Troubleshooting help!

[Big Chris]

Hey all, I'm a new grower looking for some troubleshooting help - I have 8 plants, 2 strains (4 each), majority are looking great but 2 of 1 strain have been showing some brown spots for the past week. All others are green, perky and happy - the ladies with the spots seem great otherwise as well. Based on my novice research it looks like maybe a calcium deficiency(?), I made a few tweaks during their watering today incase that was the problem. Details:

Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest bottom 80%, top 20% 50/50 FF Ocean Forest/FF Light Warrior.
Age: Seeds planted 8/6, sprouted 8/9 (25 days above ground today).
Lighting: T5s for veg, 8 bulbs, 4', 18/6 cycle.
Watering: ~pH6 water until today (did not have a digital tester previously), added recomended dosage of Superthrive on 8/12 & 8/17 (few drops), and they received their only dose of nutes (FF trio) on 8/28 (20 days above ground) at 1/3 recommended FF dosage (plan to do 1/3 for week 3, 2/3 for week 4 and 1/1 week 5+).

I just received a digital pH tester this week, seems like initial watering was maybe a tad lower than 6 (~5.8?), so I raised pH today to 6.4 for this watering. I also added some Cal Mag at .25 oz/gal (at the recommended dosage, 2 mL per L). All plants received the same watering with Cal Mag today despite 6 plants not showing any spotting.

This strain is "Pura Vida" courtesy of Oregon Green Seeds. They are NOT feminized. Strain:

Hollywood Pure Kush/Appalachia
x
Polar Bear OG (OG #17 x Hell's Angel OG/Biker Kush x The White/Triple Kush)

On to the pics. Pura Vida #3, browning on some leaves:

Pura Vida #4, lighter browning on a few of the leaves:

Garden:

Can get more close ups as needed, thanks!!

 

[Big Chris]

..meant to add that I did skip the FF nutes today (so they only received one nute dosage on 8/28, other than the Superthrive), pH 6.4 water with Cal Mag, 1 gallon each plant. Pots are 5 gal smart pots.

 

[Croatsan]

I wouldn't worry about it, as long as the new growth is coming out fine.

Probably an early calcium defficiency. After Cal Mag and a pH adjustment, everything should be ok. And from what I can see, It is.

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest. At 4 weeks mine are maybe 4-5x the size of yours and I don't need nutes until week 5 or 6. The problem may be related to excess nutes. A simple test to see if this is calcium def, would be to move upper leave that is shading the lower leave (the one with damage) in the first pic to expose the rest of the damaged leave to direct light. If the rest of the leave starts to develop the same brown spots as the area of the leave in direct sun, it is most likely calcium. Calcium deficiency can be a result of acidic soil. My opinion is too many nutes. With FFOF, you don't need to feed, anything at all, until week 5 or 6. Then you want to start with 1/4 dose.

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks guys - new growth looks good and I don't see the spots spreading after a few days. I exposed one of the affected leaf sets to full light as well (bottom right of first pic) and the center leaf is not spotting any more than it was (not much). I'll continue with the cal mag and pH 6.4 for future waterings and go from there. pH of run-off is 6.47 when watered with 6.40.

Schtiggy, would love to see a photo of your plants at 4 weeks if you have one handy! Mine are 4 weeks today, noticeably bigger than in the pics above but not more than 6" tall yet. Wondering if I kept them in rapid rooters too long and stunted growth a little, I moved them from rooters into 5 gal smart pots on 8/19 (10 days old), they had been starting to droop and growth pretty much halted 4-5 days before that.

 

[fanleaf]

I have grown in FFOF and I can also back Shiggity. Understanding that not all plants are the same but yours is quite small for 30 days. Here's a pic of mine that was in FFOF at exactly 30 days. Now, I wouldnt expect yours to be this big though because this girl was huge for 30 days veg.

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

Thanks guys - new growth looks good and I don't see the spots spreading after a few days. I exposed one of the affected leaf sets to full light as well (bottom right of first pic) and the center leaf is not spotting any more than it was (not much). I'll continue with the cal mag and pH 6.4 for future waterings and go from there. pH of run-off is 6.47 when watered with 6.40.

Schtiggy, would love to see a photo of your plants at 4 weeks if you have one handy! Mine are 4 weeks today, noticeably bigger than in the pics above but not more than 6" tall yet. Wondering if I kept them in rapid rooters too long and stunted growth a little, I moved them from rooters into 5 gal smart pots on 8/19 (10 days old), they had been starting to droop and growth pretty much halted 4-5 days before that.

