SOIL Disabled, senior female noob > LEDs. Have many questions, made mistakes, need advice

[Puglover1]

Right now sun up to sundown is 6:40 to 7:20. Going 7 to 7 doesn't give me much time at night to work on them but the room with the closet has windows. I'd prefer 8-8. Here is a picture the day before I flipped, at 7:38 p.m. Should I put duct tape where the light shows the closet door cracks through the black vinyl curtain? I got a black extra long thick shower curtain and those drapes usually make the room rather dark, I just am not sure how sensitive the closet/plants would be in this situation. I do make sure the bottom is covering the carpeting. Thank you for everything.

 

[Mr.furley]

Cannabis goes below absolute zero for dark, which means that it needs total darkness when it sleeps. Do the best you can to seal off the room and if 8-8 is going to be better the next 3 months, after the lights go off reset the timer from 7-7 to 8-8.

 

[Puglover1]

I got them all tied and switched around by Labor Day, and cleaned the closet floor. Most bad leaves were already there on the middle (oldest) plant, there's a new one on the L plant, otherwise a few newer, low leaves that aren't getting much light. The bad ones don't all look like the same problems. Two nights ago the middle one needed a little more water so I used pH'd water and added a half-dose of Flower Fuel, it seems to have made a difference. I'll take photos before lights come on in the morning, I'm doing 8-8. I definitely have to tuck them into the closet, they're bursting out all over. The youngest one, on the left, has fragile stems, I had two break and they wouldn't heal. Otherwise I'm pretty good at getting them to bend without injury, and I adjust the ties daily as needed.

 

[Mr.furley]

Did you get a three part nutrient?

 

[Puglover1]

Yes I'm using the GH trio. Wondering if I still need more cal-mag.

 

[Mr.furley]

Since your plants have been in those pots for a excessive amount of time Calmag is a possibility and a good idea to add. I'm looking at the purple stems on the leafs and would really lean to phosphorus deficiency.

Calmag can't hurt but I'd up the phosphorus as well.

 

[Puglover1]

I don't know if the stem color is strain specific but these have had the red/purple stems since they were 'babies'. It's a purple indica strain. I gave them some CalMag with the trio today, and turned them so the corner plants are getting more light through.

 

[Puglover1]

Right before lights on Wed morning I took some pics. Thinking about trying Recharge when watering in the morning - thoughts?? The leaves look like they have differing problems. Most of the closet looks good, many of the bad leaves are on the middle/oldest plant: the yellow new lower leaves, a few that were 'hidden from light' in back, and some on the top. The other two plants have a few, I rearranged, turned, tied and tried to get more light through them.

 

[gbauto]

Overall, they look good.
The only thing I would do would be to lollipop the interior of the plants.
All of those little sucker branches won't develop into decent flower and limit airflow through the canopy/

 

[JohnEmad]

I agree. Some of the plants look a bit thick and could probably benefit from more air flow.

 

[Mr.furley]

Agreed, It's been 18 days.
https://forum.growweedeasy.com/foru...made-mistakes-need-advice?p=444626#post444626

 

[Puglover1]

Well, I didn't sleep well last night. I went to spend a few hours with the plants after supper, I was met with two wilted plants and one flourishing. I think the lower fan vibrated down and dried out the nearest two pots. RH was at Zero. After watering, with the closet doors & curtain open, the RH was at 20 with the lights on. The tops were OK. I think they showed me where to lollipop. Q: Should I do that today or let them recover and work on them tomorrow? I want to untie and re-do. When the lights are on the RH falls, I have this mini humidifier. Should I run it while the lights are on, with the timer? I have one fan on top and one on the bottom pointing toward walls, from opposite corners. Should I use both on top instead? I have another tower fan but it takes up a lot of floor space in the closet. Yes, I felt ill but I had hope that I'd caught it in time.

 

[Puglover1]

I removed a coffee can full of leaves and scoped out the best/strongest looking colas. Tomorrow I will pull each plant out and get them in better shape. When I look up deficiencies most say that if I'm using a good nute combo that phosphorous and potassium should be adequate. What is the remedy for upping those individually, if needed? Or, because they've been in these pots for so long, should I put those hollow 'sticks' that come with orchids (for support) into the pots to ensure oxygen is getting to the roots OK? I put a few inches of perlite into these pots before transplanting, I can still see it in the drainage holes. I have room to top off the two sides plants with a little more soil medium. Was it hard for y'all the first time you had to lollipop off flowering shoots? I would've done more tonight but the lights went out. Going to need to make a Spotify playlist for tomorrow.

 

[Puglover1]

I plucked many fan leaves over the wknd and worked on the middles until the lights went out Sunday evening. Q: Do I cut off the bigger, low stems that won't support/grow nice colas, or just pluck them? The two end plants have a few nice colas each, the middle plant has Many. So, cut off the thin middle stems and shoots and finish removing fan leaves? Any other advice? Does it look better, so far? (Photo taken with flash right after lights out) Thanks, everyone.

 

[Mr.furley]

Looks a lot better.
I'd say it needs some more leaf only but waiting a week wouldn't be a bad idea. Do you have gnats?

 

[Puglover1]

I don't think so. I keep all of my windows closed but still see small dead bugs near my kitchen sink. The cat catches many bugs but these are too small. It's been very rainy and buggy here so I set those down to see what they caught ... one caught the cat's paw. There's soil medium and perlite, leaf parts and pet hair, and a few small bugs on the one sticky pad.

 

[Puglover1]

I flipped 12/12 on 9/1. Defoliated some last weekend. They're growing, leaves are looking OK. Qs: 1. Should I remove more leaves now & which ones/how much? 2. In photos below are those gnats on the sticky pad? (we had a lot of rain and humidity, non-growers have mentioned seeing gnats) I put some perlite on top, anything else should I do? Thank you!

 

[Mr.furley]

Plants look really good, you did a good job with trainning and budlets are setting nicely. Remove about 12 leafs from each plant, remove larger leaf that is blocking buds. I can't tell what the bugs are but if they are gnats get more yellow sticky cards around the pots and on top of the canopy. Don't Spray neem oil on your plant at this point as it binds and stays on the cannabinoids they're producing.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-problems/fungus-gnats

 

[JohnEmad]

looking good.

 

[Puglover1]

Thanks to you all. My next step is removing the pulleys and going hook-to-hook to raise the lights 6 inches. Some are getting close, I turn those colas to be in corners or by the wall until I can move the panels up. I put out a call to my two trusted helpers. The morning I opened the doors and the two biggest plants were limp my heart sunk. These girls have been through the mill. Oh, the bugs ... they look kinda like tiny baby fleas but more brown than black. I'll try to get a close photo of one of the sticky pads in the daylight this week. I hung two stickies above the canopy in the middle and there's one on each corner wall plus two on the pots. I attached a pad to the hanging light over my kitchen sink, caught two big flies, ha! It's that time of year here, the patio door opens for the pugs several times/day. The cat used to eat bugs, now he eats pot leaves and plays with bugs.