What went wrong?

[DapperNomad]

This journal was my first attempt at growing.

Can anyone give me some advice as to what went wrong here? Things seemed to be going really well and then all of a sudden the bottom most fan leaves turned yellow, all my plants just got really droopy and have died. I'm thinking it was the nutrients or lack there of in the happy frog. I'd like to try again but don't want to have the same results. I'll definitely be using the A/C in the house to keep my tent temperatures lower and want to get a more accurate PH test kit because I felt like there was a lot of variance using the one I had. Aside from that and different soil what else can I do to make sure my second attempt isn't a total failure?

Here's how my plants look now

 

[OlderGrower]

Try their Ocean Harvest soil instead of their Happy frog, I have had great success with it, very forgiving. Though from looking at the condition of your plants I find it hard to blame that on the soil. Granted I do not know all the back story on these ladies but if I just saw a random photo of this and was asked what would you guess happened here, I would say, someone either did not check in on his garden for 7 to 10 days or perhaps his timer is screwed up and only running like a few hour a day or less and he has not caught on, or perhaps his PH pen is way out of calibration and instead of calibrating it, he continued to feed even though the plants were completely locked out.

Everyone screws up trust me, if I don't do at least one major screw up per grow I feel like I have been cheated, it happens, but learning from our own mistakes is what makes us better growers. If you put the blame on something other then yourself, you will not learn from this and are bound to do it again. So think back and be totally honest with yourself, did you calibrate your PH meter recently? Did you ever forget to water them when they were needing water, or perhaps did you water them to much and did not allow the containers to become completely light before watering again. Are you allowing your water to stand in a bucket for 24 hours before using it to allow the Chlorine to evaporate before you use it? There are tons of things that can cause problems, the more you learn from reading and practical experience the better chances you have of being successful. Start a Journal on the site, allow others to see what your doing and when your doing it, many times they can stop you from doing something that could damage the ladies when your not even aware you are doing something bad for them. Not one grower who actually grows good weed can say they have never screwed up and either killed a plant or even devastated a whole grow, if they say they have always grown perfect plants from day one, they either do not grow or they are very good liars. It is how we learn and become better. I am gonna take a guess and say if you seriously look back at how you managed your garden during this grow, you will see what you did wrong, and the beauty of it is, you will never do that again, though trust me, you will find other ways to screw up we all do. Some just more devastating then others.

Not trying to be a jerk, just telling you the truth and sometimes the truth isn't always buds and trichomes, sometimes its spider mites and powdery mildew. It is how we deal with the truth that matters. Best of luck in the future and if you have any specific questions about anything I will always be happy to help you out.

 

[sareciag]

I had a powder mold scare i had to shut down my tent sanitize i lost a few plants by the time i caught it because its my first grow but i also saved 4 so it gave me some more knowlege..

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[DapperNomad]

Try their Ocean Harvest soil instead of their Happy frog, I have had great success with it, very forgiving. Though from looking at the condition of your plants I find it hard to blame that on the soil. Granted I do not know all the back story on these ladies but if I just saw a random photo of this and was asked what would you guess happened here, I would say, someone either did not check in on his garden for 7 to 10 days or perhaps his timer is screwed up and only running like a few hour a day or less and he has not caught on, or perhaps his PH pen is way out of calibration and instead of calibrating it, he continued to feed even though the plants were completely locked out.

Everyone screws up trust me, if I don't do at least one major screw up per grow I feel like I have been cheated, it happens, but learning from our own mistakes is what makes us better growers. If you put the blame on something other then yourself, you will not learn from this and are bound to do it again. So think back and be totally honest with yourself, did you calibrate your PH meter recently? Did you ever forget to water them when they were needing water, or perhaps did you water them to much and did not allow the containers to become completely light before watering again. Are you allowing your water to stand in a bucket for 24 hours before using it to allow the Chlorine to evaporate before you use it? There are tons of things that can cause problems, the more you learn from reading and practical experience the better chances you have of being successful. Start a Journal on the site, allow others to see what your doing and when your doing it, many times they can stop you from doing something that could damage the ladies when your not even aware you are doing something bad for them. Not one grower who actually grows good weed can say they have never screwed up and either killed a plant or even devastated a whole grow, if they say they have always grown perfect plants from day one, they either do not grow or they are very good liars. It is how we learn and become better. I am gonna take a guess and say if you seriously look back at how you managed your garden during this grow, you will see what you did wrong, and the beauty of it is, you will never do that again, though trust me, you will find other ways to screw up we all do. Some just more devastating then others.

