AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
I agree, things are moving along very smoothly now. I am glad everything is sorted, and I am sure you are on the right track now. Those ladies are going to be winning producers for your Older 
OlderStoner - Indoor/Outdoor Grow
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OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
The plants are outside again today. It's a little on the hot side but I needed to water them and I gave them 6.5 ph water with 3/4 tsp Epsom salts per gallon. They took two gallons of this. I lowered the ph extensively in the large 12" pots because the other day the runoff was running 7.6 to 7.8. That's got to be from all the new soil. I'll give them another feeding before this weekend, but I'm trying to use as little ferts as possible. This is were I've always seem to screw up in the past.
The plants are in the following height ranges after 36 days from planting seeds:
White Widow X #1 (germinated on 09/13/2013) 14" tall and it's been topped
White Widow X #2 (germinated on 09/13/2013) 12" tall and it's been topped
White Widow Feminized #1 (germinated on 09/14/2013) 8" tall
White Widow Feminized #2 (germinated on 09/15/2013) 7" tall
White Widow Feminized #3 (germinated on 09/16/2013) 7" tall
White Widow Feminized #4 (germinated on 09/16/2013) 7" tall - this is the one that was so sickly in it's first 3 weeks
Cotton Candy (germinated on 09/14/2013) 7" tall - looking very healthy, close node spacing but it's seems to be a slow grower
Under the fluoro lights (all 400 watts) and having shifted to 18/6 cycle, the plants look like they are starting to reach. So I've made the decision to get a 60" x 60" grow tent and a 1000w light setup. The package I found looks great but it will have to ship from CA so I'm trying to find a retailer closer to South Florida. The hydro shops in this area seem to know they have a cornered market and their prices are $$$ higher than what I can buy on-line. This is going to be a large purchase so I have to get things together for this one. But if I don't pull the trigger soon and move these things into flowering within the next two weeks I'm going to end up with 10 ft plants, especially with those two X's.
The two clones are alive, or at least appear to be alive. I don't see any new growth above ground but the leaves are responding to the light. I hope to start seeing some growth above ground in a week or so. These will be moved to the pots which were previously occupied by the X's and the Cotton Candy.
The plants are in the following height ranges after 36 days from planting seeds:
White Widow X #1 (germinated on 09/13/2013) 14" tall and it's been topped
White Widow X #2 (germinated on 09/13/2013) 12" tall and it's been topped
White Widow Feminized #1 (germinated on 09/14/2013) 8" tall
White Widow Feminized #2 (germinated on 09/15/2013) 7" tall
White Widow Feminized #3 (germinated on 09/16/2013) 7" tall
White Widow Feminized #4 (germinated on 09/16/2013) 7" tall - this is the one that was so sickly in it's first 3 weeks
Cotton Candy (germinated on 09/14/2013) 7" tall - looking very healthy, close node spacing but it's seems to be a slow grower
Under the fluoro lights (all 400 watts) and having shifted to 18/6 cycle, the plants look like they are starting to reach. So I've made the decision to get a 60" x 60" grow tent and a 1000w light setup. The package I found looks great but it will have to ship from CA so I'm trying to find a retailer closer to South Florida. The hydro shops in this area seem to know they have a cornered market and their prices are $$$ higher than what I can buy on-line. This is going to be a large purchase so I have to get things together for this one. But if I don't pull the trigger soon and move these things into flowering within the next two weeks I'm going to end up with 10 ft plants, especially with those two X's.
The two clones are alive, or at least appear to be alive. I don't see any new growth above ground but the leaves are responding to the light. I hope to start seeing some growth above ground in a week or so. These will be moved to the pots which were previously occupied by the X's and the Cotton Candy.
TanR
New Member
Looking good OS!
AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
Nice, from the update it looks like you have everything in order.
