Concerned, rather worried about this plant

[Aweedtec]

Your plan was to flush it to be sure there was no excess salts then revert to upping the feed
Once you have a plan, stick to it to avoid further complicating matters
The fact it goes green when you feed it is a big hint
Don't think the difference between 5Gal and 7Gal will do much and sounds totally impractical anyway
It is beast of a bush and almost certainly a heavy feeder

Do you think after flushing 5 gallons through it and lowering my EC down from 2024 to 1100 (an article said under 800 is where it should be) and then fertilizing after it was fertilized 5 days ago is a good thing?

Or should I give it a tablespoon wait a few days and then if its seems to be doing better then give it another?

4 heaping tablespoons is pretty much a quarter cup.

Im thinking about calling Dr Earth and asking them.

 

[Aweedtec]

That's a big bushy plant, probably asking for more root space so if it were me I would try upping the feed or frequency, depending on how quickly your medium dries out
Having said that, if you're concerned I don't think a flush would do any harm and you can rule that out that possibility?

This plant gets 2 to 2.5 gallons of water every other day to every 3 days then its dried out. So it definitely drinks it fast.

 

[bluter]

hard to tell. it's literally impossible to advise with that nute line where you should be.

 

[Ash4twenty]

The plant was just fed 1/4 cup of fertilizer on the 25th. But, I do recall that was for a 5 gallon bucket.

If this plant is too large for this pot at this point then that would be against everything every person who grows stated when I asked earlier if the 5 gallon pots were too small. Everyone said no way.

HOWEVER, this plant is not typical. It’s 46 inches in diameter and has 33 large colas on it. I'm baffled.

This happens to the best of growers , sometimes we just get carried away with all the love .

 

[Aweedtec]

hard to tell. it's literally impossible to advise with that nute line where you should be.

I suppose I wait until at least this evening before the lights go out and see where it is. When I gave it fertilizer last time the leaves under the flowers got dark by morning. However, I waited for the rest of the plant to do the same and it didnt.

I just figured that since I am already saturating it from flushing it... it be a good time to give it the fertilizer it needs if it needed more.

Somehow I doubt that Dr Earth fertilizer is hurting it since the other plants are doing great. But they are no where near the size of this one.


These are the others plants and just a photo of their leaves. All just fine. Same feeding schedule. Lights flipped at the same time. One of the leaf photos, while taking it flipped my camera out. Which the lights cause sometimes. But the others turned out all perfectly the color of the leaves.


Edit: The one with the odd leaves... Dont know the strain. But he two on both sides of it are Blueberry Pancakes from Humboldt.

 

[Ash4twenty]

I’ve used dr earth for 3 years now any questions fire away

Yea I see they got that natural sunblock going on

 

[Ash4twenty]

I can show you some crazy leaves

EB925C95-841F-4DC1-8169-B4E63EE11B85.jpeg

• Ash4twenty
• Oct 30, 2023

No idea what it is kept it cause how cool it is lol

 

[Aweedtec]

I’ve used dr earth for 3 years now any questions fire away

Well I put 4 tablespoons of bloom booster on all my plants 5 days ago. Then this one greened up under the flower but the rest of the leaves didnt change to dark. But they were all a lighter shade of green(too light) before the fertilizer.
Now five days later leaves are turning yellow here and there and falling off so I figured something must be wrong because some leaves that shouldn't be turning yellow were. But nothing up near the flower. All dark green up there.
Its the opposite of my other 3 plants. They have lighter growth on top near the flower and are dark green everywhere.

But I DID defoliate those plants a good bit( didnt go crazy on them) and I did NOT defoliate the largest plant because I wanted to keep the safety net in case something went wrong. Maybe in hind sight had I defoliated it the nutrients would have been plenty for the 33 large colas on the plant. Which the others have no where near that many.

So, today I pulled many yellow and dead leaves off which clearly were not there yesterday. I figured something is wrong and maybe the flowers are using the leaves for nutes because something has gone wrong in the soil.

So, I used my EC tester and it was 2024 for a reading. I was reading an article which said anything over 800 is bad.

So I flushed the plant with 5 gallons of water and finally got it down to 1100 (approx).

Then I figured i probably flushed out some nutrients so I put a heaping tablespoon back on top the soil and ran another 90 ounces of water through it.

The question is.... Should that be enough, considering I just gave it the Dr Earth bloom booster 5 days ago?

Or is this an issue of this plant being so large it needs MORE than a 1/4 cup every two weeks?

Im lost, First grow. So consider me guessing at everything and trying to research.

