Blue Dream (3) - 1st Grow - Soil - CFLs - Indoor

Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

if you pull those plants and look at the roots, you will see that there are hardly any at all and they are dark brown, maybe even black and unhealthy. I have seedlings I water every 3 or 4 days and they are doing great. I killed almost all my plants last time by doing just like I explained. Even if you water a little, the roots still need oxygen, and by keeping them moist constantly (by watering as often as you do the only thing that loses moisture IS the surface, the lower soil never has a chance because you put more water to it) you kill them slowly and they look just like yours do. It's okay, bro, I'm just trying to let you know what happened to me and unless you are watering with an eye dropper watering every day is just too much unless you are in coco. There are quite a few articles in this forum alone that talk about it, search for yourself on overwatering and I bet you find mirror images of your plants, or close to it. Later, have a good one, don't give up just because you screwed the pooch once, if you learn from your mistakes it will get better! Albiet, if you don't you will keep ending up with what you got now.
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Nah, dont trash em, when i use a clone, it usually takes at least a week before the roots get going. The key like ibezphill said is to water when the pot gets light. Pick up the container when its all dry, then water it and pick it up again. Now when you feel the weight of the container approaching the weight you felt when it was dry then you water again. If your indoors, you can go usually 3-5 days without watering. Outdoors you usually want to water every day because the container dries out fast and you'll see the plants wilt when their low on water.

When you let the pot dry out, the roots are forced to grow and search for a water source. Gravity pulls the water down, so roots naturally go downward to reach the moister soil. Trust me you can recover those babies without having extra investment. Could you post a picture of them up so we can see what they look like now?
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

They're getting even worse. Much more shriveling and discoloration than yesterday. I haven't gotten a ph test kit yet, but I'm not sure I want to go and spend more money that I don't have on plants that are rapidly deteriorating and are likely to die. Here they are... nothing like their former glory...

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There's even browning at the NEW growth

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Wtf?

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Looking so much worse every day. Obviously I'm quite frustrated here. I have no clue why this is happening, and why so rapidly. What am I doing wrong?
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

might have already had this voiced, but run 6.5 water through it then ph test the runoff, i think your soil might be to harsh for the little buggers but i could be wrong, what soil mixture are you using?
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Shitty miracle grow organic. Honestly, I cannot spring for $20/bag of Fox Farms or whatever. But it's still soil that was recommended for my small budget grow, and I was told that although it's not the best, it shouldn't have ill effects like this!

I don't have a ph tester, but I don't really want to have to waste another $30 for a tester if these plants are toast anyways.
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

There's other brands of soil which you can get for cheaper prices. I use Black Gold which is $10 per 2cu. As for my pH tester i use a General Hydro Drop test, it costed me $7 at the hydro shop. Also your girls aint lookin too bad. This is how my very first plant turned out for me.

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But i kept it and i got it go get to this, wasn't the greatest but i got 3g of bud from it and learned alot (In below picture, its the one on the left)

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Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

right now just don't water for a minute, bro, let them dry out before you do anything. You can get an 8 dollar ph pool ph test kit at lowes home depot or wally world or a pool supply place, use one of those and get 1 gallon of distilled water. Put a tablespoon of soil from your into 2 oz, of distilled water and let it set for 30 minutes, then drain the water and test it for ph with the strips. I still feel you need to just let it dry out a little first.
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

When you do water make sure there is at least 10 - 20% water runoff out the bottom of the pots. This is a good way to tell if the whole pot has been saturated with water. I think this is essential to making sure the whole pot gets water and as the pots dry the roots will push to search for more water then like others have said once the pots get light and the top 2-3 inches of soil along the side of the pot is no longer moist its time to water again. I did lots of research on watering before I started my grow because I was nervous I would mess it all up but once I got the rhythm going its easy. When my plants were young I was watering them once every 5-6 days w/.5gal per plant and now that I'm in flower they are drinking about 3/4 - 1 gallon each plant every other day. So the key is to make sure they are thoroughly watered with 10-20% run off each watering.:thumb:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

on second thought maybe you do need to get some distilled water or tap set out and dechlorinated and flush the crap out of the pots if they are 5 gallons then 3 times the pot volume - 15 gallons, flush the soil really good, then let it dry for around 6 to 8 days, i bet you will see improvement in your babies. Maybe even add a dose of H2O2, because your roots are in a bad way right now, would probably help alot to help rinse the slime off them.
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

you dont need an electric ph tester i have been growing my whole time without one just get the little dropper one at my shop its just 3 dollars and i also know (havn't done it) that you can make a ph indicator dye with cabbage search for it you cant find a normal one for cheap.
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Thanks for all your advice, guys. I just finished a massive overhaul (before even thinking to check the forum, of course) with the girls. I had kind of shunned them yesterday after being driven absolutely gaga all day swatting away gnats. There weren't too many, but 5+ sighted is enough to be very annoying. Gave the grow closet a pretty thorough cleaning. So here are the changes...