If you are trying to buy in bulk, I would recommend websites such as CraigsL. & eB. Because these usually have all the little things included like reflectors, timers, etc. that end up adding to costs in the end
If you are trying to buy in bulk, I would recommend websites such as CraigsL. & eB. Because these usually have all the little things included like reflectors, timers, etc. that end up adding to costs in the end
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- #65
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
AG, thanks again sir. I examined the plants very closely tonight before putting them back under the lights. Besides noticing that the smaller ones are starting to show signs of reaching, they are looking really dark green and healthy. I have a couple of questions someone might shed some light on (pun intended)!
The reaching or stretching I am assuming is from the low wattage of the fluoros. I have 400 watts in a 2 ft x 4 ft area but and it makes the needle on the light meter move up to about 500 lumens but I think that's not working right. I'm going to take the plunge and buy a grow tent. But I'm going to look around for the right deal.
I took these two shots of the White Widow X's. These are supposed to be the same strain but as you can see they look very different. These two were the first to germinate, 84 hours after planting they were up and the took from there. The both are taller by daylight above the others which germinated only days later. The leaves in the one on the right are much broader that the one on the left. What is the consensus? Do these look like the same strain?
A few of the plants were really stressed in the beginning and the lower leaves still have some signs of the damage, like red stains on them. The big X's are also letting go of their very bottom leaves which have turned very yellow. There are not the two seed pod leaves, but the first set which showed after the pod opened up. Should I cut these damaged leaves off or just let them fall on their own time?
The reaching or stretching I am assuming is from the low wattage of the fluoros. I have 400 watts in a 2 ft x 4 ft area but and it makes the needle on the light meter move up to about 500 lumens but I think that's not working right. I'm going to take the plunge and buy a grow tent. But I'm going to look around for the right deal.
I took these two shots of the White Widow X's. These are supposed to be the same strain but as you can see they look very different. These two were the first to germinate, 84 hours after planting they were up and the took from there. The both are taller by daylight above the others which germinated only days later. The leaves in the one on the right are much broader that the one on the left. What is the consensus? Do these look like the same strain?
A few of the plants were really stressed in the beginning and the lower leaves still have some signs of the damage, like red stains on them. The big X's are also letting go of their very bottom leaves which have turned very yellow. There are not the two seed pod leaves, but the first set which showed after the pod opened up. Should I cut these damaged leaves off or just let them fall on their own time?
AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
Okay first of Older, any plant will start to stretch (reach) when the lights are far away enough from them, including if you were using HID. What the plants are doing is 'searching' for the light and since any light source besides the sun has a limited amount of lumens, the intensity will get depleted with distance. Since Fluro's and CFLs produce very little heat, I would recommend putting the lights as close as 4-5 inches away from the plants to prevent it from stretching. When you get your HID setup I would recommend putting it 18-24 inches above the top of your plants.
To answer your other question about strain, yes I think that the plant on the left has more sativa-based traits shown in the narrower leaves and thinner frame. This however does not deem these two plants to be different strains. Think about it this way: there are mainly 2 different phenotypes per strain, each of these pheno's usually determines each end of the spectrum the genetics of each bean will have. From what I understand from breeding, growers try and back cross these specific phenotypes with a strain that is also dominant in that pheno as well, to get a plant that has stable enough genetics to remain consistent with each bean you come across.
I usually let leaves get yellow and dry before taking it off. I believe that the foliage of a plant serves as food for the plant, and why not let the plant use it up as much as possible. However I would not let the leaves get too bad to the point they might fall off. Dead leaves in the medium attracts pests and mold.
To answer your other question about strain, yes I think that the plant on the left has more sativa-based traits shown in the narrower leaves and thinner frame. This however does not deem these two plants to be different strains. Think about it this way: there are mainly 2 different phenotypes per strain, each of these pheno's usually determines each end of the spectrum the genetics of each bean will have. From what I understand from breeding, growers try and back cross these specific phenotypes with a strain that is also dominant in that pheno as well, to get a plant that has stable enough genetics to remain consistent with each bean you come across.
I usually let leaves get yellow and dry before taking it off. I believe that the foliage of a plant serves as food for the plant, and why not let the plant use it up as much as possible. However I would not let the leaves get too bad to the point they might fall off. Dead leaves in the medium attracts pests and mold.
