Home-grower horror story: started with 5 plants down to 1 1/2, help?

[Unclepockets]

Hello all,

Thanks for stopping into my thread. As you can see with the title, I'm afraid a few mishaps and blunders here and there have already let to the death/destruction of most of my plants and I am coming to you now to try and make sure that all my efforts do not go to complete waste.

I'm not sure exactly what is going on with my plants, but they are slowly dying one by one.. 2 of them were destroyed because of something I'd rather not mention.

My healthiest biggest plant is now on it's death bed and I cannot figure out why. I have not tested the Ph in a bit, and I will edit this once I am able to do that tomorrow. I will also provide pictures of the plants/fertilizers etc.

I appreciate your attention on this matter, and would love to save my plant(s)! Thank you!

 

[Bill284]

Hello all,

Thanks for stopping into my thread. As you can see with the title, I'm afraid a few mishaps and blunders here and there have already let to the death/destruction of most of my plants and I am coming to you now to try and make sure that all my efforts do not go to complete waste.

I'm not sure exactly what is going on with my plants, but they are slowly dying one by one.. 2 of them were destroyed because of something I'd rather not mention.

My healthiest biggest plant is now on it's death bed and I cannot figure out why. I have not tested the Ph in a bit, and I will edit this once I am able to do that tomorrow. I will also provide pictures of the plants/fertilizers etc.

I appreciate your attention on this matter, and would love to save my plant(s)! Thank you!

https://i.imgur.com/PGRQReV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/eZNBYus.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1BW3Avf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3vmNUUx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZZi3k6M.jpg

Welcome to 420 my friend. Its difficult to tell anything from what you have uploaded. Cat is cute. I see a handful of crisp leaves. We need all the details of your grow and better pics.

 

[Unclepockets]

Thank you for the reply! I'll gather as much data about it as I can today, and update it in my post. Sorry, I decided to do this post kind of last minute, and just wanted to get the ball rolling!

 

[Emilya Green]

The pictures of your plant point to some kind of nutrition or watering problem but we don't have enough clues to diagnose what might have gone wrong, so as said above, we need a lot more clues. I am also curious how much light this plant is able to see.

You said you have not checked pH in a while, and that tells me that you are doing that part of this all wrong. PH should be carefully adjusted for each fluid about to hit your soil, immediately before pouring it into the soil. Soil pH is hardly ever the problem. If you are not accurately checking the incoming pH of your fluids, this most likely this is the major problem here, if you are running synthetic nutes... but again, we don't know yet how you got to this point or what you are running. We don't even know if that is soil you are in, or some other medium.

Last hint until we hear more from you... please post your pictures directly to this forum. I do not like having to click on a link that goes outside of these pages just to see a picture... security issues and all that.

 

[Unclepockets]

The pictures of your plant point to some kind of nutrition or watering problem but we don't have enough clues to diagnose what might have gone wrong, so as said above, we need a lot more clues. I am also curious how much light this plant is able to see.

You said you have not checked pH in a while, and that tells me that you are doing that part of this all wrong. PH should be carefully adjusted for each fluid about to hit your soil, immediately before pouring it into the soil. Soil pH is hardly ever the problem. If you are not accurately checking the incoming pH of your fluids, this most likely this is the major problem here, if you are running synthetic nutes... but again, we don't know yet how you got to this point or what you are running. We don't even know if that is soil you are in, or some other medium.

Last hint until we hear more from you... please post your pictures directly to this forum. I do not like having to click on a link that goes outside of these pages just to see a picture... security issues and all that.

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, and thank you for the advice. I didn't realize that I had to/could post directly to the thread.

I am sorry for my lack of knowledge, I will do my best to piece together the information you all need to give me a better diagnosis. I am by no means an expert horticulturist, but I do have a basic understanding of the concepts, so bare with me!

I was using an organic, liquid fertilizer mixed with the water I was using. I am afraid I have since thrown away the bottle and won't be able to provide a picture of that. I have tested the pH of the water previously, and it was at about a 6.5, so I let that be. I did not realize how important it was to test before each watering. Thank you for the tip.

