1st time grower needs advice! - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

McBong · #1 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 02:41 PM

Hi all, long time smoker 1st time grower

I have a few questions regarding flowering and nutrients and hope some of you kind people could shed some light my way, here goes;

1, during the flowering period 12/12 just how important is it to add nutrients to your water when watering and how often should you give the plants nutrients?

2, i have noticed that after only 4 weeks of flowering that my girls are starting to get yellow fan leaves at the bottom of each stem, is this normal for an 8/9 week flowering plant or should i be starting to worry??

as mentioned this is my first grow and any advice would be appreciated

my grow consists of a closet measuring 6' H x 2' D x 3' W
i have a 400 watt eco-lite with Veg and flowering bulbs (flowering being used now)
all 4 girls are in 5 gallon pots and have a fan blowing over them when ever the light is on.

Here are a few pics so you can see the girls.

Shinningwind · #2 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 08:55 PM

I like to feed my plants veg nute's for the first 3 weeks of flower. The first 3 weeks they really get into a growth spurt.

Some folks like to go on a feed ,, water ,,, water,, schedule. some like to go on a feed ,, feed,, water schedule.

There are a few factors to consider.

What type of soil.... What type of nute's you are using.... What kind of lighting.

Usually your plants will tell you if you have given them to much nute's. You will get yellow tip's on your leave's.

Yellowing does occur naturally when in flower... Is there enough light getting through to the bottum of your plants....?

Hatch · #3 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 10:03 PM

Your Plants Are Looking Great, You Are Doing Fine, One Thing You Said About The Fan Running Only When The Light Were Own??,,It Would Be Good To Leave It Running 24/7, It Will Help Keep The Humidity Down When The Lights Are Off.

Well, Best Of Luck, Wishes & Karma Bringing Them Home!!!!

operator1 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 10:20 PM

I personally do a every other water feed with the ones I had in soil... seemed to work ok. If in soil I strongly suggest a good flushing week or two before flowering to flush extra salts and nutes out of the soil before you go putting more stuff in it, but it seems it may be a little late for that in your case... look good anyhow though.

CoNtRoVeRsIaL · #5 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 10:31 PM

1, during the flowering period 12/12 just how important is it to add nutrients to your water when watering and how often should you give the plants nutrients?

The main benefit to adding nutes is they bud quicker, and bigger, its a option thats up to you.

2, i have noticed that after only 4 weeks of flowering that my girls are starting to get yellow fan leaves at the bottom of each stem,

Your babies look healthy and great.
Most of the time Marijuana plants will go thru there own change,and some yellowing will occur,
but by you saying there at the bottom of each stem, it sounds more like there not getting enuff light.
your big fan leaf;s are healthy right? because there getting all the light and oxygen,

aslong as your baby is producing and all other leaves are healthy i wouldnt worry, just let her do her thang

onetime i added foil tape(ontop of the soil) just around the main stem coming out of the soil,
and it increased the buds on bottom and sum of the leaf's turned back to color

good luck,
peace

Smiley420 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 10:52 PM

For your first grow, these girls look great, your doing much better than I have. I have read that yellowing is more natural durring this stage because the plant doesn't use as much nitrogen (N), which could cause the leaves to yellow.

McBong · #7 (**permalink**) 10-23-2009, 06:02 AM

Thank you all for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

Shinningwind ; that was my plan of attack for watering, i was thinking of going down the route of 1 day water the next nutes. cheers

Hatch ; i never even gave the humidity a thought, would this have much effect on the growth of the plants or is it mainly to keep mould away??

Operator1 ; I intend flushing them for the last week of flowering before harvest would this be enough to get rid of all unwanted nutes and salts??

Controversial ; I had a feeling it was to do with light as much as the plant redirecting it's food supply to the bud, i was thinking of lowering the light a little to see if this would help, at the moment the light is about 1 foot away from the top most bud. I have noticed that it is not that hot near the bud so dropping the light could be a possible solution, just how close is too close to the light?? if it burns the back of the hand its too warm??

Smiley420 ; cheers for the congrats, as a first time grower i was a little worried that i was doing it all wrong and my girls were going to wilt and die, but now i am armed with more info i can rest assured that they aren't going to.

and finaly... can someone give me some advice on harvesting and drying as i have read many posts on here about it and so many have diff info.

Cheers and thanks in advance

McBong

McBong · #8 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 10:06 AM

Hi all back again with another question

Is it normal for the fan leaves to go yellow during flowering (pic included)
i water the girls every day and only give them a little, if i don't water them for a
day when i go the next day they are all droopy, leaves lying down along the stock
and looking like death has waved his hand over them.
They have been getting nothing but water from day one, got the soil from a friend
who said it had everything i needed in it, what ever that means.
The girls are an 8wk flowering strain and this is week 4 +2 days so should i worry
about the yellowing fan leaves or just leave the girls be for now.

CoNtRoVeRsIaL · #9 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 08:47 PM

you should be able to stick your hand(flat) between the bud and the light, most of the time.

Do you have any side lighting? that would do the trick, it would give wayyy more light to the plant down there, which would increase bud size toward the bottom.

Honestly bro', if you only have 4 weeks left,

I would just let her ride it out,
write down or remember these problems for the next grow, and be better prepared for the next one.
take this as a notch on the belt and a learning experience,

Goodluck, good grow and hope to see some harvest pics!

operator1 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 09:00 PM

I did a flush during the last week of veg to flush the salts out before adding more nutes in the bloom stage. Then I did a flush the last two weeks of flowering to try and leach the left over nutes out of the soil and to reduce the "nutrient" taste of the buds. Also, yellowing of lower fan leaves is completely normal for flowering stage, just pluck them off when they die, and toward the end a lot of the fan leaves will yellow slightly, not all the way but just a little from what I've noticed in mine.

I agree with the side light suggestion as well, even if you have a good HPS fixture above, try some two foot flouro fixtures on the walls toward the bottom of the plants, or just hang some cfl's at the lower level. I used some clip lights, pointed them up from the floor, and clipped them to bricks on the floor for bottom light. I can't say that it did much but the lower buds were a bit healthier after I did this.

You have a good grow going from the looks of it and if you just tweak what you're already doing a little you will do even better in the future. Good luck to you.

freetolive · #11 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 09:26 PM

Yeah, my leaves always did that @ around 8 weeks. I think it means you did good!

operator1 · #12 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 09:27 PM

its the nitrogen level going way down at the end of the grow... normal.

McBong · #13 (**permalink**) 10-28-2009, 10:03 PM

Cheers for the info Operator, i have started to feed them bio-biz nutes as of wed 28th oct, i am going to give them nutes at reduced levels just now until i know they can handle it then i shall give them the required amounts for at least another week and a half, ill check the trich's and see how im doing and guage flushing from there, from what i have read and been told i should flush them with water only for at least ten days to get rid of any unwanted nutes is that correct.

Peace and light
McBong