Cheap grow issues

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What is your experience level? novice

Your Equipment:
.1) Type and wattage of lights. 250w CFL
.2) Distance from tops? 3-4 inches
.3) Reflector type? None
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? Yes
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? Yes
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule? 250w RED CFL, 20/4 schedule

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil, cheap seedling soil bought from B&Q
.8) Size of container. 6 litres

Your nutrients and water:
.9) Source of water. tap and 6.5ph
10) Method of checking water ph. aquarium test kit
11) Method of adjusting water ph. baking soda
12) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule; 20.20.20 1.25ml/l
13) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering? watering/feeding every 5-6 days
14) Any additives or tea's? Peroxide (17.5%) 1ml/l
15) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate? stable
16) What is your ingoing water's ph? I PH it to 6.5, cant check run off
17) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray? No

Your growroom:
18) Indoors or outdoors? Indor
19) What size of closet, room or hut? 5ft*2ft*2ft
20) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? ...With lights off? 22c on and 18c off
21) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom? No and really checked lots

Your strain:
22) What strain are you growing? AKR and Pineapple express
23) Is this an photoperiod strain? No
24) How old is the plant? 9.5 weeks
25) In what life-cycle is it? one almost at harvest, other not really budding
26) From seeds or clones? seed

Hi all and thanks for looking to help me.

I have been running a thread in indoor growing trialing a cheep nutrient and soil grow, and was hoping people would help with issues as I went along. Unfortunately that has not been the case, and I am now in danger of loosing the entire grow.

So, I have an AKR and a Pineapple Express... they were both extremely healthy until about week 7. At week 7 the PE looked like it only have about 3 weeks left to go as it was budding so well, however I noticed a couple of rust spots on it, so tried the usual of adjusting PH, flushing, garden lime. Unfortunately nothing worked and it is now at the point that all leaves are dying and some buds are showing the rust spots. 4th and 5th pictures

Now, the AKR has not shown any signs of deficiency, but it is not budding up and is growing really big for a 6 liter pot. the 2nd and 3rd picture of today at 9.5 weeks old.

I also forgot to pack my soil with perlite, so I think they have been oxygen starved, hence the peroxide additive.

I think I have overfed them, as the nutes I use aren't anything I have seen before and therefore it is trial and error.

If I was earlier in the grow, I would probably plain water feed them a while and add some epsom salts in the mix.

However, I am so late on that with the PE I am thinking of plain water feeding a week then harvesting whatever isnt dead.

Is there anything I can do at this late stage for either the AKR or PE?
 

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they are both looking like they have still got a fair way to go so you should have time to try and save them. the spots on your leaves look like cal-mag deficiency.

what I suggest is to firstly visit Holland and barret and get some molasses, meridian or the own brand it doesn't matter. Then add one teaspoon per litre in the feed.
put the kettle on and dissolve the molasses into the hot water then add this to your normal feed.

the other thing I would do is get 4 egg shells wash and dry them, then crush them into powder(this shortens the time it takes to become available to the plant), take a pen or chopstick and make about 5 holes in the soil around the plant and sprinkle the powder into these holes and close up the holes by massaging the soil around it and watering. This will deliver calcium to the plant but takes about a week to begin being effective. (in my experience)

Another alternative is to buy a cal mag nutrient and add it to the feed, I am a bit of an organic nut so that's why I go with the above method.

how do you ph your feed? if you are using a ph pen then you can check your run off by collecting the run off water and testing with your ph pen. if you know that then we can work out your soil ph for you

Good luck rescuing them
 
Thanks seraphim19, really appreciate the advice - much much gratitude and respect.

Would epsom salts work faster?

Do you think I could of done anything to avoid this?

I thought it was a cal-mag deficiency at first and treated with mashed up and dissolved garden lime - only now do I realize this may not have had enough mag in it. I also think I may have contributed to lockout by over nute'ing them, I have read that too much N can cause slow budding and also cause simultaneous nutrient lockout.

I am a chemical man at the minute, what would be good is if I could add something to the soil which works with chem's but lasted the whole grow (or limited maintenance). As the title states - am looking for an easy cheap ride - it hurts paying £100 for commercial cannabis nutes for a personal grow - I bought biobizz (all the range) for my first grows and they all had major issues - one of the grows I switched to these chem nutes part way through and it saved the grow with the biggest yield I had ever had.

