Need a hand diagnosing this one please

[VetSmoke85]

Hi all! Here is my 6 week old autoflower Pineapple Express. She's in a 2 litre hempy bucket. Being fed prescription blend nutrients at week 3 flowering dose on the chart below.

Feed is adjusted to pH 5.8-6.0. Bucket reservoir holds 650ml and she is emptying that and being refilled daily. This is my first go at hempy. She's been on the lighter shade of green for most of the grow and started fading more recently with purple/brown tips and edges on the fan leaves spreading over the last week. Also purple fan leaf stems. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking maybe a K def but not sure.

 

[Emilya Green]

I think you are looking at a pH problem, causing your potassium deficiency. Hempy is basically hydro with a working range of 5.5 to 6.1. Whatever the pH is when you water, as the acidic nutes are used by the plant, the pH starts to drift upward to approach the natural pH of the water, 7.0 pH. You are coming in at 5.8-6.0, already near the upper limit of the pH range in hydro, and with just a little bit of upward drift, you are out of range. This means that at some point, some of the nutes in your mix could become unavailable to the plants.
I would look at adjusting the working pH downward a bit, shooting for 5.6 pH. Be more accurate with your pH adjustment, and carefully adjust to this number. This should allow you better and longer contact with the nutes, and hopefully this will allow more potassium to reach where it needs to go.

 

[VetSmoke85]

I think you are looking at a pH problem, causing your potassium deficiency. Hempy is basically hydro with a working range of 5.5 to 6.1. Whatever the pH is when you water, as the acidic nutes are used by the plant, the pH starts to drift upward to approach the natural pH of the water, 7.0 pH. You are coming in at 5.8-6.0, already near the upper limit of the pH range in hydro, and with just a little bit of upward drift, you are out of range. This means that at some point, some of the nutes in your mix could become unavailable to the plants.
I would look at adjusting the working pH downward a bit, shooting for 5.6 pH. Be more accurate with your pH adjustment, and carefully adjust to this number. This should allow you better and longer contact with the nutes, and hopefully this will allow more potassium to reach where it needs to go.

Thanks Em. I'll give that a go. I'd read to pH to 5.8 and that 6.0 was better during flowering. Probably more online nonsense. I'll drop to 5.6 and see how we get on.

 

[nivek]

Yes, 5.5 to 5.7. ph very important with hempy. do you have a proper ph tester? And no way you should be watering daily. Hole too low on the bucket? Every two days max to water and should nearly get three days out of a watering

Karma sent friend

 

[VetSmoke85]

Yes, 5.5 to 5.7. ph very important with hempy. do you have a proper ph tester? And no way you should be watering daily. Hole too low on the bucket? Every two days max to water and should nearly get three days out of a watering

Karma sent friend

Yeah I use a pH pen. Check calibration fairly regularly. The hole is approx. 2" from the bottom. It's only a 2 litre bucket and the res holds 650ml. I have a blueberry auto (pic below) that's 5 weeks old in the same type of bucket and she takes 2-3 days to empty the res. Smaller plant though. I'll drop the pH and hopefully see some improvement.

 

[nivek]

Gotcha. Small pots can be that way. I have vegged many in 2ltr but not sure i ever flowered in one

My pots are 2gal i think. Next size up from yours. 2gal maybe not right

Hempy can be high maintenance. Can be

But once dialed in is a pleasure to work with imo

I actually do a full fert every 3 days but on day two i give a smallish watering with a smallish bit of cal mag because some fast growers will and can be wilty on day three morning. Not good for flowering. Leaves will fall off

 

[VetSmoke85]

Gotcha. Small pots can be that way. I have vegged many in 2ltr but not sure i ever flowered in one

My pots are 2gal i think. Next size up from yours. 2gal maybe not right

Hempy can be high maintenance. Can be

But once dialed in is a pleasure to work with imo

I actually do a full fert every 3 days but on day two i give a smallish watering with a smallish bit of cal mag because some fast growers will and can be wilty on day three morning. Not good for flowering. Leaves will fall off

This is a good test run and its probably good I've run into this problem. I'm preparing to do a 5-7 plant photoperiod grow next. So I'm thinking now that I'll either use slightly larger buckets, or just make sure they are short veg single cola plants. Thanks for the tips it's much appreciated.

 

[nivek]

I guess i coulda/shoulda mentioned that to get to my watering schedule i experimented with hole height and i am currently 2.5 inches or a smidge more above bottom. Measured from outside

 

[VetSmoke85]

So last night I checked the calibration of my pH meter again. That's all good. Then gave the hempies a fresh feed at pH 5.6. Now it's a bit of a waiting game I guess. Here they are this morning. The Blueberry that's a week behind the Pineapple Express is starting to show signs of the same problem I believe.

Pineapple Express auto - Day 45 from seed.

Blueberry auto - Day 37 from seed.

 

[nivek]

The issue will indeed carry on for a bit before correction. I see a wee bit of tip burn as well,, not bad tho, no more than I get, just something to watch for

I know for me,, not sure if this is hempy related, but my plants are happiest with a fair bit 'less' that max strength ferts. Possibly 20% less

More karma sent friend,, plants lookin pretty good otherwise

 

[VetSmoke85]

The issue will indeed carry on for a bit before correction. I see a wee bit of tip burn as well,, not bad tho, no more than I get, just something to watch for

I know for me,, not sure if this is hempy related, but my plants are happiest with a fair bit 'less' that max strength ferts. Possibly 20% less

More karma sent friend,, plants lookin pretty good otherwise

Thanks mate. The tip burn you see on the Blueberry is how the Pineapple Express started out. Then that spread and the yellowing kicked in. Previously when I've had tip burn it's been a yellow colour but this is coming straight in as a purple/brown colour.

 

[VetSmoke85]

I've had issues with keeping the soil plants (on the right side of the tent) green on this run too. Same nutrients but pH at 6.3. The tall one I kinda expected to have some issues as it's only a 2 litre fabric pot which is tiny for soil.

 

[VetSmoke85]

Then again I did these 3 clones in the same 2 litre pots and they had a great time.
Post in thread 'Mars Hydro Sponsored: Flowering With The TS600' Mars Hydro Sponsored: Flowering With The TS600

For whatever reason I just haven't been able to keep a plant happy with this nutrient line. Others are having no problems using them but I can't say the same.

 

[nivek]

Very similar to a too high ph phase i went thru recently. I go thru that too often

Important to remember with hempy

The second you put that 5.6 ph water in the pot that water is no longer 5.6. The ph jumps immediately and how much depends

I have a blue photo nicely into flower right now. I am gonna compare later

 

[VetSmoke85]

Well she never really got better but nearly at the end now.