I don't know what to do, any suggestions?

[BakWardzMan]

Help, Day 50 of 70-75 day auto flower, in soil, have Heavily brown spotted yellowish, lime green leaves. Bn using GH flora series at 1/2 strength. On a Nutes, water, nutes schedule .Feel certain its a deficiency. Ph run off was 5, but did a heavy flush…like 20g for a 5g pot. used ph water in the 6ish range. Ph is up in run off now but plant got much worse after. Ppm runoff 2150. Started adding cal/mag recently, but worried I’m gonna over do it. Buds are sticky n hairs starting to amber, thinking bout early harvest. I don’t think I can keep it going another 3weeks as getting worse by day. I read, run off testing in soil doesn’t tell u much, others certain it does..idk. At this point idc if only get a once or so, just want to get something good off of it. As this my first grow and spent well over $2500 for my setup, to get nothing after 2-3 months wld be devastating. Lower side limbs not so bad, so thought maybe light to close?..moved it up some..just don’t know if shld give heavy Nutes, or stick to plan water,nutes,water,water schedule (tht be 2 feeds a week). Just trying to limp to finish line with something…

 

[Phytoplankton]

You don’t say what you’re growing in, soil or coco/sphagnum? It may well be a calmag deficiency. You also don’t say what kind/wattage of light and how close it is. One thing I see is it’s not a nitrogen issue, as the bottom leaves look good and green. You did a big flush, which pretty much took everything out of the soil, so unless you feed, the plant is starving (which may account for it looking worse, post flush). Use the nutes at full strength for the next couple cycles, and use the calmag at the manufacturers recommended level. Your buds have several weeks to go. It will take a week to really see results. The damaged/brown leaves won’t recover, but they shouldn’t get much worse. Hopefully others will have input. Best of luck.

 

[BakWardzMan]

Thanks bro…it’s Happy frog Layered, bottom half Ocean blend upper happy frog. AC infinity iongrid T22 130watt led 1250 PPFD full spectrum, also sum supplement cfl’s on sides. She loved my lighting during vedge, and early flower, but this started ( didn’t catch it at first) as wear dark tinted glasses when working around it,sadly I didn’t notice till late. Light was 12 inch or less, but moved it up to 16” today.

 

[Janluna]

Sounds like a hell of an in vestment. There will be learning curbs along the way, but keep in mind the lessons you teach yourself, those lessons come in handy later on.

You definitely have a calcium deficiency, but there’s also iron and sulfur deficiencies. The ph fluctuations are the culprit here. I think flushing was a good move but I would dry back at an extra day than you usually do. I would also feed some iron and sulfur amendments then slowly begin to feed but ramp up to full nutrients at least till 7-10 days before harvest.

I just wouldn’t harvest just yet, you will not like the end product.

 

[SmokingWings]

Welcome to the group. There is a lot of info here to get a grower moving along to a successful harvest.

Don't be worried, a lot of new growers do not get anywhere near as far along as you have on their first grow.

have Heavily brown spotted yellowish, lime green leaves. Bn using GH flora series at 1/2 strength. On a Nutes, water, nutes schedule .Feel certain its a deficiency.

Yes, a deficiency. As @Phytoplankton brought up it does not look like a Nitrogen deficiency which often causes yellow leaves starting at the bottom of the canopy and working up. The other major cause of leaves turning yellow, especially once flowering starts, is a Potassium deficiency which very often affects the top of the canopy. In the mid to advanced Potassium deficiency stage those brownish to bronze colored spots start to appear and spread over the fingers of leaves that have already turned yellow.

Another reason I feel that it is a Potassium deficiency comes from checking the GH flora feed charts. As the plant goes into the flowering stage the charts show that the amounts of Micro and the Grow fertilizers is reduced, pretty much cut in half, but the Bloom fertilizer is increased, almost doubled. By reducing the nutrients to 1/2 strength the plant is not getting anywhere near enough Potassium. And, Potassium is one of the three Macro nutrients and it is the one that is most important to the overall health of any plant, especially a plant that is in full flowering.

At this point you should do what Phytoplankton recommended and that is to start feeding with all three of the GH Flora series (the Micro, the Grow and the Bloom) at full strength and as often as recommended on their feeding schedule. As for the Calcium-Magnesium follow the recommended dose on the bottle if a liquid or bag if a powder; most likely it will be one feeding a week. Do not double doses of the GH FLora series or the Cal-Mag to make up for lost time; I have tried it with other brands of fertilizers and it will not work.

I don’t think I can keep it going another 3weeks as getting worse by day.

Sure you can. If all goes right your plant will stop getting worse in about a week. Then coax it along with a proper watering and feeding routine for three to maybe four weeks and it should make it.

