First soil grow: How can you tell when plants really need nutrients?

I know this is a dumb question for most of you following a regiment, but this is my first time using Fox Farm's Ocean Forest Potting Soil and complimentary nutes by FF. The plants have their 4th to 5th set of leaves and almost last week I put a low dose of 1 teaspoon of grow and 2 teaspoons of bloom. (I'm under the impression I'm to use both in conjunction throughout grow - do you guys do that as well during the vegetative cycle?)

Now, it's been about 3 to 4 days, and I just watered them with plain old water, to be safe - but part of me thinks they could have used the nutrients as they're not exhibiting that initial growth spurt I saw a few days ago when I first fed them. (They do seem to have slow growth on some levels, which may be an indicator they need a little more boost too.)

Keep in mind I also just re-potted them - the plants are 3 weeks old - within the past week or so, so I'm worried I'll burn them considering the reputation of the Ocean Forest mix - not to mention these are 5 gallon pots where the roots are still stretching out.

Anyone want to help me here or link me to some useful guides or key markers for a plant that's hungry? I'd really appreciate it - I want these babies to really thrive like my hydroponic grow did years ago.

And yes my name is ridiculous, don't ask - I don't remember why I used it and I hope it won't become true.

And I think part of the reason this grow has been so difficult for me is -not- knowing exactly how much PPM is going through the veins of my plants. Going from hydroponics to soil is mind boggling guess work. As much work as hydro is, it's more efficient in the way that you -know- exactly what's going on.

I have followed FF feeding schedule and had good results in FFOF medium. Keep an eye on PH after transplant and all through flowering. I like t add dolomite lime to the medium to buffer the PH, I ran into problems with PH the first grow I did with FFOF and the FF nutes.

I would say at 3 weeks you can go with feeding nice and easy for the first couple and alternate per the FF schedule. If you don't have one you can get one from their website. Go with 1/4 or 1/2 strength and work your way up to full feeding. If you have a EC meter you can dial in the levels you want in your nutrient solution as well as monitor your runoff. to see how much the plants are using and what kind of residuals you have in the medium. I can't claim to be experienced enough to tell you where to put it though since I just got my EC meter and I'm learning it. It sounds like you're experienced with them.

Sub'd and more advice will come keep an eye on your post.

eh, there are no dumb questions for us.

the only ones that get on my nerves.. are the ones that keep getting repeated over and over and over again.



Anyhow, not trying to be a dickhead.. some people take my context way out of hand and automatically assume that I'm being mean.. or I'm being a dickhead or an asshole. That's on them.. not my prob.. just wanted to let ya know.. I'm not trying to be an asshole or any of that. Just trying to help educate/school the noobs on growing.

You'll get there eventually.. if there's one thing that I can recommend..? I would tell you to read. Read ALL the material you can. Divide it into categories like I did when I first started. Germination process; Properly planting the seed (don't want to plant it too deep or too shallow); Veg cycle; flowering cycle; harvesting; drying; and finally.. the curing process and the different curing methods. Find an article on each subject that I just listed.. read them in your spare time (I have alot of that right now..) and eventually you'll get it to where it just comes naturally to ya. Takes a while.. I won't lie (depending on the individual grower) to get to where you have it memorized to where it just comes to ya naturally.. but its worth it.

Good luck buddy.

peace..

Shwagbag said:

I have followed FF feeding schedule and had good results in FFOF medium. Keep an eye on PH after transplant and all through flowering. I like t add dolomite lime to the medium to buffer the PH, I ran into problems with PH the first grow I did with FFOF and the FF nutes.

I would say at 3 weeks you can go with feeding nice and easy for the first couple and alternate per the FF schedule. If you don't have one you can get one from their website. Go with 1/4 or 1/2 strength and work your way up to full feeding. If you have a EC meter you can dial in the levels you want in your nutrient solution as well as monitor your runoff. to see how much the plants are using and what kind of residuals you have in the medium. I can't claim to be experienced enough to tell you where to put it though since I just got my EC meter and I'm learning it. It sounds like you're experienced with them.

Sub'd and more advice will come keep an eye on your post.

Click to expand...

Yeah, TBH I need to go get a new one. It's been so long and during the move and shuffle of life/moving I can't for the life of me find my old Hanna ph/ppm meter, which by now would need a new sensor node thing anyway. That's part of the reason I went for soil because I didn't want to dish out the money for the meter, but it looks like I'll have to get one anyway to really make sure everything is squared away - thanks for the tip. I'll probably revert back to hydro depending on how this all goes, but we'll see what happens. I thought FFOF and nutrients were aimed for pH balance, but not so huh? That worries me a bit for sure, knowing how powerful the pH factor is.

