First time grower need some diagnosis suggestions, I've been over every guide already

[FRage93]

So this is my first grow (Diesal I'm guessing from the seed pattern) and from the first leaves up I have a stem that is turning purple. On all 3 plants the first leaves and the lowest fan leaves have started to tinge yellow. One with full yellow lower leaves is cupping down while straight out.

Originally I believed I was overwatering and still do. So when I transplanted them to their 5 gal buckets I bought Ollas (clay watering control pots) so I should have that handled. When I transplanted recently the roots looked very healthy. Bright white and tons of little tendrils.

My setup is a SunLeaves Hood with a home made reflective tent, OptLune 1000mh blue yellow spectrum light, and a nano lux ballast set at 75% (so 62000 lumens according to an online calculator. Lamps are currently 34 inches higher than the plants. At plant height the temp is 78 degrees during the day shift. 30-40% humidity (was higher saw white powder mildew spots so I lowered the humidity. Soil is an organic indoor potting mix from home depot. Water has a ph of 6. The plant soil is 6.25, 7, and 6.5. No additives have been used besides Neem oil on the soil for bugs (not on leaves) I have a Exhale CO2 in the room too but it's not a sealed tent so I'm not sure how much it helps. I have insulated duct piped from the cold air vent to the hood and from the hood to the bathroom ceiling vent.

I could use suggestions. No serious identifying symptoms seem to be present yet.

They are 18 days old

 

[Old Salt]

to the forum...

I grow in drain-to-waste hydroponics using coco/perlite as my substrate so I can't be of much help at this stage. I will point you to Emilya's current grow, and her paper The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant. She is a very knowledgable soil grower, and you should find the references very useful.

 

[FRage93]

That paper is excellent information. I'm going to really switch up my watering habits because by this description I've been overwatering like a mf'er and treating them like a garden plant. *Facepalm* Maybe that's all that was the issue. May attempt to lower the soil ph a bit too.

Thanks @Old Salt

 

[FRage93]

Allowed the pots to dry out completely then followed Emilya's wet dry cycle method. PH when dry was 7.5 and after drenching all 3 its a 6.9ish. Lowest set of fan leaves on one are all yellow, on the other they are yellow and have a browning tip. The 3rd seems to be fine. All leaves are green.

Should I try and dry the 2 out more? I feel like the PH level is causing nutrient deficiency in all 3 all though 1 seems to not be effecting it. The plant with the bottom leaf tip browning and desiccation was watered on Saturday and the other 2 on sunday. Perhaps I should deprive them of water until they begin to wilt this time. The organic PH corrector I ordered comes in today. If the soil is dry enough I will test and attempt to alter it on the 2 plants having issues.

 

[FRage93]

The selector switch shows what is being measured in each picture.

 

[Emilya Green]

Establish a good wet/dry cycle and you will have the watering figured out... Trust the lift the pot method of testing to see if it is time to water, and if you can feel ANY water weight at all with your human senses, wait another day to water.

it is pH that I want to work on with you a bit. First, you can not measure your soil pH without a lab test... you can't do it just by sticking a meter in the soil. Also, the pH is going to be different, depending on where in the container you measure it by that method... it is not even worth checking, especially with a $6 meter.
You are making this too hard. Just make sure that your pH is adjusted to 6.3 each and every time you add any fluid to your soil, whether it be plain water or water mixed with nutes. Check and adjust right before you water, after any additions to the mix, and this will be all you need to do. The soil will do what soil does, and you do not need to check it for pH.

 

[Emilya Green]

I highly highly and completely discourage your use of the soil pH adjuster. The soil was fine when you bought it at the hardware store. It does not need to be adjusted. If you do this, you are going to ruin this soil and totally screw up your grow. Don't do it. You are working on a bad set of assumptions and about to make things much worse.

 

[FRage93]

So then to reiterate (just so I'm sure I understand)

Continue with the wet and dry cycle (allow for all moisture to leave the pot all the way to the bottom) and do a liquid PH test (a color change test or strip test) on the water I am using each time I follow your soaking instructions? I ordered Bloom City PH control. If you'd recommend going with something else I'm all ears.

What do you think I am doing or not doing that is causing the discoloration and brown tips? I'm trying to follow your advice and move more slowly, it's going to take more self control though.