I've already lost my entire morning for work and I have like 3 jobs going at one time. All over this plant so I want to get it right. Good thing is nobody can fire me at least. lol

 

[Ash4twenty]

if it was my plant I would give it 3-4 days since you just flushed it . Then Add about 6 table spoons of earthworm castings and water like you use to try to hit like 1% run off if any with your setup . Ph 6.5 . On the next water I would do 5 table spoons bud and bloom booster mixed 2 to 3 cups of soil . Then back to normal. ( around 5-8 tbs ever 10-14 days) never flush soil with organic fertilizer. And last thing don’t feed them on a schedule. Feed them when they need it .

 

[bluter]

don't chase runoff. it won't help. that nute line will always return a runoff value higher than your target.

ec is usually expressed as a decimal. i believe you should be dividing that numner by 1000. so the 800 is actually an ec of .8

 

[Aweedtec]

if it was my plant I would give it 3-4 days since you just flushed it . Then Add about 6 table spoons of earthworm castings and water like you use to try to hit like 1% run off if any with your setup . Ph 6.5 . On the next water I would do 5 table spoons bud and bloom booster mixed 2 to 3 cups of soil . Then back to normal. ( around 5-8 tbs ever 10-14 days) never flush soil with organic fertilizer. And last thing don’t feed them on a schedule. Feed them when they need it .

But how do you know when they need it when or if they look great?
I ask because my plants in the basement look perfect on the schedule.
But the plant in the closet looks like it needs it. And they were all 4 skipped for 2 weeks because I didnt know I needed
to fertilize them again until I looked it up.

What do i do if I cant get much more soil in the top of the bucket because its pretty full?

Also, do the earthworm castings just go on top of the soil?

I just purchased a reverse osmossis filter because when I started my PH was 6.23 and 6.12
Then the town must have treated it heavily because now its like 7.8 or 8 PH.
Why I got the filter. I think I can filter out their treatment and change it back to 6.23 MAYBE.
We shall see.

So if I gave it one tablespoon I should wait to give it more?

Also, I was going to defoliate it but now I feel like I cant do that because its using those leaves.

 

[Aweedtec]

don't chase runoff. it won't help. that nute line will always return a runoff value higher than your target.

ec is usually expressed as a decimal. i believe you should be dividing that numner by 1000. so the 800 is actually an ec of .8

I just want to blame someone else if my plant dies. lol Just kidding.

 

[Ash4twenty]

they look great . Next time feed it before the whole thing turns yellow haha . When you see a few of those yellow ones that you think should not be yellow . it’s time for food

 

[Aweedtec]

they look great . Next time feed it before the whole thing turns yellow haha . When you see a few of those yellow ones that you think should not be yellow . it’s time for food

Would you just give that plant a few more tablespoons than the others when you feed them because its so much larger and drinks up so much more water?

I just hear so many people talking about nute burn. But if you cant really do that with the Dr Earth or its hard to do it.... I would just give it more. IT takes 2 to 2 .5 gallons every other day and is dry on the 3rd day so it isn't like I couldn't correct it on a watering if I overdid it a bit.

I feel like an idiot. Have one of the best naturally huge plants ive ever saw inside and its suffering from not doing the one piece of research I needed to do.

 

[Ash4twenty]

But how do you know when they need it when or if they look great?
I ask because my plants in the basement look perfect on the schedule.

I’m sure most plants will look good on the schedule. But there will be plants along the way they will not tolerate it or want way more .

But the plant in the closet looks like it needs it. And they were all 4 skipped for 2 weeks because I didnt know I needed
to fertilize them again until I looked it up.

The plant should be just fine it got what it needed from the leaves

What do i do if I cant get much more soil in the top of the bucket because its pretty full?

Some people say scratch the dirt at the top of the pot , I never do this anymore . You hit 1 root and bam you plant is now a hermie. Just add what you can and always leave room for hungry plants next time .

Also, do the earthworm castings just go on top of the soil?

Yea or if you have some mesh bags you can make a tea .

I just purchased a reverse osmossis filter because when I started my PH was 6.23 and 6.12
Then the town must have treated it heavily because now it’s like 7.8 or 8 PH.

If you use a RO filter make sure you use cal mag

Why I got the filter. I think I can filter out their treatment and change it back to 6.23 MAYBE.
We shall see.

Ph water every single time . It will hurt you ever grow if you don’t . City water should be around 7.5 to 8 to keep pipes ok

So if I gave it one tablespoon I should wait to give it more?

Yea I’d wait till next watering and add the rest .

Also, I was going to defoliate it but now I feel like I cant do that because it’s using those leaves.

I try not to defoliate until the last two weeks when I’m in flower . You will end if will less yields and could also cause plants to herm and throw nanners getting you seeds . Best just to tuck them in mid flower if you can but the ones at the bottom 1/3 100% get rid of .but that’s just me good luck growing

 

[Ash4twenty]

Would you just give that plant a few more tablespoons than the others when you feed them because its so much larger and drinks up so much more water?