This is a pic at day 27. With my method, most of mine look like this by or before day 30. I start with CFL and fluoros. the CFLs are kept about 2 inches away. They go under LED at about 28 days old to flower. The plant shown is a Buddha Haze. It is pretty much all Sativa.

Fanleaf, great job! That's what she needs to look like at day 30

 

[Billyjack]

It's like comparing dick size, someone always has a bigger one. As long as your plant is green and healthy, just go with it. The great thing about veg is, you can always give it another week or two. Odds are, you did over fertilize a bit, which can slow growth but then again, maybe not, slight leaf curl on the edges could be heat. Regardless, nothing to worry about.

Click on my grow, my plants are only a couple of days younger than yours and I am very happy with where things are going. I have been growing for a couple of years and still make mistakes but the one mistake I stopped making is comparing my grow to other peoples.

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks guys, and good looking plants up there! I'm not worried right now, everybody seems happy and I'm holding off on nutes until flowering. Going with pH 6.4-6.5 for a few waterings with cal mag to squash any potential calcium deficiency, as the ladies are looking great since I did that last round of water (4 days ago). Temps had been higher the week before then, had to re-purpose one of the fans but its back in the garden - temps were approaching 88 degrees without that fan, back down to 77-78 during light cycle now (70 off lights).

Billyjack, I checked out your thread - will be following along, interested in the hempy/coco setup! Also had a chuckle, a good friend has a pug and he has to hide from him when he smokes - that pug is not a fan either

Garden showing good growth since 4 days ago when this thread was initially started and nutes were removed / cal mag added. Ladies are 29 days old today, 7" tall:

Fan leaf, Pura Vida #2:

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

It's like comparing dick size, someone always has a bigger one. As long as your plant is green and healthy, just go with it. The great thing about veg is, you can always give it another week or two. Odds are, you did over fertilize a bit, which can slow growth but then again, maybe not, slight leaf curl on the edges could be heat. Regardless, nothing to worry about.

Click on my grow, my plants are only a couple of days younger than yours and I am very happy with where things are going. I have been growing for a couple of years and still make mistakes but the one mistake I stopped making is comparing my grow to other peoples.

Hi Billy, you are absolutely right. With photos you can give them more veg time. That's my bad, I only grow autos so my frame of reference doesn't quite line up with growing photos. I answered as if they were autos

With autos though, it is all about how big you can get them before they start to stretch.

 

[fanleaf]

It's like comparing dick size, someone always has a bigger one. As long as your plant is green and healthy, just go with it. The great thing about veg is, you can always give it another week or two. Odds are, you did over fertilize a bit, which can slow growth but then again, maybe not, slight leaf curl on the edges could be heat. Regardless, nothing to worry about.

Click on my grow, my plants are only a couple of days younger than yours and I am very happy with where things are going. I have been growing for a couple of years and still make mistakes but the one mistake I stopped making is comparing my grow to other peoples.

Not really like comparing dick size. I doubt we can see if someone with a small dick may have some sort of an issue going on that causes them to have a tiny pecker. Sometimes for new Growers it's nice to see if your plant is on track or not. Sometimes comparing it to other plants can give us a clue if there may be a pH issue or maybe perhaps weak genetics. I fully agree that comparing his plant with others isn't too important but the fact is his plant is not where it should be for 30 days old. While you are right if it is green and healthy that's all that matters the OP now knows that on his next grow it may look totally different at this stage in the grow.

Hi Billy, you are absolutely right. With photos you can give them more veg time. That's my bad, I only grow autos so my frame of reference doesn't quite line up with growing photos. I answered as if they were autos

With autos though, it is all about how big you can get them before they start to stretch.

Sent from my VS980 4G using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Billyjack]

I dont know if his plants are where they should be at 30 days but they look good to me. I do know that two people can grow the same strain from seed and still come up with different results based upon genetics, nutrients, RH, temp, light source, grow medium, feeding schedule and a bunch of other factors.

I have seen lots new growers focus on how their grow compares to others and make mistakes because they are trying to chase better growth and as a result, it does more harm than good. In my opinion, new growers should focus on the basics and if your plant is green and doing well, take that as a win and keep doing what you are doing. Just my opinion.

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks guys, appreciate all the feedback. I'm not worried about the size, bigger plants are always nice but everyone is green and happy so we're continuing along the same track. Also don't have any other growers using these strains on here that I can find, for comparison. Based on my recon (complete n00b, remember) better coverage/closer light coverage can keep the plants shorter as well - I feel like I have pretty good coverage with the 8 bulb x 4' T5 setup, currently lights are 6" from the plants. Not concerned either way right now though, but good food for thought on the next grow if yield is lower on this one.