Opie Yutts I need your help friend

[GrowMe]

Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo

Our outdoor just started budding this morning i believe...You can barely see in the picture but its there.... :jointsmile: :dance: :jumphappy:

[GrowMe]

Ok WTF I'm kinda worried about this.. Last night i did a little pruning because there was a decent amount of dying leaves that looked to be in the way of fresh sprouting leaves..so i cut the tips of the leaves off...the brown, what appeared to be death leaves..Was this a bad idea? Look at the pic the whole damn arm came off with the leaves..I wasn't expecting the entire branch to fall off...the branch is still very moist and stinks like bud why are they coming off like that??????? Should i worry????

Thanks so much

[Opie Yutts]

Congratulations on the girl.

When you bring outdoor plants inside it is always a good idea to quarantine them for awhile until you make sure they have no pests or contagious diseases. Especially check very carefully for spider mites. They can just barely be seen with the naked eye, and would be on the underside of the leaves. I would at least run a magnifying glass over some of them to make sure. Spider mites suck, and I mean really, really bad. Never ever bring one inside if you can at all help it. You will be extremely sorry if you do. It's fine if you want to bring it in and have it touch the other plants. It's your decision, but it's also a gamble that I would not want to take. But that's just a guy that's had spider mites talking. If you're pretty sure you don't have them or other pests around there, then maybe I wouldn't worry so much.

Those leaves that fell of are dead. That's what they do when they die, so don't be worried, except to try and fix whatever is making the leaves dead. Again, this may be something to post about in the plant problem area, if there is even one of those anymore. However the top parts of the plants are looking nice and healthy at this point, so perhaps you've got the problem taken care of. Also I don't remember if you have a fan gently rustling the leaves. This is pretty important for several reasons, but i will help make the branches strong so they don't break off when they start adding weight from buds.

Also, did I mention not to let any spider mites in?

[GrowMe]

How do you think the hydro plants look Opie? Behind a little, a lot? How long till the sex shows? Is that only in flowering? I thought they show sex in vegging as well...let me know about how long it usually takes...Maybe its taking longer than normal cause we don't have a lot of watts??????/ What you think.???

THanks again!

[Opie Yutts]

They're not looking too bad really. Perhaps just a little behind, but no biggie, they've been through a lot. Sometimes sex is hard to tell without actually going to flower mode. On others it's pretty apparent, and they start showing within 3 weeks. Check for a little pod right at the top of where a branch joins the main stalk. If it's female there should be a couple hairs sticking out.

[GrowMe]

Ok i'll try and take some close up pictures..Waiting on this light to go to flower...kinda sucks, i was hoping it was going to get here before christmas..

I had a question to ask..i'm sure its a stupid question but i'm burnt right now so i figure i'll ask anyway..

When i check on the outdoor girl at night i use a tiki torch to look at her..Is it bad to have that close to it when its supposed to be sleeping???? Only for long period of time?

THanks

[GrowMe]

Is this PPM wand good? Will it last for a while and is good quality?

Nutrient Truncheon Wand EC/PPM/CF Meter Hydroponic NR! - (eBay item 320198890446 end time Dec-24-07 07:09:48 PST)

Also which PH meters are better?

Oakton Ultra Basic pH Tester - (eBay item 200147232604 end time Dec-27-07 11:39:22 PST)

NEW Milwaukee PH51 PH Tester - (eBay item 330199243401 end time Dec-26-07 11:56:07 PST)

What would you buy?? I'm thinking hte milwaukee cuase its cheap...What you think?

[Opie Yutts]

Darn, I really hate it when you type for about 10 minutes then hit the back button on the mouse. Well here we go again, only shorter probably:

Especially during flowering it becomes important to keep the dark period as dark as possible. If you change the light schedule much you increase the possibilities of problems and hermies, although they are rare. In fact sometimes people do this on purpose, that is mess with the light cycle to create hermaphrodites. Itâ??s my opinion that people in general make too big a deal about it. Iâ??ve looked in on my flowering girls many times at night, and done work in there with lights on. Iâ??ve never seen any ill effects. On the other hand I read something the other day that said if you keep your plants 100% light proof as opposed to 99%, your yield will be about 30% greater. I find this kind of hard to believe, just from my personal experiences. Just to be safe, I would keep dark, dark whenever possible.

Both Oakton and Milwaukee are great brands. If you have the money I would go with the Oakton. Itâ??s probably built slightly better and will likely last a little (or a lot) longer, but either will probably do fine.

Truncheon is a style of meter, and the one you show there is a â??knock-offâ?� of Bluelab. I recently bought both the Bluelab truncheon PPM and PH meter, and love them both. I thought they would be a little big, but it doesnâ??t bother me. In fact I think I kind of like it. Lotsa neat flashing lights for stoners too. Very easy to use, very straight forward. The Bluelab brand truncheons are waterproof. I donâ??t think the eBay add said that one was, but it might be anyway. I would think this is kind of important. Itâ??s real nice not to have to ever worry about if Iâ??m putting the meter too far in the solution. Not sure how durable that brand is (canâ??t tell what it is), but the Bluelabs are durable (the PPM meter). They say you can use it to stir your solution, and their video showed them dropping it on purpose. In general I believe you get what you pay for, but there are great deals too. I just donâ??t know. The Blue lab is about $150 for a good deal, or $180 otherwise. Love the auto on/off. Nope, sorry, thatâ??s the PH meter. The PPM meter is $110, or $135.

[Creesab]

Really nice thread .... such good help info offered, its nice.

I have the same sort of set up - buckets.

Couple key items I have noticed... 5 gallon buckets (depth) is amazing help for the root growth - plants are MUCH healthier and MUCH bigger... also a shared res. (even just another 5 gal bucket) makes keeping PH and nute levels at the right place easier.

right now I am fighting the cold in the garage and a cheap aquarium heater in the res. made all the difference.

carry on good gardeners....

[GrowMe]

Thanks opie..I really need to buy a ppm meter..i have absolutely no idea what its been hte entire grow so far...My big plant seems to have more brown and yellow spots on them...i'm thinking maybe deficiency since the biggest one is hte worst...Ive been using hte solution for hte PH...kinda sucks but better than not doinng it at all i guess...
THanks again for all hte help!!!!!!!!!!

Good stuff Creesab..what kind of lights are you running??

Bigger buckets are def a must if i do the same kind of setup next time...these are only 2.5 gallons...width seems ok but def. not deep enough...the roots reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long..

Thanks for the tip..