connormcleod47

Much appreciated mang & glad to be of service! Nutrients in general you are only supposed to feed every other watering where as I was feeding every single watering xD Salts built up in the soil & I had to deal with nitrogen toxicity during most of the late vegetative cycle that 1st grow (leaves were dark green, tacoing inwards & clawing downwards) ! Still managed to pull through & end product was actually pretty good imo despite these issues! If you grab 20-20-20 make sure the correct amount is mixed into your water thoroughly on watering day, you only want to feed them every other watering, this is imperative! I agree the growdiaries community is a great community! If you have any more questions can try to answer to the best of my abilities, there is also a "questions" tab on the left hand side of the screen where you can ask for help or advice if needed! A very useful tool as there are many different ways to do certain things & depending on the topic will probably end up with a variety of different answers & solutions & can pick which one sounds best! Happy Growing!

I see. Thank u for sharing everything in detail buddy. Yeh, hopefully the soil does the way u said. Maybe i didnt know the way it works and now it is happening in the way u said. I've never heard of oxygenation and dechlorination but thanks to u now i do and will prepare the water before watering. And yooooo ur first grow was awesome. I dont know why wasnt it happy. I will definitely try my next grow with 20-20-20. Hey im so appreciate that u r patient enough to stop by and explained many things in details. Not only does it provide me the infos and data but also motivate me to grow as im knowing that there is this great community and people like u out here. Thanks buddy!

Hey man we all gotta start somewhere I wouldn't beat yourself up! Is very impressive what you've managed to pick up so far in such a small amount of time! I did a bit more research on dolomite lime & think I was way off quoting you 1 year! The lime should be mixed evenly & thoroughly into your grow medium if a buffer is not already there! Top dressing with dolomite lime will only effect the PH a couple of centimeters downwards into the pot! The finer the lime has been ground the quicker & more effective it should be! I use Promix HP & it says it is formulated in a pH range of 5.2-6.2, once the product is opened, crops planted and watered, limestone is activated and pH will reach 5.8-6.2 within 7-10 days. There is a possibility the soil you've bought will do the same thing although I'm not entirely sure! In regards to watering you have to be very careful during those early stages of growth! Is quite easy to drown a seedling very early on! I've had good luck with 250ml per plant during the week of germination as well as week 1 veg, usually bump it up to 350ml ish during week 2 & introduce a small amount of synthetic nutrients to start every other watering! Can stick your finger in the dirt near the plant & if the dirt is dry 2 knuckles deep is time for another watering (Usually once every 3 days but could be once every 2 days if temps are really high) If your medium already contains fertilizers have to be careful with your additives as well, too much NPK could damage or kill your plants! If you run into issues with nutes would recommend grabbing a PH meter for water that can also check your PPM (parts per million) so you can run a slurry test! For a slurry, you want to use a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of soil to water, just grab like half a cup of soil & half a cup of the water you would be using & mix it together in a bowl or glass, you should be able to test for overall PH & PPM using this method! Have never used EC before is looking like you want to be wihin 1.2 and 2.0 mS/cm during your grow & I would assume it's best to keep to the lower end of that spectrum during those earlier stages of growth! During my 1st grow way back in 2013 I used regular potting soil & 20-20-20 NPK! This actually worked out quite well for me despite an overabundance of nitrogen xD Was feeding them NPK every single watering from seed vs every other watering starting on week 2 which is what you are supposed to do! I also never checked the PH the entire way through! End product was actually pretty decent & the plants had tons of crystal but they didn't look very happy throughout the majority of the grow! If you can find 20-20-20 NPK that would be a great starting point especially if resources are scarce, it works well, is hard to mess up & is much cheaper than brand name nutrients ! should do everything you need it to do if you are watering with tap water, just make sure you apply the correct amount to your water every other watering starting on day 10 - 14! The bean leaves (also known as the Cotyledons) on your cannabis plant are able to provide everything your plant needs energy wise prior to that 1st feed :P Epsom salts can be used as well if you run into issues with magnesium, tap water should have enough calcium in it for your plants to thrive without the need for any additional additives, just make sure you sit the water in a bucket or something for a couple of days & give it the occasional stir throughout the day prior to watering in order to dechlorinate if you don't have a pump with air stones to oxygenate/dechlorinate! I went ahead & uploaded a picture of my 1st grow for you on week 12 of this diary so you can see what I was able to achieve using 20-20-20 NPK! Blackwater OG ! Happy Growing & good luck! 😁

