I've never grown in soil before now. I was lucky with the Lemon Thai in terms of health and nutrients, inasmuch as it is a very vigorous strain and proving as indestructible as ever. :not-worthy: But now I've got Chocolate Rain, and it's got an issue. I have no idea what I'm doing here folks and need a little guidance on how to grow in soil. This is a Chocolate Rain plant that's been vegging for 7 weeks exactly (49 days). It's in about a half gallon pot, five feet under a 1000W MH. Environmental parameters are decent, though dry. Trying to fix that. After gazing thoughtfully at Ducrider's plant problems chart for a while, I think it's either nitrogen or sulphur deficient. Assuming it's nitrogen, how do you give it more? Mix some blood meal in water and feed on reg sched? By the way although I am a newbie soil grower, I am an extremely LAZY newbie soil grower and tend to not water too much. I routinely wait until I have the tie the pot down to keep it from floating away to water, and then I really soak the shit outta them. So I don't have to water again for as long as possible. :roffl:
FF your defiantly watering the correct way by letting the pots become dry and then watering thoroughly. One thing that's different beteen hydro and soil though is that you need to keep the root mass warm when in soil. If I remember correctly nutrient uptake slows way down it the soil is too cold. As a general rule if the dirt feels cool to the touch I'll crank up the heat a little. Seeing your pots sitting there on the concrete slab makes me think the pots may be a bit on the cool side. I'd raise them up off the floor a bit and see if that helps. If the pots are warm then I'd probably give then a feeding of fish emulsion & see how they respond. Cheers Duc
It's a mg deficiency. What caused it is anybodies guess. One thing for sure is that too much of any extreme is bad for the root zone and causes stress. If your root mass and dirt are regularly floating when you water it's not a good thing. The first roots to die back when the pot repeatedly dries out to the point of buoyancy are all those fresh active feathery root hairs that do most of the work of nutrient uptake. Your active rootball is alternately expanding and decreasing each time this pattern is repeated. Your plant then loses nutrient stores that then need to be replenished by repairing the root zone causing a disruption in veg growth. Think of it this way...by dry weight roots will make up nearly 30% of a plant's weight. If you limit your root zone you're limiting the size of your overall plant. That includes the buds. So....long story short, 1 tablespoon molasses per gallon of water or nutrient feeding. Watch your watering schedule. Oh....and repot that runt and get her in a home more suitable to her size. 80% of all plant problems (outside of pests) are root zone and for small plants 80% of those are either too big or too small a pot. cheers,
FF I didn't think you were serious about the pot floating when you watered them. Arent you using 5 gal buckets for pots?
Correct No I wasn't serious about anything floating in real life. Just making the point that I let the pots get pretty dry (which I can tell by the weight of the pot - the lighter the drier) before watering. For the 5-gallon buckets I can go 4 days between waterings before the soil is dry a whole finger down into the dirt. I'm giving them between 2-3 gallons of water at each watering. When they were vegging and smaller I could get a whole week in before those 5 gallon buckets would lighten up. For the Chocolate rain, they are in 1/2 gallon plastic pots ATM, about to go into 3 gallon smart pots. I'm going to put all the CR into 3 gallon smart pots and see if that helps. I'm watering with pure RO water, assuming zero EC though never tested. I guess until the plant grows out you won't know what its properties are. Thanks for the chimes, gents. asssit:
....majorly stoned and my fingers just started typing. Knowing who I'm talking to...of course you wouldn't let them get that dry.
Hmmm. MG would be epsom salts right? or did you mean it looks like potassium deficiency? I am transplanting now and mixing up. See if that helps before I feed anything else.
Still sticking with magnesium and that would be epsom salt. Unsulphured molasses is rich in both trace mg and K (lots of K) so should help you out either way.
How do you associate magnesium with molasses? Vegging needs nitrogen on a daily basis. If you want to add some Mg use Cal/Mag (which also contains a small percentage of N). Mg intake works better when Ca is present. Was the soil pH balanced before starting? (If the soil is acidic you can add some dolomite lime to raise it.) Night time temps should be 5-10 deg lower than day temps (in order to promote female hormones) but not lower than 60 deg F. Chocolate Rain sounds very nice. Be careful of mold towards end of flowering. (Lost my Skunk and NL to mold recently.) http://www.cannabissearch.com/strains/chocolate-rain/
Unsulphured Molasses Minerals per 300 grams Calcium 691mg Iron 15.9mg Magnesium 816mg Phosphorus 104mg Potassium 4933mg Sodium 125mg Zinc 1.0mg Copper 1.6mg Manganese 5.2mg Selenium 60.0mcg Because of the rich source of mg, K, P and calcium molasses is an excellent source for a flowering fert and as a simple fix when minor mineral deficiencies appear. An added benefit in healthy soil is that the carbs act as a feed for beneficial bacteria that further aid in nutrient breakdown.
Right on I repotted in a 3 gallon smart pot, watered until saturated and oozing rapidly. Looks like it took care of whatever was wrong.
