Is this deficiency or lockout?

[Gshoo]

Hi Guys, is this deficiency or lockout? I can’t wrap my head around it, there are always some problematic leaves. I feed with all the nutrients that the producer recommends and give cal-mag in addition. At least I think that I have a good watering system, I check the weight of the pot and wait until it wilt down as you can see on the image. I can’t get the whole plant green, there is always some of the big fan leaves dying.
To me it seems like the plant has 3 different problems or maybe I’m paranoid. Rusty spots, yellowing and drying leaves and those broken leaves. Maybe it’s a watering problem. I don't know they might have connection. It’s outdoors

 

[Crane]

I always seem to have the same problem: it's never perfect. To me, those spots look like a calcium deficiency, but overall the plant looks very healthy.

Which soil mix are you using? It's also been my experience that whenever something like that shows up, the best course of action has been to do nothing nutrients-wise; so in that sense I guess the answer is it's more probably a lockout than deficiency. But it looks like you have a nice mobile pot so you can flush the soil out. Somebody else will maybe have the exact amounts, but raise the pot on another container and water it with a large amount of water (preferably rain water), like 20-30 liters of it if you can manage. That'll take all the accumulated nutrients out, and then you can continue with a conservative fert program.

It'll take time to get better, and the affected leaves won't get better, but that's ok. That seems to be an outdoor grow so you still have plenty of time.

I've come to the understanding that a soil container grow should be flushed/rinsed maybe once a month or so. I've went the way of adding ferts as different symptoms appear, but that has never worked. Less is not more, but more is definitely less after a point I think a single dose of calmag should be enough. Also, your leaves are pretty dark green so don't up the N too much maybe?

I'm no expert but I've been struggling with the very same problems for the last year. Good luck!

 

[Gshoo]

I always seem to have the same problem: it's never perfect. To me, those spots look like a calcium deficiency, but overall the plant looks very healthy.

Which soil mix are you using? It's also been my experience that whenever something like that shows up, the best course of action has been to do nothing nutrients-wise; so in that sense I guess the answer is it's more probably a lockout than deficiency. But it looks like you have a nice mobile pot so you can flush the soil out. Somebody else will maybe have the exact amounts, but raise the pot on another container and water it with a large amount of water (preferably rain water), like 20-30 liters of it if you can manage. That'll take all the accumulated nutrients out, and then you can continue with a conservative fert program.

It'll take time to get better, and the affected leaves won't get better, but that's ok. That seems to be an outdoor grow so you still have plenty of time.

I've come to the understanding that a soil container grow should be flushed/rinsed maybe once a month or so. I've went the way of adding ferts as different symptoms appear, but that has never worked. Less is not more, but more is definitely less after a point I think a single dose of calmag should be enough. Also, your leaves are pretty dark green so don't up the N too much maybe?

I'm no expert but I've been struggling with the very same problems for the last year. Good luck!

Thanks man! I’ll see how it goes, I already flushed the soil once a month and a half ago. The medium is peat, sphagnum + perlite.
It’s just weird how some people’s plants look perfect without even nutes sometimes and I’m trying to do everything what is recommended and it doesn’t work haha. I guess I need more experience to start to understand the plants.

 

[Hdinkleman]

ok so im gonna chime in here.

whats your ph going in?
is there chlorine in your water?
what nutes are you using?

personally i also think its calcium related, but if youre using nutes as directed and following a schedule that you already add calmag to, my first thought is your ph may be slightly off causing the plant to hinder its nute uptake.

it doesnt look bad, my outdoor plant has a few leaves like that, but its still growing like a champ

p.s i dont ph my water at all, its a fully organic supersoil/direct ground grow

 

[Gshoo]

ok so im gonna chime in here.

whats your ph going in?
is there chlorine in your water?
what nutes are you using?

personally i also think its calcium related, but if youre using nutes as directed and following a schedule that you already add calmag to, my first thought is your ph may be slightly off causing the plant to hinder its nute uptake.

