What's the issue? First grow

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PistolPete80

Well-Known Member
Hoping this wonderful community can help me figure this out as so far I have had no luck on a few of the reddit forums and the community here seems more engaging and helpful. My first attempt and am running into a few issues. Before I dive in, some basic details to help you help me:

  • 3 plants, 2 Fastbuds Fastberry Autoflowers and 1 Jack47 auto
  • 4X2 tent with Mars Hydro SP3000 ~22" from highest node
  • Currently on Day 41
  • FFHF/FFOF/Perlite medium
  • Water / Feed / Water / Feed cycle and PH ~6.5
  • FF trio nutes (grow big, big bloom & tiger bloom) + CalMag
    • Only started nutes around week 5, following the feeding chart per fox farms but at lower dose

Okay, so here's my issues...

Issue 1:

Both Fastberry's continue to have some bronzing on the lower and middle leaves which you can see in the pic of the plant that's currently flowering. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the issue is and I've read countless threads with people who have similar issues and they either suggest it's a CalMag issue or some fungus issue (can't recall the name) where if you rubbed it, you would get the bronze/brown stuff on your finger tips which in this case, I don't. Some people say it could be a PH issue but I have 4 PH pens, one of which is a blue lab and my PH is on point. My runoff ph however is 5.5 to 6.0.

Issue 2:

The second picture attached which the plant isn't flowering, is also an auto and on day 41. Given it's been almost two weeks since the Fastberry's started flowering, it's concerning to me that this one hasn't. I've read on here not to panic until week 8, that sometimes Auto's can Veg for that long? I did do some defoliation (even though not recommended for auto's and first timers) because this thing is unbelievably bushy and have heard that the stress from defoliating autoflowers can extend the veg cycle.

So, this brings me to my questions:

  • What is the most likely culprit of the bronzing on the Fastberrys?
  • How concerned should I be with the runoff ph levels? There is a ton of conflicting soundbites on runoff PH; some people suggest to not even look at it because its a poor and unreliable way to test the ph of the soil and that you should just focus on input PH, which I do
  • When for the Jack47 should it not start flowering, be safe to assume its not an auto but a photo?
  • I purchased some Real Growers Recharge as I've heard good things about the micro's it has in it for soil mediums, and they say you can't nute burn your plants with them, but wanted to get feedback before doing it.

Welcome any and all feedback. If you see anything else concerning please let me know.
 

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It might be a pH related issue, but although not wide spread (from what these old eyes can see) it does look like cal/mag.

First thing when checking pH, do a slurry test, run off really doesn’t do the trick. As I am not really up on this, been an LOS grower until trying a feed this year, I am going to shout out to @InTheShed to walk you through doing a slurry test.

And I suggest you do this pH check, before playing with Cal/Mag supplements as too much of that can through other things out of whack.
 
Thanks for the shout Celt! I'd say they're hungry to begin with. Not feeding them for 5 weeks and then going with less than the FF chart seems to have gotten them off to a less-than-stellar start.

I'd say feed them what the chart recommends and see if that helps.

pH of runoff is not a thing. Skip that test. If your soil was fresh out of the bag I don't think you'd have a pH issue, but only a distilled water slurry test will tell you that.
 
Thank you all very much for the comments. On the notion of adding more nutes, my concern was that when I did add nutes at a third of the charts recommendation, the leave tips showed burns and all the research suggested nute burn. I guess it’s possible then, but now they’re hungrier as they’ve aged a few weeks since?

Regarding no nutes the first month, given it’s fox farms happy frog and ocean forest soil I was led to believe they have enough nutes in the soil to last about a month. Is that not true?
 
013 said:
Welcome to 420!

What a great write up you have done! Very complete - you should spin this into a journal

No problems with a regular dose of the RGR - it only activates the microbes.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I keep a journal with pictures so I’ve considered doing that once done.
 
I know people who use straight FFOF and feed from the first set of leaves, so I don't think your plants were doing well on just what's in the OF.

