Dean Moriarty

EDIT: After transport and adding three CFW bulbs when switching to the 12/12 timed cycle, they've begun to yellow, shrivel up, and wilt. I've watered them as the soil felt dry. Can anyone help? It looks like they're either dead or dying. =(

Generic bag seeds were sprouted on paper towels, transplanted to JiffyPeat cups with Miracle Grow brand enriched soil Project begun in mid-March. About three weeks in they were transplanted into the larger pots with a mix of the potting soil, a handful or two of pearlite, a half-or-less dose of rose fertilizer, and a similar small amount of epsom salt. In hindsight, my note taking should have been more diligent.

There were originally a few more plants, but after returning from vacation at the end of the third week, I found a spider mite infestation that had wiped out about half of them. They have been treated using a 50/50 water/isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) spray that I've been repeating every couple of days since to limit any pest infestations.

This is a cabinet grow. Unfortunately I was ill-prepared and had no way to customize it aside from attaching the fluorescent bulb fixture (which had the default bulb switched for one advertised as being for plant use). Light has been on 24/7 since sprouting. I had taped white posterboard to the sides but removed it as it began to develop mold; the bottom is lined with white plastic garbage bags.

The plant on the bottom is likely stunted at least temporarily due to restricted root growth, it had been in a post about half the size before being transplanted into the larger pot three days ago.

I did attempt some training with the growth to maintain a low profile using paper clips bent into a U shape and pinning the branch to the soil. At the four week mark, a small desk fan was added and is on for about half the day.

Leaves that were shriveling (primarily ones out of the light) were clipped off as close to the stem as possible. Any that developed brown spots had those pieces clipped off as well. The one on the upper left had the tip of a leaf clipped off as it started to wilt and continued to, however, after a watering the plant looks much perkier overall.

Watering is being done as the soil dries. Water is added in small amounts and allowed to be absorbed, then more is slowly added until the rate of absorption by the soil begins to slow.

Do these look okay for their age (about eight to ten weeks now)? Is there anything that I'm doing glaringly wrong? If I relocate, and they need to be packed for 72 hours, how is the best way to go about this without damaging them further? Would the end of 72 hours of darkness be a good time to switch to the flowering phase?

At least once a week from week six onward I've

Any and all help is appreciated! This is a test run, I hope to at least have some kind of decent yield before trying my hand at a higher grade seed from a bank and investing in better lights and a better cabinet.

Thank you!

Kompressor

What are the N-P-K values of your miracle gro soil?

Also, having used MG on my first grow, i can tell you that even if you get some good plants, it's going to taste awful.

Best to go organic.

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Dean Moriarty

Thanks for the feedback!

I threw out the bag from the soil a while ago, but I'm fairly certain that this is it: Miracle Gro Potting Soil, 8 Qt # 74378300 by Scotts Lawn Care I recall selecting it for its high Nitrogen level but still containing P and K.

When the cabinet is closed (its hard to tell when its open with the light mounted on the lid), the light is somewhere between 3 and 6 inches from the top of the plants. Unfortunately, there WAS leafy growth towards the bottom of the stem earlier, but it shriveled and died and was clipped off. I actually just added another inch or so of soil to the pots just the other day, too, when I repotted the bottom plant. I guess I'll try repotting them again, but I'm a little worried about damaging the roots or otherwise stressing them.

At this stage, should I begin using a liquid feed? Is there anything recommended that can be purchased from a Wal-Mart or Home Depot? And about how far would you say I am from flowering?

Thanks!

farmergiles

Don't repot just yet, those pots are plenty big enough the moment.

More light. Like Slunt says move the light closer. Flouros can be within an inch or two without causing harm.
Do you know the wattage of the light you have?
More bulbs will help- you can use domestic cfl bulbs. Blueish colours are good for veg, red/yellowish for flowering.
Is there any airflow from inside to out of the cabinet? You may get issues with humidity and heat otherwise.

Avoid miracle grow if at all possible, the nutes in it are very harsh. Kompressor speaks from experience.
Any random potting soil is better. If you have about $30-$40 to spend you can pick up a bag of soil, some veg and flower nutes and pH testing/adjusting kit from a hydro shop- these will make things much easier. Tap water is often more alkaline than desired.
Having said all that your plants look like they are doing OK in the soil atm.


A few tips that won't cost you much money:

- Allow water to stand in a bucket or open topped container for a day before watering- this allows chlorine in the water to evaporate, making it more palatable for the plants.

-Paint the inside of the cab matt white to increase reflection.

-Leave the fan on all the time.


How far away from flowering you are depends on how big you want then to be. The plants are probably going to stretch to about twice the size during flowering so think about height constraints.