it doesnt look bad, my outdoor plant has a few leaves like that, but its still growing like a champ

p.s i dont ph my water at all, its a fully organic supersoil/direct ground grow

The ph is between 6.5-6.4. The nutes I use are fish mix, alga mix, acti vera (aloe vera extract), light blooming nutes andcal-mag. I use water from the sink, I don’t know how much chlorine there is. On the medium pack it says that is adjusted to 6.2ph. I even thought that I give too much calcium and it locks the magnesium, but doesn’t look like mag deficiency. I mix cal + mag and I give the maximum amount stated on the bottle per 1l. Also the maximum amount of nutrients stated on the bottles for the veg stage, apart from the blooming one. Again per 1l of water.

 

[Emilya Green]

The lower leaves going yellow make me think that we are seeing a small bit of complaint starting up at the roots... im thinking you are quickly becoming rootbound. The rust spots, not being little spots at the top of the plant, still make me think magnesium, even though you are giving calmag. Since you are in a soilless mix, your pH needs are in the hydro range... are you sure you are adjusting correctly and allowing the magnesium to be mobile enough to be taken up into the plant? If your pH is where it needs to be, then I would simply up the dosage of the calmag a bit and see if that stops it from progressing. The spots you have now will never repair themselves, but you should be working toward stopping more spots from showing up and the leaves already affected not being completely cannibalized.

 

[Emilya Green]

The ph is between 6.5-6.4. The nutes I use are fish mix, alga mix, acti vera (aloe vera extract), light blooming nutes andcal-mag. I use water from the sink, I don’t know how much chlorine there is. On the medium pack it says that is adjusted to 6.2ph. I even thought that I give too much calcium and it locks the magnesium, but doesn’t look like mag deficiency. I mix cal + mag and I give the maximum amount stated on the bottle per 1l. Also the maximum amount of nutrients stated on the bottles for the veg stage, apart from the blooming one. Again per 1l of water.

This is not appropriate for a soilless medium. Adjust your pH to the 5.5-6.1 range, probably near 5.8pH, and I think your problem will go away without changing any of the dosages.

 

[Hdinkleman]

peat needs a lower ph than soil, its b

The ph is between 6.5-6.4. The nutes I use are fish mix, alga mix, acti vera (aloe vera extract), light blooming nutes andcal-mag. I use water from the sink, I don’t know how much chlorine there is. On the medium pack it says that is adjusted to 6.2ph. I even thought that I give too much calcium and it locks the magnesium, but doesn’t look like mag deficiency. I mix cal + mag and I give the maximum amount stated on the bottle per 1l. Also the maximum amount of nutrients stated on the bottles for the veg stage, apart from the blooming one. Again per 1l of water.

Peat needs 5.5-6.5, ph your nutes to 5.7-5.9 during veg and it will uptake the correct nutes.
thanks

 

[Hdinkleman]

This is not appropriate for a soilless medium. Adjust your pH to the 5.5-6.1 range, probably near 5.8pH, and I think your problem will go away without changing any of the dosages.

we were typing the same thing at the same time lmao.
you beat me to it i am driving to work lol

 

[Gshoo]

This is not appropriate for a soilless medium. Adjust your pH to the 5.5-6.1 range, probably near 5.8pH, and I think your problem will go away without changing any of the dosages.

@Emilya, @Hdinkleman thank you for the advice. I see other people suggesting that if you feed with synthetic nutes the ph should be 5.5-6.1, but if you use with organic then 6.2-6.8, I don’t know if that’s true. I feed with organic.

 

[Hdinkleman]

@Emilya, @Hdinkleman thank you for the advice. I see other people suggesting that if you feed with synthetic nutes the ph should be 5.5-6.1, but if you use with organic then 6.2-6.8, I don’t know if that’s true. I feed with organic.

ph is based on medium not nutes in just for future reference

 

[Gshoo]

ph is based on medium not nutes in just for future reference

Great, next time I will adjust it and try to see how it works in the next weeks. Thanks one more time!