Sorry, I dont have a pen and cant check runoff - I know they are a good investment (like proper fans, cf and lights), but have limited funds and am trying to get buy without one; I hear you get what you pay for with them, so any cheap suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
I can appreciate having limited funds mate.

I would say that some of the kit saves more than it costs. like a ph pen can be had for as little as £7, soil ph spike for about £3.

Epsom salt will help with the magnesium but not calcium.

I am sorry to hear about your issues with the bio bizz, I swear by them. and for a cheap and easy grow you can use fish mix all the way through with no problems
 
I thought I would give you a helping hand with getting some bits on a budget and a low cost low maintenance soil

ok here goes

firstly I will give you a good low maintenance soil mix:

b&q seedling soil 60%

perlite 20%

vermiculite 20%

2 powdered egg shells per 8 litres

1 tablespoon of bat guano per 8 litres

1 tablespoon of fish blood and bone per 8 litres

I have grown in this mix with no added nutrients and got decent results, now I still use this mix but I also feed with bio bizz grow and bloom and some root stimulator the nutes have massively increased yields. I know you have had issues with these nutes but I guarantee if you choose to use them again and let me know when you are growing with them, then I will be on hand to make sure everything goes smoothly for you.

ok now for some budget kit that works.

ph pen - £5.76

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hot-Sell-D...item51b0e61bd0

soil ph meter - £3.64

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Useful-3-i...item3f265eba47

bat guano - £10.65 and it will last for a year or more.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plagron-Ba...item41609b9f17

fish blood and bone - £1 from any good pound shop

perlite and vermiculite £5 each from b&q

Eggshell - £0 if you eat eggs

so by my calculations you can get a good start on things for under £30 and your first decent harvest will more than make up for this cost.

also if you do choose to try bio bizz again then here is a link for bloom and grow for £11.90

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIOBIZZ-GR...item19e0a5e051

I wish I could help you with the chemicals side of things but I am so against them that my knowledge in this area is very limited and I wouldn't want to give you any bad advice.
 
seraphim19 again, your advice is very much appreciated.

Can I confirm the B&Q soil is this one http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garde...d-Cutting-Compost-12L-10288067?skuId=10718773

And this is the only Vermiculite they have http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garde...Verve-Vermiculite-10L-10288076?skuId=10718782

Fortunately I have some perlite :)

I powdered the egg shells today and fed as instructed - haven't managed to get any molasses yet due to weekend.

The PE now has no white pistols left, they are all red and more buds are now spotting whilst most fan leaves are nearly dead. The AKR I LST'd a few days ago and it has shown no sign of straightening up - its like the plant is in stasis.

Anyway, I am giving them both a week then chop chop the PE as I may get 15g or so off it and the AKR will just get bind - I will then start fresh using your approach.

many thanks
 
the soil you put the link for is suitable, and that is the right vermiculite.

The molasses feed will start working immediately but the eggshell will take a week minimum to start working. also even though the plant will be getting the nutrients it needs, it will still take 3 -7 days to show any significant improvement.

That being said I am looking forward to your next grow so I can help you get a bumper harvest.
 
the soil you put the link for is suitable, and that is the right vermiculite.

The molasses feed will start working immediately but the eggshell will take a week minimum to start working. also even though the plant will be getting the nutrients it needs, it will still take 3 -7 days to show any significant improvement.

That being said I am looking forward to your next grow so I can help you get a bumper harvest.

thanks, I am looking forward to my next grow too - the anticipation is making me toke up :)

oh, I should have said, I used bio heaven instead of raw molasses due me not living any where near a health store that is open.
 
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ok if you have no health store then any supermarket will have black treacle which will also do the job
 
thanks seraphim19, I went to the supermarket to buy some black treacle and they had the molasses next to it - I also picked up some epsom salts from the local chemist for a £1 :)

so, thought I would post an update a week on... they have been fed twice with molasses and epsom salts since originally posting as well as adding the egg shells to the soil, and as a result the deficiency has stopped progressing in the PE and she has started showing some new growth (pistols and budding).

all in all I think I may get something around an oz from the PE. The AKR hasnt really fattened up, but she has some buds now which appear really tight, so I hope a good 10g off her now too. since this is all personal use - I consider that a good result.

the pics are of the Pineapple Express.

many thanks again.
 

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