Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

DaveCoulier said:

Unless your rootball collapses on you during transplant I wouldn't worry about it causing stress.

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Alright thanks Dave and UB for the quick answer.

mr773 said:

so uncle ben do you give any nutes to your plants at any stage, if so what food or nutes do you use!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I use organics and tweak with off the shelf fertilizers like Peters, Schultz, commercial stuff too I buy in bulk.

Hy there UB..


so, im on my 7 weeks of bloom(white widow) and everything is going smooth...first indoor by the way..


my question is, should i start to stress them out a lil bit at the end of bloom, on the final week(im thinking 10 weeks should be enough)?
By a lil stress i mean that i will shake the stems a little and kick the pots easily and turning the light off for 24 to 48 hours..i want to do it because i have read that stressing them at the final week should increase the resin production and slightly increase the yield..so i ask, is this true and have you ever done any of these methods..?

grow space said:

Hy there UB..


so, im on my 7 weeks of bloom(white widow) and everything is going smooth...first indoor by the way..


my question is, should i start to stress them out a lil bit at the end of bloom, on the final week(im thinking 10 weeks should be enough)?
By a lil stress i mean that i will shake the stems a little and kick the pots easily and turning the light off for 24 to 48 hours..i want to do it because i have read that stressing them at the final week should increase the resin production and slightly increase the yield..so i ask, is this true and have you ever done any of these methods..?

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Stressing definitely won't increase your yields. I would say just do what you plan on doing by keeping your lights off and then turn them on for 1 hour after the 48 hours of darkness. THC is at its highest potency in the morning. If your growing white widow, it should be pushing out enough crystals already. Don't harm your plant.

Thanks for sharing ur knowledge!! I have a question, I was about two weeks away from choppin down an outdoor sweet tooth, when FLA got hit hard with a late EL Nino 48 Rain system....Cold rain too!! I had already flushed. So i guess my question is How long should i leave them to try and grow some of those trics. back and do I need to Fertilize again and re flush before harvest. Thanks in advance. Best of luck to your future grows!!!

Finally Growing Up said:

Thanks for sharing ur knowledge!! I have a question, I was about two weeks away from choppin down an outdoor sweet tooth, when FLA got hit hard with a late EL Nino 48 Rain system....Cold rain too!! I had already flushed. So i guess my question is How long should i leave them to try and grow some of those trics. back and do I need to Fertilize again and re flush before harvest. Thanks in advance. Best of luck to your future grows!!!

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My guess is if they were almost ready to harvest, then they probably won't produce much more resin glands. I don't know this for a fact but I would bet it wouldn't push out much more. Cannabis is an annual plant and has a life cycle. In nature the female plant would be seeded and would die after its ripe, dropping all its seeds to further reproduce its genes. So I don't have facts behind whether they will actually produce more crystals but I hope any of that helped? Sorry to hear about the el nino though. You were so close!

Thanks for reply. Yeah I've read where late rain and wind can really hurt your overall success. which we have had both, but after investing 4 months i might as well prolong grow another 3-4 weeks and hope rain in done.

Howdy folks. After losing some interest due to a tech issues, my new biz, I come back to find out the last post was Nov. 7 WTF?????? Edit, looks like I need to adjust some settings! I now see last post was 12/5.

monkz said:

Benny Boy i must say ur a legend,
iv used your topping guidance since i started growing and it works great,
iv also reported this thread to the mods so they can allow a re-editing feature in order for you to share more of your knowledge

Thanx as always
Monkz.

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Thanks, and glad it's working!

merahoon said:

Thanks UB for your knowledge! My only question regards to applying nutes in flowering. You stated that if its necessary to keep your leaves green, give them a 9-3-6. Won't your plants produce smaller flowers if your giving that much nitrogen in flowering? Or will it only do that when your adding N once the leaves are already green enough?

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No, it won't produce smaller flowers if that is what the plant requires. What makes you think you'll get higher yields with a high K or P "bloom" food? Because "Jesus told me so!" You need to think outside of the box. I'm not sure you understand what produces those flowers. It's not your use of your favorite bloom food, the one with the fancy label and all the hype that goes with it, it is the health and abundance of the leaves in the end that DICTATES your yields. Come on guys, get with the (cultural) program and move away from the forum paradigms.

ghostsamurai25 said:

K.I.S.S
I love this, its simple yet full of gems.
Some of the best info Ive read on this site in a while.
UB, can you please elaborate on why we need to keep our soil moist in organic grows.

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Because it's water that is a carrier for salts and moisture uptake. This is why some feel that hydro is faster, because most soil growers have not mastered their watering technique. When you let your soil dry out between waterings, you compromise important support functions.

My first questions refer to light intensity: Do you have a recommendation of a good reference that would answer these basic questions?

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No, other than "read your plants". If you have a light meter that registers to 10K footcandles, then use it as a tool, not necessarily as a absolute determiner, of light. Average of 6,000 f.c. at plant tops is a good start, but it ALL depends on the other factors. Your goal is to learn this balance for optimum growth. Keep in mind, you're growing a flowering foliage plant, a weed. Don't push it. Keep it green and healthy.

*Btw, ever since I switched from 24/0 to 20/4, the plants indeed, seem to be 'happier'.

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Yep, plants need a rest.

When discussing your up-canning method, I just want to clarify whether you mean cutting into the soil .5" as if it were a 'piece of pie', for lack of a better analogy (ie, 'freeing up the roots')... Or if you mean, actually shaving a .5" circumference around the outer edge of the entire side soil layer after removing from the pot (ie, shortening the roots).

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Piece of pie, terminating the spinout action is what you're trying to acheive.

Last, I remember your post on pH, so I have an inclination of how you feel about it. However, I have to ask, do you pH your water? Nutrients? If so, what do you use to increase/decrease your pH? Can you use acetic acid (specifically white distilled vinegar) to decrease? Can you use a sodium bicarbonate solution (baking soda) to increase?... Or do these leave unwanted byproducts. Thanks, man.

Thank you.

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I don't worry about pH. Using organic acids is not wise compared to using inorganic. Microbes will soon break down acetic or citric, which makes them very short lived. If you have to drop your pH, buy sulfuric acid from an auto supply store or phosphoric acid from a brew supply store.

Use potassium bicarbonate to increase, NEVER a sodium salt.

If I missed anyone, so solly.....

UB

Ok, I topped the plants eight days ago and they all look pretty good. One thing I have noticed though is one actually showed male flowers about 6 days after I topped I noticed the shoots had the alternating branch pattern of a mature plant in flower. Needless to say i pulled him fast. My concern however I noticed alternating branches on 3 out of the 4 I had left, but only on one growth shoot on each plant. The rest look like normal vegging plants. These are all from bagseed however, off mixed kinds I have saved over the years. I think the male may have just been an autoflower strain? It seems very strange to me to see male flowers 28 days after germination. Has anyone ever expeirenced this before? The lights have been on at 20/4 the whole time with no leaks in the darkness period as far as I know.

Plants dont need to be flowering before they develop alternating nodes. The plants will sexually mature before flowering if you give them enough time. Sorry bout the male. I saw a post just the other day of a male plant that was in veg. Its male pollen sacks were quite pronounced. I guess some plants can't wait till flowering to get their freak on

plaguedog said:

I think the male may have just been an autoflower strain?

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Yep. It may have had some rudy in its lineage. But Dave's got a good point, males are the first to show sex, females are late to be receptive.

Uncle Ben said:

I don't worry about pH. Using organic acids is not wise compared to using inorganic. Microbes will soon break down acetic or citric, which makes them very short lived. If you have to drop your pH, buy sulfuric acid from an auto supply store or phosphoric acid from a brew supply store.

Use potassium bicarbonate to increase, NEVER a sodium salt.
UB

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UB,
I saw that you mentioned you don't worry about pH. What's your reasoning on this? I thought pH was huge when it came to watering your plants since different nutes are more available at different measures.

I didn't pH my water for a while but it came up to bite me in the ass later.

merahoon said:

UB,
I saw that you mentioned you don't worry about pH. What's your reasoning on this? I thought pH was huge when it came to watering your plants since different nutes are more available at different measures.

I didn't pH my water for a while but it came up to bite me in the ass later.

