Do my girls look healthy? 3rd week flower

[Stahlherz420]

TLDR Summary: I’m a beginner grower and while my plants look great, I’m concerned about some issues my plant might have, such as light stress, under/overwatering (overwatering more likely), and nutrient deficiency/excess, and I would like the community’s opinion. More details and pictures below:

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I’ve gotten a lot better since my last grow, but I’m still not sure if I’m giving my plants everything they need. I’m mostly concerned about light stress, I’m using the following light (450W LED from Viparspectra), it hangs about 30” or more from the canopy. I can’t remember what I put the dimmers on but if you have this very light, please recommend what the dimmer dials should be set to for the flowering stage!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07LB...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I believe I read somewhere on this website that leaves pointing up like they’re “praying” towards the light is a sign of too much light. I noticed the leaves on my plants tend to relax a bit more when the light is off, almost like the plant is “sleeping”.

I’ve also noticed a small curling downward at the tips of the newest top leaves, but that seems to have gotten better after feeding.

Speaking of feeding, I was told to use 6mls per gallon of dyna bloom, but because I’ve struggled with overwatering in the past, I thought a gallon of water each would be too much for them in a 5 and 7 gallon fabric pot, so now I only give them a liter of water with 1.3-1.5 ml of dyna bloom. The first week of flower I gave Dyna bloom, then I decided to try Molasses on the second week at 1.3 ml per liter, since I’ve heard great things about molasses in Cannabis cultivation. Yesterday (July 10th), I gave both of them a 1.3 ml per liter serving of Dyna bloom.


I did not ph my water, I know I really should, but I use only gallons of store bought distilled water from Walmart. I’m afraid to use tap water on my plants, but if I did I could save money, I guess.


I use nothing but Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil with the first in a 5 gal fabric pot and the second bigger one is in the 7 gal.


I did a 12/12 from seed again but this time, I followed this website’s advice and I put them in 3-5 weeks of an 18/6 veg period from seed, and switched them over just a few weeks ago. (The first time I did 12/12 there was literally no veg stage at all, it was just straight from seed to flower. I got good bud out of that one but it barely filled up a small jar and was barley a foot tall. Thanks to GWE telling me to give it a short veg stage first, my plants are now double what I had last time, and I’m blown away btw!)

My strains are Phantom Cookie Domina from Garden Of Green (mostly sativa, left side) and Critical Purple Kush from Seedsman (mostly Indica, right side). Both seeds were purchased at Seedsman dot com, both are feminized, and both are photoperiod.

Sorry again for the long post, you basically only needed to read the summary at the top but if you scrolled this far to read this, I love you.

[alltatup]

Stahlherz420 You should ALWAYS pH your nute solution. You're asking for trouble by not doing that. One of the most important things.

[CaptainWiese91]

I read here on the Forum actually. I will try to find the thread again 👍🏻
My personal opinion is it’s doesn’t matter. But again this is why maybe we have the forum - it’s a good subject to discuss, but maybe hard to find the “real answer”

[bboyfromwayback]

I’m finishing up a grow now. I have two Blue Cheese that I was gona give a light dose of nutes next watering then switch to water and molasses till harvest. I’ll be the test dummy on the flush or no flush subject lol

[CaptainWiese91]

Looking forward 😁

[johnb1963]

i agree, you have to Ph your water. distilled water has no mag/cal, so unless youe adding them, use tap water, let it sit in an open container for 48 hours, to get rid of the chlorine. I would water 1 gallon each every other day, for those size pots. one other thing, of mentioned the soil, good choice, but did you add 30% perlite? lastly, growing indoor, you really need to be training your plants. you can double your yield.

[Stahlherz420]

I think I started training my plants shortly after this post. Since I’m in flowering I’m afraid to remove any leaves, so I’ve just been bending back a few to expose more light To the biggest bud sites. I also tried FIMing for the first time while still in veg, does it looks like I have multiple colas?

and no, it’s 100% soil. Guess I could start using Perlite next grow because it would save me money on those expensive soil bags.