Yes this is my first grow. Honestly, i live in a 3rd world country(super 3rd world, id say) where i cant expect things there to buy. So i have to read a lot, talk with Ai, study others' diaries and ask from wonderful people like u to cover that. For example, i wish to grow it in beginner friendly mixed soil, ready to go one. But we dont have it here. So i had to mix one. The mixed soil i bought from the local store was like the best one we could get here. It advertised as the ph is balanced, however, it was not. Also didnt describe the ingredients in detail. First, i was not planning at all using that soil 100% but just to mix them with coco, worm casting and perlite. First of all, here, as a sountheast asian country, its pretty hot and high in humidity which is not good for the cannabis plants so i thought of using perlite and coco coir only. But coco coir absorbs Ca so it could affect the plant. However, i could add Ca source but i dont know how to decide like i dont know the signs of Ca deficiency or overloading which i wouldnt wanna face in my first time so i wanna go around that challenge if there is a possibility. Thats when i decided to add some of that mixed soil. My mistake was i tested the pH only after the soaking the seed in the glass and i found that ph lvl was low like 4.5-5(testing several spots). So i could not refix the soil anymore. So i added dolmite lime, which i read that they raise the ph lvl and add some magnesium and slight of Ca. But they are slow release agent like take afew days or a week to get the effect(but now i learnt that from u, it could take a year, so i will study some more after). However, in a week, like this morning, the reading shows 6.5, 6.4, 5.8, 5.4(different spots and dept lvls). I also gave it an egg shell tea(cleaned and dried 6 egg shells, boiled for 10-15 mins(80*C) and cooled down) 2 days ago to help the ph lvl up. However, im afraid that my tiny sprout would suffer nute burn as EC showed 3mS/cm. So these days, i planned to keep watering a bit much more than normal to keep the pH lvl balanced and flushing out some nutes at the same time. Im planning to give out Gaia Green all purpose by the time when it is 2 weeks old but with 3mS/cm in the pot, it aint gonna work out. And i planted it with my friend(who is worse than me;a beginner)on his apartment rooftop so i could not give the care and attention as much as i prefer to. However, luckily, there is a local grower group on Facebook i found where i could get some supplies like Gaia Green, bud candy and some more of good nutes and growing stuffs. Maybe when i could get some extra cash, i might get some indoor grow stuffs and grow at my own place alone. Im so inspired when i see u guys grow big, chunk frosted buds. Im just a decent grower wannabe dude growing first time who has zero growing background. But hey, i have internet, i have grow diaries and grow buddies. And now I even start reading Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green. And i have time and the cost is affordable and mostly important of all; i love it! So i was like, yeh, why not?! 😅

This is correct would think you have already been at it for years! If you are truly a beginner you pick up insanely fast! Was checking out your diary & actually had a question of my own as I have never mixed my own medium before! Had read water will not effect the PH of the medium & dolomite lime takes a couple of weeks to break down before you will notice any type of difference PH wise & it would only be noticable at that point if PH of the medium was highly acidic, apparently it can take up to a year for the dolomite lime to break down as a buffer, would this mean I would need to mix everything I had in mind 1st & let it sit for up to a year before I'm able to use it? I think dolomite lime brings sphagnum peat moss up to 5.8 buffer wise once it has broken down efficiently but I'm not 100% sure nor am I sure of the increments used just know it is mixed in thoroughly prior, is it sufficient to top dress? was curious if you have you mixed your own soil in the past as there seems to be quite a few amendments you have used in order to create your medium which you don't typically see very often amongst beginner growers!

Its super helpful! And interesting as well! Thank you! I see, thats why many growers give light for 20, 24hrs and fertility like 3-4mS/cm so the stomata opens and keeping the water flowing so like the plant can eat more than a normal outdoor grown, less light having plant could. And the second part, by the time when it closes, the root secretes back a few of what it absorbed when the water flowed. This secretion exudates and which attracts the microbial nearby which improves the chemistry of many things going on around there and helps the plant health. So sounds like both giving light and dark have their own advantages and what we need to do the right adjustment and offer the best for the plant according to its strain, condition and many much more things. But for now, for me, as a beginner, sticking to the 20/4 cycle is pretty ideal. Thank you for the explanation! It helped me understand much more!

Appreciate the positive feedback, thank you for checking out my plants :)! Autoflowers do not need 12/12 in order to trigger flower, they grow much faster than photoperiods during the vegetative stage & begin to flower on their own around the 21 day mark, this is because their genetics originate from the cannabis ruderalis subspecies! Most people will run them on a 24/0 or 20/4 light cycle from seed to harvest & have even seen some run them at 18/6! The leaves act like solar panels, they collect energy from the light the same way they would from the sun out in nature & this is utilized amongst some of the plants other functions With autoflowers have seen a great debate between 24/0 & 20/4 as these are usually the standard! To get technical, When the lights shut off, the stomata on the leaves close which creates a reversal of the pressure gradient meaning the water from the roots is no longer flowing up like it is when the stomata are open, when they close, what ends up happening is the roots can secrete organic acids & all the biproducts of photosynthesis during the day back out into the rhizosphere (1mm to 2mm away from the root hairs), the secretion of the root exudates attracts the microbes/fungi & that's really where the plant can kinda modulate it's relationship with those micro organisms to help optimize the chemistry of whatever is going on To keep it short I would personally recommend a 20/4 light cycle auto wise, it will prolong the life of your light as well vs 24/0! Hope this helps & if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask, I will try to answer to the best of my ability! Cheers Man!

Hey buddy, u grow pretty well. Im so inspired. Im a beginner and growing for the first time. May i ask a thing that i dont understand please. I learnt that it is supposed to give the plant 12/12 light cycle for the bud development as the complete dark hours are essential even for the auto plants. But u r giving them 20 light hours a day even though the plant is in the flowering stage and making huge buds. I think im missing something. Will u kindly tell me why please?

Looks great & impressive yield as well!! 👍👍 Will definitely check out the Chem91 & Whistleing Diesel once you got those on the go!