Advice needed.

Sounds like a plan! Your girls should survive a week with a real good feeding first.

We will be away for a week. The humidifier wont go past a couple of days. I have the grow tent in the garage and in late May the temps and the humidity should be OK so maybe I'll feed and water them up and leave the door half open. I have a feeling that may work out. I'll send pictures a couple of days before departure to get some more feedback.

Thanks again,

Ken

Glad to hear they are looking healthier.

If you are leaving in about 3 weeks that may not be long enough. If you harvest then you might get something that will be a pleasant but weak smoke. You will also need to hang to dry for about a week after harvest.

How long do you plan to be away? With a big feed or flush just before you leave they could survive quite a while. They may look half dead when you get back but should bounce back after a feeding.

Family first! I have had to harvest early in the past too due to family stuff.

Post some pictures of your girls before you leave and we will see if we have any advice for you.

Good luck!

I fed and watered the plants along with the Blue Planet plus Cal Mag. There was a small amount of run off but that dried up after a few hours. But more important the plants all look healthier. They're still pretty puny compared to a lot that other members post but not a lot can be done at this stage. There's quite a few small buds and tonight there was an obvious weed smell plus when I touched the Lemon Mimosa bud it was obviously sticky. And the smell was clearly lemony and pretty effen far out. WE go to see my son in Montana at the end of the month so I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that I will be able to harvest before we go. If I cant well I'll cross that bridge when that comes around. Even if I lose the crop i have no regrets and as Cap Stone says the first grow is a learning experience. I don't know a lot but I know a bit more than I did at the start.

Thank you all.

Ken

18-6 is pretty common for growing Autos, but they can handle more light and the more light they get the bigger the buds.

Some people will run with lights on 24 hours but I have not tried that. I have had success with 20-4 growing Autos, others like to go with 22-2. If you decide to increase the amount of light for this grow, maybe increase by 30 minutes a day so as not to stress them.

I am not familiar with the Grow Craft light but 30 inches sounds a little high. But if that's the recommended height for flower then you're good.

18-6. Lights are at 30in on 95%.

I'm thinking they look hungry, over watered and possibly deficient in Calcium or Magnesium with a side of PH issues.

Your PH of 6.2 should be close enough but try and keep it between 6.5 and 7. That may help with the proper uptake of nutrients.

A lot of these types of soil are low in Calcium and Magnesium so most people will add CalMag to every feeding. You usually do not see this issue in flower but I would start adding CalMag every feeding to see if that helps. It's hard to give too much CalMag so even if that is not the problem, it wont hurt.

And the way they are drooping kind of looks like an over watering issue. Too much watering plus a low PH can cause some interesting issues. I would let them dry out completely before making any changes.

Your PPM sounds like it's in the ball park.

The issues I mentioned are all fairly minor at this point and there is no reason your girls shouldn't bounce back and give you a nice harvest. Your next run will be even better!

Good luck!

(Just curious ... how many hours of light/dark are you giving them?)

That took a lot longer than I expected and it looks like there's a duplicate in the images. Oh well. To answer the questions from Cap Stone. 5 Auto flower strains. 2 Blue Dream, Lemon Mimosa, Jack Herer, NYC Diesel. Soil is Coast of Maine-Stonington Blend in 5 gal Plastic Pots. PH going in was 6.2 PPM PPM 930. Any advice, suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Ken

What was the PPM and PH of the feed? Not the run off, but the actual stuff you feed them.

What strains are you growing and are they Photo Periods or Autos?

And pictures would be really helpful.

Last night I watered the plants, around a liter ech along with a half dose of the Blue Planet nutrients. I measured the PPM of the runoff an hour later and the PPM was basically what it was before, ie between 300-400 PPM. I was expecting it to have gone up. Any advice on this?

That does sound crowded! And once they start to bloom they will grow another 20-50%! I keep my humidifier (winter) and dehumidifier (summer) outside the tent but in the same room to make more space in the tent.

Just make sure you have good air flow above and below your canopy when it's crowded like that. You can also look into Lollipopping during Veg and Defoliation during Bloom and that will help make things less crowded.

This is the soil I am using. I have a bag of it left in the garage and I just went to look at it expecting to see the Feeding Schedule that you had in your comment. But alas, there's no mention anywhere on the bag so I don't feel like such an idiot for not being aware that I should have been giving the plants some nutrients already. I'm also realizing that my fluctuating environment was probably a source of the lack of vigor in my plants as well. One thing I never see any mention of is the cramped condition in a growroom. My Infinity 4 x 4 tent with 5 plants plus a tomato in a 10gal pot plus a heater and humidifier plus a fan and with the light (Grow Craft X5 600w) 24 to 30 in above the canopy it's not at all what you would describe as roomy. With my height of 6ft 2in plus I am in my seventies it's not easy getting in there to do anything pretty much on your hands and knees and having to move the pots around which are heavy to say the least. I've watched a lot of You Tube and Mr. Growit videos and nobody is crawling around. There always seems to be a lot of room! But as you say, it's a lot of fun but at times not so much when things don't go so well. Growing tomatoes and other vegetables seemed so much simpler.

Thanks again.

Ken

No problem, I only found that because I knew to look for it from experience. I had to scroll through a lot of marketing that said it is for the whole grow before I found the devil in the details.

The first grow is a big learning experience and if you're lucky you will get some bud that's ok. After that it gets easier and the buds get better as you dial things in for you specific grow space.

Good luck and most of all have fun!

Thank you for the reply and reminding me of the old rule of RTFM. This is my first grow and it's pretty amazing how much time it takes with even a small setup like mine. I have a lot of trouble keeping the environment in the suggested range. It fluctuates way too much and even though, since the pandemic started, I work from home. I am in the North East and can keep a close eye on things but controlling the grow room seems like having two jobs.

Thanks again,

ken

Hi,

Is this the soil? If so you have to read the fine print that says it's only good for 30 days in a 5 gallon pot.

I would start adding your Blue Planet nutrients in now.

If you are growing Autos, then make sure you only use 25-50% of the recommend nutrients as Autos are generally more sensitive than Photo Periods.

Looking at the chart, I'm guessing you would need to grow one plant in a 20 gallon pot to get near 100% coverage.

Even if this is not the soil you are using, it sounds like your girls are hungry. I will check out the pictures when you post them.

Good luck!