djay35
New Member
ok.... i have really short and bushy plants that won't grow up. what can i do to stop that?
bushy
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Is this a problem? The bushier the better for me. Here's my girl from a two days ago. If you don't want a bushy plant I'd say grow start to finish under HPS. I veg'd this girl under a 400W MH and just changed her to a 400W CMH 2 weeks ago. She's really stretching now since I flipped the lights to 12/12 & changed to bloom nutes 6 days ago. This pic is day 52 from germination.
This is my first hydro grow so I'm very pleased with the quality of the plant so far.
This is my first hydro grow so I'm very pleased with the quality of the plant so far.
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djay35
New Member
stonerj: i noticed how ur tips on some of ur leaves are drooping down. i have that as well. is that normal or something to worry about? and what was happening with me on the bushyness is i'm getting the bushy but no height on my plants. maybe my light needs to stay high?
I don't think that they're really drooping. Nothing more than the effect of gravity anyway. My plant is very healthy & bushy. That bushiness also translates to higher density. The bud sites are now popping up in great density all over the place so bushiness and less height seems to me to be an advantage.
Personally, I wouldn't raise your light. I'd try to keep it as close as I could without burning the tops. Closer means more light and faster growth.
In short (no pun intended), I wouldn't worry too much about a lack in height as long as the plants are healthy. Pics would go a long way though in helping others to determine if you have any sort of problem.
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djay35
New Member
here is one of my plants. and i also starting to get yellow leaves as well. right now i have just water in there to flush because i didn't think of any other options. and if u also notice i have leave tips going up to
HydroManster
New Member
Stonerj- very well done for a first timer my friend! Your a natural if that really is your first grow! Plant looks amazing my friend!
Djay35 - your plant looks healthy as well. What are using for nutrients and how much?
Looks like both of you guys could stand to reduce EC/PPM levels down about 200PPM's.
The tip burn can be a result of to hot a nutrient solution OR it can also be a lack of Cal/Mag.
Cheers!
Djay35 - your plant looks healthy as well. What are using for nutrients and how much?
Looks like both of you guys could stand to reduce EC/PPM levels down about 200PPM's.
The tip burn can be a result of to hot a nutrient solution OR it can also be a lack of Cal/Mag.
Cheers!
Thanks HM, not my first grow (grown in soil before) but it IS my first hydro grow and I'm very pleased with the results and the ease of growing as long as you maintain pH, nutrient levels, and solution temp. It's a bit overkill but I did install a 1/10hp chiller outside the closet and maintain my solution temp at 66. I'll be doing much bigger grows later on so I decided to bite the bullet and get one once my solution temp became an issue. When the warm temps came with the early spring, my solution temps went from the high 60's to the high 70's so I felt that I needed to do something quickly or lose the grow. It's only a "free" seed from one of my seed orders but at this point, it's doing so well that I hate to lose it. BTW, I also do other hydro grows as I maintain an indoor herb garden in a 3 gal bucket under an LED all winter long. Been very successful with that although it's certainly nowhere near as demanding as hydro cannabis. But I used that experience to learn cannabis hydro so I've learned a lot in the past few months.
I knew I was running my nutes pretty high (at the Technaflora recipe level which recommends 1430ppm for blooming). I stood ready to flush at any time if the plant showed any ill effects but other than barely burned tips on a few leaves, it's been really sucking them down. 1/2 gal of water & about a 60-100 ppm drop daily. Seeing inches of growth some days. The burned tips were only on the new growth at the very top of the main stalk and I suspect it was just too close to the light being only about 6" away at some points during veg.
Rather than trimming the fan leaves and branches to open up light to the dense interior of the plant with so many potential bud sites I've been tucking the big fan leaves under those areas so they can still transpire but the really dense budding branches are opened up to strong light. The tops are only about a foot away from the light and I have a fan blowing across the canopy. Since my light has a tempered glass lens and I've beefed up the ventilation week before last, even a foot from the light, the temp is only in the mid 70's. It then drops 10 degrees with lights out. I'm using a 400W Philips Mastercolor CMH bulb.
Here are some shots from last night (my 12 hrs lights on is 8PM-8AM, the coolest part of the day).