I am using Coco-coir for the medium, though when I purchased the plants they were in their own pots, grown in spongey material, I left that on the base of the roots because I was not sure if I could remove it without damaging the roots at the time I transplanted. This is something that worried me as far as drainage went, I wonder about the roots rotting.

Any other questions you might have, I will be sure to answer more promptly.

Thank you again for your time everyone,

P.S. I do have a microscope I can use to take a closer look at things if requested.

 

[013]

Coco is not the same as soil, it’s a whole different animal. Coco is 100% inert meaning there are zero nutes in there for your plants, none, nada, zip! Just so you know coco is considered a soilless drain to waste hydro growing method so hydro rules apply. Adjust ph to 5.8, it must be bottle fed low dose nutes and the media cannot be allowed to dry out. Coco also needs cal-mag added, but for right now your buckets need to be soaked to thoroughly wet the substrate.

When coco is allowed to dry out it turns hydrophobic and resists water. There are dry pockets in those buckets where the roots can’t penetrate. To rehydrate the coco put each bucket in a larger tub that is 2/3 full of water, stabile the plant so it doesn’t tip over, let it soak for 5 or 10 minutes. Pour a gallon or two of plain water on top, the coco should gurgle and bubble, pull it out and let it drain then at last pour a quart or two of 1/4 strength nutes on top of the coco. Generally speaking coco should never get plain water but should be given a light nutrient dose every time. In flower most feed 2 or 3 X per day. In a manner of thinking you can’t overwater coco.

That’s a leggy plant which tells us it’s not getting enough light. Find some cal-mag, you will need it. These plants are pretty far along so yields may not be stellar but that’s ok, we all started somewhere.

I’m soil grower so it’s best to shout at @Bill284 to correct anything I’ve said that’s not 100%, this dude knows his stuff

 

[Unclepockets]

Coco is not the same as soil, it’s a whole different animal.

See, when I purchased the plants, and I asked, no one told me much of anything. I wish I had done more of my research ahead of time, and I appreciate your attention to this matter. I will have to give this a try.

That’s a leggy plant which tells us it’s not getting enough light.

Not doubting, just would like a more elaborate explanation. So you think she isn't getting enough light either? That's troubling to know my lights weren't enough! Now that it is spring perhaps I will just move the poor thing outside.

These plants are pretty far along so yields may not be stellar but that’s ok, we all started somewhere.

That's alright, I just want to use this as a learning process, and at least see her through. ya know?

pour a quart or two of 1/4 strength nutes on top of the coco.

Elaborate? What levels of nutrients would you recommend at this stage of growth besides the cal-mag? (N-P-K)?

Adjust ph to 5.8

Any particular additive you would recommend for this, added to the coco itself, or mixed into the water? I have a few fish tanks, I am an aquarianist, so I have access to water that is rich in nutrients. If I were to test the pH of this water, would it be otherwise dangerous to use this as a substitute? I could measure the N levels, but perhaps that might be better for another time.

Thank you for all the help so far, you guys are awesome, I only wish I had reached out sooner. My other plants might have stood a chance. I really appreciate any help going forward.

 

[013]

It may have been the light was too far away. But one thing is the cheaper blurples as we call them, the manufacturers list stuff like 1000 watt model when in reality it’s their estimated hps replacement value. Look at box or info on the web it’s prolly like 100 or 150 watts that’s the true draw from the wall outlet.

Sure I do know, I’ve killed a bunch of stuff so..... oh yes keep her going so you will learn more stuff. I’m the greenest of the greenhorn newbies here only growing for a year but I’ve soaked up 8 or 10k pages.

