Newby First Grow

[golfnrl]

This is my first grow. I'm running a Gorilla Lite 2.5 x 2 x 6'7'' tent with a HLG 100 4K light, and 4" generic in-line fan w/carbon filter. The plants are in 3 gallon cloth pots and the soil is Fox Farm Ocean/Forest blend. They have been in the 3 gallon pots for just under three weeks. I have not as yet given the plants any added nutrients. The day-time temp in the tent stays between 71-80 and RH is running at about 62%. Currently the plants are getting about 64-72 ounces of water every other day. That sounds like a lot to me but the pots are light and the soil feels dry with the finger test before I water.

I have some questions.

1. My carbon filter doesn't even come close to scrubbing the air. My grow room reeks of cannabis (which isn't so bad to me, but my spouse isn't happy) and the smell is leaking out of the room. I don't have the ideal set up as the exhaust from the tent cannot be vented outside the grow room. BTW, the grow room is about 15' x 16'. My intake ducting is 6" and the 4" fan is running as high as it can go. Any suggestions? Maybe a bigger exhaust fan?

2. The top leaves on the biggest plant have started to show a slight yellowing on the tips. These are the only leaves on the plant to do so. The smaller plant doesn't have any discolored leaves. I thought maybe the light was too close, so I moved it up from 18" to 21", but it's only been two days since I did that.

3. I'm starting to see just the tips of some roots growing out of the bottom of the cloth pots. Is that normal for a cloth pot? Or is it time to transplant? I was hoping to avoid another transplant but I'm not totally opposed if that is what needs to be done.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[slickdawg]

I’d said say u would need to transplant to bigger pot for sure! It’s probably root bound!



indoor grow box (coco coir)
40”h 28”w 28”d is my box
have a led grow panel 13" with full spectrum and 225 LEDS got 1 plant she’s 105days=10 weeks old and has been in flower for 36 days “Krippler” i topped her and i'm doing LST training /supercroping i have a passive exhaust system with a fan for air flow

 

[PhantomSulker]

Hi there, great looking plants, I am about 7 months into my new growing experience, I have learned a lot along the way. You might want to go through my first grow journal and see my learning experiences. I have a 6" fan and carbon filter and it does not cover up the smell either in the upstairs or out of my grow room. Since I have the basement I just bought a jar of Ona Products ON10061 Ona Gel Pro 25.8 OZ Odor Neutralizer from Amazon and put on a shelf at the top of the stairs. I bought that in early January and it is still half full and kids barley notice a oder except at end of flower.

As for your plants and size I found 3 gal has not been big enough ever. I have grown several in 3 gal and the roots are so tight at the end I just throw the whole thing away. I started most of my next plants if photos in 1 gal pots till the leaves were about 25% larger than the pot and then put them in 5 gal. That is pretty much all I will use on my Autos and if growing photos I think I will use 7 gal. I switched from dirt to coco after first grow and love it. I am growing 3 Gorilla Glue #4 Fast Buds Autos right now 1 in 3 gal one if 5 and one in 7 gal to see the difference it may make.

I am not sure on the tips, usually if I am giving them too much nutes I get a bit of nute burn and back off and it goes away. The roots growing a bit out of the fabric is normal and they will air prune them selves. I also bought some little carts for $3.00 from Walmart that I put my plants on and can easily move them around the tent.

Good luck and your plants to me look good but if you are growing photos I would go to 7 gal, just my opinion but even the 5 gal get packed tight at the end.

 

[Canuck147]

Hey golfnrl do NOT transplant again. Plants look great! You need to get your pots off the floor with a riser of some kind (i use old bbq grates). That's why your roots are coming out - airflow will prune the little roottips as they grow - the roots grow continually til the end. You also need to water to runoff of aboutv10-15% - then let it dry out until they need to be watered again - not every second day.
It's not rootbound - being grown in fabric prevents that. You'll see that after you have finished - there will be no rootball.

 

[Scarletwhitewidow]

tips going yellow is when a plant is sucking own leaves for food because it cant uptake for nut lockout or feed it more

 

[Guest]

3gal pot is just fine u can yeild over 11ozs of bud per plant...I've done it. Listen to Canuck..he won't steer u wrong

 

[Guest]

My current 3gal pots ... Look at the roots coming out. Ur gonna be fine. Lots of good details in ur post. Keep up the nice grow.

