SOIL How many rookie mistakes does it take to kill a plant?

[Sabbath]

Hello all,

This is my 1st grow and I'm pretty sure I've made most of the rookie mistakes. I bought soil which turns out to be horrible "organic". I've over watered, given the leaves light burn and wind burn, caused a fungus gnat uprising, I think under fertilized, and I'm hoping the thousands of mites in the soil are just predatory soil mites. I'm adjusting as quickly as I'm learning but I keep loosing my most mature leaves on my Blueberry and on a lesser scale my Critical Kush. What could be causing this? Help! Pics are: 2 from the bushy Blueberry and 1 from the smaller critical kush.

[berrypilot]

🌱 First off, you're being hard on yourself because your plants actually look pretty good for the most part!

So first off, have you been checking the pH? What soil are you using and what nutrients are you using? It looks a bit like a deficiency, so nutrients and PH are the most common reason for that.

How often are you watering?

It's possible the "mites" in the soil are actually fungus gnat larvae. I recently had a HUGE infestation of fungus gnats and I shared how I did it here if you want to check it out. You need to get rid of them or they'll start seriously stressing out your plant after a while. Even if it's another type of bug, the fact that they're crawling all around the soil almost always means they're also nibbling on plant roots.

How far away are you keeping your LED? Is it possible to post a picture of the plants in the setup under the LED in natural lighting? Sometimes it helps to see the setup and the leaf color.

I think you're doing great so far! If you've got green growing cannabis plants, you're already on the road to success!🌱

[Sabbath]

Thanks! It's been hell! Lol! So I've been keeping a log. I'm keeping the ph right about 6. Up until 4 days ago I wasn't adding any nutrients and the water tested @ 108ppm. I had been wayyyy over watering but now about 250ml of enriched 810ppm 6ph water every other day. Which I'm wondering if it's enough. The mites are definitely mites. They're extremely fast for how small they are and they don't seem to care about the plant @ all. The gnats are and have really always been few in numbers. I've never even really had the need to put out sticky pads. Though my initial reaction to ; dying leaves, flying gnats, and motorized mites was to dump hydrogen peroxide on the soil mixed with cayenne pepper then no water for nearly a week. Room Temps around 84F and about 40% humidity . soil is 50% "organic" (forgot the name atm) non-fertilized junk, full of sticks and rocks... Mixed with 50% coco coir.

[Sabbath]

Quick update with pics. I checked the soil and it seemed pretty dry. I didn't see any flying gnats today either so YAY! I really felt like I wasn't watering enough now so I gave them both 500ml of 6ph, 810ppm enriched water. And removed the increasingly damaged oldest leaves from the Blueberry (pics below).

[berrypilot]

🌱 They look like they're doing great now! 🌱

[Tazard]

I'm not sure you can kill them if you are watching them. I started in miracle grow 2weeks later I read don't do that so I dug up the plants and put in cactus soil (said it drained good) well then about a week later I decided to go DWC so once again I dug up the plants, washed the roots as good as I could and put in net pots.

[alltatup]

Tazard So I guess they did make the transition from soil to hydro?

[Tazard]

Yes. Didn't lose any, not even a leaf, of course they are directly in the hydrotron with no starter cubes but they transitioned well.

[D.A.A.S.69]

I agree Taz ,it takes a pretty good man to kill these plants ,they like to live.

[Guest]

Just a heads up Sabbath, depending on what LED fitting you're using, you may encounter some light burn.

[Adept1]

I am terrible at this... my yields have historically been garbage... but I've yet to actually "KILL" a plant, also ended with something in the end....

[Sabbath]

Haha you're all great, thanks! Sorry for the late reply. I'm a medicated procrastinator with a shitty short term memory . They're growing like, well, weeds (bu dum dum)! I'll grab new pics soon. 500 ml right now is seemingly ideal per watering. I went to 750ml last night and the Blueberry responded like an old married couples naughty bits, saggy and drooping. She's perked back up today though. I am still seeing the same type of damage on the oldest leaves although it seems less pronounced.

Just a heads up Sabbath, depending on what LED fitting you're using, you may encounter some light burn.

Thanks I did actually but I noticed it quickly. As a mater of fact I rehung my lights last night. I realized having a 5ft grow tent was going to be an issue if I don't pay attention. 5ft tent, - 1ft for the pot puts me @ 4ft before the light distance is even accounted for. Girls are probably 8" now so I'll have to switch the lights sooner than I was thinking. Kind of exciting honestly lol. Pics tomorrow maybe!

[alltatup]

Sabbath I'm pretty sure that you are surrounded by medicated procrastinators here--well, I procrastinate on everything else, but never my cannabis girls!!

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hello Sabbath , I have always grown outdoors, the one I harvested 2 days ago was my first in a 2 by 2 by 4 foot tent and will be my last one with all the sh-t I went thru ,after noticing it was gonna be close I should have right then bought a taller one. But I kept tying her down tighter and tighter till I luckily made it to harvest day without any LED light burn, but I promise that shit ain't gonna happen no more. Good Luck with your plants.

[Adept1]

I wish I lived in a cannabis friendly area and could grow outside. I think it would make life so much easier. Let nature do nature's thing...

[D.A.A.S.69]

Oh yeah, it really does like the Sun, that's for sure, but I live in the South in MS. and it is not cannabis friendly by a long shot, just the opposite. I wish it was , maybe one of these days. Not holding my breath though. Later, an happy growing.

[Dr4gonSmokerBob]

I've decided to place my first post here, being very new myself. So far, i can add to the list: Temps in the 50s and 60sF for weeks at a time, 90% humidity through most of veg(finally bought a meter), and shamefully, not placing a plant on a proper surface. It was shorter than a regular plant i had, stacked it on a sketchy cardboard box, next day it was under the pot and half the roots were torn by the time i got it righted, just after a repot. So far, I haven't lost any of 7 plants.

The one that fell probably caught everything on the list at some point.

[alltatup]

Dr4gonSmokerBob welcome to the forum!! Show us some pics! ;-} Start a journal!

[Tazard]

Welcome. There are some great people here.

[Sabbath]

Thanks so much everyone. Clearly I'm not doing as badly as I thought. But after the last post I increased the water to 750ml. You can see the Critical kush reacted by drooping and sagging like an old person's naughty bits. The Blueberry took the drowning better. Tonight I increased the nutrients to 1100ppm thinking I still have a nutrient defeciency. And I'm keeping at the 500ml per watering for now. As promised, more pics!

[Adept1]

Personally, and from experience, I've found my plants did better as I did less for it. Over-care can sometimes be worse.