First one shows the proximity of the top to the light and the fan blowing across the canopy:
The second one shows how I've tucked the large fan leaves under the canopy, opening up the bud sites on the horizontal portions of the branches which are unbelievably dense:
Finally, here's one where I pulled away some of the fan leaves blocking the dense bushy branches so you can see how dense this girl really is. Most dense plant I've ever grown. You can see why I want more light down in there:
I'll be curious to see what kind of yield I can get from this "free" unknown strain.
I knew I was running my nutes pretty high (at the Technaflora recipe level which recommends 1430ppm for blooming). I stood ready to flush at any time if the plant showed any ill effects but other than barely burned tips on a few leaves, it's been really sucking them down. 1/2 gal of water & about a 60-100 ppm drop daily. Seeing inches of growth some days. The burned tips were only on the new growth at the very top of the main stalk and I suspect it was just too close to the light being only about 6" away at some points during veg.
Rather than trimming the fan leaves and branches to open up light to the dense interior of the plant with so many potential bud sites I've been tucking the big fan leaves under those areas so they can still transpire but the really dense budding branches are opened up to strong light. The tops are only about a foot away from the light and I have a fan blowing across the canopy. Since my light has a tempered glass lens and I've beefed up the ventilation week before last, even a foot from the light, the temp is only in the mid 70's. It then drops 10 degrees with lights out. I'm using a 400W Philips Mastercolor CMH bulb.
Here are some shots from last night (my 12 hrs lights on is 8PM-8AM, the coolest part of the day).
First one shows the proximity of the top to the light and the fan blowing across the canopy:
The second one shows how I've tucked the large fan leaves under the canopy, opening up the bud sites on the horizontal portions of the branches which are unbelievably dense:
Finally, here's one where I pulled away some of the fan leaves blocking the dense bushy branches so you can see how dense this girl really is. Most dense plant I've ever grown. You can see why I want more light down in there:
I'll be curious to see what kind of yield I can get from this "free" unknown strain.
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- #8
djay35
New Member
thank you stonerj. hydromaster this is my first grow. i am using botonicare cal mag and pro grow. 2ts per gallon of pro grow and 1ts of cal mag every 2gallons.
keep growing my friends and thank you for the help
keep growing my friends and thank you for the help
HydroManster
New Member
Suggestion;
Try mixing your water and first adding Cal/Mag until you reach about 150PPM. Then add your base nutrient until you reach your intended target EC/PPM level. Then PH your solution.
This should allow you to "dial" in a feeding schedule when mixing/feeding using the above method.
Start with a moderate PPM level and monitor your solution close. If you see a ph drop over the next 7 days and EC/PPM either rises or stays the same then that means your solution is to strong and to back off the base nutrients.
If the ph begins to go up during the next 7 days and EC drops then your solution is VERY close to being accurate and what the plant wants. If the EC/PPM level drops over 100PPM quickly then you need to raise the EC/PPM level. It should slowly decline and ph should slowly rise.
Always start with 150PPM of cal/mag to ensure you have enough, then adjust your base nutrients according to plant health and size.
Cheers!
Try mixing your water and first adding Cal/Mag until you reach about 150PPM. Then add your base nutrient until you reach your intended target EC/PPM level. Then PH your solution.
This should allow you to "dial" in a feeding schedule when mixing/feeding using the above method.
Start with a moderate PPM level and monitor your solution close. If you see a ph drop over the next 7 days and EC/PPM either rises or stays the same then that means your solution is to strong and to back off the base nutrients.
If the ph begins to go up during the next 7 days and EC drops then your solution is VERY close to being accurate and what the plant wants. If the EC/PPM level drops over 100PPM quickly then you need to raise the EC/PPM level. It should slowly decline and ph should slowly rise.
Always start with 150PPM of cal/mag to ensure you have enough, then adjust your base nutrients according to plant health and size.
Cheers!
OK, so I just completed a 24 hr flush with clean water and the girl finished it beautifully. I gave her a fresh 5 gal bucket of RO water w/ 2 gals worth of fresh nutes netting 600 ppm, pH at 5.7. Added a few drops of pH up to bring it up to 5.9 and that's where she sits right now. I'm sure she's going to love lower nute levels because I've run her quite high since I started vegging her.
Thanks for your good advice!
