The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey all some of you may know me, im Green or NWG. I am an Organic Soil grower but know a lot about all applications and problems that arise with many growing styles, And if you do know me then you also know that i love to help people grow this god given herb.

And everyone knows quality is king so if there are ANY problems that my fellow growers are running into, please come and and i will get it knocked out for you the best i can :D.

:Namaste:
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Good day, sir!

First one in :slide:

What benefits are there to a light mover in a small space, if any :)

With only a 1x1m space for flower I am realistically limited to four plants and am going to go for 25 liter pots with 40-50% perlite and the rest with Plant Magic soil and BioBizz nutes.

Any suggestions to max out more on that?

I plan to LST again, is it a good idea to move the plants around to give more even light? or turn them all so the top colas are as close to centre possible, perhaps?

Thanks!
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Ooooh... and are there any benefits to using cheapo bottled water. Equivalent cost to me is around 25 cents for 2 liters.

Gives a more realistic PH (7.4 I believe) and not so much crap dissolved in it. Water here is hard and overly alkaline.
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Welcome friends, and thank you for your question Davey :D

First off a light mover in a small area will help to eliminate hot spots building on your canopy(If you have ever burnt a plant you will know what i mean by hot spot) Also powder mildew breeds MUCH better in shade because the humidity is usually higher and High Intensity Discharge lights will hamper if not kill Powder Mildew spores when in direct HID light. Also a light mover will make it so you have to rotate and move your plants less making it less effort for a med patient :D

and Bottled water i would only suggest if you have terrible water or you are really a stickler for organics, most tap water has Chlorine which kills organic life on contact. It can be bubbled out over 24 hours but also many water company's use a more stable form of disinfectant called Chloramine which is a close relative of Chlorine but can not be bubbled out (Hence why it is a more stable form)

My water personally has a terrible Ph of around 8.5 almost 9 it WOULD be nice to have water that would be easier to work with, BUT im really diligent to bubble my water for atleast 24 hours if not more so cheap old apple cider vinegar is good enough for me :D

Also when you are LST'ing by moving the plants a little bit you will be able to achieve a move even canopy with more bud sites quicker because all sides of the plant will get light, every day is a bit over kill but every few days as long as it is practical to move them WILL help. but like i said before a light mover will make it a bit easier on you because more areas of the plant will get direct light.
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

hello NWG,i am growing outdoors and i LST alot of my plants and they really bushed up,i was wondering if i should or shouldn't remove fan leaves,thanx!
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Thanks for coming by 74firebird,

That right there is very strain dependent, many sativa's for instance take nearly any pruning on them as a predator attack (But this really mainly applies to LandRace strains), but most strains that people run are hybrids and will not mind pruning as much.

That being said personally i feel that shade leaves should only be taken off if they are covering node sites especially the ones that are at the tops of side branches. but also remember that towards the end of a plants cycle it takes the nute's from the shade leaves and thats is what causes the "Fall" look that and cold...

Also another thing to consider that if it is still early in the flowering cycle that the plants may do some stretching and may solve your problem on their own.

I didn't say this before but pictures will always help me diagnose any situation, aslong as your comfortable posting that is :D

Hope that helps man, remember im a stoner too so if i miss a question just reiterate it to me :D
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

hey green, had a question about my leaves. all my plants look great and are nice and healthy but was wondering about the leaves they feel dry to the touch(is this normal?) I started to mist them with water but only done it 2x? there is nothing crazy going on with them, they just feel kinda dry to me. thanks
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey NW...awesome Thread....really shows the luv here at 420 mag...awesome!!!

Well I have some questions regarding proper harvest, curing, flushing and drying.... I posted the details on my grow journal, last page of it, and really would be awesome to hear your experience and success stories...

Basicly I am growing organic soil, or just about 100% organic minus my cal/mag I'm adding. I am nearing my end of my grow and have quite a few questions...

First off... with organics, and flushing..when and what indicators do you use to determine the readyness of the crops...do you flush when you see first amber trichomes, or when 1/2 are amber??? with organics since theres really nothing to flush, are you just watering with pure water, adding molassus or other carbs such as juices...or just 1/2 nutrient amounts tapered down to null???

2nd... after you have flushed and are ready for harvest, what tricks techniques are there for increasing potency. I have ready darkness for a couple days as well as starving out the plants will increase potency, as well as harvesting as soon as lights turn on in morning....

3rd... After you cut your buds off...hang dry or rack dry...is one better than the other..?

4th... Is it better to manicure/trim buds wet and then dry, or dry them first, then manicure??

5... What is the best drying/curing practice... I read basicly harvest then dry for about 1 to 2 weeks until stem snaps, then 3 to 4 days in paper bags, then trim and place into jars, burping humidity/moisture until 90% dry.... is this the best method...any helpful details you could share?

