2 more pics
Printable View
2 more pics
PS the photos were taken 1 day after transplanting from muddy bad soil to a perlite/peat moss/soil mix. Thus they are a bit "down" at the moment. How long does it normally take for'em to recover and be fine after such a transplation, getting root bound in the new soil etc? They got watered the day the transplantation took place, where the new soil mix was soaked to be completely wet and then let excess water drain out through the drainage holes at bottom before soil was gently squeezed a bit to make it more compact and keep the plants in place. How wet should the soil be in this state, and how often should one water this kind of soil mix?
Your overwatering is causing the brown spots and the yellowing. It's getting critical. Do you have a fan on 'em? If not, do so now. Seriously...let the soil dry out between waterings. Stick your finger in, up to the 2nd knuckle. If you pull it out and there's moist potting mix in/on/under your fingernail, it isn't dry enough to water yet.
I'd ditch the tin foil too. It retains more CFL heat, than it reflects usable lumens. By the time the (23w and 30w CFL) light gets to the foil, then reflects back to the plant...the light is too weak to properly promote photosynthesis. For higher-watt CFL bulbs, the heat is still more of an issue, but the added lumens aren't necessarily worth the heat. (keep fan's on 'em)
Flat white paint works best.
Thanks for the tip, will make sure to check the dryness of the soil properly between watering.
The reason for the tin-foil is actually to keep some heat in there. It's very cold these days, winter times here in Argentina, and I do not have any heaters in the room they are located so the only heat source is the CFL lights themselves. You still think I should remove the tinfoil?
Would like to build some kind of box I could put it all inside and have some reflective surfaces as walls on the inside and a lid I could put on top to more properly isolate them from cold and keep heat inside - the CFL's don't create much heat, I don't think it will need any fans at least for the sake of the heat. Can touch those things and they are barely hot. I used to have a normal 150 w bulb hanging above the whole setup inside that closet just to get more heat but I'm currently using that socket and cable for an extra CFL now so its colder in there.
In total there are 3 plants, with two 65w CFLs and one 30w CFL. Don't have any good lamps so its a bugger to get those lights properly aligned in there and positioned, using a combination of two old office lamps and a lose cable with only a socket hanging down from the ceiling. Can't get those socket splitters etc here, was out checking the other day. Might buy a round ceiling lamp that got room for 3 bulbs that can be moved around in different directions which looked pretty fair for this purpose and to replace the rather messy setup I have now with these current lamps.
Don't know how I can get the soil less wet, dont got any fans and dont have any place with heat to put the plants unless I take them out from the whole closet and away from their lights and put them close to a heater in a different room or something? They wont get any light then though except for normal daylight coming in through windows in the room.
I thought the new soil and the fact I just transplanted them made them a bit weak and that they needed rather moist and wet soil to start properly rooting in the new mix so I did the mistake of watering them plenty after transplanting. All containers have drainage holes though so at least some of the excess water is pouring back out and filling up on the drainage-tray I have them placed.
Nope. My bad. Best not to give 'em a chill.Quote:
Originally Posted by mahavatar
Ventilation and circulation is critical for healthy ladies. You need the ventilation to keep replacing the fresh air and specifically CO2 to the plant, and circulation helps dry the soil and strengthen the stems.Quote:
Originally Posted by mahavatar
Have you thought about upgrading to a 250w or 400w HPS?Quote:
Originally Posted by mahavatar
Best overall reflective surface is flat white paint. (the washable kind)
Keep your eye's open for a cheap circulating fan.Quote:
Originally Posted by mahavatar
Watering-in after transplanting is a good idea. Just don't keep the roots saturated after that.Quote:
Originally Posted by mahavatar
In emergencies, like when the monsoon season hits, and my 5 gallon buckets won't dry...I use a smooth sided bamboo stick. I push it down into the soil till it hit's bottom, and gently create a 'funnel' shaped hole by gently turning the stick in a larger and larger circle. About a one inch (30mm or so, I think) opening at top creates an air channel for evaporation. Don't abuse the roots though. One or two of these holes on opposite sides of the pot helps bunches. Try not to have to do this too often. :thumbsup:
Thanks again for all the tips.
Now, I have been told that various rooting medias can be good to feed the plants with as it will increase the rooting and make it root more quicker. Normally this is used on cuttings, but I was told its good to feed young plants with this too.
Further I was told some good natural easy to make rooting medias are among others: honey, coconut milk and malt (honey on its own, or 50% + 50% mix coco milk and malt).
Any insights on that? Would it be a good idea to add some of either (or all) of the above-mentioned substances into the water and feed the plants with it?
Links regarding the honey, coconut milk and malt mentioend above:
How to Water Plants With Honey Water | eHow.com
planttissue
Well installed a fan and switched the 30w CFL with a 60 w standard "spotlight" bulb (to get some heat in there) and positioned the two 65w CFL's in a position better covering all 3 plants. Also removed about 70% of the big leaves from the one plant in images above that had yellowed a lot and had spots, which seems to have helped, at least the other leaves got greener and seem to have grown a bit. In addition I removed some of the larger yellowish fan-leaves of the "3-headed" plant to get some more light exposure at the nodes by their growing points.
The same goes for the third plant which I did not put up any photos of, it is not tampered with in other ways such as topping or LST as the two others.
The general update is that the plants dont really look better, but they do not look worse either, so it might help with the hotter environment and the fan installed.
My theory is that they most likely were stressed due to being both topped, LST'ed and transplanted into 3 different types of soil in one weeks time. and are hopefully recovering from that and will be fine with some time and care.
Some updated photos to show that it seems they get better. I am attaching two photos of two different plants 3 days later than the last photos I posted. Will attach the older photos first for easy comparison, and the new 3 days later photos next. In addition one photo of the third plant which have not been shown yet, as well as the new setup with fan and new bulb for heat. Notice that the plants had some yellowish and sick leaves, specially one with two very large leaves which were cut almost completely away, this seems to have helped as the two tops from the topping have grown quite much after that and more light also reaches a lower node which has grown. First the "before 3 days" pics, then the "3 days later" pics, with the new setup. Mr 3-heads does not really look worse nor better, at least that's not a bad sign, but mr two big-leaves looks greatly improved after trimming the two big leaves.
And here is Mr Tiny and some more of the closet setup.