I just hear so many people talking about nute burn. But if you cant really do that with the Dr Earth or its hard to do it.... I would just give it more. IT takes 2 to 2 .5 gallons every other day and is dry on the 3rd day so it isn't like I couldn't correct it on a watering if I overdid it a bit.

I feel like an idiot. Have one of the best naturally huge plants ive ever saw inside and its suffering from not doing the one piece of research I needed to do.

Not at all . The plant looks great and green comes in all colors . And to top it off some plants produce way more trichomes when they get stressed in flower so you may of done yourself a favor. never know

 

[Aweedtec]

If you use a RO filter make sure you use cal mag

Does this remove calcium and magnesium from water?

 

[SmokingWings]

My thoughts are that by now the plants that are in flower are not going to react fast enough to whatever you try. The plants hormones and energy is directed at flower development and reproduction. When the stretch starts most only a few new fan leaves grow. After the stretch stem development is about non-existent.

Keep an idea of what is happening and plan ahead the next go-around. Try to do fertilizing and special amendments before the plant shows what looks like the start of a deficiency.

Now that flowering is well under way is a good time to sit back and relax. Think back on what was done, how the plant reacted ans stuff like that. To much effort into trying to fix some problems now can lead to overthinking the entire gardening process.

 

[Aweedtec]

My thoughts are that by now the plants that are in flower are not going to react fast enough to whatever you try. The plants hormones and energy is directed at flower development and reproduction. When the stretch starts most only a few new fan leaves grow. After the stretch stem development is about non-existent.

Keep an idea of what is happening and plan ahead the next go-around. Try to do fertilizing and special amendments before the plant shows what looks like the start of a deficiency.

Now that flowering is well under way is a good time to sit back and relax. Think back on what was done, how the plant reacted ans stuff like that. To much effort into trying to fix some problems now can lead to overthinking the entire gardening process.

I am 20 days into the stretch period. That is the the length of time I flipped the lights. But on the first night something happened and the lights stayed on too long. So that night was messed up because I messed the timer up and got it backwards because I set my clock backwards. (The light has military time)

My concern is... what happens when the flower are done eating up the leaves it can? Then what does it do? Nothing? Stop producing flower? Does it actually make it to the end and produce the harvest it would? Does it get even close?

Also, if it can not get nutrients then it can't grow larger and do what everyone wants to see happen.
I dont even know that that is the case. It could have been simply it needed more nutrients for all I know.

When you have as many thoughts as I do going through your head in the morning about work and looking up brick manufacturers and have sub contractors to call plus a ton of shop work to complete and these plants eat up my time in the am.

It would be a shame if that entire huge plant is just done with its process after the leaves are eaten up. And I was told I should have defoliated that plant. Good thing I didnt.

I heard so many people say when they grow in soil they dont even care about the PH. I've also heard, "Its a weed stop worrying about it."

See what happens when I stop worrying about it? I had a plant that could have been way better than it is and I listened to someone who I already knew had an issue with proper communication. He is a slow communicator and never gives all the info. But having never done this before I listened and tried to do some research. I just missed it.

Edit... Bottom branches all look green as they could possibly be. Fully. But every top stem is yellowing. This is 21 days into flower and I never defoliated anything on this plant. Is this just typical for some plants in flower without being defoliated at all?

I sure hope I can add fertilizer at next watering and some worm casting tea I purchased, use some filtered water and I even got Cal Mag. It says its with Iron but its such a little bit you put in the water... It cant do much more than Dr Earth can it?

I am a walking contradiction and shouldn't even be walking the planet about 4 times over so it would be par for course for me to have contradictory issues with a plant. I am confused as to how the bottom of the plant can be so green and perfect and the entire canopy be doing this crazy nonsense.
Some of it looks like nutrient burn and some of it looks like under fertilization.

So basically, as is usually the case I am damned if I do and damned if I dont.

 

[Aweedtec]

If you use a RO filter make sure you use cal mag

I thought I had purchased an RO filter. Turns out I didnt. It was this one.....​

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AQUACREST Garden Hose Water Filter for Plants, Greatly Reduces Chlorine, Odor, Improve Plants Health, Ideal for Organic Gardening, Farming and Pets, with Hose Protector.​

​

Do you think I need the cal mag for this filter? I am just trying to get my PH right.​

​

You know, my plants have been growing in straight alkaline soil and water the entire time. I mean it doesn't even make the needle move. Which sits on 8.

EDIT: There are some people in the comment section of that filter saying that their town dosed their water with chorine and chloramine and he says it killed thousands of dollars of his fish and that is why he bought this filter. Hasn't lost any fish since.

But some say it does remove calcium. So I bought TPS CAL MAG.
Everything on the leaf chart says my plant could be lacking Zinc Phosphorus and or Nitrogen.


Sure would like to get this right before defoliating and moving on to the next step.​