spots on leaves, low humidity

hazyatbest

New Member
i'm doing a cfl grow, and unfortunately running into some issues: 1) spots on the leaves and 2) low humidity.

quick specs: 3 plants, bunch of cfl's, miracle gro time release soil 15-5-10, amongst other things

1) i have brown spots basically covering one leaf(approx. 50%) and a couple spots on like 2 other leaves. my first thoughts are that the pH levels of the miracle gro and the distilled water(pH 6.0) are combining and throwing something off. obviously need to get a pH tester of some kind!!

- does anyone know what is the approx. pH level of most miracle gros?
(remember its time release-don't know if that matters)

- should i give the plants 1/4 nutes or any nutes (ff bigbloom) during veg if the soil is time release?

- can it cause burns or any kind of lockout if the plants get that type of nutrient intake too early?

i know it sucks using miracle gro in the first place, but have to look past that at this point

2) humidity is super low at times and i have recently put a humidifier in the closet, and it rises a bit, but not much.

- can you spray water on the leaves under the cfl light since they are so close, and if so, can that help balance the humidity issue?

- should you spray with the same water that you water the plant with?
(ie pH balanced with nutrients, etc.)


thanks for any help
 
pics aren't an option right now

after i posted i looked at the plant a bit closer and the spots are VERY similar to rust colors

the plant in question is about 25 days old, but i have 2 other girls about 2 weeks behind and i want to try and avoid the same issues

ps. the humidity i spoke of in original post can get as low as 20% right on top of the soil. would the dryness of the top layer of soil throw the humidity reading off or would that matter?
 
okay i think i might have had a breakthrough!!! i remembered that the first grow book i bought, the guy had used miracle grow time release, and he said the soil was at a pH of 5.1. combine this with the 6.0 ph distilled water and my roots are living in approx. a 5.5-5.6 environment!! plus the time release ferts are feeding my girls right now and some say its too early for that.

i grabbed a gallon of distilled water and decided to experiment. i know my roots should be exposed to approx. a 6.2-6.6pH environment, so i am gradually feeding the plant with higher pH distilled water. i was at a 5.5-5.6 range, and after adding the 6.6pH distilled water this feeding, i should be nearing 5.9 or so. i fed it quite a bit today, no nutes just yet cuz of the time release soil. i was planning on adjusting the pH by a couple points each feeding for the next couple until i get it to somewhere in the 6.2-6.6 range.

should i steadily move it up over the next 3-4 feedings or is it possible to just go right to a 7.6pH water next feeding? 7.6ph water with 5.1 soil would leave me somewhere around 6.3pH, right?

i fed them about 11:45a, so i'll post back in a couple hours, hopefully with some good results. any comments appreciated
 
yeah, i read that one yesterday and that's what got me thinkin that the pH might be at the wrong level. you said you always water with low pH (5.5-6.5)? is that in soil that has a pH as low as mine (approx. 5.1)?

side question, does anyone know how much ff big bloom affects the pH of water when you put it in? i'm sure it depends on strength of nutes vs. amount of water, but just a general idea would be helpful.

btw, thanks for the quick reply fox
 
miracle gro time release soil 15-5-10, amongst other things
Time Released Nutrients will not break down quickly, they are not designed to. By feeding a flowering Fertilizer with the " Time Release" also being in the soils, can and may cause nutrients not to be consumed properly. Rust spots, are they being overwatered?
can you spray water on the leaves under the cfl light since they are so close, and if so, can that help balance the humidity issue?
Yes, I spray a mist of H2O daily in Veg cycle My Humidity is a constant 55-65% I use the same as what I water with as what I spray(mist) with. I do not mist or spray or
foliar feed any plant after the 2nd week in bud. The humidity is always high where I reside.

should i steadily move it up over the next 3-4 feedings or is it possible to just go right to a 7.6pH water next feeding? 7.6ph water with 5.1 soil would leave me somewhere around 6.3pH, right?
I suggest a wait and see. It sounds like the PH is all over the charts and you are trying to adjust and compensate the PH to fast to quick.
 
ok, i return with great news!!! after watering the girls, just about every blade has perked up, and the humidity has gone all the way up to 40%. i didn't think about the amount of water the plant was getting having an effect on the humidity of the area. i will continue to watch and hopefully some questions will start to answer themselves.

thanks for the help and keep it coming, its the best way to learn
 
If that's the case then you may be facing nute lockout, you should just look into picking up one of those soil PH testers at HomeDepot for $8 bucks... The thing with the miracle-gro time release is you never really know when or how much you're releasing or how it effects the pH of the soil. You may add pH balanced water but the soil is still a different pH. Have you used nutes at all yet??? I don't know how much big bloom will help as it's more designed for the flowering stage...

Also I did notice small white dots on top of some of the leaves but didn't think much of it at the time, bust out that magnifying glass and check to make sure those aren't spider mites, check under the leaves for them... If that is the case, you'll see white small spots appear on the leaf from where they feed on the leaf followed by browning around that spot form the inability to produce chlorophyll. As a precaution we may wanna look at using some neem oil and I got some commercial anti-pest spray for vegetables that will take care of spider mites if you just wanna try that out.

Is the leaf that is being affected on the first node or higher up, if it's higher than the first node it shouldn't be nute lockout b/c that typically affects the leaves on the first node.

Along with what Cherma said, you don't wanna move the pH too fast up or down, .5 at the most each day I've read but I'd stick to more like.3 just to be safe....

As for Ms. Fox, she's just created a new turn on for me, hot blondes that know how to grow dope....

Anyways, I've viewed said unhealthy leaf and the rest of the plant looked good with new green growth so I'm sure it's nothing major, can't wait to be tokin on some Bleu Cheese supplemented by some Strawberry Blue...

By the way Hazy, it's tempting not to get that White Widow germinating and making a nice home for her in the 5 gallon bubble bucket, I would love for us to figure out a situation where we can keep her as a mother and just clone and flower very 2 months or so, it's too good of a strain not to keep around...
 
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