In veg cycle plants need higher N and lower PK, but in flower mode they need little N but much higher PK. Most big box store products like tomato, houseplant, lawn and garden type shite just don’t work right for weed nutes. Most synthetic weed nutes are a 2 part A&B but you have to add your own cal-mag, however if you are in US or Canada then make it easy on yourself and get mega crop one part is good stuff. If you are overseas then we can get someone else here to make suggestions. Every weed gardener needs cal-mag on the shelf just in case but you don’t really need it with MC. Also one of our sponsors is Geo Flora, they make an organic one part dry mix that you spoon on as top dress and water in. Not sure if I know of anyone who is using it in coco but I’m going to ask @Emilya to drop in and give clarity on Geo Flora dry mix being used with coco. I think it should be fine but she’s really skilled and was one of the first to adopt using it so yes let’s get her read on it.

Ok starting out I would get a ph pen if you don’t already have one... use ph up and ph down. So if the nute requires added cal-mag you mix the cal-mag in first, stir and wait 10 minutes, add your NPK nutes then stir and wait 10 minutes, stir and adjust ph to 5.8 for coco.... then stir and pour. Generally speaking with coco you don’t give plain water ever, you feed quarter strength nutes every time. Your water source matters more in hydro stuff, you may need an EC meter to check ppms of your tap water and to help you figure out the ppms of what you feed to your plants. Check the amazing rainforest site, got cheapie vivosun ph & ppm like $20 for both

dont quote me on this cuz like I said I’m soil guy and Bill284 can spout this coco stuff like nobody’s business but I think in coco you feed once every other day or so in seedling stage just don’t let it dry out but then in later veg you feed every day but in flower you feed 2 or 3 X per day but please get @Bill284 to confirm or squash anything I said that’s not right

Yep fish waste water is good stuff, I can hook you up with a dude... gimme second @Joshualuck hopefully he will swing by in a day or two, if not you can search on that user name and find him. For the next couple of grows you should just learn to grow with standard nutes so you can start to read your plants, then once you’ve got that down you can play with fish water and other stuff better.

just finished editing so you may see changes above

 

[Unclepockets]

If you are in US

Yup I am, I hadn't looked, is it something specifically ordered off this site?

Yep fish waste water is good stuff, I can hook you up with a dude... gimme second here

Cool stuff, thanks again for all the help! I'm going to have to get the bucket soaked. Do you think the size of the pot was okay vs. the size of the growth?

 

[013]

Depends on location in US and proximity to grow shops, most bigger cities have specialty grow shops but they prolly don’t have MC on the shelf and it will take a few days to ship. Amazon carries it and they are pretty dang reliable on shipping dates.

No of course not, it was pitiful.... but so was mine and most everyone else’s first attempt. I’m only kidding - you did good, a lot better than me on my first pass. Mine killed over at 3 weeks,!! We all got yanked by some salesclerk at the hydro store who raked in commission knowing you would be back to buy more stuff since they sent us driving off a cliff with stuff we didn’t need and didn’t understand how it worked. Good news is - in a few months hopefully you will laugh at both of us!!!

theres a member on here Bluter, he can grow some monster stuff in a 750 mil shampoo bottle using hempy style nothing but perlite and MC. InTheShed has flowered in a solo cup. There’s a steep learning curve but the more you read and absorb the easier it will be going forward.

also dunno about outdoors, one word.... pests.

 

[Unclepockets]

also dunno about outdoors, one word.... pests.

Fair enough.. I do have a greenouse that helps.

 

[013]

Never done outdoors myself, yes veggies & fruit orchard stuff but not this crop. Greenhouse sounds great but that only slows down the pests, I expect they will still find it

 

[Unclepockets]

Hmmm, alright. Well until I get her back into good shape I'm not moving her anywhere, I will try and adjust the lights. I can send pics of them and things if you like.

 

[013]

Agree, move = added stress for now. Hey I’ve sure enjoyed it but got to roll out. I’m just one of the doormen but we’ve invited a few real experts and others will jump in too for sure. Yes keep this thread going and see what else comes in. Dig up that info on your light and post it here.

dont know if you’ve got 50 posts or not and can send a pm yet. But just as info I’ve hosed up my settings and no longer get notifications but if you do have pm privileges then shoot me a private message if I can help but bigger picture don’t wait for me since most everyone here that responds on the faq boards can help you. When I put the @ sign in front of Bill284 or Emilya it pokes them and links to right here.