6. How do you get the best taste/flavor and smell from your dried product...the test i first did tasted and smelled like green grass clippings (i think it dried to fast, and not long enough cure) how do you prevent that from happening?

7. For medical quality top shelf...what is a good average curing time?

I really apprecaite your help!! thanks..
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

hey green, had a question about my leaves. all my plants look great and are nice and healthy but was wondering about the leaves they feel dry to the touch(is this normal?) I started to mist them with water but only done it 2x? there is nothing crazy going on with them, they just feel kinda dry to me. thanks

Hello friend, could be the strain is not use to your enviornment.

What is your grow style?

what are your temps?

Ph?

and are the leaves that feel dry on the top of the plant or the bottom?

this will all help me diagnose

And thank you very much for coming by hope we can get this figured out for yah;)
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

What Strain is it? not sure (bag seed)
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? indica i think
How Many Plants? 3
Is it in Vegetative or Flowering Stage? flower
If in Vegetative Stage... How Long?
If in Flowering Stage... How Long? 10th day
Indoor or Outdoor? indoor
Soil or Hydro? soil
If Hydro, Reservoir size?
If Hydro, Reservoir Temperature?
If Hydro, what type of Medium?
If Hydro, what type of Setup?
If Soil... What is in your Mix? 80% fox farms 20% perlite
If Soil... What Size Pot? 3 gal
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? 600w cfl (4x150 actual wattage)
Is it Air Cooled? no
Temperature of Room/Cabinet? 70-83
RH of Room/Cabinet? 40%
PH of Medium or Reservoir? 6.3
Any Pests? had thripes got rid of them about 2 weeks ago
How Often are you Watering? 1-2 times as needed plus 1 feeding
Type and Strength of Fertilizers used? fox farms full nute line
Size or Square Footage of Room? 8x5
My leaves are dying from the bottom of the plant up. I thought it was not enough lighting when it was only a few leaves and only the lower ones but I noticed their starting to turn a different color and alot of the leaves are dying now further up the plant. I bought a 600 HPS with a raptor 8" hood today to try and fix the light problem but am starting to think it's a bigger problem than just light. Please help!!!

DSCI0417.JPG
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey NW...awesome Thread....really shows the luv here at 420 mag...awesome!!!

Well I have some questions regarding proper harvest, curing, flushing and drying.... I posted the details on my grow journal, last page of it, and really would be awesome to hear your experience and success stories...

Basicly I am growing organic soil, or just about 100% organic minus my cal/mag I'm adding. I am nearing my end of my grow and have quite a few questions...

First off... with organics, and flushing..when and what indicators do you use to determine the readyness of the crops...do you flush when you see first amber trichomes, or when 1/2 are amber??? with organics since theres really nothing to flush, are you just watering with pure water, adding molassus or other carbs such as juices...or just 1/2 nutrient amounts tapered down to null???

2nd... after you have flushed and are ready for harvest, what tricks techniques are there for increasing potency. I have ready darkness for a couple days as well as starving out the plants will increase potency, as well as harvesting as soon as lights turn on in morning....

3rd... After you cut your buds off...hang dry or rack dry...is one better than the other..?

4th... Is it better to manicure/trim buds wet and then dry, or dry them first, then manicure??

5... What is the best drying/curing practice... I read basicly harvest then dry for about 1 to 2 weeks until stem snaps, then 3 to 4 days in paper bags, then trim and place into jars, burping humidity/moisture until 90% dry.... is this the best method...any helpful details you could share?

6. How do you get the best taste/flavor and smell from your dried product...the test i first did tasted and smelled like green grass clippings (i think it dried to fast, and not long enough cure) how do you prevent that from happening?

7. For medical quality top shelf...what is a good average curing time?

I really apprecaite your help!! thanks..


Hey thanks for coming by and even more thank you's for the props, i really do stick around here because there are SOO many Med patients here and a big reason why im even on the net is of course 1: to learn but 2: I have a family member who for years has been on a pain pill regiment that is far more than nearly anyone that i have met and i grew up in an Care home pretty much, because of her pain killers she WILL die much sooner it is GOING to happen the doctor has even told her but he still gives her drugs(She Really does need them) And when i saw first hand for the first time what taking a toke could do for someone in that kind of pain. It made me dead set on helping as many people as possible and if i help even/only one then it makes me feel proud/passionate/worthy what ever the feeling is i like it and one day i aspire to become a Dr. in horticulture but that is a long way off being a lurker on an internet forum i suppose;)