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- #67
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
I seem to be headed into another problem. I am noticing the tips of the leaves on one plant are turning brown. When I do a search on the Internet as usual I'm bombarded with information. So far I've read that it could be:
Here is a photo of one of the leaves. I know it's only minor but I want to head of any problems now. This is one of the white widow X's and it's in its new 12" dia pot. The first runoff I measured from this soil was higher than I expected but I gave them several drinks of 6.3 ph and one of 5.8 ph trying to get a handle on this. Will check the runoff again tonight when I get a chance to water them. I'm scheduling a feeding of 1/2 strength, week 5, Fox Farm nutes for this one tonight though I wanted to wait until this weekend to feed. The dark green color of the leaves shows the blood meal I mixed lightly in with this soil is probably contributing.
- Too much water - maybe but I've been going light on it
- Not enough water - I doubt this one, the soilk is moist
- Too many nutes - Doubtful because I am too stingy with these chems
- Note enough nutes - Perhaps, they haven't been feed since this weekend
- Too much light - Doubtful
- Not enough light - Possible, the sun helps but at night under the flouors its a crap shoot until I get my setup going.
Here is a photo of one of the leaves. I know it's only minor but I want to head of any problems now. This is one of the white widow X's and it's in its new 12" dia pot. The first runoff I measured from this soil was higher than I expected but I gave them several drinks of 6.3 ph and one of 5.8 ph trying to get a handle on this. Will check the runoff again tonight when I get a chance to water them. I'm scheduling a feeding of 1/2 strength, week 5, Fox Farm nutes for this one tonight though I wanted to wait until this weekend to feed. The dark green color of the leaves shows the blood meal I mixed lightly in with this soil is probably contributing.
AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
Those tips look like a classic case of the start of a nutrient burn.
When your plant is overwatered the spaces between the veins will look swollen, and the plants will be slightly wilted. Older leaves will start to turn yellow and grey. This is because roots will stop the intake of nutrients when to much water prevents the uptake of oxygen. Naturally nitrogen and phosphorous deficiency would be the first to form.
If plants were under watered, the plant will start to wilt drastically, and the leaves will start to turn brittle after a couple of hours.
This is definitely not due to too little light as not enough light shows itself as stunted plant growth
And too much light will eventually cause the majority of the leaf to start losing pigment (chlorosis) giving it a 'bleached' or 'burned' look that starts in between the veins.
Now, in the case of a nutrient burn (too high of a PPM) the first things that start showing are Browning and drying of leaf tips. It may resemble light bleaching at times, but the key thing to note here is that the 'burn'starts at the tips.
An easy way to tell the difference between TOO MUCH nutrients and TOO LITTLE nutrients is to follow these simple guidelines:
If you first start noticing tips start to burn then you are feeding your plants too much, PPM wise.
If you start noticing other unusual growth patterns or discoloration BEFORE you get burnt tips, then you can assume you have a deficiency of a specific nutrient, but you are still maintaining the appropriate number of PPMs.
My advice to you Older, if you want to keep a precise and diligent eye what you are feeding your plants then I would recommend that you invest in a PPM/EC meter to further measure accuracy of your feed knowing that you are giving the appropriate portions of nutrients during all stages of growth.
But I would not worry too much here Older, these plants still look healthy, and it is much easier to correct a lockout due to a nute burn rather than a deficiency!
If you need any clarification on terms I used, feel free to ask. Good Luck, AG
When your plant is overwatered the spaces between the veins will look swollen, and the plants will be slightly wilted. Older leaves will start to turn yellow and grey. This is because roots will stop the intake of nutrients when to much water prevents the uptake of oxygen. Naturally nitrogen and phosphorous deficiency would be the first to form.
If plants were under watered, the plant will start to wilt drastically, and the leaves will start to turn brittle after a couple of hours.
This is definitely not due to too little light as not enough light shows itself as stunted plant growth
And too much light will eventually cause the majority of the leaf to start losing pigment (chlorosis) giving it a 'bleached' or 'burned' look that starts in between the veins.