There are many ways to grow and lots of opinions but it does make you feel better when 2 or 3 say yup dude here’s your problem and you get confirmation on same stuff. Plus you need Bill & Emilya to confirm that other shizz but hopefully like Schwarzenegger... I’ll be back

allright U.P. - you be kewl

 

[Unclepockets]

Depends on location in US and proximity to grow shops, most bigger cities have specialty grow shops but they prolly don’t have MC on the shelf and it will take a few days to ship. Amazon carries it and they are pretty dang reliable on shipping dates.

Dang, I'll have to keep an eye out, but I may just try and see what I can do with my fish waste for now. I have the tools to measure the levels, I'll report them back before I make any moves with that.

Otherwise I'll check it out, and maybe even see what they have locally.

Agree, move = added stress for now. Hey I’ve sure enjoyed it but got to roll out. I’m just one of the doormen but we’ve invited a few real experts and others will jump in too for sure. Yes keep this thread going and see what else comes in. Dig up that info on your light and post it here.

Thank you for that, it means a lot. I'm going to keep the thread updated with the progress that I make. I actually just broke out my microscope to take some pics of the leaves and look what I found!

Spider mites?

 

[013]

I’m not the best at identifying species.... tablet + older eyes but think you nailed it. Yowza that sucks....

 

[Mayne]

yeap, its a wrap..

Look, forget all that coco crap. Get 5-6 grows under your belt in some just water soil. Get some Fox farm ocean forest, and some foxfarm Strawberry fields. Start seedlings in redcups with the ocean forest. Leaving in cups till you have to water every day. Then transplant into the strawberry fields, 3 gallon final pot, or 1 gallon, depending on flip. Strawberry fields has just about everything to finish the plant. 200PPms of cal-mag WEEKLY. NOT DAILY. Water ONLY when cups are almost bone dry light.

 

[Emilya Green]

I have a few fish tanks, I am an aquarianist, so I have access to water that is rich in nutrients. If I were to test the pH of this water, would it be otherwise dangerous to use this as a substitute?

Freshwater tank, yes... that stuff can be very nutritious for the plants. My salt water reef tank would be like death for the garden though.

 

[Stoneface Jack]

Freshwater tank, yes... that stuff can be very nutritious for the plants. My salt water reef tank would be like death for the garden though.

Don't you have to add bacteria to convert some of the ammonia from the fish waste into nitrates? That's what the aquaponics systems do.

 

[SmokingWings]

When I first saw those photos the other day the first thing that occurred to me was a possible phosphorus or potassium deficiency. Probably is that both nutrients are needed by the plant. Since you were growing in coco coir and as much as hydroponic growing fascinates me I grow in soil. The same sort of problem has happened to me.

I see that leggy look that @013 mentions but I feel that it is caused by the constant dropping off of the greenish-brown leaves. Eventually the plant has nothing growing on the bottom part of the stem and that makes it look leggy. The inter-node spacing can be seen on the bare stems and especially on the remaining green growth at the top. If the light is low then the plant would have more distance between nodes as it stretches trying to get the leaves closer to the light source. The stems are weak and the top part of the plant just falls over. In this case the stems are thick and strong enough that they can hold the remaining growth up.

Occasionally someone will post several photos of their plants when this happens to them. Their plants are in flower, the lower leaves are turning that same green-brown look and falling off.

I have experienced this same thing myself a few times, even in soil because the I use smaller sized pots for the flowering stage. Eventually even those dead leaves will not fall off. It is as if the plant does not have enough of the nutrients left to finish forming the abscission layer. Any new leaves that grow at the top are smaller than the previous ones. I have reduced the problem with my plants by starting to give doses of Phosphorus and Potassium at 2 weeks, sometimes 3 weeks, before putting them into the flowering cabinet or tent.

Again, I am growing in soil and not coco. You will need to research how to fertilize the plants in coco which is considered to be a form of hydroponic gardening.