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I think something else has been nipping at your butt, like using the all prevailing high K foods.

Cannabis is quite pH tolerant and as I've said a million times before, when a grower fucks his plants up, to save face, act kewl, whatever........the first thing he does is blame pH when in fact it's something else. Second one is the mantra that it needs Mg, in spite of the inherent availability.

Soil is a powerful buffer regarding the application of pH adjusted water, you just aint gonna change it long term unless you use peat moss, lime, ashes, etc. and most potting soils land in a pH range perfect for cannabis, around 6.5. For water culture pH may be more critical, but I know of very few water sources where the pH of the water is so wacked out it needs adjustment regarding elemental uptake.

UB or anyone else have you had any plants that are extremely sensitive to heat? Ive got 5 bagseed plus 5 Nirvana WW begging, and one of the sativa bagseeds has taco leaves up and down it. Temps are 80 degrees, with a fan blowing upwards across the canopy to help dissipate heat, and Ive placed it off in the corner hoping it'll help some. Nothing seems to work though. Every other plant is fine with regards to heat. Its continuing to grow good. I just wish I could help this problem.

Oh yeah, they're 24 inches away from a 400w HPS, and still have the taco-ing.

Will the plant become more heat tolerant as it gets bigger, or is this something Ill just have to deal with.

Thanks.

Uncle Ben said:

I think something else has been nipping at your butt, like using the all prevailing high K foods.

Cannabis is quite pH tolerant and as I've said a million times before, when a grower fucks his plants up, to save face, act kewl, whatever........the first thing he does is blame pH when in fact it's something else. Second one is the mantra that it needs Mg, in spite of the inherent availability.

Soil is a powerful buffer regarding the application of pH adjusted water, you just aint gonna change it long term unless you use peat moss, lime, ashes, etc. and most potting soils land in a pH range perfect for cannabis, around 6.5. For water culture pH may be more critical, but I know of very few water sources where the pH of the water is so wacked out it needs adjustment regarding elemental uptake.

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A couple pics as well:

anyone here ever had a plant in essence top itself??

It happened about 2 months ago and i just figured id see what happened but now its turned into a young lady and im still curious if this has occured elsewhere....

when it was just a seedling the growth tip looked almost mutilated and ultimately just hardened off and then the growth at the 1st node became the plant i have today, shes far from "vigourous" but its 1 of only 3 so im not tossing her out


ps... UB you inspire me to learn more about my plants

Heres a grow journal with a plant that topped itself:

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/277253-mr-homegrowns-diy-soil-ww.html

Uncle Ben said:

I think something else has been nipping at your butt, like using the all prevailing high K foods.

Cannabis is quite pH tolerant and as I've said a million times before, when a grower fucks his plants up, to save face, act kewl, whatever........the first thing he does is blame pH when in fact it's something else. Second one is the mantra that it needs Mg, in spite of the inherent availability.

Soil is a powerful buffer regarding the application of pH adjusted water, you just aint gonna change it long term unless you use peat moss, lime, ashes, etc. and most potting soils land in a pH range perfect for cannabis, around 6.5. For water culture pH may be more critical, but I know of very few water sources where the pH of the water is so wacked out it needs adjustment regarding elemental uptake.

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So are you saying these pH charts are practically bogus then? I've always thought you had to be in the right range to get the best results. My tap water's pH is about 7.5 to 8.0 and when I put all my nutes in, it was around 5.0. I was using a DWC system.

merahoon said:

So are you saying these pH charts are practically bogus then? I've always thought you had to be in the right range to get the best results. My tap water's pH is about 7.5 to 8.0 and when I put all my nutes in, it was around 5.0. I was using a DWC system.

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Don't throw out that chart just yet.

Ben is talking about growing in soil, in DWC when the roots are sitting in just water then the water ph will be more important.

As long as you aren't using a shit-ton of ph-up or down things should be fine in general. 5.0 is pretty close to what you want.


On another topic, Ben I am wondering about how much of a nighttime temp. drop will stunt growth. Is 20plus degrees way too much of a drop?
I have been going from about 78 to the mid 50s and am slightly concerned.

thanks