To do a slurry test, you take soil from about halfway down (I go down the outside of the pot so as not to tear up old roots) and add an equivalent amount of distilled water as grams of soil (10 grams of soil, add 10ml water). If that doesn't make a slurry, add 20ml (or enough to make a stirrable slurry).

Stir it up, wait 15 minutes, stir again. Do that for at least an hour, more is better, and then put your calibrated pH stick in the water. That's the pH of your soil. Most soil is buffered in the mid 6s.
 
Thanks. I’ll get that done. I read that the fox farms soil is buffered. If it’s actually in the 5s, what would cause the soil ph to drop that far if I’ve been Ph’ing my water? Let’s assume I don’t have 3 probes off lol.
 
Do you know your pH is in the 5's from a slurry test? The odds of it dropping that far in 41 days aren't high.
 
I always heard it called a saturated paste, but slurry works too. The best way to get a sample is taking a large sample and reducing it systematically. "Cone and quarter" and "Long pile" are two methods to get a representative sample from a larger amount.
 
PistolPete80 said:
Thank you all very much for the comments. On the notion of adding more nutes, my concern was that when I did add nutes at a third of the charts recommendation, the leave tips showed burns and all the research suggested nute burn. I guess it’s possible then, but now they’re hungrier as they’ve aged a few weeks since?

Regarding no nutes the first month, given it’s fox farms happy frog and ocean forest soil I was led to believe they have enough nutes in the soil to last about a month. Is that not true?
Click to expand...
Hi. A close up of the leaves in question would help. Nothing wrong with a bit of nute burn, but yes the burnt leaf tips is a sign to back off for a bit. Overall you're looking good. Lots of leaves on top of leaves which can lead to problems with mold, but that could easily be the way the photo is taken, so can't say. :nomo: :Rasta:
 
I will get some close ups taken shortly. I skipped a feeding session due to what I thought was nute burn so just fed today, using the recommended amounts with a little bit of recharge so curious to see how they respond.

Going back to the OP - the question around my Jack 47 - any concern with the fact it hasn't started flowering yet? Today is the end of the 6th week / start of week 7.

@Emilya - From all my reading here lately you seem to be the pro of pro's, I would be ever so grateful if you had any thoughts or advice also :)
 
What part of the world are you in for @PistolPete80?

typically, the farther north you are (or south if in the Southern Hemisphere) the earlier they start to flower. I am as close to the 45 parallel as you can get without actually standing on it, and my girls are only in the first week or 2 of flowering.

Outdoor plants initiate flowering according to light quality rather than hours of light. If I had to wait until days were 12/12, they would die of frost kill and freezing nights before they finished.

Whoops, I guess your girls are indoors, guess I should have reread the original question. As for Autos, my understanding is they will flower when they are ready.
 
The Celt said:
What part of the world are you in for @PistolPete80?

typically, the farther north you are (or south if in the Southern Hemisphere) the earlier they start to flower. I am as close to the 45 parallel as you can get without actually standing on it, and my girls are only in the first week or 2 of flowering.

Outdoor plants initiate flowering according to light quality rather than hours of light. If I had to wait until days were 12/12, they would die of frost kill and freezing nights before they finished.

Whoops, I guess your girls are indoors, guess I should have reread the original question. As for Autos, my understanding is they will flower when they are ready.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I understand they will flower when ready, but given the usual 8-12 week timeframe once sprouted they're done, the fact that I am starting week 7 and not a hint of flowering from what I can tell seems to be off. If indeed there was a mix up and I was sent photos, my issue is I can't change light cycle to 12/12 from here on out without impacting my other two auto's that are in the middle of flowering.
 
The Celt said:
How far off are the other autos from finishing? If you have the room, leave the “47” veg until they are a week or so from finishing and then revert to 12/12.
Click to expand...
I would venture to guess, and consider this is my first time it's really a guess, but I'd say at least 4 weeks from finishing. So that would be 4 more weeks to veg the Jack 47 before flipping it to 12/12. That would essentially mean about 11-12 weeks of Veg. Then my concern would be whether after stretch the thing would get too high for my tent lol.
 

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