Suck's Grow Journal

[SmokingWings]

You're probably right about what the OP said. I've bought pots like that before though & you have to poke out the circles on the bottoms of the pots if you want drain holes. That's what I thought they meant.

Forgot about those.

Sometimes I think that the holes were not punched because of sloppy manufacturing with the plastic injection process or something like that.

 

[Suck]

Between not pH-ing & no drain holes in the pots & not enough light hours you have a little bit of a mess on your hands. You're growing Auto's so you should have started them in their final pot. You don't up-pot Auto's. You're in soil so you want pH of nutes going in to be in the 6.4 - 6.5 range. You really need drainage holes in the pots or the roots will stay wet too long & possibly get root rot. That alone could be stunting your growth. I'd put holes in them now with a heated nail or something similar that would melt through the pots. But that's me & I take chances if I feel I have nothing to lose & more to gain.
As far as light goes you need a good 18 hours of light on Auto's. 20 - 24 hours of light daily is even better. You wont get 18 hours of light outside. I know some people do Auto's outside; but I don't know their strategy. I wouldn't even attempt it. I'm thinking they do 12 hours of light outside & then in a tent under a light for 6 more hours before lights out for 6 hours. Just a guess.
I personally don't like Auto's; but I have seeds so I just started 3 seeds just to get rid of them.
I prefer Photo's as I can control how big my plants get to accomplish the yield I'm after. Auto's are on a time line so you can only do so much to them.

Hello Buds Buddy, thanks for joining in. I know i am bit sloppy with my first grow and i ahve already learned some valuable lessons, the hard way. Also just to clrify, i have started half of them in their final pots and now they all are about the same size.
Like SmokingWings mentioned there must have been misunderstanding, my pots have drainage holes i just didnt put any bottom layer of drainage material.
Regarding the Autos, as a newb grower i really liked the concept of not having to pay attention to lenght of days and having the yield earlier. But for sure, my next growth will be in grow tent and photoperiodical strain for sure.

 

[Suck]

I really think that the biggest part of the slow growth is the soil mix. And, no one knows what kind of soil mix is being used except that it is...shitty "substrate for muscat"", whatever that is. I have the feeling that it is something from a bag and is predominately a peat moss or coco coir mix with little, if any, natural soil added.

I have a small plant outside, in a pot smaller than what you are using, and it gets about 4 hours of direct sun and several more hours of indirect dappled sun through the leaves of the maple tree. It has grown more in the last 14 days than your plants have grown since they sprouted. But, I do understand slow growth caused by cool temperatures, low light, to much water and not enough water. I really think something dealing with the soil mix is causing the plants to grow slower than they should.

As for the pH, if it is a natural soil then you only need to know the pH of the water going in. No point in knowing the pH of the soil itself or of the run-off water.

If it is not a natural soil, for example a heavy peat mix meant for a hydroponic style of soil mix, then the pH of the water going in and coming out has to be known.

Hello sir, i think you are right in about everything. Unfortunately i bought this soil because one friend told me it works great, apparently he was wrong. This is the product, but its in czech language so i doubt you will get any valuabe info from that : AGRO Substrát pro muškáty a jiné balkónové květiny 50 L | Substráty pro balkónové květiny | megazahrada.cz | MEGAZAHRADA.cz

I was pretty patient with watering and i dont think thats the problem, i might have overfed them little bit even tho i was feeding the half the recommended amount for the particular stage.

I am pretty much in peace with the fact i will not yield much if anything from this badge, i am just trying to gather some information to learn from and possibly get as much as possible even with the obvious mistakes i have done.

Sure i will buy good soil, some proper weed brand, i will mix it with perlite, i will put layer of drainage in the bottom - thats if i decide to grow outside. But 99% chance that i will go for aeroponics in the tent. My aim is to be self sustainable and with my avegare comsumption of roughly 10 grams per month i need to yield 120 grams per year and i think i can do that with ease in 60x60cm tent and one nice plant. Is that correct?

 

[Suck]

Anyway i want to say big thanks to everyone participating in this thread. I am amazed how helpful people are around here - compared to some other forums, this is night and day. Respect

 

[Buds Buddy]

Hello sir, i think you are right in about everything. Unfortunately i bought this soil because one friend told me it works great, apparently he was wrong. This is the product, but its in czech language so i doubt you will get any valuabe info from that : AGRO Substrát pro muškáty a jiné balkónové květiny 50 L | Substráty pro balkónové květiny | megazahrada.cz | MEGAZAHRADA.cz

I was pretty patient with watering and i dont think thats the problem, i might have overfed them little bit even tho i was feeding the half the recommended amount for the particular stage.

I am pretty much in peace with the fact i will not yield much if anything from this badge, i am just trying to gather some information to learn from and possibly get as much as possible even with the obvious mistakes i have done.

Sure i will buy good soil, some proper weed brand, i will mix it with perlite, i will put layer of drainage in the bottom - thats if i decide to grow outside. But 99% chance that i will go for aeroponics in the tent. My aim is to be self sustainable and with my avegare comsumption of roughly 10 grams per month i need to yield 120 grams per year and i think i can do that with ease in 60x60cm tent and one nice plant. Is that correct?

That's less then 5 oz. so 1 plant with LST will do it. 2 plants & let them grow without LST will do it too.

 

[SmokingWings]

Hello sir, i think you are right in about everything. Unfortunately i bought this soil because one friend told me it works great, apparently he was wrong. This is the product, but its in czech language so i doubt you will get any valuabe info from that : AGRO Substrát pro muškáty a jiné balkónové květiny 50 L | Substráty pro balkónové květiny | megazahrada.cz | MEGAZAHRADA.cz

The translation is not that big of a problem. I could send it off to some relatives out your way, or a few over here who know the language. But, the easiest is to just get the right translation program up on a web page.

So far I know it is a mix for growing balcony flowers including begonias and geraniums. It contains fulvic and humic acids and the big thing is that the manufacturer has earthworm castings in it. It actually looks like it is a good product.

That soil is intended for plants that flower. I have the feeling that it might be for the plants just before the plant starts to flower and not for the plant while it is still actively growing roots, stems and leaves.

Your friend might be right and it does work well for him. I will have to believe that he was growing the same type of plant as you. You could ask him how much light his plants would receive over a full day. The most important question is to ask if he added any additional fertilizers into the soil mix or if he added fertilizers to the water.

 

[Suck]

The translation is not that big of a problem. I could send it off to some relatives out your way, or a few over here who know the language. But, the easiest is to just get the right translation program up on a web page.

So far I know it is a mix for growing balcony flowers including begonias and geraniums. It contains fulvic and humic acids and the big thing is that the manufacturer has earthworm castings in it. It actually looks like it is a good product.

That soil is intended for plants that flower. I have the feeling that it might be for the plants just before the plant starts to flower and not for the plant while it is still actively growing roots, stems and leaves.

Your friend might be right and it does work well for him. I will have to believe that he was growing the same type of plant as you. You could ask him how much light his plants would receive over a full day. The most important question is to ask if he added any additional fertilizers into the soil mix or if he added fertilizers to the water.

Really? You have Czech relatives? Nice, say hello from me anyway thank you for putting in the time to study the substrate. anyway like i mentioned next time i will be going for some light mix dedicated to weed. I ordered couple of White widow seeds from Royal Queen Seeds, because i want to give outdoor autos one more chance and i wanned to make sure i have good genetics and of course i will try not to repeat the same mistakes.

Also i feel like my plants are somehow kicking back in, might be too late still, but it feels that the position right next to the glass is better for them and the little girls are thriving. What do you think?



Btw in case you are wondering, the waxy looking drops on leafs is some bio spray against Aphids. I found couple of these lil mofos hanging out on my plants so i wanned to take care of them.

 

[Suck]

Hello guys,

i need urgent help. I think i put the metaphorical nail in the coffin of my girls. Please help me identify whether there is saving or not :/

Last week (when i posted the pictures) i watered the plants, applied the anti aphid bio spray (Symfonie Lesk 3 v 1 Agro NATURA - pěstování bez chemie | AGRO CS a.s.) and left for a week. After this week i came back and found most of the plants in really, really bad shape. Burnt and curled leafs and extremly soft stems. I think i might have burned them with the anti aphid spray. It contains: pongam oil, linseed oil, fertilizer. Could it be something else (maybe some lockout or deficiency) and is there something i can do now to fix it?

This is how most of them look:



Some of them look slightly better but still with weak stem:

 

[SmokingWings]

@Suck, sorry about the delay. I had lost track of this message thread and finally found it.

My first thought was to think that someone had used to much fertilizer while you were gone and that caused some of the curl in the leaves. That had happened to me when I first started growing these plants indoors.

However, I remembered that you mentioned spraying for insects before you left. I went to the web page you included and started translating what was written there to English using a web program. One thing did get my attention. The translation for the product you used does say to be careful on young plants or flowers because there is a risk of burns. Most likely this is because they included Linseed Oil in the spray.

The burned looking leaves in your photos are near the bottom of the plants and I often see that on my plants and on the photographs of other plants. I do not think that was a problem caused by the spray. However, it is possible that the curl in the leaves that I see in the first several of your photographs could have been caused by the spray. That does not mean that it is a bad product, just that it is something you will have to test several times to see if it can be used for your plants.

 

[Suck]

@Suck, sorry about the delay. I had lost track of this message thread and finally found it.

My first thought was to think that someone had used to much fertilizer while you were gone and that caused some of the curl in the leaves. That had happened to me when I first started growing these plants indoors.

However, I remembered that you mentioned spraying for insects before you left. I went to the web page you included and started translating what was written there to English using a web program. One thing did get my attention. The translation for the product you used does say to be careful on young plants or flowers because there is a risk of burns. Most likely this is because they included Linseed Oil in the spray.

The burned looking leaves in your photos are near the bottom of the plants and I often see that on my plants and on the photographs of other plants. I do not think that was a problem caused by the spray. However, it is possible that the curl in the leaves that I see in the first several of your photographs could have been caused by the spray. That does not mean that it is a bad product, just that it is something you will have to test several times to see if it can be used for your plants.

Hello SmokingWings, no worries, i apreciate you have found your way back My theory is that the leaves simply got burned by the fact that i used the spray in the morning and then it worked like a magnifying glass and got burned by sun. But also you are right about that curling down - that is probably different issue. Anyway some of those plants got better and started to flower. I do not expect high yields but i have learned a lot in the process. I just planted 3 White Widows from RQS and i am trying to not repeat the same mistakes - i bought smart pots (5 gallon) and i have used proper soil, specifically BioNova Bio Soil Mix. Also i think i have figured out the watering schedule and i am holding back on nutes. We shall see in couple of months, the genetics seem really good since all the seeds germinated directly in the water within 24 hours so i didnt not even have to put the in the Jiffys but they went directly into solo cups with soil. Once again, thank you SmokingWinds (and the others of course) for valuable information and your help. Hopefully i will have something worth posting in the grow journal section soon

Few pics of current state:

 

[Suck]

Hello growers, so i just wanned to post few pics. I think the girls are doing great now, some of them flowering, some of them still growing. Over last week couple of them almost doubled in size. Thanks again for all the help people of this wonderful forum!

 

[SmokingWings]

Hello growers, so i just wanned to post few pics. I think the girls are doing great now, some of them flowering, some of them still growing. Over last week couple of them almost doubled in size. Thanks again for all the help people of this wonderful forum!

Looking very nice. I like what you did by putting the other containers along the railing. People can see those and think that the other containers on the floor also have herbs or flowers in them.

 

[Suck]

Looking very nice. I like what you did by putting the other containers along the railing. People can see those and think that the other containers on the floor also have herbs or flowers in them.

Thanks dude, that was exactly my thought process behind it - my little covert ops. Not proper stealth but i guess every little piece counts. Also the aroma by other herbs helps neutralize the weed smell

 

[SmokingWings]

Thanks dude, that was exactly my thought process behind it - my little covert ops. Not proper stealth but i guess every little piece counts. Also the aroma by other herbs helps neutralize the weed smell

Rosemary and mint. Rosemary is one of my favorite culinary herbs, really like it with chicken. I do not care for Mint but my wife likes to make Mint Tea or to add some to her iced teas.

Both of those herbs will help to repel insects from the balcony which reduces the possibility that they could start to live on your plants.

 

[CanadianJim]

Rosemary and mint. Rosemary is one of my favorite culinary herbs, really like it with chicken. I do not care for Mint but my wife likes to make Mint Tea or to add some to her iced teas.

Both of those herbs will help to repel insects from the balcony which reduces the possibility that they could start to live on your plants.

Just be careful if the air is usually pretty still there, mint is prone to mildew.

 

[Suck]

Just be careful if the air is usually pretty still there, mint is prone to mildew.

Thats funny i just had to discard rosemary plant because of massive powdery mildew infestation. Unfortunately i found small powder spot on the plant below rosemary - hopefully it wont spread. Can i prevent it from spreading somehow?

Apart from that all girls are happy and enjoying sunshine

 

[BigD13]

With that line up, you better be happy

 

[SmokingWings]

Just be careful if the air is usually pretty still there, mint is prone to mildew.

Then I figure I could use some flat air to kill off 3/4 of my mint patches. But, it will not happen here in southeast Michigan (at the cabin on the other side of the state it is a different story) so I am going to have to dig up the Mint plants and put them on the curb so they can go to the big commercial compost farms. The stuff is as bad as Ground Ivy (sometimes called Creeping Charlie) and spreads everywhere. They are a related plant.

For the original poster who has a balcony then a container with Mint plants should be OK unless he has a climate with hours of calm air.

Reminds me, I should walk over to the vegetable garden and walk over some of the Mint patches to keep them under some sort of control while I work up the energy to get the shovel and start digging.

 

[SmokingWings]

With that line up, you better be happy

Yep. I was going to mention that I do not see any Powdery Mildew on that balcony.

There are many gardening articles on how to treat for Powdery Mildew using nothing more than using a milk and water mix sprayed on the plants. Something I might try on the cucumbers and zucchini plants later this summer. Almost certain to have the Powdery Mildew on those before the end of the season.

Going to have to check the Rosemary plants throughout the summer. Never noticed it before but there is always a first time.

 

[CanadianJim]

Neighbour has a patch of mint that sends roots over into our yard, shoots pop up every spring and summer.
His patch is in a really sheltered spot with minimal airflow and gets mildew every year until his wife thins it out. I let one plant grow a couple of years back and it also got mildew, spread it to my tomatoes.