1st time grow - is it too late to fix?

Hello all,

First post and first grow. I started with 7 and am doing an all organic grow. Right off the bat, I used some bunk seeds. I bought a bunch of equipment (enough for 3 grow rooms) off a guy on craigslist for cheap and in one of the boxes was a bag of at least 300 Blue Dream seeds, I thought I hit the jackpot, I was wrong. Out of 7, 2 were females and a friend of mine had 8 males out of 9. The first few weeks were a little slow compared to what I saw online.

Regardless, my plants were great all the way to week 2 of flower, a beautiful green, healthy and no probs.

About a week ago, I saw that one of my plants was a little light green. I usually look up any change I see in my plant right away to correct anything I am doing wrong but this time I assumed the leaves bleached a bit because of the new plat 600 led light I got. I was wrong.

A few days later the leaves were turning yellow so I did a heavy feed. Composite tea, flower girl, seaweed extract, molasses, Recharge (1st time I used it) and a PK boost. Not sure if I over did it.

I am now in week 5 of flower and a lot of the leaves have turned yellow, have brown tips and some have turned crunchy and fell off.

One very dumb mistake I made was I used 2g pots (I actually thought they were 4-5g because I've never grown and they seemed big) and I can see roots poking through the sides of the fabric.

Not sure if it's root bound or deficiencies or what it could be. I also think the growth of my plant is behind and doesn't look like a week 5 in flower plant should. Not sure if it's too late to do something.

Any help would be appreciated.

Pictures and info below:

Indoor grow 3x6
Because of the 2g pots I have to water every other day, the soil feels hard as a rock sometimes even after a day.
2g fabric pots
Just started 5th week of flower

They look like shit bro. Better luck next time

Damn, that bad, eh? Is there anything I can do? Should I just start over?

veryrico said:

A few days later the leaves were turning yellow so I did a heavy feed. Composite tea, flower girl, seaweed extract, molasses, Recharge (1st time I used it) and a PK boost. Not sure if I over did it.

Click to expand...

What have you watered them with since doing this? Only clean water?
What main NPK base nutrients do you have to feed the plants with?
They are pretty far into flowering to fix or reverse any damage properly but you can still get some tasy smoke from them.

veryrico said:

Damn, that bad, eh? Is there anything I can do? Should I just start over?

Click to expand...

Start over as in i would do solo cup to 1gal veg then 3gal for flower
Or solo cup to 2gal veg 5gal flower.
Better genetics will help with starting fresh.
Those plants tho look like 3 weeks from flip id count 2 weeks flower. Id get some help and gently transplant her into a 5 gal pot with shyt ton of perlite. I personally wouldnt transplant but what do u got to lose? Aeriate your soil better!. Rock solid soil does sound pretty extreme. Every other day watering tho? Dang. I flower in 3gals and i water like once a week. Like every 6 days. Consistancy in flower is crucial and your best bet for waterings should be a wet/dry cycle. heavy/light pot. Your soil pot dry should feel like a pound if that. And heavy when wet. If its heavy all the time id lay off on the waterings and feedings
Its only your first grow. Things happen. Re evaluate what you did wrong. Understand, read more on it practice and youll be fine.
You r on the right path. ive seen alot worse. Goodluck!

Dont even really need liquid nutes for soil grows. If you upot several times up to flower with your own mix of soil with the works in it, all you need to do is really water the whole time. Even a lil suppliments like molasses in flower wouldnt hurt.

veryrico said:

Damn, that bad, eh? Is there anything I can do? Should I just start over?

Click to expand...

Just being hard on ya dude. Youll still get some decent smoke from it. They don't look the best but I've seen worse.

veryrico, if you want the simple quick answer what I get reading what you wrote and looking at your pics, you consistently underfed them beginning a week or 2 into flower, as you said, is when issues began. This is when the plants' hunger for minerals went up as bud production took over. Smaller pots did not help you either. Growing in smaller pots nutrients always run out faster and you need to feed more if not transplanting up to bigger pot with fresh soil mix. You can still boost them up now. You still have time, but don't over do it on fertilizers now even in the state they're in, since the last few weeks we want the plants leaves to look exactly llike yours are looking now but just too early. We are feeding nutrients to fuel bud growth, not to green up plants, so i'd mix them up some of that PK booster you have at half strength, with some seaweed for all it's micronutrients and beneficial growth compounds.. even brew it in a tea with some compost/worm castings and small amount of molasses. feed them the next few times with this with fresh brew every time until last week+ of flower clean water only. This should help you out to fuel bud growth instead of the plant eating it's leaves for fuel until the end when we want the plant to.

Top of the soil feeling hard as a rock means absolutely nothing.

Do NOT overwater the plants during this critical flowering stage!!!

((overwater, meaning, watering too soon when they don't need it.))