Here's a pic from tonight at the end of the 24 hr flush:
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- #11
djay35
New Member
beautiful stoner. i would love to see that when it's done
Thanks djay35,
I'll post some more pics when it gets further along. Flowers are developing nicely although I'm annoyed with the daily pH drop. It seems like it drops the pH by a whole point over 24 hrs (from 5.9 down into the high 4's) so I'm constantly adding pH up to get it back up. Also the nutes which are already at a pretty low level (between 500-600 ppm) stay the same so none are being consumed and she's not drinking much water. I've tried a second flush, this time for 48 hrs and added a low level of nutes back once the darker green in the leaves started to fade and the curling dissipated a bit but still, I have dropping pH, and steady nutes ppm. Fortunately, the flowers have continued to develop the entire time and are definitely getting thicker. Some of the large fan leaves are starting to fade to yellow.
I watch her closely every day but man this is frustrating. I'm going to move her from a 5 gal bucket to a 10 gal tote tonight to see if the bigger reservoir helps. With no nutes in the water the pH seems to stay constant or slightly rise. So into a bigger reservoir and another flush before starting her back on an even lower level of nutes. I'll start again with just mag-cal to 150 ppm and see where I go from there. Trying to keep nutes down around 400 ppm this time after I flush her for at least 24 hrs.... again!
I'll take some more pics tonight.
I'll post some more pics when it gets further along. Flowers are developing nicely although I'm annoyed with the daily pH drop. It seems like it drops the pH by a whole point over 24 hrs (from 5.9 down into the high 4's) so I'm constantly adding pH up to get it back up. Also the nutes which are already at a pretty low level (between 500-600 ppm) stay the same so none are being consumed and she's not drinking much water. I've tried a second flush, this time for 48 hrs and added a low level of nutes back once the darker green in the leaves started to fade and the curling dissipated a bit but still, I have dropping pH, and steady nutes ppm. Fortunately, the flowers have continued to develop the entire time and are definitely getting thicker. Some of the large fan leaves are starting to fade to yellow.
I watch her closely every day but man this is frustrating. I'm going to move her from a 5 gal bucket to a 10 gal tote tonight to see if the bigger reservoir helps. With no nutes in the water the pH seems to stay constant or slightly rise. So into a bigger reservoir and another flush before starting her back on an even lower level of nutes. I'll start again with just mag-cal to 150 ppm and see where I go from there. Trying to keep nutes down around 400 ppm this time after I flush her for at least 24 hrs.... again!
I'll take some more pics tonight.
Today is day 68 from germination, day 20 of flowering. Closet temp is 74 (low was 66 during lights out, RH constant @ 40%, solution temp constant @ 68). Just checked her about 15 mins ago. Another big pH drop. She was at 6.0 after I adjusted this morning w/600 ppm TDS, so that was 12 hrs ago. I added a few ml of Mag-Cal about 3 hrs later after which the TDS was at 700 ppm. Checking 15 mins ago, pH was down to 4.98 but TDS was at 598 ppm so that is definitely a positive sign. She also looks very good, leaves are standing up, still some curl but the color is good and no signs of deficiencies or lockout in any way other than a few large fan leaves yellowing which you'll see in the pics. I would expect that at this point. The flowers are continuing to develop beautifully and the branch tips w/ flowers are really standing up nicely.
Based upon the way she looked, I just couldn't bring myself to move her to a new reservoir. Just seems unnecessary as long as she looks good and the solution is only 36 hrs old. I adjusted the pH back up to 6.15 figuring she'll drift down overnight and also that the pH at 6.0 & above will benefit her with better phosphorous access to support continued blooming activity. The fact that I saw a drop in TDS by 100 ppm after adding the Mag-Cal is a good sign in my estimation so I'll keep her as is until I see adverse signs.
Here are some pics from tonight:
Based upon the way she looked, I just couldn't bring myself to move her to a new reservoir. Just seems unnecessary as long as she looks good and the solution is only 36 hrs old. I adjusted the pH back up to 6.15 figuring she'll drift down overnight and also that the pH at 6.0 & above will benefit her with better phosphorous access to support continued blooming activity. The fact that I saw a drop in TDS by 100 ppm after adding the Mag-Cal is a good sign in my estimation so I'll keep her as is until I see adverse signs.
Here are some pics from tonight:
