In just two days plants look like crap!

[b2280]

Hey all,

I'm a first time grower and I'm currently living in South America on a low budget. So in all honesty it's a pretty low budget grow setup. I've got a cardboard box that used to have a washing machine in it with a door cut into the side and a few holes on top that I fed the lights through. I've got 3 27 watt bulbs and 2 42 watt bulbs. We don't have fans or any proper ventilation, but I work from home so I'm opening it up and getting air in there every hour. But its now gettin to be summer here so its getting hotter. on average 75-85 during the day and around 60 at night. but it has been this weather for about 2 weeks and heat hasnt seemed to be an issue, until possibly now.

I'm 3 weeks into flowering and although the 2 plants aren't big, they were still perfectly healthy. No sign of any nutrient deficiencies, as I've been using a basic 15:15:15 nutes every other watering. They were totally fine and I was stoked on having healthy plants this far along (although tiny). But then I watered 3 days ago, normal water, sat out for a few days, same water i'd used everytime with no problems. And out of nowhere they started to look like they had signs of crazy heat damage even though no conditions had really changed...but there are also a couple leaves where it looks like it could be some sort of nutrient deficiencies...maybe a combination of problems...

any ideas or insight would be a huge help..this is my first babies and I feel like I'm about to lose them and I'm freakin a bit, so any help is greatly appreciated!

See photos below:





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b2280 Reviewed by b2280 on 11-29-2012. In just two days plants look like crap! Hey all, I'm a first time grower and I'm currently living in South America on a low budget. So in all honesty it's a pretty low budget grow setup. I've got a cardboard box that used to have a washing machine in it with a door cut into the side and a few holes on top that I fed the lights through. I've got 3 27 watt bulbs and 2 42 watt bulbs. We don't have fans or any proper ventilation, but I work from home so I'm opening it up and getting air in there every hour. But its now gettin to be Rating: 5

[b2280]

You all may need a little more info on my setup...
I usually keep the lights about 2 inches from the plants.. and with 7 weeks of veg and 3 of flowering with no problems and nothing changing I'm a little confused with what happened out of nowhere.
Soil is a mixture of perlite, hummus and some mid-high quality PH neutral mixture(they dont have american brands here so saying the name wouldnt help)
... the plants are only around 14 inches tall and are in about 1.5 gallon pot..
humidity is usually between 40-60%
I'd water once every 5-6 days alternating waterings with standard nutrients
I havent tested PH... but have had no deficiences or issues till now.
aluminum foil for reflectivity on the walls
Strain is OG kush

the problem is being in South America I don't have access to all the standard tools and things that everybody talks about easily finding at home depot and places like that in the US. I know my setup is a little wack. I know I could do things better, but given a very small budget and limited access to all the tools you can find in the US I;m doing what I can. Up until now it worked fine...and now I'm just confused whats happening..

[polishpollack]

I'm guessing that since you have no fan, the lack of air movement is contributing to your problem. 85F for an indoor grow is too hot. I think you might be giving too much fert at 15,15,15. Most grow stores don't sell such hot fert. Opening the door once in a while isn't enough. The biggest mistake indoor growers make is failing to provide adequate ventilation and air movement in the grow space. Remember, plants are genetically designed to live outdoors, under the sun, getting knock around by wind. Airflow is so important. Get a fan, not real big but about 10 inches in diameter. Put it low, preferable an oscillating type, and get low temp air in and high temp air out. Also, let soil dry out and easy on such a high ratio fert.

[b2280]

I'm guessing that since you have no fan, the lack of air movement is contributing to your problem. 85F for an indoor grow is too hot. I think you might be giving too much fert at 15,15,15. Most grow stores don't sell such hot fert. Opening the door once in a while isn't enough. The biggest mistake indoor growers make is failing to provide adequate ventilation and air movement in the grow space. Remember, plants are genetically designed to live outdoors, under the sun, getting knock around by wind. Airflow is so important. Get a fan, not real big but about 10 inches in diameter. Put it low, preferable an oscillating type, and get low temp air in and high temp air out. Also, let soil dry out and easy on such a high ratio fert.

Thanks for the response. I was always giving pretty low doses of ferts maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of the recommended doses. And since I was watering pretty much once a week it was only getting low doses once every 2 weeks. I was under the impression it was maybe not enough... But then again Im the beginner so I'm not really sure of anything haha..

About the fan...There isnt really space within the box I'm growing in because its so small...I was thinking of getting a little 5 inch fan that I can install into the side of the box. I read that it if you're only going to install one fan that put it up high blowing out to get rid of the hot air and then just have a hole a little bigger than the size of the fan on the bottom to suck cool air in.. Does this sound like a decent plan or would I need 2 fans?

thanks again

[polishpollack]

If you're concerned about temp, the yes, put the fan up top and blowing outward, or put another hole if necessary up top and have fan blow across the top and hot air out. Plants need to knocked around by moving air however, so putting one down low is good too because if you don't, the plant stems won't strengthen and the plant will fall over, believe it or not. Plants need space to grow and a small box is not ideal, but you make due with what you have to work with.

[Faddenator]

My guess is you've got some salt buildup from your nutes. probably causing some nutrient lockout which is why they went bad so fast. try giving her a nice hefty flush with properly ph'd water. it should wash out the salts and replace it with delicious, ph balanced h2o.

[b2280]

I worked on the ventilation and got a fan which I have to imagine is definitely helping it out. Unsure of what else to do I also flushed it. So now, about a week later, it is doing better. The plant is really sad looking as about 40% of it completely browned up in 3 days...I've lost so much of them its just depressing but it is doing better and I should get something out of it so I'll just have to be stoked to get a few healthy buds off of it... oh well..a learning experience for sure.

[Faddenator]

I worked on the ventilation and got a fan which I have to imagine is definitely helping it out. Unsure of what else to do I also flushed it. So now, about a week later, it is doing better. The plant is really sad looking as about 40% of it completely browned up in 3 days...I've lost so much of them its just depressing but it is doing better and I should get something out of it so I'll just have to be stoked to get a few healthy buds off of it... oh well..a learning experience for sure.

Just watch your feeding schedule and never over do it. I always start with half the recommended dosages just to see how the plant reacts, then adjust accordingly. And don't worry, you'll get some bud. Cannabis is extremely adaptive and can survive just about anything. May not be chronic but you'll get something. Keep us updates and post some pics if possible!

[DrFever]

Here is my thoughts on your issues , 15 -15 - 15 is to much for flowering period the nitrogen part , anyways even tho N is needed in flower not as much is needed
i realize your on a tight budget but your going to have purchase some bloom nutes at any botanic store ask for tomato ferts they will do you just fine.
When entering Flowering stage you need more P and K and less N
s for your temps there fine 85 as long as you got good air movement and air exchange plants will thrive but remember warmer temps means more transpiration from plants so more watering s are needed
Your plants appear to be frying up this is from the excess build of of Nitrogen in your medium so here is how your going to fix it your going to make a batch about 1/4 strength of that new bloom nutes and flush your medium 4 times the volume of it then things should come back in order

Good luck Doc

[b2280]

Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who offered some guidance! I think it was a combination of needed better ventilation and a flushing. Although they definitely took a hit and I lost about half of the size to dried/burnt out leaves (and they were damn small to start with) I am still going to be getting some decent buds off of it. I was prepared to lose both of them completely, so the fact I'm getting any bud, even if its just 5-15grams I'm still happy to have anything. Here are a few pics a couple days before I'm going to harvest.

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