lol enough of this rambling

1st. Reading Trich's is a fine art, and many strains mature in differn't ways some from the bottom up, others from the top down, and even others from the middle out. also there is some personal preference to harvest time aswell, the earlier you pull it the more upbeat and kinda racey the high should be, but the down fall of this often times is the buzz wont last as long and can have a slight crash out or headake. But the other side of the coin is a plant that is left to go longer will generally be more of a sedative effect that can end up sending you to bed, this is because some cannabanoids in the plants are being degraded into CBD another cannabanoid that is commonly known as "The Medicinal" side of cannabis and will really help with sleep problems, pain, appetite and if i remember also ocular pressure. So once you determine where the plant begins to mature you can start to decide when to take it, follow the progression over the plant and for an earlier Racier high (no crash really this way) start your flush when you see about 10% amber trich's on most of plant. Some times where the plant matures first will do it quite more quickly and you can do what is called sectional harvesting and you can take just the mature nugs when they get to the point where you like them. Its also a great way to see if the flavor is where you want it to be. For a good but not couch lock stone i like to start my flush when the trich's are about 25-30% amber, but once again this can depend on the strain how fast it will continue to amber but In my example this is a pretty good rule to go by :)

Also a lot of organic growers believe that you do not need to flush, but most of the time i think it is ALWAYS a good thing to do (Unless you are skill at premixing your own amended soil and have it timed right) Since i feed very lightly i do not have to pour a lot of water through my plant to start the flush, but if you feed heavy run water through till you feel the nutes are out of the soil, then feed with JUST Ph'ed water, do not use any thing for any of the flushing process, mollassas at the end can cause harshness, popping, even black ash. One way i know that my weed was nicely flushed when i smoked it, it leaves a very white fluffy ash.

2nd. This wont really make it more potent but it should make the quality of high better, and this may sound hooey but stick with me i will explain, if you have spots in the grow space that are further away from your lights or you can raise your lights higher than you have had them do this for the last 2 weeks before you harvest, the majority of flavor turpins are mostly develouped in the last two weeks of the plants flower cycle and believe it or not light has a physical force and degrades these turpins as well as aids in the break down of cannabanoids and many other materials. by doing this you should achieve much stronger smelling meds and flavors you have never experienced in strains that you have smoked for years. I like to do around 48 hours of darkness at the beginning of my flowering cycle and at the end like you stated. Also i THINK that a dry plant when you harvest is better but im not a stickler on this one, if it looks done and the soil is still wet i will take it i dont care.

3rd. Always cure in as close to darkness as you can have it, airflow is a must to maintain good turpins i personally like slight negative airflow in my drying box rather than a fan blowing on or around it. And either way is fine and i have done both, but recently i have switched to screen's in my drying box and i find it much easier, and for most strains especially indicas it gives the nugs beautiful nug appeal because they GENTLY press down on themselves and i rotate them as they dry and they become nice and round but i dont really loose crystals. (Green Tip: Wherever you dry place a piece of glass below so you can catch stray trich's and gather them up for a little bonus bong: )

4th. Personally i like to trim them wet right off the plant, and i trim them as well as possible the first time. I find by doing this i get MUCH better looking nugs in the end and also trich's you have to break off forcefully when a plant is wet, as soon as it is dry it will flake off like bad dandriff... lol

5th. Im gonna be honest NORMALLY i do not give advice on Curing because without diligent care and a good ability to judge moisture it IS POSSIBLE to pretty much ruin perfectly good smoke and one might be better to let it dry just openly till dry then jar it up..... BUT i also think curing is just as important as growing so i will go there :goodluck: After Trimming i dry my nugs till most of the stem are JUST before the snapping point and the smallest ones will snap and i am sure sure to make sure BIG nugs are more dry than i THINK they need to be (They have big wet stems trust me) Once i am at this point i like to use a Rubbermaid or glad tupperware container and seal ALL or as many of the nugs up together for JUST over night, i always do it before i go to bed just so i cant mess it up because im so excited to look at it in the morning (put a reminder alarm on your phone just to be sure or a note some where) when you open it up it SHOULD feel a bit wet too wet to smoke, take your lid off Flip your bud so the stuff that was on the bottom is now on the top and leave the lid off for all day and close it back up when you go to bed. It should take 2-3 days or so to get to the desired moisture level maybe more ( I Like when the nugs are kinda solid but still spongy or fluffy and the stems snap) Once you know they are dried to this point jar them up but not crammed full and i like to put equal little/med/big nugs in each jar. burp for atleast 10 minutes daily twice a day for the first week you can do more it wont hurt just be careful not to over dry em out but that is hard to do unless it is hot. IF a jar feels too moist in ANY way just leave it open for the better part of the day and then seal it back up to rebalence the humidity level in all the nugs. Through out the process be sure to Rotate your nugs in the jar and store them in a dark cool place.

6th. By doing this process you wont have that problem :D and slowly is the key dont expect this process to happen over night the product will actually be smoother if dried out slowly.