Happy frog Layered, bottom half Ocean blend upper happy frog.

Now I have a question or two for you. Why did you use two soils? And, why layer them instead of mixing?

 

[Janluna]

Don't be worried, a lot of new growers do not get anywhere near as far along as you have on their first grow.

Facts

 

[bluter]

Now I have a question or two for you. Why did you use two soils? And, why layer them instead of mixing?

it's standard advice you get at any hydro shop for growing autos in some product lines. if you look around the board you'll notice it more and more.

the happy frog is milder so the seedling doesn't burn, as it matures it grows into hotter layer below and takes advantage of the extra nutes. there's a whole series of products and custom mixes for guys that do cold/hot layering.

 

[Sueet]

I have used both Happy Frog and Ocean Forest side by side and saw virtually no difference other than that the OF has enough perlite and with HF I have to add a bit .... I really don't think the difference between them is enough to warrant needing to 'layer' it .... although the perlite difference alone might make it worth doing vs. just doing Happy Frog.

I found it very interesting tho that the Happy Frog is now more expensive than the Ocean Forest at my local shop. Ocean Forest was significantly more than Happy Frog (5-6 dollars per bag more at this same shop) when I first started growing cannabis.

 

[SmokingWings]

if you look around the board you'll notice it more and more.

Yes, I have noticed it. Rarely though have I noticed an explanation as to why to do it, especially with new growers.

 

[SmokingWings]

I have used both Happy Frog and Ocean Forest side by side and saw virtually no difference other than that the OF has enough perlite and with HF I have to add a bit .... I really don't think the difference between them is enough to warrant needing to 'layer' it .... although the perlite difference alone might make it worth doing vs. just doing Happy Frog.

This was my impression of the two. The Happy Frog is a milder soil blend often recommended for very young plants with developing root systems. Both were built to get and keep the plant going for the first several weeks. After that stage Fox Farm recommends the gardener has to start a fertilizing program to carry any heavy feeder, like what Cannabis is, through to the harvest.

 

[BakWardzMan]

Welcome to the group. There is a lot of info here to get a grower moving along to a successful harvest.

Don't be worried, a lot of new growers do not get anywhere near as far along as you have on their first grow.


Yes, a deficiency. As @Phytoplankton brought up it does not look like a Nitrogen deficiency which often causes yellow leaves starting at the bottom of the canopy and working up. The other major cause of leaves turning yellow, especially once flowering starts, is a Potassium deficiency which very often affects the top of the canopy. In the mid to advanced Potassium deficiency stage those brownish to bronze colored spots start to appear and spread over the fingers of leaves that have already turned yellow.

Another reason I feel that it is a Potassium deficiency comes from checking the GH flora feed charts. As the plant goes into the flowering stage the charts show that the amounts of Micro and the Grow fertilizers is reduced, pretty much cut in half, but the Bloom fertilizer is increased, almost doubled. By reducing the nutrients to 1/2 strength the plant is not getting anywhere near enough Potassium. And, Potassium is one of the three Macro nutrients and it is the one that is most important to the overall health of any plant, especially a plant that is in full flowering.

At this point you should do what Phytoplankton recommended and that is to start feeding with all three of the GH Flora series (the Micro, the Grow and the Bloom) at full strength and as often as recommended on their feeding schedule. As for the Calcium-Magnesium follow the recommended dose on the bottle if a liquid or bag if a powder; most likely it will be one feeding a week. Do not double doses of the GH FLora series or the Cal-Mag to make up for lost time; I have tried it with other brands of fertilizers and it will not work.


Sure you can. If all goes right your plant will stop getting worse in about a week. Then coax it along with a proper watering and feeding routine for three to maybe four weeks and it should make it.


Now I have a question or two for you. Why did you use two soils? And, why layer them instead of mixing?

Thx for info, as for soil, I went off advice from a pro grower on YouTube. ( beginner’s grow guide Strain Show ). Sounded like good advice…so maybe on next grow, mix the two, or start for few weeks in HF and when moving from1g pot to 5g, use only Ocean?…yeah I wld like to not have bought both, as it was allot $$

 

[Phytoplankton]

Thx for info, as for soil, I went off advice from a pro grower on YouTube. ( beginner’s grow guide Strain Show ). Sounded like good advice…so maybe on next grow, mix the two, or start for few weeks in HF and when moving from1g pot to 5g, use only Ocean?…yeah I wld like to not have bought both, as it was allot $$

I've used Ocean Forest for many, many, years, and found it to be a very good soil, luckily I'm not far from their headquarters and get the 3 cu ft. bags for less than $25. With Ocean Forest I add about 15% perlite, helps provide good drainage. Start your seedlings in the happy frog, and then transplant into OF. (BTW, anyone can do a youtube video, doesn't mean they know what their talking about). I see a lot of issues when people start mixing soils, happy frog is peat based, OF is not, so they act quite differently in regard to PH, water retention, and nutes.