Establish a good wet/dry cycle and you will have the watering figured out... Trust the lift the pot method of testing to see if it is time to water, and if you can feel ANY water weight at all with your human senses, wait another day to water.

it is pH that I want to work on with you a bit. First, you can not measure your soil pH without a lab test... you can't do it just by sticking a meter in the soil. Also, the pH is going to be different, depending on where in the container you measure it by that method... it is not even worth checking, especially with a $6 meter.
You are making this too hard. Just make sure that your pH is adjusted to 6.3 each and every time you add any fluid to your soil, whether it be plain water or water mixed with nutes. Check and adjust right before you water, after any additions to the mix, and this will be all you need to do. The soil will do what soil does, and you do not need to check it for pH.

 

[FRage93]

The cheapo meter works well to show the water level. Should I allow the bottom to go dry as well, according to the meter or trust my pot weight instincts for the detection of dense soil.

 

[Emilya Green]

by the time the water table has fallen to the last inch or so, you will not be able to feel the weight any more. That last inch will not dry out according to the meter until the plant is practically wilted, because of capillary action between the roots and the bottom of the container that keeps a little moisture down there a bit longer than anywhere else. So if the meter reads that that water is down in there, it is ok to water.
Regarding the pH... you really want to get a digital pH meter. Those strip tests are really hard to get accurate on a good day, and when you add nutes to the water that discolors it, it is impossible to do more than just guess. But yes, just make sure that immediately before it hits the soil, you have every fluid adjusted to 6.3 pH. The ph up and down products you ordered should work just fine for this... typically you will need to add pH down when dealing with plain water and you will need to adjust back up when you have added nutes.

 

[Emilya Green]

What do you think I am doing or not doing that is causing the discoloration and brown tips? I'm trying to follow your advice and move more slowly, it's going to take more self control though.

We are explaining what you are doing wrong... if you make the corrections suggested, your plants will get through this and begin to thrive. If you continue following the advice of others, such as whomever suggested adjusting the soil's base pH, you are very likely to have problems. This is not that hard. Just follow a few basic rules and store bought soil and simple nutes can get you all the way to the end.
Nothing happens immediately in the plant world... it is going to take 3 good wet dry cycles to fix the damage from overwatering, and the pH adjustments will take a watering cycle. Damage already on the plant probably will remain there... look to the new growth for improvements.

 

[FRage93]

Thank you for your patience. If it seems like I'm dense its because I am (so thanks for explaining things in more detail)

Nutes are not something I've looked into yet and I've got a feeling I've got some time before I need them. What write up would you recommend? As we've seen there is plenty of wrong out there.

I'm ordering a digital ph water tester now.

We are explaining what you are doing wrong... if you make the corrections suggested, your plants will get through this and begin to thrive. If you continue following the advice of others, such as whomever suggested adjusting the soil's base pH, you are very likely to have problems. This is not that hard. Just follow a few basic rules and store bought soil and simple nutes can get you all the way to the end.
Nothing happens immediately in the plant world... it is going to take 3 good wet dry cycles to fix the damage from overwatering, and the pH adjustments will take a watering cycle. Damage already on the plant probably will remain there... look to the new growth for improvements.

 

[Emilya Green]

There are as many personal preferences on nutes and how to use them as there are growers it seems some days... my advice is to pick a system and go with it... and be careful not to be led astray by a hydro shop salesperson who tells you that hydro nutes are as good as soil nutes. These shops can and do lie to customers in favor of selling expensive hydro equipment and oftentimes they know very little about growing in soil.
My advice is to go with a well known nutrient line and learn how it works, and follow a well thought out system until you have gotten a couple of grows under your belt. This is how I started, I bought the Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil so I figured I would compliment it with the Fox Farm Nutrient line. I bought their two main trio packages and learned how to follow their detailed directions. Despite myself, I got through those first few grows because of that system and then I decided to experiment a bit with different nutes and different methods. Get the basics down now while you are learning, but don't shoot yourself in the foot having to learn how to feed the plants all by yourself. Grow systems are there for a reason and can greatly help those of use who are still a little new out of the box.

 

[Old Salt]

I'm ordering a digital ph water tester now.