7th. Indica's on average take about 2 weeks to have the majority of the curing process done, by this i mean many of the salts and other built up elements like the biggie chlorophyll in the plant have been processed and have gently been removed during the burping and turning process <-- that is why burping and turning is crucial.

and 8th. have a good night man and :cheer: Go for the gold :Namaste:
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

What Strain is it? not sure (bag seed)
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? indica i think
How Many Plants? 3
Is it in Vegetative or Flowering Stage? flower
If in Vegetative Stage... How Long?
If in Flowering Stage... How Long? 10th day
Indoor or Outdoor? indoor
Soil or Hydro? soil
If Hydro, Reservoir size?
If Hydro, Reservoir Temperature?
If Hydro, what type of Medium?
If Hydro, what type of Setup?
If Soil... What is in your Mix? 80% fox farms 20% perlite
If Soil... What Size Pot? 3 gal
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? 600w cfl (4x150 actual wattage)
Is it Air Cooled? no
Temperature of Room/Cabinet? 70-83
RH of Room/Cabinet? 40%
PH of Medium or Reservoir? 6.3
Any Pests? had thripes got rid of them about 2 weeks ago
How Often are you Watering? 1-2 times as needed plus 1 feeding
Type and Strength of Fertilizers used? fox farms full nute line
Size or Square Footage of Room? 8x5
My leaves are dying from the bottom of the plant up. I thought it was not enough lighting when it was only a few leaves and only the lower ones but I noticed their starting to turn a different color and alot of the leaves are dying now further up the plant. I bought a 600 HPS with a raptor 8" hood today to try and fix the light problem but am starting to think it's a bigger problem than just light. Please help!!!
DSCI0417.JPG

:welcome: 420 brethren

From the looks of it, and this is only a guess but are your plants getting really root bound?

how long ago did you put the plant in those pots and how big is the plant?

since your using Fox Farm stuff are you also using the Kangaroots stuff and microbrew?

And a picture of the Whole plants will help me too in this situation

Im really confident we can get this one straightened out pretty easy:)
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

:welcome: 420 brethren

From the looks of it, and this is only a guess but are your plants getting really root bound?

how long ago did you put the plant in those pots and how big is the plant?

since your using Fox Farm stuff are you also using the Kangaroots stuff and microbrew?

And a picture of the Whole plants will help me too in this situation

Im really confident we can get this one straightened out pretty easy:)
I posted a thread titled "sick girls! please help" all the pics are there and for some reason only one posted here.
Sick girls! Please help!
I put them in those pots about 6 weeks ago.
No i'm not using the kangaroots or microbrew, but all 3 liquid and all 3 solid ferts. GRow big, big bloom, tiger bloom, cha-ching, open sesame, beastie bloom.
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey greenie! First time grower here! My leaves on my flowering sativas are alittle curling under? Is this just heat stress! My closet is tropical! 85 and plenty of air flow. Is it not enough light! I've got 400 hps going in a 4 x 5 closet! My plants are 6ft tall
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

i know man i stayed up late just by accident last night typing out that book of a response, sorry if it is hard to read or is just a bunch of babbling?
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey Cannavince,

Those are some monsters your growing there, so in my experience i have found that sativa's will do this when your Overnute/heatstress/ or root bound them, it is likely because you growing such large plants in doors that it doesn't have enough root space.

What pot size are you using?

Also it can be strain dependent, a for instance Greenhouse seeds Super lemon haze, the pheno i had is commonly known as "The Duckfoot Pheno" and regardless of what you did to it, it would get wicked claws.

Swing back through with some pictures of the plant and leaves, and how far your light is from where the curling is happening, that should help me help you further :D

Another thing to consider, if you are using a synthetic nute line or a nute that has any salts that build up, a good flush might just be what you need run a whole bunch of water through and see if the run off is colored yellow or orange or like a chew spit brown.
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Thanx greenie they are in 5 gal! Will I get them through flower In the 5 gal! 6 weeks left! I will flush them to see what gives! Been nuting with ginormous since flower maybe once every 6 days!
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Hey green can I upload photos from my phone?
 
re: The Green Help-Me Hotline

Thanx greenie they are in 5 gal! Will I get them through flower In the 5 gal! 6 weeks left! I will flush them to see what gives! Been nuting with ginormous since flower maybe once every 6 days!

they WILL make it(i would say), but there is a good chance that you will take a REALLY big yield hit, If you can do it go buy a 7 Gallon that will give you enough root space to help it finish a littler easier.

main reason why i think you SHOULD do this is for the fact that sativa strains are 10x more fickle than indica's and things that are "little" problems will persist into bigger ones and will really effect quality. I love sativas but 90% of the time Less is More to them and for that fact people run into problems.

and FYI the last 6 ft plant that i did i had in a 15 gallon pot, sativa's man if you dont treat em right they wont perform for yah.... and to help with drainage in a big pot if thats the way you want to go cut your soil with perlite to prevent root rot :D
 
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