First Time grower here! Looking for opinions & Advice! :)

[drumster361]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, and just wanted to get peoples opinions on my first grow
I'm not exactly familiar with all of the different terminology that a long time grower might use, but I'll try explain everything as best I can if you guys have questions! haha

Anyway, it's strictly an indoor plant that I germinated all the way back in January (Just coming into flowering now). The seed was found amongst some nice bud I had back then, but for the life of me I can't remember what kind it was... so the plants strain is really anyones guess. A whole lot of trial and error went into these past few months though, loads of experimenting on different environments and buying a whole load of different things to keep this plant happy haha but so far I THINK she's looking alright??

I don't live anywhere near you can get the perfect nutes for all types cannabis, so I've found (And people have recommended) using decent Tomato food nutes... as it's actually not bad in place of the proper good stuff? Again, I wouldn't know as I lack the experience, but it's seemed to work quite well so far.
I've been using LED Lights it's whole life and every time I think I've bought a big enough light, the plant get's too big for it and needs more light to grow properly! As for growing medium, I'm using soil. I've heard Perlite is a must-have for soil, but unfortunately I didn't get that memo until 3 months in! She does seem to be doing okay without though. That does however, lead me to a problem I may be experiencing that I wanted to add ask about.

I have a translucent bucket at the moment, which I thought might be a good idea, so I can keep an eye on the roots while not having to take the whole plant out of the pot. I'm not sure if you're supposed to use a certain type of material for your plants pot, (I see these fancy mesh bags all the time) but I can see the roots quite well and have noticed some browning. Most of them are milky white, and seem to be healthy. But there are just a few areas where a couple go brown. I've researched it loads and I get the impression I could have root rot, but I can't tell so here's me hoping one of you guys will know! I've drilled more drainage holes in hopes it might help incase it is.

Sorry if I've missed anything!

(There's some Leaves that don't look in great health because of some problems I had with watering a while back. But that's sorted now and the yellowing stopped. I'm still open to opinions about it though!)

anyway here's a few snaps of my girl throughout her life!

[drumster361]

Just a follow up because I forgot to add the pics of the roots.

P.S I have done all of this on a budget so please no hate haha I'll have a decent setup when I can afford!

[DankwingDuck]

The light to the roots can promote the growth of pathogen’s like fungus and algae . The best way to find out is to pull the plant out of the pot and smell the roots if they smell mildewy there’s a good chance it’s root rot I’m really not an expert though if it does have a mildew smell your best course of action would be to wash away all of the soil trim away the The bad roots . Sterilize the remaining roots sterilize the pot and then re-planet a new soil I would take this opportunity to add perlite to your soil if you’re going to replant it back into the clear pot I would try to find a black pot of the same size to place the clear pot into .this will prevent the light leakage to the roots but still allow you to view your Roots through the clear part

the light leakage + the lack of good drainage(if that was the case ) could definitely lead to root rot .

Im currently dealing with possible rot myself . Don’t count her out till she is brown and falling over. Good luck .

[drumster361]

Thanks for the fast response! I may have to try that.

It hasn't always been in a clear pot though, and I have recently started covering it up from the light in fear it was harming them, so hopefully it's not too late! I'll do a pot transfer soon and hopefully clear it all up!

Goodluck with yours though! How far are you into the grow?

[DankwingDuck]

If nothing else you can spray paint it . White is best to reflex the heat . Also those mesh pots are called airpots . You can buy them at Home Depot. They really let your roots breath . Good investment.

[DankwingDuck]

It’s never to late . If it is root rot , get you some mycoafter you treat it . It well prevent it from happening in the future. There is a bunch of brands just google Mycorrhiza

[KingKush]

Root Rot is hydroponic issue, when roots are literally submerged in water.
When growing in soil there are always algae, bacteria, and fungi present, all sorts of microbes. As long as you have SOME drainage holes, mainly at the bottom, things are fine. Even then, it would be an anaerobic condition, similar to what happens in hydro, but not to the max. Roots are constantly growing and maturing: look for white fuzz around the new roots, those are the root hairs where all the magic happens.