There are lots of garbage meters on the market. Look for one that has at least a 0.05 pH accuracy, and a precision of 0.01. That will give you a reading that's ±0.06 pH. Many of those cheap meters have an accuracy and precision of 0.1, so your reading will be ±0.2pH. You will also need a pH buffer solution to calibrate your meter. I do this before each use. Do not pour the used buffer back into the bottle. I pour 1/2 oz or so into a shot glass for calibration.

Nutes are not something I've looked into yet

As to nutrients, there are many good lines. Most of them are multi-part with several available supplements to suck your wallet dry. If you want to keep it simple, I suggest taking a look at Mega Crop. It's a one part dry system designed for cannabis, good from seed to harvest. Quite a few folks here have tried it and like it. I've just switched to this system for my current grow.

 

[FRage93]

Update

My name is David and I am a chronic overwater. Today I fought the urge to water and kept myself from drowning M.AS.H. babies. (Hawkeye, Radar, and Honeycut)

The water meter shows moist/dry throughout but the pot but I'd swear it's still wet in there by weight so I'm holding off another day or so.

I got my digital PH meter in today. After calibration my water registered at a 7.4.... yikes. I whipped up a gallon of water and I got it down to a 6.35 with the Bloom city additive so I could water my seedlings. (Going to follow your root ball up pot watering method from the start this time and proper PH practices)

But yes, just make sure that immediately before it hits the soil, you have every fluid adjusted to 6.3 pH. The ph up and down products you ordered should work just fine for this... typically you will need to add pH down when dealing with plain water and you will need to adjust back up when you have added nutes.

 

[FRage93]

Here's an update.

Watered on Thursday and then again today. Started weighing the planters as well to get a wet dry measurement. Currently following Emilya's 3 gal pot recommendations with 2 cups instead of 2 qts. (More than enough to flood the soil). I gave the plants a 5 min break between floods and when the soil did become oversaturated I gave it 30 seconds after the water sank before resuming.

Water was a6.33 today. And temps in the high 60s at night and a max of 79 in the day. Humidity at 40%.

I'm concerned with one plant still, all of its leaves have yellowed but I do see 1 small bit of root growth at a drain hole and there appear to be small white hairs among the new leaf growth in the center top of the plant.

The second is greener on top and still yellow on the bottom.

The third was completely healthy last week but yellowed and then browned the tips of the bottom 4 leaves. All other leaves are vibrant green still.

In other news I tried germinating a few more seeds and met with excellent success. I'm going to keep them in their solo cups as long as I can to monitor their roots. Thinking about buying clear pots so I can view the roots on the edge and watch the water table instead of guessing.

 

[FRage93]

So.... I recently moved everyone up a pot and I'm about to move the 1st gen up. However, the leaves are yellowing differently. I'm not overwatering, and I'm always checking ph. Used the previously mentioned food for 2 waterings at 1/2 tsp per gal, then I did one without nutes, and this last time I used 1/4tsp of the nutes.

I did start using distilled water instead of tap.

 

[Emilya Green]

I tried to find the mention of the food you are giving, but I can't find it. No matter, the yellowing that I am seeing all over the plant tells me that you are not giving enough food at this point... increase it a little bit. Also, some of the spotting looks like a magnesium deficiency, and I suggest adding some calmag+ to your nute program. Good job on figuring out the watering and the pH... this is indeed something new, and probably only because the plants are now bigger and have greater needs.

 

[FRage93]

Sorry for being lazy. Should've just gone upstairs to look at the bottles. I'm using DynaGrow Foliage pro. It recommended 1/4 tsp for maintenance watering. Think I should up it to 1 tsp or maybe half a Tbsp?

I tried to find the mention of the food you are giving, but I can't find it. No matter, the yellowing that I am seeing all over the plant tells me that you are not giving enough food at this point... increase it a little bit. Also, some of the spotting looks like a magnesium deficiency, and I suggest adding some calmag+ to your nute program. Good job on figuring out the watering and the pH... this is indeed something new, and probably only because the plants are now bigger and have greater needs.

 

[Emilya Green]

Sorry for being lazy. Should've just gone upstairs to look at the bottles. I'm using DynaGrow Foliage pro. It recommended 1/4 tsp for maintenance watering. Think I should up it to 1 tsp or maybe half a Tbsp?

yes, try 1/2 and see if they start greening up