Normally I'd say now would be a good time to use a high N liquid feed but be careful- with the N already in the soil it might be easy to overdo things.

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Dean Moriarty

Unfortunately there's nothing handy that's thin enough that it will lift them without having them contact the lights. The rims of the pots are barely two inches away from the top of the pots and the plants have roughly a three to four inch profile. The light has a depth of one to two inches and the lid of the door is another four inches or so. There's not much wiggle room.

I did add a second light. 18 inch 15W with a 60W output. Same fixture as the one currently in there, but with the default bulb instead of the plant bulb.

I'll try to pick up some N nutes tomorrow.

I'll probably start flowering them soon if they're going to get much bigger during that stage.

As I've asked before, though - will 36-72 hours of darkness during storage and transport badly damage them? Is it wise to move into flowering after that extended length of darkness?

farmergiles

Ignore the equivalent rating, your bulb has a 15W output.

I'd recommend at least 50w, preferably 100w or more for 3 plants. If you only had 15w this explains why they want to stretch.

Put simply, more light = more bud.
If you can flower them outdoors the sun gives off a lot of light . Obviously this may be a no no for stealth reasons, depends where you live.
Anyway in the mean time keep them as close to the light as you can without touching.

No it shouln't kill them if you only do it once but it may cause more stretching.

If they do end up in the dark for 72 hrs then you can move them straight into flower after this if you want. Don't muck around with light cycles once they are in flower or they may go hermaphrodite.

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Dean Moriarty

Thanks for the answers and help!

Once I'm settled, I'm going to try to move to a three CFW per plant setup for flowering with the two long fluorescent bulbs flanking the setup to supplement them, if I can change cabinets to something a little more spacious. Else, I may simply add another pair of fluoros on the sides.

Unfortunately, outdoor growing is not an option. =(

I think they may be just the right height now. Any taller and they will be touching the lights. I'm definitely going to have to continue to train them around the edge of the pot during flowering as more than another two or three inches in height and there won't be enough room.

Dean Moriarty

They looked a little wilty this morning (and after staying for two months, the sticky pads on the light housing failed yesterday and it feel on the plants. Luckily I heard it drop and was able to remove it quickly and fix the issue). So I watered them, and noticed some problem areas that I circled in red. They look wilty or burned in some places. I'm assuming some of the lower wilting is due to the lower branches not receiving enough light?

Also, pic of the setup with second light.

Jenna_Grows

I would be tempted to re-pot them burying the meristem to the bottom of the first step of leaves. Just a thought.. Happy Growing!

farmergiles

Hmm yeah they could do with the support.
Maybe repot into the same size pot but bury the rootball deeper like Slunt said.
Just I don't think they'll benefit from bigger shoes just yet.

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Dean Moriarty

After transport and adding three CFW bulbs when switching to the 12/12 timed cycle, they've begun to yellow, shrivel up, and wilt. I've watered them as the soil felt dry. Can anyone help? It looks like they're either dead or dying. =(

farmergiles

Don't overwater, give them a chance to recover. Plain water only.

Could be the enriched miracle grow causing problems. Have you used any nutes? The nutes that come in mg are harsh.
Maybe they just got too dried out.

Can't see the change to 12/12 causing this.


Maybe be prepared to start over without the miracle grow and with more light from the start to avoid the stretching.

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Dean Moriarty

I haven't checked on them today and unfortunately won't be able to until tomorrow. The nutes used were Roots Organics in the following way:

http://www.yahooka.com/forum/nursery...-organics.html
A local gardening shop recommended me aurora Roots Organics today. Buddha Grow (primarily for my next batch), Buddha Bloom, and Ancient Amber. I had a 700 mL spray bottle (about just under a fifth of a gallon) and the recipe calls for tea to table-spoon amounts per gallon on each of them, and erring on the side of using less, I combined a small amount of each in 700 mL of water (about a swab with the first inch or so of the tip of a pair of scissors worth of each of the more solid Bloom and Grow and a very tiny pour of Amber).

I added some in the last watering before packing, and used the last of it in the first watering (further diluted with bottled water that had been sitting out) once they were unpacked. When I inspected them yesterday afternoon, the two that had been doing great until now had turned almost completely yellow and wilted. The late-transplant runt looked the nicest, still green but with some wilting of the lower branches.

I found a new local hydroponics shop after moving, and after mentioning that I had plants with yellowed and wilting leaves, they suggested the problem could be an N deficiency. I'm planning to attempt hydroponics for the next grow, so I purchased a three-part series, one of which has a high N content that I can use to feed these if you folks can confirm that this is a good idea.

There is currently a fan, but other than that little to no ventilation except from when the cabinet is opened daily for inspection. That wouldn't be THAT damaging to the plants, would it?