fornitsomefornus
Active Member
Hello fellow gardeners! My apologies for the length of this post, but I'm trying to maximize my understanding of what's going wrong. My friend is growing 3 strains outside in pots: Bubba Kush, Green Crack & White Widow (bought from a seed Co earlier this year). She started germinating her seeds on 4/30 using paper towels soaked in worm castings tea instead of plain water. All 3 seeds germinated relatively quickly - the first tail sprouted in just over 24 hours. She planted each of the sprouting seeds in potting soil and had 3 nice looking seedlings emerging within the next week. Feeling somewhat of "a natural", she was already counting the ounces of bud she would be harvesting in a few months. Ignorance truly IS bliss.
Then all growth just about stopped. Over the next 5 weeks, each plant added just 1 or 2 new nodes of leaves, and almost no upward or outward growth. The leaves remained small with no branches growing off the main stem. Then the cotyledons turned yellow and fell off.
For the first 3 weeks, she thought the fertilizer she ordered online would solve the problem as soon as it arrived. When that didn't work, she thought maybe they weren't getting enough direct sunlight on the porch, so she tried various locations on her property over the next two weeks and left them in the sunniest spot for a few days. Then the bottom (true) leaves on each plant began to yellow at the tips and droop.
She began to think the problem was her soil because she had purchased it at the dollar store and found it to be full of small rocks. Being flat broke, but sensing time was of the essence, she improvised. She dug up some humus and clay soil from beneath the leaf litter and pine needles on her wooded property. She thoroughly mixed together the low-quality dollar store potting soil with the humus and clay, removing any rocks while she worked them together with her hands. She then mixed in the proper amounts of Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Organic Fertilizer* (see ingredients below), organic powdered bat guano, and the remainder of her worm castings (about a cup). She repotted her puny plants in this mixture and watched them carefully. Over the next week or so, they grew finally! She saw an increase in height of 25 - 50% but no new nodes, and the lowest (true) leaves that had already begun turning yellow shriveled and dropped off. It occurred to her that this new soil blend was far too dense and was probably stunting growth at the roots.
By then she had a little cash to buy a decent commercial potting mix. She chose Jiffy Natural & Organic Seed Starting Mix* (see below). She added the organic fertilizer mix and bat guano according to the directions, and again repotted her marijuana midgets in this new soil. The roots were very thin like hair and had thick clumps of clay stuck in them, like a wad of gum stuck in hair. She gently removed all the soil matter with her fingers while submerging the roots in water. Within HOURS she witnessed new leaf growth at the center of the top nodes, and the growth rate has remained steady since. That was just over a week ago. In that time, her plants grew another 25-50% in height and added 2 - 3 new leaf nodes each. They began to look like happy & healthy - albeit small - pot plants. She has kept a close eye on them, watching for contunued progress and looking for any signs of new problems, hoping she finally got it right.
Then Tuesday morning, when she checked her plants upon waking, she discovered her white widow shriveled up and nearly dead (bottom photo). During the autopsy, she noticed a strong, foul smell of decay in the soil and diagnosed the killer as root rot. It has rained so damned much this summer that the soil(s) only dried out enough to require her to water them just one time in the whole 7 1/2 weeks. It thunderstormed overnight on Monday, so root rot makes sense. She does take them inside when it rains hard, but not before they get rained on some, and it has rained almost every stinkin' day for the past 2 months.
So after almost 2 month's time, her plants are probably smaller than they should've been at 2 weeks. As disheartening as that is, she's determined to make it work or at least to learn as much as possible from the experience. (But she REALLY wants some bud!!!)
So my question is, is there enough summer left now (at nearly the end of June) for her plants to mature and flower in time? If not, could she buy a grow light and bring them inside when the days get short to keep them in vegetative state longer?
Or are these plants just doomed from being stunted so much for so long? ANY opinions, suggestions or insights are welcome and appreciated. All photos are from today.
Thanks y'all, and I hope your plants are faring better than my friend's!
* Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Organic Fertilizer: 3-4-3 NPK. Derived from alfalfa meal, fishbone meal, bone meal, feather meal, sulfur, potassium sulfate, kelp meal and kelp flour. Also contains several bacillus colonies, mycorrhizae, and 11% humic acid from leonardite.
*Jiffy Natural & Organic Seed Starting Mix:
60-70% sphagnum peat Moss, vermiculite, coir pith and lime for pH adjuster.
Then all growth just about stopped. Over the next 5 weeks, each plant added just 1 or 2 new nodes of leaves, and almost no upward or outward growth. The leaves remained small with no branches growing off the main stem. Then the cotyledons turned yellow and fell off.
For the first 3 weeks, she thought the fertilizer she ordered online would solve the problem as soon as it arrived. When that didn't work, she thought maybe they weren't getting enough direct sunlight on the porch, so she tried various locations on her property over the next two weeks and left them in the sunniest spot for a few days. Then the bottom (true) leaves on each plant began to yellow at the tips and droop.
She began to think the problem was her soil because she had purchased it at the dollar store and found it to be full of small rocks. Being flat broke, but sensing time was of the essence, she improvised. She dug up some humus and clay soil from beneath the leaf litter and pine needles on her wooded property. She thoroughly mixed together the low-quality dollar store potting soil with the humus and clay, removing any rocks while she worked them together with her hands. She then mixed in the proper amounts of Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Organic Fertilizer* (see ingredients below), organic powdered bat guano, and the remainder of her worm castings (about a cup). She repotted her puny plants in this mixture and watched them carefully. Over the next week or so, they grew finally! She saw an increase in height of 25 - 50% but no new nodes, and the lowest (true) leaves that had already begun turning yellow shriveled and dropped off. It occurred to her that this new soil blend was far too dense and was probably stunting growth at the roots.
By then she had a little cash to buy a decent commercial potting mix. She chose Jiffy Natural & Organic Seed Starting Mix* (see below). She added the organic fertilizer mix and bat guano according to the directions, and again repotted her marijuana midgets in this new soil. The roots were very thin like hair and had thick clumps of clay stuck in them, like a wad of gum stuck in hair. She gently removed all the soil matter with her fingers while submerging the roots in water. Within HOURS she witnessed new leaf growth at the center of the top nodes, and the growth rate has remained steady since. That was just over a week ago. In that time, her plants grew another 25-50% in height and added 2 - 3 new leaf nodes each. They began to look like happy & healthy - albeit small - pot plants. She has kept a close eye on them, watching for contunued progress and looking for any signs of new problems, hoping she finally got it right.
Then Tuesday morning, when she checked her plants upon waking, she discovered her white widow shriveled up and nearly dead (bottom photo). During the autopsy, she noticed a strong, foul smell of decay in the soil and diagnosed the killer as root rot. It has rained so damned much this summer that the soil(s) only dried out enough to require her to water them just one time in the whole 7 1/2 weeks. It thunderstormed overnight on Monday, so root rot makes sense. She does take them inside when it rains hard, but not before they get rained on some, and it has rained almost every stinkin' day for the past 2 months.
So after almost 2 month's time, her plants are probably smaller than they should've been at 2 weeks. As disheartening as that is, she's determined to make it work or at least to learn as much as possible from the experience. (But she REALLY wants some bud!!!)
So my question is, is there enough summer left now (at nearly the end of June) for her plants to mature and flower in time? If not, could she buy a grow light and bring them inside when the days get short to keep them in vegetative state longer?
Or are these plants just doomed from being stunted so much for so long? ANY opinions, suggestions or insights are welcome and appreciated. All photos are from today. Thanks y'all, and I hope your plants are faring better than my friend's!
* Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Organic Fertilizer: 3-4-3 NPK. Derived from alfalfa meal, fishbone meal, bone meal, feather meal, sulfur, potassium sulfate, kelp meal and kelp flour. Also contains several bacillus colonies, mycorrhizae, and 11% humic acid from leonardite.
*Jiffy Natural & Organic Seed Starting Mix:
60-70% sphagnum peat Moss, vermiculite, coir pith and lime for pH adjuster.