 

[bluter]

Yes, I have noticed it. Rarely though have I noticed an explanation as to why to do it, especially with new growers.

you've probably not walked into as hydro shop with no clue of what you are doing for a very very long time

most of it comes from there, but there are other sources as well. you'll hear it in relation to autos more than anything, but they'll toss the same generic advice out for anything really.

Thx for info, as for soil, I went off advice from a pro grower on YouTube. ( beginner’s grow guide Strain Show ). Sounded like good advice…so maybe on next grow, mix the two, or start for few weeks in HF and when moving from1g pot to 5g, use only Ocean?…yeah I wld like to not have bought both, as it was allot $$

youtube suks. try get an answer from it when you have an issue like this. the guys here will pretty well get you headed the right way.

since you are using GH bottle nutes i'd just go with hp promix or sunshine #4, maybe add a little extra perlite, and learn to feed from the get go. time tested and proven combination, both easier and cheaper. if you run photos that way it's even easier.

I see a lot of issues when people start mixing soils, happy frog is peat based, OF is not, so they act quite differently in regard to PH, water retention, and nutes.

they are both ph amended, which leads to the mixing, though i agree with your assessment.


as for the present issue i pretty well agree with most of what i've seen. it's gotten, hungry and has hit flower without a bump or change in nutes to a flower balance.

it could use calmag in the mix. it was probably doing fine until it hit the end of the nutes in the soil. the hand off to bottle nutes alone can be rough. you have to watch for it like a hawk.

 

[Roy Growin]

youtube suks

 

[Janluna]

Besides being anti cannabis, youtube is s great place to learn too. You just have to find the right content creator, but also use your own judgement. Just because someone else says it works doesn’t mean it will work for you. Test it, tweak it, make it your own.

 

[BakWardzMan]

so heres another question...when using the Full strength GH and Cal/mag in 1 gallon, i have to add LOTS of PH up...till it looks like this...(picuture) bunch floaty gunk and settling at bottom. lil worried bout giving to plant. my base water started out about 7-8..but the NUTES drop it to like 5 and again, i need to use allot ph up, like many ML to get to 6.5-6.7ish. is tht the salts floating around? go ahead and give it?..i know she needs the nutes..shld i also worry about the water being to high in PPM and EC?...my strain is rated by seller as 1.6 ec....shld i let tht gunk settle, and NOT steer it up?..not letting tht slushy/slurry whitish gunk go in?.. sorry, gettin stressed, worried gonna make things worse.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Your plant is having Ph related uptake issues they will not improve this far along regardless of how you feed her it's simply to late time cannot be gotten back or reversed. Give plenty of water till harvest good luck.

 

[BakWardzMan]

Your plant is having Ph related uptake issues they will not improve this far along regardless of how you feed her it's simply to late time cannot be gotten back or reversed. Give plenty of water till harvest good luck.

Thx for replying… Still about 3 weeks out, I see now it all came down to the ph being to low. I took some bad advice at having the ph at 5.8,( and a ph pen tht was off).. but now know tht was referring to hydroponics not soil. been trying for 2weeks now to get ph up, (was 5..runoff measurement)..but Even after flushing with 20+g high ph, and watering with 6.2-7ph, I still can’t get runoff (and ph probe) to read it being over 5.8-6.0…and from what I bn reading, thts still to low for the nutes deficiencies I’m having. I’ve read to feed up till last week THEN plan water..now starting to get MORE confused as getting very opposite advice.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Most people want to help but honesty can be lacking if they are afraid you'll take it wrong. Plants have a time scale they flower in so many weeks so any screw ups cannot be fully reversed or canceled out so easy like nutrient uptake. The plants change growth patterns and also change the amount of nutrients they absorb regardless of how much you give. Age determines the plants biology and growth patterns.

 

[Sueet]

I would not use that feed solution as the nutrients are now locked up in those flakes that fell out of the water. This is the reason nutes come in multiple bottles, they don't play very nice with each other sometimes.
Things that might help:
- add the cal-mag to plain water first and let it settle for a bit (I wait about 10 mins, or more if I forget) before adding nutes.
- Stop feeding half strength.... full strength might be too much but your plant clearly says half is not enough.
- you may need a better way to test pH because it shouldn't be going that far down. You state half strength but you didn't state actual measures, are you using the GH feed schedule?
- ditch the ppm measuring, it's not very helpful for a soil grown plant. Is that the problem I wonder, are you using ppm feeding numbers (hydro) ?

It is too late to make the plant pretty again, but you can stop the damage from worsening (probably).