Grumpy Toad's Fall Fruity Fiasco

[Grumpy Toad]

Day 8 of flower

Got my new dehumidifier running and things are leveling out. Average temps are 80F / lights on and 74F / lights off. Relative humidity is running low 50's lights on or off. I've been pulling a few leaves here and there whenever I see a large leaf laying on another or blocking potential bud sites. I like being able to look down through a plant and see a path for air and light to penetrate.

At the start of flower I began adding Bud Candy to my nutrients. This week I am also adding Big Bud to the mixture. Nutrients are consistent at 1.16 EC and 6.2 ph. Plants are using approximately 10 cups (2.5 liters) every other day.

A couple side notes regarding companies standing up for their products. I sent a bottle of Mammoth P microbes back because it smelled like death. Mammoth P sent me a replacement, no questions asked and at no cost to me. My old dehumidifier quit working correctly and after I replaced it with a beefier unit I thought about the warranty. Lucky me, it was still covered for another week. Called them on it and a new one is coming to me at no charge. I was going to sell it but decided that I'm going to keep it as a backup. I have a back up exhaust fan and dehumidifier now so hiccups can be kept to a minimum. The brand on the Dehumidifier was Hogar-Labs.

[Wrh]

Always good to know which companies we should be supporting thanks for the info grumpy , plants look great too

[duke]

looking great grumpy,some huge leaves a great sign ime,cheers

[Sage]

Nice clean set up looks good.

[HRH]

looking lovely.
Amazing customer service or what.

[Grumpy Toad]

I have an issue with my grow that I've never encountered before. The upper branches/stalks of the plants are very flexible / rubbery. It seems to have affected all the plants so let's say it's not strain specific. Here's background on what led up to this:

I flipped the lights to 12/12 10 days ago. Lights are at 24" above tallest plants and total wattage is 300. Tent temperature and humidity are about spot on 98% of the time. Plenty of ventilation, both replacing air (exhaust to outdoors) and circulation.

I added Bud Candy to the nutrient mix starting that day. One week later I added Big Bud as well. Both these additives were over a year old, from previous runs. I also got a new bottle of Mammoth P that I returned because of the smell. I'm not 100% sure but I may have added 2 ml to that batch of nutes.

Fast forward 4 days and I'm seeing these floppy upper branches.

So far I have replaced all of the old bottles of left over additives and I'm hoping that something was off in the old bottles and good fresh mix will get things back on track. I've fed twice with this mix and things are stable. No worse but no better.

I am open to any and all thoughts or ideas on what is causing this.

[Wrh]

Is it just the stretch grump all new stuff is very pliable or is it limp?

[Grumpy Toad]

It's the upper new growth. It's not falling over or anything but just seems more pliable than usual. Other than that they look healthy as can be and praying to the lights. Maybe I'm just being a Nervous Nellie.

Little video:

To the Video app.php/vgallery/grumpy toad/87/1082

[Wrh]

That's all fine mate don't forget your in stretch you've recently taken loads off all she's doing is regrowing but really quickly and doing an excellent job of it

[seymore_budz]

Looking good @Grumpy Toad. As far as the bendy, weak stems. I doubt it's much to worry about. If you recently changed the light period, the plants will stretch and the new shoots can be a little weak if the growth is rapid enough. If that's the case, they will harden up in a few days or so.

Probably worth checking the root zone. Give the pots a sniff to see if you can smell any funkiness. If they're struggling to take on water, that would also make new stems a little soft. Also, make sure you're watering enough. Your soilless mix is very light and if the planta are healthy, and you're adding bud candy and big bud, they may be thirsty. I find cannabis takes up and shit-ton of water in the first stages of flowering. I've been caught recently where I loaded up my res with 40ltr of water and they burned through the majority in 5 days. The water dropped below the pump intake and the plants nearly died. I found them pretty much dead

Silicon will also help here too. Within small tents like that, the air doesn't move as freely as it does in a larger area. This can also lead to "lazy" stems as they've not had enough excersise. You're a bit late now as you shouldn't really add it while in flower as it slows transpiration, but for next time consider some silicon.

Plants grown in soil will take up Si from the soil. When growing hydro, there is no silicon available to the plants. This can cause issues like above. Especially if the room gets a little hot and humid. If that's the case, they do tend to bolt in the early stages and you get these weak shooting stems with large gaps between internodes.

If you do decide to add silicon to a grow in the future, I highly recommend the newer, nano-silicic acid over potassium silicate for several reasons. It's more available to the plants, it doesn't affect PH at all and even though you pay a little more, the application rate if tiny! Normally between 0.1-0.2ml/L. Some brands I've used and still use are Buddah's tree solar power green and Atami Silic Boost. The Atami stuff is more expensive, but double the concentration.

Anyway, enough rambling :) In short, nothing to worry about yet, but keep an eye on things.

Good luck bud!