 

[Canuck147]

You need some air flow on that pot - roots are very sensitive - I've never seen roots come out like that, even on the sides.

 

[Guest]

These plants sit on metal cage risers with 2 fans on them. Plants are 4ft tall. The megacrop keeps making roots... Lotsa roots equal lotsa fruits! Coco is my medium too.

 

[golfnrl]

We're now 10 days past my first post. Take a look at these pics. I feel like I need to flip the switch to flower. Or should I prune my girls a bit? I'm unsure of how to do that.

Overall they are doing well. PH is running between 6.3-6.8. But, since my last post the smell has gotten worse. Even though I have my 4" fan running as fast as it will go and have increased the intake from 4" to 6". My fan is sucking in the side of my tent...and I'm at a loss for how to deal with the smell.

My dilemma is I have to take a road trip in three weeks where I will be gone for 10 days with no one to tend to my plants. I'll be building and testing an auto watering system before I leave as I have no other options. My concern is if I leave the plants in VEG until I return they will be too big for my grow space. But if I flip the switch to flower I won't be around to monitor and I understand from what I have read on this site, the girls will require almost constant attention.

I think my tent is a little crowded...next time I might just go with one plant. Opinions? Input on any of this will be appreciated.

 

[Canuck147]

You're going to have to do something soon golfnrl - cuz it's only going to get thicker. And we always jump into the deep end before learning to tread water.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

What a dilemma golfnrl. Like canuck147 is telling you no time to waste or you may get worse symptoms. If they were mine I would defol large fan leaves a lot of them. Priorities and planning when you grow, those are very healthy looking plants. Taking off abunch of fans won't hurt them. Look at other grows, it may slow them down but you can't take those cakes with you. It's better than sweaty leaves touching eachother and possible white mildew/mold. Good luck

 

[golfnrl]

So, SoOrbudgal and Canuck147 what you're saying is I need to prune the girls a little more than I did yesterday? These big fan leaves are at the bottom of the plants. OK to take them off? The middle parts of each plant were cleaned up but maybe not enough? I tried to thin out the top but got too skittish to do much. Do I need to trim them back a little bit more?

 

[Canuck147]

Kinda hard to tell from those pics.

 

[golfnrl]

I worked on the plants a little bit more today. I found a tutorial about pruning cannabis and tried to follow the illustrations. I think the girls are looking pretty good. I've decided to put off flipping the switch to flower until mid July. Hopefully, the plants won't grow too tall in the next three weeks or so. I'm working on an auto/timer controlled water system for the time I'll be away next month. Once completed I'll post some pics. If anyone has any suggestions on that I'd appreciate it.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Pretty good cleanup you did golfnrl on the lower half, let the plants recover and watch the tops with those very large fans. That's the next spot i'd do is openup the crown take off a few large fans that block light from bottom branches. Good job

 

[HappyDaze]

Freshly shaved legs...I'm sure the ladies love it.

Only advice I can offer WRT your auto water set-up is to be aware of how you route your feed lines to avoid potential syphoning. Be sure to make a loop above your rez if you're using a rez and pump setup. I've made a few mistakes and syphoned more than a few gallons of solution onto my floors in the past.

 

[golfnrl]

Noticed these spots on the leaves yesterday. I did some research...It's inconclusive to me, maybe a calcium deficiency? I looked at so many pics they all started running together. The fan leaves with the spots are only on the largest plant and mostly at the top part of that particular plant. The other pic of the light color leaves is on the smaller of my two girls. All other leaves on the smaller plant look good.

They have been existing solely on the nutes in the potting soil for about 5-6 weeks. I added some Fox Farm Grow Big today, 3tsp for one gallon of water. I noticed a different aroma in my grow tent...hard to describe but it's different. Temps holding about 74-78 and RH about 60%.

 

[HappyDaze]

"Extra virgin, expeller pressed squid vomit and 5x refined cod squeezin's" ... That's how Gingerbeard described his organic ferts to me...is that how the Fox Farm stuff smells too?

The plants look good beyond those small spots. Good growing.

 

[Gingerbeard]

Mmm... cod squeezin's… mmm...
The only odd smells I get are when budding is in full swing and I get a musty smell. Not fish related.
I think the Bio-Marine is the one with the propensity to smell like fermented anchovies that have eaten fermented sardines that have been swimming with pickled herring. Also fermented.