Now, in the case of a nutrient burn (too high of a PPM) the first things that start showing are Browning and drying of leaf tips. It may resemble light bleaching at times, but the key thing to note here is that the 'burn'starts at the tips.
An easy way to tell the difference between TOO MUCH nutrients and TOO LITTLE nutrients is to follow these simple guidelines:
If you first start noticing tips start to burn then you are feeding your plants too much, PPM wise.
If you start noticing other unusual growth patterns or discoloration BEFORE you get burnt tips, then you can assume you have a deficiency of a specific nutrient, but you are still maintaining the appropriate number of PPMs.
My advice to you Older, if you want to keep a precise and diligent eye what you are feeding your plants then I would recommend that you invest in a PPM/EC meter to further measure accuracy of your feed knowing that you are giving the appropriate portions of nutrients during all stages of growth.
But I would not worry too much here Older, these plants still look healthy, and it is much easier to correct a lockout due to a nute burn rather than a deficiency!
If you need any clarification on terms I used, feel free to ask. Good Luck, AG
your leaf problem appears to be a small amount of nutrient burn.
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- #70
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
I think you are both right on the nutrient burn but darned if I can recall when. When I prepared the soil for these pots I simply used the organic mix I bought at the home store, some top soil which I bought at the same store, some perlite and a small sprinkling of blood meal. About one week later it got a drink of 1/2 strenght, week Fox Farm mix. I will only give it water for the next week.
AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
>>>About one week later it got a drink of 1/2 strenght, week Fox Farm mix. I will only give it water for the next week.
This is most likely the culprit to the burn. I'm more than sure that organic mix had some base nutrients in it, now add that with the bloodmeal and you have enough nutes to last the first 2-3 weeks of veg.
Now if I was you I would've watered with plain water that had an appropriate pH for the first two weeks. Without a PPM meter you will never know if your previous flush attempts actually washed out the built up salts the weak FF left.
Even though I use Fox Farm currently,I know how powerful this line of product is compared to other popular brands. I am in my 5th week of vegetative, and I am only using it at half strength!
This is most likely the culprit to the burn. I'm more than sure that organic mix had some base nutrients in it, now add that with the bloodmeal and you have enough nutes to last the first 2-3 weeks of veg.
Now if I was you I would've watered with plain water that had an appropriate pH for the first two weeks. Without a PPM meter you will never know if your previous flush attempts actually washed out the built up salts the weak FF left.
Even though I use Fox Farm currently,I know how powerful this line of product is compared to other popular brands. I am in my 5th week of vegetative, and I am only using it at half strength!
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OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
Okay, day 40 of this grow has begun and the plants will spend all day outdoors in the sunshine and they will all be watered today, no nutes. I prepared this photo to show the growth of the white widow feminized plants. They are doing well and when you consider that one of them was almost given up on after week 3... Anyway, I'm concerned with how these plants are stretching. Plants 'B' and 'D' seem to be okay but they are reaching. Plants 'A' and 'C' have a noticeable 3" stretch between nodes up in the middle of their height. All of these plants have been given similar treatment. Today is the last day for these plants in their existing pots. I'm headed to the store now to buy bigger 12" diameter pots for them to finish out in. I will also top all of these today and clone the cuttings. I'm going to have more plants than I know what to do with soon, but I'd rather have too many that not enough. Oh, for the days when I lived way out in the country and could have these growing outside. But even if I could grow these outdoors at my home, there is always the problem of bugs, too many shadows from trees and my house blocking the sun...and worst of all, those nosy neighbors and the teenage thugs who would steal all of them and then try to smoke it all this afternoon after drying it in an oven. Of course I never did anything so stupid like that when I was a teenager so I can rant....
AfricanGrower
Well-Known Member
That 40% Sativa pheno is really strting to show in this batch of seeds you got. The fact that your plants have stretched to about a foot with only 4-5 nodes indicates that the plant could be more sativa dominant in these traits. Or it could have been just due to the distance of your fluro early on in the grow.
Anyway, I think now is a good time to cut them. If you are trying to conserve on height, I would cut them at that 6inch mark, (3 nodes from the top) which will give you a much shorter plant height and more stem to work with for your clones.
Where were you planning on topping them? Do you have a success method of cloning, if not I am more than happy to link you to a couple of well-written articles on the matter
Anyway, I think now is a good time to cut them. If you are trying to conserve on height, I would cut them at that 6inch mark, (3 nodes from the top) which will give you a much shorter plant height and more stem to work with for your clones.
Where were you planning on topping them? Do you have a success method of cloning, if not I am more than happy to link you to a couple of well-written articles on the matter
stealthgrow
Well-Known Member
The Girls are looking great OS, Keep up the good work. 
Got a chuckle from this, sounds like something I would have done when young (drying quick in over)
My WW plant is 1 week from harvest and she's looking sooo frosty, I can't wait to see how she smokes.
Good luck with the rest of your grow.
Got a chuckle from this, sounds like something I would have done when young (drying quick in over
)
My WW plant is 1 week from harvest and she's looking sooo frosty, I can't wait to see how she smokes.
Good luck with the rest of your grow.
Love the "police line-up" photo. Are the plants still spending time outdoors? An outdoor plants stretch pretty aggressively compared to ones that always live indoors under artificial light.
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- #76
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
I had the fluoros right down on them. These lights produce almost no heat so I've had them as close as possible to the plants. I went to another local shop today. Had them give me their best quote. For a reflector with hinged glass, 600 watt digital ballast, fixture, bulb and one in-line fan.... $750. I will keep looking. When I tried to pay with my cc for the grow blocks and clone tray, for the second time she told me that her cc machine didn't work. Being the tech that I am I offered to fix it for her and instead of charging for my services I suggested we could possibly barter for some more supplies, maybe even that light. I'll hear back from them next week on this.
...Anyway, I think now is a good time to cut them. If you are trying to conserve on height, I would cut them at that 6inch mark, (3 nodes from the top) which will give you a much shorter plant height and more stem to work with for your clones.
Where were you planning on topping them? Do you have a success method of cloning, if not I am more than happy to link you to a couple of well-written articles on the matter
That's my thinking. And in the past I've done cloning the simple way. Cut the stem and shove it into some wet dirt. It's worked well for me. And I have two clones right now from the X's which seem to be surviving. However, this morning at the new hydro shop I visited I purchased some 3" grow blocks and a tray with a big plastic cover with a vent in it. I know all about how to cut them at 45° angle and how to keep them moist and warm. I'm going to use the two old fluoros I had from the last grow inside the closet to give the clones 24 hours of light. The other plants are on 18/6.
I transplanted plants A, B, C and D into bigger, deeper pots today. I watered them well and because the soil was so dry when I pulled them out of the small pots and the bottom leaves were turning yellow on all the plants, I gave them 1/4 strength of week 5 of the Fox Farm outline. I hope I don't over to these nutes because one plant was showing nute burn. I gave all of them plenty of 6.4 ph water before the feeding and I went light on that. If I see nute burn again I'm going to have to really watch it and weaken the FF mix even more.
I gave, A, B, C and D names so I would know which ones are which as I make cuttings from them. The clones will be traced carefully back to the parent plant in the event that any males show up. These are all white widow feminized so here's hoping they are all ladies.
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- #77
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
Got a chuckle from this, sounds like something I would have done when young (drying quick in over
You know it's funny you mention that. To tell a tale here, way back in the 1970's some people did a big outdoor grow near the small town out in the country where I lived. It was quite an operation for back then. This wasn't a couple of guys raising it for personal use. These guys were growing it by the ton apparently. The operation was very stealth, for back then, but the guys tapped into the community water line which ran out there. And when the water company came to find the leak, guess what else they found. If they had just dug a well it would have worked for no telling how long. Anyway, the cops came, busted up the place and one of the things they did was to slice up the hoses they had running from where they tapped into the community water line. They hacked it up about every three feet to prevent anyone from coming back and starting it up again. A bunch of us young studs went out there to see what was left of it. This was apparently weeks or months after the raid. And what we saw amazed us. They had plots spread out all over the place. They were growing hundreds of plants in the spots where we looked, but of course everything was gone by now. We saw 2 x 4 frames they had built where long stalks long since stripped of their goodies were still lying and rotting in the sun. These stalks were about 10 feet long. Makes you wonder if they really knew what they were doing or if they just grew a boat load of it and took whatever they ended up with.
