My five babies starting to grow more quickly now but I'm worried about the lower leaves, yellowing and withering away. Any tips?Click to view attachment

I'm a newbie mate but I'll make the best suggestions I can. It looks like the plants are struggling to get enough nutrients but those grow bags will have plenty of food in them. I'd guess it could be due to poor root development stopping them getting enough food. Do you let the soil get fairly dry before watering or do you keep it constantly wet?

Hopefully someone with more experience will be along, also you could post in the general growing questions forum.

what are they in (yeah I can see its compost )

type ect ....are you feeding them ... (don't need feeding yet)

what are the temps at night and the day ??

Compost looks quite damp - what's your feeding schedule like?

Yeah I agree. My feeling was they were too wet and they do seem to be doing a bit better as they dry out. I'm not feeding them yet as there should be plenty of nutrients in the grow bags. They're in Levington "Giant Tomato Planters". I never did like this idea of not puncturing the bags and letting them fester in the damp. I punctutre straight through the bags with a big knife so they have some drainage. I think I must just have over watered them when I transplanted them from peat pots. The temperatures here are currently about 20 C day 10 C night. Inside the greenhouse it can get up to 35 C in the middle of the day.

I'm going to let the little blighters dry right out for now. Not till I see a little droop are they going to see a little drop! I'll post some more piccies soon.

It is definitely best to run a wet dry watering cycle and I know from experience watering in those grow bages can be a bit of a pain. I'm not sure you should let the compost dry right out before the next water, this could make the compost compact hindering root development further and reducing the amount of water the compost could hold. I think you just need to let it dry out until there is only a lttle moisture left in the compost (you could prod your finger in to check) and then water thoroughly, and continue doing this for every watering.

Thanks. They have definitely improved this week. I hadn't watered them at all since first transplanting them but I think I must have nearly drowned them.

carefull with big bang mate if useing nutes they seem very sensitive to them

Nutes????

OK, Cannabis plants like a wet/dry cycle to their compost. Tomato plants prefer to be continually fed with water. That's a very basic explanation, but it works. When fruiting toms, you generally need a 'dripper' type arrangment to keep the feed levels up and stop the fruits from splitting/shrivelling.

K!

nutriants they burn quite easy

Nutes are nutirents, as in plant food, you'll soon get used to the lingo if you spend some time on this site .

I'll reiterate that I'm a newbie but my guess is that your heavy first watering combined with the poor drainage of grow bags has meant that your compost has been waterlogged with not enough air in it for the roots and micro herd, in turn preventing the plants getting enough food. In my humble opinion I would consider moving those plants out of the grow bags and into some pots so that they can drain better, you could still use the compost out of the grow bags. Hope this helps

Or even - nutrients. Thanks to all for putting my dumb brain in gear. Net2-3 you're a star and obviously far wiser than a "newbie". I "feel" that you're right and I shall see if I can source some large cheap pots tomorrow!!

poetpeter try to get the biggest pots you can as they are not going to be ready until about october time. bigger the pots more root mass more bud have you got any idea what pot size you had in mind.

The compost in tomato bags is very heavy - retains moisture longer I think - perhaps you need to get a bag of multi-compost and mix the two together to lighten it up a bit so that you can let it dry out quicker. You gonna need more compost anyway - dont get tomato bags though - just my two-penneth

SL

Tell me! I guess I'm looking at the biggest I can get!

I'm new at this too but many people recommend potting on, doubling the size of the pot each time, eg. 3lt, 6lt, 12lt, or there about. This encourages the development of a healthy root mass and stops the soil in a big pot with a small plant going stale and anaerobic. And more roots = more flowers.

If you really want to continue with the growbags I heard that stacking a double layer is a good idea so that the roots have further to dive. It sounds like drainage is a hassle though.

Good luck.

hi peter,
net is very wise for a newbie, must love his garden unlike most of us .
im growing big bang this year outdoors. havent germed any yet but as soon as i do il pop back in to see what im expecting from them as yours will be far ahead of mine. your doing good for a new grower so keep up the good work. goodluck buddy.

net is very wise and rub is right pot up as you go a long saves you useing nutriuntes on them as they can get it from the compost you are useing come about august time try to have them in at least 20 litre pots bigger if you can get hold of some to finish them off dont have to be pots you could use waste paper bins anything like that will do the trick as long as you make drainage holes in the bottom not sure how many litres at least 10 plus my mate last year bought some waste paper bins from wilkinsons for £1 each good luck buddy i wish you all the best but be carefull when you start giving them nutes as they are a very sensitive plant and burns quite easy but you will get plenty of advice on here.ferret

What A Difference A Week Makes!

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Thanks for all your advice. I hunted high and low for pots and yes, fate took me to Wilkinson's too - three gallon buckets for 99p each!

Transplanting went well. The compost from the Giant Tomato Planters was really gloopy and wet so I mixed in some new, dry multipurpose compost and some gravel. The rootballs were really small but they've all taken off in their new homes. I still haven't watered them since the transplant. I think that might happen for the first time tomorrow.

Wow looking really nice and healthy, I've got a couple Big Bangs outdoors this summer so i'll be keenly watching your grow!
Good Luck!

looking good peter think they have also taken off due to repotting them because they probably didnt like the wet soil so i think you have alot more growing comming your way in a couple of days if this weather stays nice. i have only just germed my big bangs so not expecting much from them but hope its a nice smoke anyway goodluck mate.

Looking really nice, good luck with the grow

Hi PoetPeter, I had the same problem regarding the lower leaves dying off. I completely ruled out over-watering as the problem as they were on a pretty regimented wet/dry cycle. I suspected the compost and wether or not the changing of the compost (from Evergreen with added John Innes to Morrisons supermarket own brand), has been the deciding factor, or just coincided with the good weather, I'll never know. I do suspect the compost though as I've never had seedlings performing so poorly until this years batch and it was quite a dense compost compare to the Morrisons stuff which feels pretty good in the hand, if that's anything to go by.

Good to see your problems seem to have been sorted out and I look forward to you dcumenting the rest of your grow.




Rainman

Glad to see the plants are happy in their new pots, sounds like the state of the compost in the grow bags could well have been the problem. Did you use horticultural grit as I think ordinary gravel can be a problem if it leaches minerals into the compost which can lock out nutrients to the plant?