*Took Miracle Grow out of the situation completely, starting with a distilled water flush. I transplanted into larger pots and used a combo of Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil and perlite. I'm not sure, maybe about a 4/1 ratio, the FFOF comes with some perlite. I also spread about a 1" layer of "washed sand" over the top of the soil to hopefully combat the irritating gnats.

*The roots were looking well developed and bright shiny whitish, but only about 2-3" from the edge of the rockwool... is that okay? I have very little knowledge of what good roots would be at 13 days from when I got them as small clones. Luckily I didn't find a single insect in the soil around the roots, or anywhere in the soil for that matter. I was worried that the gnats might have something to do with the downswing- doesn't look like it though.

*Got a basic drop ph test kit, my tap measures about 7.5. However, I only use filtered tap water that has sat out for about a day. The drainage measures about 6.8... should I lower it a bit? (I didn't use distilled water)

*Started LSTing. I'm using twist ties and duct tape- ghetto but it totally works lol. I was worried that it would stress the plants too much, but went for it anyways after seeing how much taller and healthier the plant with the snapped stem is. It's at least an 1.5" ahead in growth even though she started out as the runt. For all of them I just used a support tie and another to bend the stem over. Stems are still pretty flexible, and it only took a minute to get them all tied up. I'm hoping this will help them speed up a bit!

*I'm still not using nutes, but I think I'll start 1/4 strength in a week or if they start showing nute deficiency. That sound about right? That'd be starting at about 20 days since initial planting, and it will give the plants time to adjust to the new soil.

Ezekiel is a tall drink of watah!
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Sir Loin
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Wongburger, still looking a bit out of it.
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Seriously guys, thanks for all of your help! The girls were driving me a bit crazy in the last few days, but I'm hoping that they'll take well to their new environment! Let me know if you have any suggestions for me, all is much appreciated.:morenutes:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Looking way better man! Soil grows are great for first grows because it acts as a buffer. So if you accidentally over nute them, the damage wont be as bad and can be repairable. Nice investment on the soil and pH tester. For the pH you usually want it as close as you can get to 6.5. I personally dont check the run off pH, i just adjust the pH of my tap to 6.5~ish.

You're going to want to remove the straw on Ezekiel. It will cause problems when the stem gets tick. Also, if you can manage. try to LST them closer to making the bend 90 degrees like on Sir Loin.

The new growth is looking fantastic. Like i said before, once those roots get long enough, your plant will skyrocket minimum 1 inch a day, especially with the sun light boost.

::goodjob: and :goodluck:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

So, plants seem to be doing a little better now. At the very least they're not getting worse! It was too cold and windy outside to risk them getting some sun, so they haven't had much sun at all for about 4 days now. Too bad, because they always perk up after a few hours of sun. I took the little straw cast off of Ezekiel yesterday, and now I remember why I was hesitant to do it in the first place.. I snapped it again! I put another straw over it, and since I have it LST'ed already, I am using the ties to keep it together as much as possible.

I'm not sure that Ezekiel will be able to withstand this re-opened wound. Disappointing, because so far she's definitely been the best looking plant all around! Just my luck that I'd screw the best plant :p

I adjusted the ties on all of them to get them bent a bit more for the best exposure. The ties I'm using aren't really ideal, but they work well enough. The RH and temp have been good and consistent around 39-46% and 72-80F. The soil is still very moist, so I probably have another 3 days until watering.

They are already starting to develop a most savory aroma. At first I thought it was the organic pest spray I used, but it's clearer everyday that it is the girls. These plants are still only like 6" and they already smell? Sounds nice to me.

Wongburger
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Not a very clear pic, but lots of development since LST!
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Ezekiel with her new cast :(
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Sir Loin
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They must be gossiping..
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Thanks all :yummy:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Day 22: The plants are doing great, growing like crazy now! The deterioration that scared the hell outta me recently has improved as much as it probably can, and I'm not seeing any more drying/spotting. Though there are other issues facing them right now.

I added 4 more CFLs last night, and what a difference just overnight made... growing noticeably faster :thumb: Looking at pics from day one and today is a pretty stark contrast, which is what I've been waiting for. Since they're LST'd they're growing nice and bushy without much stretching. I've got the lights nice and close, which unfortunately after one day of rather vigorous growth I found them touching the light and had some little burnt tips. No big deal though.

It's definitely hotter with the additional lights, it actually got up to 90F at some point in the night but the plants didn't show any signs of distress from the heat. I moved the fan and used half a mylar window shade so that I could open up the closet more without losing too much light. That seemed to keep it more around 85F at plant level. Still too high though, so I'll need to get another fan or hopefully 2-3 more!

Sir Loin is showing significant rust colored spotting on many of the leaves, which is worrying me. I also see them on Wongburger and one leaf on Ezekiel. The spots started at the base of the leaf and are moving up the fingers. It's actually kind of pretty... but definitely not welcome! They're obviously trying to tell me something is wrong. Luckily they don't seem impaired, at least not obviously. Does this look like nutrient burn? I added 1/4 (probably even less) strength cheap tomato nutrients about a week ago and this started showing up Thurs or Friday last week. Or bugs? I haven't seen any at all, but there have also been a few spots that look chewed on... But I cannot for the life of me find a bug/egg/larvae on the upper or undersides of the leaves! I was at first convinced that it was bugs..

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Much more noticeable on Sir Loin.
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I retested my water I had sitting out after 3 days that I'd got to 6.5 with vinegar, and guess what- ph back at 7.5! I got a hydro ph up/down & test kit, so hopefully the ph up/down will to KEEP the ph down. I do think it had been highish between 7-7.5 for the first couple weeks. It had only been 2 days since watering with plain ph6 water, but I was worried that it might be nute burn, so I flushed them with about 2 gallons ph6 filtered water each last night. The runoff was about 6.8. They don't seem overwatered, and they grew VERY well over night, but I can't tell if the rust colored spots have stopped popping up or not.

Sir Loin
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Poor abused Ezekiel... she's HEARTY!:morenutes:
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Wongburger - offshoot growth has skyrocketed, had to tie it down.
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In their bigger pots - went from 2G to 4G
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They're definitely showing the indica of the Blue Dream. I was almost convinced that these are not actually BD, but I trust the dispensary. They know it's BD because it's their genetics (and it's what I smoke :trance:). Whatever, ganja's ganja.

Let me know if you guys have any input! :cheer:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Arnt you glad you didn't toss em? haha! Their looking great man and taking well to the LST. Try to keep the temps down around the 80. The rust color you're seeing is possibly calcium/magnesium deficiency. Way to fix it is to add some CalMag to the feed. Or add epsom salt (my little secret) and it should take care if it. (Unless it's not calmag issues, then i dunno lol)

:goodjob:
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Very nice journal Peacocky and the ladies seem to be enjoying the LST quite a bit. I am also doing my first grow and did LST and I am so glad I did. I now have bushes man and I'm not talking about the reggie...lol Good purchase on the PH test kit...I recommend always checking your water runoff, I have caught a few of my ladies slippin up in the higher range when I wasn't paying attention and didn't know till the leaves signaled me bright yellow, now I am able to fix any soil issues with sooner notice. I definitely will be following along for your grow... I'm on my first time as well but may be able to help in some ways... kudos!!
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

oh yeah...forgot to mention...Blue Dream is one of my all time favorites!! Nice choice!!!
 
Re: Blue Dream (3)- 1st Grow, Soil, CFLs, Indoor

Found pics from my first grow experience... Took three people to take care of this plant constantly and it still got cooked! :rofl: Turned out about an ounce of pretty good product, probably like the lower grade bud you'd find in a dispensary.

Pot of Gold
Miracle Grow soil, in a too small pot = Yikes.
Small grow closet lined with mylar
Humidifier
Oscillating fan
We did not top/fim/lst

Pics are about two weeks prior to harvest... we have later ones somewhere, but this is what was found.

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:roorrip:
 
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