 

[Hdinkleman]

did you mix the medium yourself?

is there a brand name? are you sure there is no coco mixed in as well? i havent personally seen plain peat in a bag at my local hydro shop. sometimes the bags are confusing

 

[Gshoo]

did you mix the medium yourself?

is there a brand name? are you sure there is no coco mixed in as well? i havent personally seen plain peat in a bag at my local hydro shop. sometimes the bags are confusing

Hi @Hdinkleman, you can see the photos of the medium below. I don’t know if there is any coco, on the bag they say only “major constituents”. I have never grown in coco coir but there are these hairy like stuff in the mix which makes me think that there is some. I don’t know if the peat has similar structures. Reminds me of back in the days when I had tarantulas, they were living on coco substrate and I’ve seen similar hairs. The brand name is Biobizz and the mix is Light Mix, in the grow shop they swear this is the best they have. Why the brand adjusts the ph to 6.2 if the optimal level is 5.8?

 

[Crane]

Thanks man! I’ll see how it goes, I already flushed the soil once a month and a half ago. The medium is peat, sphagnum + perlite.
It’s just weird how some people’s plants look perfect without even nutes sometimes and I’m trying to do everything what is recommended and it doesn’t work haha. I guess I need more experience to start to understand the plants.

Hahhah yes I know exactly what you mean, my plants always end up looking like crap even though I try my darnest. But we'll get there!

 

[Emilya Green]

Why the brand adjusts the ph to 6.2 if the optimal level is 5.8?

The medium is buffered to 6.2pH. This is so that when you water correctly at 5.8pH, the medium introduces an upward drift toward 6.2 as it dries out, allowing you to see the entire usable range of 5.5-6.1... depending on where you come in at. I would recommend occasional dips down to 5.5 just to pick up elements most mobile down there, but mainly come in at 5.8pH and let the medium do its thing.

 

[Ledarious]

Hi Guys, is this deficiency or lockout? I can’t wrap my head around it, there are always some problematic leaves. I feed with all the nutrients that the producer recommends and give cal-mag in addition. At least I think that I have a good watering system, I check the weight of the pot and wait until it wilt down as you can see on the image. I can’t get the whole plant green, there is always some of the big fan leaves dying.
To me it seems like the plant has 3 different problems or maybe I’m paranoid. Rusty spots, yellowing and drying leaves and those broken leaves. Maybe it’s a watering problem. I don't know they might have connection. It’s outdoors

To be honest with youyour pot might be your problem.If it’s getting a lot of sun your root zone might be getting too warm!

 

[Gshoo]

To be honest with youyour pot might be your problem.If it’s getting a lot of sun your root zone might be getting too warm!

I thought about that too, but I’m not sure what can I do to prevent the sun from hitting the pot. The only idea that I have is to wrap the pot in a cooking foil so it can reflect the sun light but that won’t be a stable solution and I’m going to attract attention for sure.

 

[Ledarious]

I thought about that too, but I’m not sure what can I do to prevent the sun from hitting the pot. The only idea that I have is to wrap the pot in a cooking foil so it can reflect the sun light but that won’t be a stable solution and I’m going to attract attention for sure.

I painted my planters for my cucumbers white because they were actually cooking my roots,seems to work.Also I would find a way to get it off that tile,looks like it gets pretty hot in the sun.I can’t walk barefoot on mine on sunny days

 

[Gshoo]

Hi @Hdinkleman, @Emilya,

Sorry to bother again guys, but after I’ve changed the ph to 5.8 the plants started having more problems. The first 4 pictures are from an Blueberry auto that is in the same medium and I switched the ph to 5.8 from 6.5. It started getting some spots. The images with the yellow leaves are from the Super skunk above. Do you have any ideas guys? Shall I up or down the ph, maybe up it to 6.2? This is the buffer of the medium.

Blueberry auto

Super Skunk