@veryrico
Dude! Screw the leaves, those are some of the nicest buds I've seen from a 1st time grower in a long time.
Finish them and learn is what I would do.
I have a bad habit of skimming. Bud size is fine for 5 weeks. In the third picture, they have good color pistils and look tight. Don't worry about size, think quality, you can think size after you get your quality and leaf problems under control
Is your soil rock hard possibly because when you planted you may have pressed down on it to hard?
What soil are you using?

Rolla J said:

Start over as in i would do solo cup to 1gal veg then 3gal for flower
Or solo cup to 2gal veg 5gal flower.
Better genetics will help with starting fresh.
Those plants tho look like 3 weeks from flip id count 2 weeks flower. Id get some help and gently transplant her into a 5 gal pot with shyt ton of perlite. I personally wouldnt transplant but what do u got to lose? Aeriate your soil better!. Rock solid soil does sound pretty extreme. Every other day watering tho? Dang. I flower in 3gals and i water like once a week. Like every 6 days. Consistancy in flower is crucial and your best bet for waterings should be a wet/dry cycle. heavy/light pot. Your soil pot dry should feel like a pound if that. And heavy when wet. If its heavy all the time id lay off on the waterings and feedings
Its only your first grow. Things happen. Re evaluate what you did wrong. Understand, read more on it practice and youll be fine.
You r on the right path. ive seen alot worse. Goodluck!

Click to expand...

I figured out why it's so hard, the roots are literally right under the top layer of soil, I can't break a piece of the top soil off because there are roots tangled in it. I do lift the pots to check the weight because I also thought every other day was excessive and they're light on the days I water.

Thanks for the encouragement I appreciate it. Already have some seeds from a seed bank ready for my next grow and I'm going to grab a couple clones from my dispensary because their stuff is always fire.

Wish i could grab clones from the dispensary lol. Glad to help bro.

Johnei said:

veryrico, if you want the simple quick answer what I get reading what you wrote and looking at your pics, you consistently underfed them beginning a week or 2 into flower, as you said, is when issues began. This is when the plants' hunger for minerals went up as bud production took over. Smaller pots did not help you either. Growing in smaller pots nutrients always run out faster and you need to feed more if not transplanting up to bigger pot with fresh soil mix. You can still boost them up now. You still have time, but don't over do it on fertilizers now even in the state they're in, since the last few weeks we want the plants leaves to look exactly llike yours are looking now but just too early. We are feeding nutrients to fuel bud growth, not to green up plants, so i'd mix them up some of that PK booster you have at half strength, with some seaweed for all it's micronutrients and beneficial growth compounds.. even brew it in a tea with some compost/worm castings and small amount of molasses. feed them the next few times with this with fresh brew every time until last week+ of flower clean water only. This should help you out to fuel bud growth instead of the plant eating it's leaves for fuel until the end when we want the plant to.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that is what I'm doing now with feeds. I didn't know I had to boost the nutes during the 3rd week of flower (rookie mistake).

I have an RO filter set up in my bathroom and have been using water from there since day 1. I started to use molasses during veg when I noticed the plants were low on calcium and magnesium that was lacking from the distilled water.

The smaller pots def screwed me, especially now that I realized the soil is hard because the roots are all the way to the top of the soil. I'm hoping they are root bound.

Maybe it wasn't smart to do my first grow organic. I find it harder to find the right stuff for them vs just following a feeding schedule from Fox Farm or something.

Thanks again for all the help brother.

Buba Blend said:

@veryrico
Dude! Screw the leaves, those are some of the nicest buds I've seen from a 1st time grower in a long time.
Finish them and learn is what I would do.
I have a bad habit of skimming. Bud size is fine for 5 weeks. In the third picture, they have good color pistils and look tight. Don't worry about size, think quality, you can think size after you get your quality and leaf problems under control
Is your soil rock hard possibly because when you planted you may have pressed down on it to hard?
What soil are you using?

Click to expand...

Thanks, man! I was feeling pretty down about not killing it on my first try. I'll def learn from this to make sure my next grow goes smoother.

I figured out the roots are literally right under the top layer of soil and that is why it was so hard.

Sounds like your first grow?

You have started like lots of us did. You probably know what you did wrong this grow so dont do those next grow.

You will get a harvest and most first timers dont- I didnt..I think my first grow lasted 2 weeks..,,till it died from not enough light in soaking wet soil.

I would not smoke them if i had nothing to smoke!

When you are sourcing stuff for the next grow grab a water meter. They not only help you water but they aerate the soil (always place it in 2 or 3 placers in the pot due to pockets). For $10 its a great investment.

Rogues88 said:

I would not smoke them if i had nothing to smoke!

Click to expand...

Then your a very picky man....

Lol no your standards just need to be raised! You to obviously have no idea how to grow your comment is uneducated.

When you are sourcing stuff forthe next grow grab a water meter. They not only help you water but they aerate the soil (always place it in 2 or 3 placers in the pot dueto pockets). For $10 its a great investment.

Click to expand...

Rogues88 said:

Lol no your standards just need to be raised! You to obviously have no idea how to grow your comment is uneducated.

Click to expand...

OK.