut out a lot and have been spraying with a peroxide/water mixture daily. It continues to rain every day here which is not good thing. Recently I purchased a PH meter and PPM meter which I have been using. Before the rain started I was watering every other day as we had temps in the mid 90s with high humidity. I was feeding Fox Farm trio every 3-4 days. Now with all this rain the soil is not drying out and I am afraid to overwater. I did feed her this morning even though the soil is wet because she has not been fed in 5 days and not looking as good as she use to. A lot of the big fan leaves are turning yellow and dying but I have read that happens when they are in flower. She started producing lots of white pistols around the middle of June so she is definitely in flower. I checked the ph of the water before going in (6.5) and checked the run off and it was 5.6, PPM of 1100 going in and 1400 coming out. I know enough to know this is not good. To top it off since I watered this morning we got 2 inches of rain and more predicted this week.
What do I do now? Do I water with a high PH to help bring her in range, but I think I may be giving her way too much water.
Thats good, some have luck with it but most have nightmares for months after using it.
Theres where the budrot came from. Such a bummer she was looking good in earlier photo.
That is not good, got some lockout going on for sure. She is likely consuming the stores of phos and potassium out of those leaves, hence the colors and necrosis. You cant really flush the soil out either. 1 because its super wet and 2 because of the MG potting soil has those lil slow release balls. Those are likely why your PH is so low. Each rain releases more too. Since your in that MG soil Id stop giving her any of the grow big for a lil bit, if not entirely. Id stop feeding her for a bit until the soil has a chance to dry again. It seems awful wet and with all that himidity, having super wet soil is just adding to the surrounding area’s RH and increasing the chance of root rot, which would just devestate her at this stage. Any chance you can bring her inside at night? She would bennifit from being under a fan and in a lower RH environment could encourage soil to dry quicker. If not inside is she on your property? If so you should run an extension cord and put a fan on her, keeping the air moving around her might help combat the bud rot. Just be johnny on the spot about saving your fan from the rain. Either way, after a rain go out to her and shake the standing water off her buds. Poor girl, my heart breaks for her. You should be proud of her, you went to great lengths to keep her well and considering the laundry list of stuff you have endured, she still stands and is flowering! Excellent work there my friend. After she dries we can try and work out that ph (she has plenty nutes in soil to last while it dries) it looks grim but at this point, you will learn alot more trying to save her then if it was a breeze through easy grow, so there is that. Sorry for the ramble, I just smoked some hash I made and I am so stoned
Thanks so much for the response. She is out in the woods on a friends property (the one that brought her to me) so no chance of a fan. I live in the south and we have had extremely hot temps and its always humid this time of year. That coupled with the escessive rain gave her bud rot. Unfortunately, we have more rain in the forecast for the next several days. I have another plant “Purple Haze” that I grew from seed. She is not in flower yet and looking very pretty. She is on my patio. If I bring the one with bud rot would I be taking a chance of contaminating the Purple Haze even though she is not in flower yet? but I think she is not far away. Purple Haze I grew from seed using Fox farm soil and nutes. She looks really healthy and I want to keep her that way. I’m afraid of mixing the two.
If I find a way to put a fan on her will that not disperse the mold spores? Sorry if this is a stupid question. I will ask my friend to put under his carport for a couple of days if you think that will work.
So if she makes it how do I raise the PH?
Thanks so much for your input. Enjoy your smokes! You are really helping me a great deal and I am definitely learning a lot. I grow flowers and vegetables, but this is a whole new ballgame. Here are pics sof my Purple Haze from this morning.
I wouldnt risk her spreading to your other very healthy plant. It would suck to loose either one but if you have to choose… I do love a purple! I would for sure get her out of the rain!
As for the PH…ordinarily Id say flush that soil but thats not likely to work in this instance. Just make sure anything you pour into her is at a ph of 6.8. Stop giving her the nitrogen heavy Grow Big till it comes back up. Wish I had some outdoor experience to offer you, @plumbdand grows outdoors and is very skilled hope he has something to add. @Covertgrower is one of the most helpful on the board, likely have good suggestions too.