Now back to the funny part of this. As we examined all over what was left out there, in that hot summer air, we actually found young seedlings which couldn't have been more than 2-3 weeks old. Maybe 5 or six of them scattered here and there. We immediately plucked these up, took them to the car, turned on the engine and started drying them with the defroster. They dried out of course but when we smoked them all we got was a lung full of yuk!
I wonder who it was that did that operation and why they had to be so stupid as to tap into the water supply they did. It will always be a mystery because the cops in that small town never talked much, and of course as young hippies we avoided them as much as we could. It was a very different time and era.
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- #78
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
PeeJay, that's an interesting point. My thinking is that you cannot get anymore purer light on this planet that real sunshine. And I have been very worried that even though I'm using 400 Watts of fluoros in a 2 ft x 4 ft space, it's weak light source is what's causing them to stretch. But all of the plants have been out in the sun an equal amount of time and when they are under the fluoros the lights are so close some of the top leaves actually touch the bulbs. I think like AG mentioned, that White Widow, being 40% sativa is stretching due to it's genetics.
These plants have all been transplanted into bigger pots which makes it a real chore to carry them inside and out all the time. So after one more day in the sun tomorrow, they are going in under the lights and that will be it for outdoors. I think I've pushed my luck avoiding the bugs and neighbors as well. I am going to make the purchase of a grow tent with 2 600 watt lights in the very near future. Since I'm also topping these four tomorrow after I let the shock of transplanting wear off, I will have only a small issue with height for the next few weeks. But since this is a grow...that issue will come right back. By then I should have that grow tent set up and going.
Thanks again to everyone for the great advice.
OS, there is no argument that natural sun is a great thing - but the plants grow up to that very intense globe of light in the sky. From an evolutionary standpoint, light loving plants like cannabis do that so they can get up and above the things that grow around them. Not many people grow 12' high plants indoors, but giant outdoor "trees" are commonplace. The stretch has more to do with the outside time than the inside time, IMO.
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- #80
OlderStoner
Well-Known Member
Picked up some 3" GroDan grow blocks and a tray with an 8" plastic dome yesterday. So I made the cuttings by topping the four white widow feminized and the cotton candy plants. I noticed some yellowing of the bottom leaves on thw white widows that I transplanted yesterday. More on that in a moment.
In the past I've had success with clones but I just shoved them into some wet soil. Hey it worked. So the two cuttings I took from the X's last weekend look liked they are surviving but just barely. This time I followed the directions for the grow blocks by soaking them in 5.5 ph water and then flushing them with 1/4 nute mix. I cut the stems at a 45° angle while they were underwater and then dipped them into a little root hormone. Then I stuck them into the grow blocks. These grow blocks did not have holes in them so it was difficult but I got the stems inserted. Now I almost screwed up one of them by letting the tray with the dome on it set out in the direct sunlight. After a short while it was so hot inside that dome that the clone looked like it was dead. I really thought I'd lost it. I brought the tray inside and placed the other clones inside of it along with the two I cut from last weekend. The clones from this morning are all perked up and looking fine. The one I almost killed appears to have survived but it's on life support. The clones from last weekend are there but not showing any of the vigor the ones from this morning are showing. In the future I will use this method.