Not trying to be a jerk, just telling you the truth and sometimes the truth isn't always buds and trichomes, sometimes its spider mites and powdery mildew. It is how we deal with the truth that matters. Best of luck in the future and if you have any specific questions about anything I will always be happy to help you out.

I don't think you're being a jerk, your comments are helpful. I wasn't necessarily blaming the soil, just looking for what could be done different/better next time and I did have a journal although not as detailed as it could've been. I think overwatering was one problem, high temps in the tent another and also I was using ph test strips and wasn't being very meticulous with it.

 

[Major PITA]

I took a quick scan of your journal. My guess is over-watering. I saw several posts where "I gave them a little water", and some were only a few days apart. Combined with high temperatures, I think that was the main problem.

I'm also not a fan of tiered containers. When the small ones are pulled from the larger ones, you can rip roots off - repeatedly. Any nutrients, salts or other junk that might build up, gets washed down into the larger pots. By the time you plant into those large pots, you may have a lot of accumulation = too hot (high EC).

Live and learn. Clean, quality soil + good light + correct watering and feeding = success.

Of course I could be completely wrong...

 

[unforgiven]

as a fellow soil grower I feel for ya. its forgiving but it can turn on ya like a fat kid after a cookie.

having overwatered my plants before, it would seem to me from these photos that you have done the same. repeatedly.

best thing I have found is don't baby them. they will tell you when they want water. which has been a problem for me on my new grow. I have killed new seedlings already this way. but once they have some body on them, its easy to visually know they need water, and to double check, lift the container. it will feel very light and confirms the need for water. another method I frequently use is I stick a finger in the soil a couple inches from the stem.

you could teach yourself this feeling with extra pots of soil and water. fill 4 pots with soil. leave one dry. to the other three, add 1,2, and 3 liters of water. 1 in one 2 in one and 3 in one. let them settle. now you have 4 pots with 4 different levels of thirst. you could weigh them, but that would become a real pita once plants are growing. your best to get a "feel" for the weight of pots bare handed. it takes practice but it works well.

so that's my advice, like it or not. I don't know your soil and cant advise on that. just based on appearance I see here.

now, all that being said, we all make mistakes. on "daisy" my potm last month, I killed her at least twice missing the water notification from her. overwatered once or twice as well. she was a beast to look after but came out smiling like the fat kid who got the cookie!!!

 

[Major PITA]

FWIW, my plants get watered once every two weeks until they are LARGE. Then, at their most thirsty, I'm typically up to a maximum of every 4 days.

 

[fuglyman]

I can't blame the soil I've had success with the Happy Frog. I too will go with over-watering. With these plants more often than not less is more.

 

[DapperNomad]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I was watering every 3 - 5 days at most. I was giving small amounts of water in comparison to what I had read in Elmyra's guide

 

[Kriaze]

It's better to water with plenty of water (to 10% runoff or so) so that the plant's extrudates (salt build up to us laymen) is washed out of the soil away from the plant. Think of the rain coming down and cleaning the area of soil around a plant too. This in turn with a dry cycle which encourages the roots to go looking for moisture will lead to better growth on your plants and a better overall healthiness.

Tldr: water with more water at less intervals. All the best and good luck with your next grow. Maybe set up a grow journal in your signature so that people can follow you and maybe help stop you from making mistakes, plus it's good to have reference material for yourself

 

[Major PITA]

Small amounts of water is never a good idea, IMO.
I agree, Happy Frog was not the problem, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around why it gets used so often. It is potting soil for a crazy-expensive price. You can easily get stuff just as good (or better) for a fraction of the cost.

 

[fuglyman]

If you get results people will generally stick with what has worked. What soil would you recommend?

 

[Major PITA]

If you get results people will generally stick with what has worked. What soil would you recommend?

I don't want any nutrients in my potting soil. The stuff that comes pre-nute'd is typically too strong for new seedlings, too weak in veg, and just wrong in bloom (although by then there probably isn't much of anything left in it). So you pay a premium for soil that is almost never quite right and you end up needing to buy nutrients to feed your plants anyway and never really know what nutrients are left in your soil.

I buy Promix HP with myco. I add some worm castings to it. No real N-P-K. Promix costs me about $45 for 50+ gallons of potting soil. Last time I checked HF was about the same price but the bag is less than 13 gallons.

 

[DapperNomad]

I just ordered, rockwool cubes, 1 gallon smart pots, a digital PH meter, and fox farms ocean forest which I plan to mix with the leftover happy frog and add plenty of perlite. Second attempt coming soon.

 

[sareciag]

Ill be around waiting to check it out Dapper. I have been regiously whatching my girls applying green cure so i dont have another powder mold breakout...

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