Cannabisguru,

Yeah I had a feeling my question might be in that category of redundant. I have been reading and searching like made for answers to my specific questions, but there's so many convoluted answers and the rollitup search function isn't very user friendly IMHO. At some point, I'm just like screw it, I'll just ask and hope for the best. Anyway, I'm pretty familiar with the whole process as I've grown once before hydroponically with success, but that's another bag compared to soil in a lot of ways I'm trying to learn. My biggest issue is rate of growth and getting a feel for what my plant wants at this point. I'm hoping my subconscious dream world intuition might help me out here too.

Here's a pic of the progress. I only hope they start really bushing out - mind you I just watered them today, so they're a little droopy I guess. Under 2 400watt lights, one MH, one HPS.

http://img138.imageshack.us/i/img0244mv.jpg/

The EC meter is by no means necessary though. Just start the feeding at a reduced rate and work up to full feeding over the course of the next few feedings. Roll with it, you'll figure it out and help is always here if you end up running in to a problem.

I agree on the search feature, not very good IMO either. I find myself using google + rollitup and the results work great. Check out some of the sticky threads which are the permanent threads in all of the subcategories on the forum. Check out some of the signature threads in some of the experienced growers and peep their journals. Click around and you will be amazed how fast everything will come back to you and how much you will learn in just a few weeks. Welcome to the board and good luck with your grow.

Keep those canopies low and lets get some buds in the oven!

Tell us about your setup bro, sounds like the veg is coming along. What is your space, lighting, strains etc?

Nice, they look good, how long are you going to veg them for? I like the combo lights for sure. Did you use feminize the seeds or do you have to sex them?

Looks like I posted right when you did, it's a 5x5 SecretJardin tent, 2 400watt lights at the moment, but I'm thinking of getting a 1000w HPS for flowering as it'd be more efficient than 2 less powerful bulbs. If I had 2 MH bulbs I'd probably be using MH strictly, but ah well, I'm working with what I have. The worm is relatively well ventilated, with the hoods connected to an exhaust fan, but I still need to get a better intake system. Right now I have one of those tower oscillating fans blowing fresh air in while the exhaust shoots the hot air from the lights out. Works OK, but it's not as enclosed as I would prefer for obvious reasons.

The seeds are a little iffy, I got them from a friend who was growing, but it was on a sort of "Hey I'm a family member (that I barely see) and we can't talk about this discretely here; so here's a bunch of seeds." I hope they're feminized, that would be great. I'm not even sure the strain, but they have a Sativa aroma about them. Wish I knew what they were - all I know is I saw the product and it was quite nice. Fruity. I don't think it's a white strain, but I dunno.

Also, given you are using 5 gallon pots and the plants are still early in veg there is probably a fair amount of food left in the soil depending how much runoff you get, which I'm guessing is little. If you decide to feed, start light. Personally I would probably wait because the size of those pots. If you started smaller I would say definitely feed.

I like to give FFOF at least 3-4weeks of straight water before adding any nutes, and at least 2 weeks after a transplant. If using tiger bloom soil can get acidic so watch for this, I like an early flower flush to help keep ph under control but have had great luck with the medium and the nutes so far and I dont test ppm's only ph and runoff ph, works for me. good luck

Shwagbag said:

Also, given you are using 5 gallon pots and the plants are still early in veg there is probably a fair amount of food left in the soil depending how much runoff you get, which I'm guessing is little. If you decide to feed, start light. Personally I would probably wait because the size of those pots. If you started smaller I would say definitely feed.

Click to expand...

Yeah that was my idea too, I'll probably wait at least a week to let them search for their own food so to speak. I actually get a surprising amount of run-off, but I really try soaking each pot with at least a half gallon of water; maybe since they're young I can get away with putting less water into the container. My only concern is all the water congregating at the bottom of the pot, etc.

Thanks again for the help on watching the pH and so forth. I know pH meters alone are a bit cheaper than the combo readers too.

I might start a log or something for progress - but I might not put it up until it's said an done. I hope I can pass down some of this help to others too.

This is a beautiful plant with so many positive elements to it. Some of the best, most in depth growers out there are growing Cannabis in a variety of ways. We've changed the very evolution of a plant species to cater to our needs - or rather - we are catering to its needs. All these advanced horticultural element are being learned and utilized by so many who wouldn't have thought twice about it if not for mary. If anything, a respect for nature is definitely learned.