Now to the yellowing leaves. I noticed yesterday the very bottom leaves of the white widow feminized were turning yellow. I thought ok, they've done their job and now it's time to get rid of them. But this morning I noticed that the yellowing was starting to move up the plants. So I poured some of the 5.5 ph water left over from the cloning this morning through one of the pots which I transplanted into yesterday. These new pots contained the new soil mix which was 1/2 top soil and 1/2 of the organic potting soil mix which I had used before. The run off from this pot was 7.8. This is similar to what I ran into before when I made up the soil mix, but then I was using a higher ph water 6.5 and it produced the same readings of 7.8 to 8.0 in the run off. This soil mixture appears to naturally be higher in ph than I was expecting. So I thought of how to flush all four of these large 5 gallon pots. The first thought was just to flush them using the garden hose. But I decided to fill a large ice chest I had with water from the hose and check it first. The water right out of the hose was 9.0 to 9.1. So I used a small amount of ph Down and brought the whole batch down to 5.5. I started flushing the pots and after running almost 5 gallons through one of them I was still getting 7.8 in the run off. I kept flushing and when I used up all the water in the ice chest I made another batch and just kept flushing all four of these now pots. I've run 10 gallons through each 5 gallon pot of sub 6.0 ph water and the run off is still 7.7 to 7.8. I will let them drain overnight and see how they are doing tomorrow. I read that trying to adjust ph too quickly will stress the plants but since these are in new pots anyway I think I'm screwed. I can't believe this ph thing is so hard to control. The soil mixes I bought all from the same supplier, the same brand and the bags were all on the same pallet in the store. But the run off I'm getting shows this stuff is much higher in ph that was the last batch I used.
In the past I've had success with clones but I just shoved them into some wet soil. Hey it worked. So the two cuttings I took from the X's last weekend look liked they are surviving but just barely. This time I followed the directions for the grow blocks by soaking them in 5.5 ph water and then flushing them with 1/4 nute mix. I cut the stems at a 45° angle while they were underwater and then dipped them into a little root hormone. Then I stuck them into the grow blocks. These grow blocks did not have holes in them so it was difficult but I got the stems inserted. Now I almost screwed up one of them by letting the tray with the dome on it set out in the direct sunlight. After a short while it was so hot inside that dome that the clone looked like it was dead. I really thought I'd lost it. I brought the tray inside and placed the other clones inside of it along with the two I cut from last weekend. The clones from this morning are all perked up and looking fine. The one I almost killed appears to have survived but it's on life support. The clones from last weekend are there but not showing any of the vigor the ones from this morning are showing. In the future I will use this method.
Now to the yellowing leaves. I noticed yesterday the very bottom leaves of the white widow feminized were turning yellow. I thought ok, they've done their job and now it's time to get rid of them. But this morning I noticed that the yellowing was starting to move up the plants. So I poured some of the 5.5 ph water left over from the cloning this morning through one of the pots which I transplanted into yesterday. These new pots contained the new soil mix which was 1/2 top soil and 1/2 of the organic potting soil mix which I had used before. The run off from this pot was 7.8. This is similar to what I ran into before when I made up the soil mix, but then I was using a higher ph water 6.5 and it produced the same readings of 7.8 to 8.0 in the run off. This soil mixture appears to naturally be higher in ph than I was expecting. So I thought of how to flush all four of these large 5 gallon pots. The first thought was just to flush them using the garden hose. But I decided to fill a large ice chest I had with water from the hose and check it first. The water right out of the hose was 9.0 to 9.1. So I used a small amount of ph Down and brought the whole batch down to 5.5. I started flushing the pots and after running almost 5 gallons through one of them I was still getting 7.8 in the run off. I kept flushing and when I used up all the water in the ice chest I made another batch and just kept flushing all four of these now pots. I've run 10 gallons through each 5 gallon pot of sub 6.0 ph water and the run off is still 7.7 to 7.8. I will let them drain overnight and see how they are doing tomorrow. I read that trying to adjust ph too quickly will stress the plants but since these are in new pots anyway I think I'm screwed. I can't believe this ph thing is so hard to control. The soil mixes I bought all from the same supplier, the same brand and the bags were all on the same pallet in the store. But the run off I'm getting shows this stuff is much higher in ph that was the last batch I used.
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