Small garden has big issues

Hey guys I've been looking after these plants for the last three months and they're growing in a simple slapdash medium made of 120L potting soil rated [email protected] and 12-14-24 NPK mixed with 20L of vermicompost (further VC) and 3L of organic microorganism amendment.
The mix was made in haste and without much going around and finding what's available in the shops, so I thought of making it simple and adding stuff as I go along. Should've prepared a bit better.

So far the harvest varied from 18 to 25g per plant for Fast & Vast auto, they grew quite slow hence the small yield but it took exactly 8 weeks from plant to harvest as specified.
Critical+2.0 auto was 45g, that took 9 weeks and it didn't look too great:

A lot of its fan leaves have gone yellow and wilted away, that combined with the long node length made the plant look very "airy":


Right now I have three plants growing, 2x Monster Profit and one SSH which was planted sometime later in the same soil
3 weeks in I've topped each of the pots with ~80g of organic chicken manure & kelp feed mixed with a few handfuls of VC.
7 weeks: added fish meal and VC
8 weeks: week7 + bone meal
13 weeks: some perlite, gypsum, feed for rhododendrons with mycorrhizae, few handfuls of VC and some horse manure

Now they're in week 15 and I'm still waiting on the smaller SSH to grow large enough so I can flip them into flowering and my main concern is these yellowing leaves just the same as Critical+2.0 above:
Monster profit1:

Monster profit2:

SSH:


It seems like typical nitrogen deficiency but I gave them enough I believe and the canopy looks quite green so it could to be something different or a mix of stuff even.

There are fungus gnats chillin' in the soil, it's been a long fight with them, where neem oil was used with no effect and I'm too afraid to use hydrogen peroxide. I vacuum them bastards occasionally, it helps a lot.

So I was wondering how could I improve the situation in the garden and will be updating this thread on how they're doing all the way till harvest!

I would like to hear some advise from more experienced growers and find a way to fix these issues.

This is how the fan leaves look when withered


Super Silver Haze seems to be having an deficiency of its own:


And we have aliens in the garden as well, fuck knows what these are and I've checked the RHS website for all pests!
These shots were taken through a 10x magnifier

I don't even know if I should try to get rid of them...

Next time just buy soil thats premixed specifically for cannabis.
Or do the research and build yourself some living soil over the next few months.

As for gnats you need to interupt the life cycle, put an inch or so layer of sand on top or a layer of plastic. Also dont forget to digout and repack some sand down below in the holes too.

Kill as many as possible until they cant fall in the soil anymore to make more larva Theyll die eventually. Just gotta cover up your soil .

projectinfo said:

Next time just buy soil thats premixed specifically for cannabis.
Or do the research and build yourself some living soil over the next few months.

As for gnats you need to interupt the life cycle, put an inch or so layer of sand on top or a layer of plastic. Also dont forget to digout and repack some sand down below in the holes too.

Kill as many as possible until they cant fall in the soil anymore to make more larva Theyll die eventually. Just gotta cover up your soil .

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How can I watch this disaster and not think of making some proper soil? lol
They don't sell anything even remotely related to marijuana horticulture around here so I decided on living soil a while ago, which is all mixed and doing well, although it's been warm for three days only, but some say plants will still grow in it like wildfire.

As for the gnats, apparently they only damage young plants and mature ones can get away with no issues. I just gave up on them bastards and there's no room for sand in the pots... I'll try the plastic.

My grows are more of an experiment to see how stuff works and learn, so instead of researching and copying others recipe/techniques without thought I do it my own way and then fix the problems or find better alternatives

The experience gained in due course is priceless after all

Well you seem to have it all figured out.

Good luck

I agree with the plastic . When I got the soil covered I would spray the piss out them with warm soapy water. Then take the plastic up and spray peroxide water ( mix a gallon water with a teaspoon 3 % peroxide) use both again as needed. That should get allies gone
Just my thought. Im still learning myself

You need to re pot these plants about a month ago.

Fungus gnats will fuck your bud in yield and quality.

projectinfo said:

Well you seem to have it all figured out.

Good luck

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Thanks man.

hotrodharley said:

Fungus gnats will fuck your bud in yield and quality.

Click to expand...

Ok time to kill them all

I'll go with what Uncheelbig suggested

*BUDS said:

You need to re pot these plants about a month ago.

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Yeah, space is a bit of a constraint right now since I didn't expect them to get so big in such small pots tbh
Didn't train them for the same reason.

Next grow is gonna be a scrog for sure

Yes please pot those plants ASAP!

Okay, I've come to a solution which makes both me and my plants happy!



As I've mentioned the original soil was quite crappy so I've repotted them into 8gal smart pots with organic living soil and topped with an inch of sand.
The population of gnats was drastically decreased using a vacuum cleaner, and now I just love watching them bastards crawl on that wet sand, so yea, quite pleased with the result in just one day.

Apart from that, I've tied down the branches that were touching the lights, got a few burnt leaves and a snapped stem, no biggie.

12/12 in a week then