Keep the light away away from your roots, if you want to keep it in a clear container to see them, make sure it's away from direct light, and figure out how to block out the light the rest of the time. Roots respond to light by growing away from it.

The plant looks great so far, green and bushy. They sure like the largest container you can afford to fill, you will have a bigger harvest when the buds start growing.
Whats the genetics? Do you have a place to keep her in the dark 12 hours to intitate flowering?

Happy Growing

[KingKush]

Overly saturated soil is a common mistake that we all can make. It's when it becomes CHRONIC. When a soil is constantly waterlogged, this can lead to anaerobic conditions, where air and oxygen are displaced, leading to a swamp. These conditions are not great for growing plants like cannabis, who prefer arid conditions, but would do well for certain other plants.

I see the soil dry in a picture so things are definitely not too wet. That would be the only way to worry about root rot in soil (or even coco for that matter)
mychorrizae is just fungus, and root rot is..... bacteria? Or fungus. It's all among us.

[drumster361]

Thankyou for the info! I keep her in a little room now (Where she is in the latest pic). And I have timed LED Lights set to turn on at 8am and turn off at about 1:30pm. I'll cover up the roots and perhaps move it to a bigger pot not 100% sure what you mean by the genetics, but If you're talking about what type of cannabis plant. it's a sativa I think, judging by the leaves? but I could be missing the question there haha

[KingKush]

drumster361
When I asked about genetics, I mean: "where did you get your plant?"
Did you start a seed? Or get a clone?
Any info on strain name?
Leaves are tough just to look at, most strains are blends these days

[DankwingDuck]

I would agree with king unless you have stagnant water pooling in the bottom of your pot it’s unlikely you have root rot in a soil medium. Not impossible but unlikely . You really need to pull her out and investigate further. But if you have old water plus light plus the heat from the light it is possible . I would really look at her closer before doing anything at all that may stunt her growth or worse . Also older plants build up a film on the roots to help them protect their self from harmful pathogens

[DankwingDuck]

Looking at your roots they don’t look mushy or transparent or slimy. It’s really hard to say for sure but my best guess would be that you don’t have root rot

[DankwingDuck]

Also it looks like You’re using aluminum foil as of light reflector and it will technically work and some people argue with me here but it’s really not the best If you want something cheap that is a good reflecter go to the dollar store and pick you Up two or three of those things you put in your car window to reflect the sunlight so your car doesn’t get hot they work really good and they’re not very expensive plants look really nice and they seem to be doing good with what you are using, just my personal advice and opinion . I bought some for my first grow . They cost like 3$ each . When you can afford the investment I would buy a grow rent . Are highly reflective on the inside and the prevent any light leakage during your flowering cycle I got a 16 ft.² tent and it cost me $80 delivered.

[drumster361]

Oh wow, I just thought it had to be reflective haha but I'll definitely look into that as well!

with me being a newbie first time grower, I thought I was going to get people sighing and rolling their eyes at my efforts haha but This is clearly a great community of people judging by the responce so far! so thanks I'll keep going with her and see what we get at the end

[Potted]

That perlite that u dident add to the soil would of helped those roots get more oxygen and grow the plant bigger and better! My .02$

[drumster361]

Just wish I knew about the stuff earlier! Haha

[Camk]

if you are doing this on a budget get some 5gal pails from a restaurant they go through lots
they all need to be replanted into bigger containers
you will be root bound in another couple weeks at this rate
the roots need to be in the dark there is no need to have to look at them in a soil grow
other than that
they are coming along

[DankwingDuck]

You can buy 5g buckets at Lowe’s or Home Depot for about 3$. Don’t forget the perlite when you transplant .

[drumster361]

I don't live anywhere near a Home Depot haha but I certainly have stores like that near me, so I'll have a look! Also, how exactly would you get the perlite into the soil that the roots have already grown into?

[DankwingDuck]

When you replant just break the soil around the roots up gentlly and then just add it to the new soil mix