[CaptainWiese91]

As the others say. PH is important.
Not that you can’t wing it through the grow. But not all is that lucky..

nothing wrong with tap water. I’ve always been using tap water.
And I never ever even let it stay open for 2 days the bottle, can’t see the point in it to be honest. Never had an issue with this. As soon a my bottle is filled with tap water, I make nutrients in it. Waiting 1 hour and then I PH my water/nutrients feed.

invest in a PH meter, it will do you good

[Stahlherz420]

Can you recommend me a PH meter under 20-30$? Grow Weed easy links to one on a PH info page but that one is out of stock.

[CaptainWiese91]

I’m using an ADWA - don’t know what the price in dollars are in this one.
Bought mine for 4 years ago, still working with the same battery

[RagWeedDWC]

Your plants look healthy, so what ever magic you are magicing is working. I switched from tap to distilled to RO, ended up the water was not the problem. I went back to tap, although I do let it sit for 24 hours with a air diffuser to knock out the chlorine (Not sure it does any good, but what the hay it works for fish)
I do not grow in a medium, but I do check PH constantly, along with PPM and adjust prior to switching out nutrients (DWC).
Again, your plants look good to me, so whatever you are doing is working, I would not modify to far from that.

I have not used your nutrient load, but again your plants are not showing burned tips, spots or yellow leaves. Nice grow.

[bboyfromwayback]

Like everyone else said, correct ph is critical. My 20yr old ph pen broke on me a couple weeks ago and I winged it fur a couple waterings and now one of my plants is suffering for it. I was at week 6 when things started so my buds were already developed but I can tell the issue is going to hinder the quality of that plant because it’s not nearly as frosty as the others in the same tent.

[Stahlherz420]

Can you recommend me a PH meter under 20-30$? Grow Weed easy links to one on a PH info page but that one is out of stock.

[bboyfromwayback]

Sorry but I just saw this post. Putting the link to the one I ordered from amazon for $14. It works good but needs calibrated about once a week. My old one needed calibration about once a year.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B085LKXFT1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[Canuck147]

Ph your water every feeding.

Distilled water has no buffering ability.

Water until you get runoff - 1 liter a watering doesn't come close to what they need.

Plant looks great tho.

[Stahlherz420]

How long should I wait until I give them a full gallon, or half? Maybe if I wait two days the soil will be dry?

[Canuck147]

I lift my girls to look at them outside and judge by their weight whether I water or not - right now even when they are light as a feather I wait a day or 2 more - just cuz they are at day 73 and ripening fast.

[Stahlherz420]

Update: I see some yellowing at the top of my Phantom Cookie's leaves, I can attach a pic on the next reply.

I suspect iron deficiency based on this article, as the plant displays yellow leaves at the top and near most of the bud sites.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-problems/iron-deficiency

"Iron deficiency symptoms caused by true lack of iron are more likely to appear when a grower is using heavily filtered or reverse osmisis (RO) water to feed plants since any iron has been removed"

I only trust the 72 cent gallons of distilled water I buy from Walmart and am very afraid to use tap water on my plants, as I've heard it's bad for them. And based on this analysis of water in my area, I probably don't want to drink it either!

https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=MO5010754

There was no indication of iron in this analysis, meaning that there seems to be more harm than good in using my city's tap water.

I can't buy an iron supplement until my next paycheck in a week, and that's if I make enough with that, so if ya'll can recommend home remedies for iron deficiency, stuff I might have laying around the house that I can use, I would like that (sort of how Epsom Salt is a common household item, and can be used to help with magnesium and calcium in your plant if it doesn't contain any special fragrances).

My ventilation leaves a lot to be desired as well, since it's in a closet with no space to install an air duct. The ventilation I have is limited to one 10$ desk fan from Walmart and the fans that are on top of the light. The humidity is 54%, so I'll need to buy a small dehumidifier soon too.

[Stahlherz420]

Poorly taken pic of what I suspect to be yellowing on new leaves and bud sites. I don’t know why my iPhone takes great pictures sometimes and shitty ones the next day! I will be PHing the soil soon but I more suspect my use of pure water to be the cause of a lack of iron.