I give up

[DrPokTok]

This poor baby isn't going to make it much further, and she started out so well! Am posting for the record and to solicit input for the next go around. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

This is my second grow. It was a bit of a test, not a really serious gig like many of you have with big brash beauties that must be wonder-smokes (he said green with envy). My first grow was also a "learning experience", having started out with Miracle Grow soil that my wife had lying around. In spite of that, and with great help from folks here, I managed to get through the experience and end up with a couple of mason jars are curing nicely at 62% RH.

Present grow details are:

Northern Lights Hybrid Auto Fem
One plant under 250W 2500k CFL and a small daylight temp CFL
In vegetative stage four weeks; five weeks of flowering
Indoors in 5 gal 10" diameter cloth pot
Mix is Promix BX to Perlite at 4 to 1
150 ml Osmocote+
25ml Azomite
No bugs
Good air circulation and extraction, temperature, and humidity control
Using dechlorinated water at pH 6.5.
I let the soil dry out before watering again.

The plant started out gangbusters but soon the leaves turned really dark green as if there was N toxicity. They curled over in very strange ways, tips hooked over an twisted along their axes. But growth was great, flowering proceeded apace. Then the leaves started folding over along the stem axis, like talons. They started getting the brown/gold patches you can see below and they'd just dry up completely. Sometimes the brown dry tips would just fall off.

Then things went further South when in panic mode I made stupid mistakes like adding GH bloom then CalMag+ after trying Dolomite in the top layer. The leaves just got even more brown. Am not sure it's possible to poison cannabis with calcium, but maybe I can!

I rechecked the Osmocote+ and Azomite. Both seem to be within specs as far as I can tell.

I have no idea what went wrong aside except that I should have added Dolomite up front at 2 tbsp per gal of mix and left well enough alone.

But I'm wondering about the Azomite. Maybe I added too much or it's a poison. YIKES!

I give up, disappointed.

 

[albienieves]

That's a NPK issue. Definitely a hot batch. Think of wth you added too much of and cut back immediately

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[DrPokTok]

Thanks. I don't get it though because I used Doc Bud's recommended ratios in an old post when he tried this stuff. His numbers check out against the bottle recommendation but, yep, seems like way too much OC+.

 

[albienieves]

Let me ask you a question. Is this brown an after effect of the Nitrogen issue? Same leaves? Also, are you Phing your water between 6.4-6.8?

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[ProOrNoIGrow]

Thanks. I don't get it though because I used Doc Bud's recommended ratios in an old post when he tried this stuff. His numbers check out against the bottle recommendation but, yep, seems like way too much OC+.

Was it the one where he held the bud up that was so big it covered his face? Where the kid was pestering him to do an experimental OC only grow? I was lurking on that ol thread recently too!

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[DrPokTok]

Let me ask you a question. Is this brown an after effect of the Nitrogen issue? Same leaves? Also, are you Phing your water between 6.4-6.8?

Sent from my SM-N900T using 420

Thanks for the questions.

Yes, it's the same leaves. The fan leaves were the first affected, then the sugar leaves. They're not shown in the picture because I trimmed them off.

Yep, I adjust water pH to between 6.5 and 6.8 with a few drops of pH Down on my tap water.

The plant still seems to be alive...

Cheers

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[DrPokTok]

Was it the one where he held the bud up that was so big it covered his face? Where the kid was pestering him to do an experimental OC only grow? I was lurking on that ol thread recently too!

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I don't remember seeing that but it would have been memorable! I'm going to go back to look at the thread again to see if I missed something. I copied a note by the Doc on how much OC+ to use and pasted it into my grow sheet.

.

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[Tead]

150 ml Osmocote+

I do OC+ growing in a neutral medium (perlite).
150 really seems like alot... even for a 5gal container. I use gram measures and don't know how that converts to ml's.
I've found that 30g is a good amount for my 3gals.

 

[DrPokTok]

I do OC+ growing in a neutral medium (perlite).
150 really seems like alot... even for a 5gal container. I use gram measures and don't know how that converts to ml's.
I've found that 30g is a good amount for my 3gals.

It's very close to 1g/ml according to the weight and volume on the bottle.

But yep, it seems clear just from replies here that I fried her.

Do you layer the OC+ or mix it throughout the Perlite?


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[Tead]

Do you layer the OC+ or mix it throughout the Perlite?

I've tried several different configurations. Currently I do 3/4 of the load at about 1/3 up from the bottom of the pot and mix the rest thru the pot trying to avoid any top layering.

 

[DrPokTok]

Interesting. Do the roots stop growing down 1/3 from the bottom?

So you only use 5 to 10 g dispersed in 3 gal medium vs my 150 g in 5 gal, which would be 90 g in 3 gal. Wow!

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[Major PITA]

Azomite isn't the problem. It is for trace minerals.
You way over-fed them the Osmocote. Maybe your decimal point was in the wrong place when you calculated the amount. If I was feeding a plant in a 5 gal pot, I would go with 15 ml, and that would be for a plant under the sun or lots of HPS/LED. You gave it 10x that much using CFLs.

 

[DrPokTok]

Hey Major PITA,

It's been a while. Back to help me again. Thanks!

Okay, so I went back to the label and found the spread rate is 3 tbsp per 4 sq ft = 44 ml (or g) per sq ft. My 10 inch diameter pot is 0.55 sq ft so the amount I should have added is 44 x 0.55 = 24 g dispersed in the top 1 to 3 inches of soil, or half that for indoor application. Wow. I added ten times the amount and you're dead right, the decimal was in the wrong place.

I now see where misread the instructions by Doc Bud and the instructions on the OC+ bottle. Going to tear up my B.Sc. Chemistry now...

I'll try again in the spring.

 

[Major PITA]

I'd go even lighter than that.
The application rates calculated for square feet assume unlimited soil depth with additional leeching and lower temps. I'd go with the potted plant application rates, although cannabis is a heavy feeder. That's how I came up with roughly 15 ml per pot. You can always add more, or suppliment with something else, but it's a bitch removing all those tiny prills from 5 gallons of soil.

 

[DrPokTok]

I'd go even lighter than that.
The application rates calculated for square feet assume unlimited soil depth with additional leeching and lower temps. I'd go with the potted plant application rates, although cannabis is a heavy feeder. That's how I came up with roughly 15 ml per pot.

Cool. Right. That's what I'll do. I'm growing indoors so I was going to go to the half rate and use 12 ml.

I can't believe the excess amount I used and it will take me a while to stop kicking myself.

Would you recommend dispersing throughout the medium or just in the top 1 to 3 inches?

One other question. Do you still not see a need to add Dolomite to BX/Perlite? BX has added Ca and am just wondering if others add it because of an apparent general tendency to want to overdo things, of which I have a bad case, obviously. Hahahaha!

 

[Major PITA]

Cool. Right. That's what I'll do. I'm growing indoors so I was going to go to the half rate and use 12 ml.

I can't believe the excess amount I used and it will take me a while to stop kicking myself.

Would you recommend dispersing throughout the medium or just in the top 1 to 3 inches?

One other question. Do you still not see a need to add Dolomite to BX/Perlite? BX has added Ca and am just wondering if others add it because of an apparent general tendency to want to overdo things, of which I have a bad case, obviously. Hahahaha!

I'd go with the top few inches like in the instructions. The nute's will travel down through the soil. You don't want a baby to run into prills near the bottom while it is getting established. Also, some of the nute's in the prills near the bottom might just get flushed away.

There should be no need to add dolomite to BX. It is already PH adjusted and buffered.