New growth - Wilting with brown tips

[Iguana Man]

This is a Bianca (mostly Indica) on day 43 after sprouting. Happy Frog potting soil 50%, coco fiber 30%, perlite 20%. PH correct water only, no nutes. Mars Hydro300 18-20" from canopy. Topped once at node 4 on day 22. Just tied down the new stems for LST 2 days ago.

The newest growth on the ends of the 4 main stems all have browning leaf tips and appear limp. The brown tips are accentuated under the LED and less noticeable under normal lighting but its there and I'm wondering it this is normal. I've watered sparingly. Probably about half a gallon since moving to 5 gal pot 2 weeks ago. Temp is usually between 77-81 with 35-40% humidity. She's in veg on 18/6 light cycle.

Opinions?

 

[Flower Child]

Re: New growth - wilting with brown tips.

She is 6 weeks old and rather small. Feed and water her- she is hungry and thirsty looking. Start out with 1/4 strength of whatever veg fertilizer you use and give her a big drink- at least a gallon so the soil is well saturated. Then let her dry for a few days and repeat. You will be amazed how she explodes.

 

[Flower Child]

Re: New growth - wilting with brown tips.

Oh and might be some light burning too being she has newly exposed sites from the LST. She is getting an enormous amount of energy from the light source, but hasn't the nutrients or liquid to handle it- so she fries. A weak feeding should turn her around but maybe a bit further from the light might help if the burn continues?

 

[Iguana Man]

Interesting. I looked at the only journal here on a Bianca and his were about the same size at 6 weeks. Maybe an inch or two higher but hey, what do I know? First grow so whatever advice is offered I'll happily take. I am a bit conflicted on your watering suggestion though as that seems to be the #1 problem newbs like me make. I checked the wooden skewer I got in the pot and it's damp half-way down but I'm not sure how deep the root system has gotten since I mover her into the 5 gal. pail.

I'll search the forum for nute suggestions but it will probably be a couple days before I can get them unless Lowes has them. Otherwise, should I just go ahead and water now do you think, or wait until I get the nutes?

 

[Flower Child]

your girl shows clawed and dead tips which traditionally means nitrogen overload but since you haven't added nutes that makes no sense. Watering seems logical because she should be drinking more than that, but if the soil is wet that means she isn't metabolizing like she should. The light green might be light bleaching so perhaps raising the light might let her deal better with whatever is going on?

Pale green new growth means: either it is growing so fast the chlorophyll development cant keep up or if she is that pale day after day it means she needs nitrogen which makes sense since she hasn't been fed and is 6 weeks old.


If she were mine I would give her a 1/4 feed and heavy watering. She will likely droop her leaves in protest of the water but recover in a day or 2. Bianca seems to be a finicky strain. Read about folks having burn issues in spite of never feeding the plant anything. Tough decision my friend................

 

[Iguana Man]

Well I decided to give her a big drink and move the light higher. I flipped and moved the skewer to another location and it came up far more dry so I'm guessing it was just staying moist because it retained water better than the soil, if that makes sense. Also, from what I've read, nitrogen deficiency would effect bottom leaves first and that isn't the case here so I went with my gut feeling and watered and moved the light a couple inches higher. I'm hoping the Happy Frog Potting Soil I'm using is nutrient rich enough to forgo nutes at this stage.

I guess I'll know if I screwed up in a couple days.

 

[Flower Child]

Good choice.
Her old leaves show yellowing areas which is signs of N deficiency. That conflicts with her clawed leaves on new growth indicating N overdose.

I used to grow a THC Bomb/PineappleChunk strain (my own hybrid) that tasted like minty sage.
Constantly had clawed burnt leaves and yellowing fans at the same time.
I never used more than 1/4 strength feedings.
In flower it needed a lot more Cal/Mag than the others.
Sooo worth the trouble as I've never smoked weed that tasted that good- nice buzzy high too!
Harvesting the last of its kind this weekend.

 

[Iguana Man]

8 hours later and the bulk of the plant has perked up. I trimmed the brown tips off and while the newest leaves are still droopy, I think it's overall response is good.

You know, I kept reading about over watering and how it's a newbs most common mistake but I may have gone to other extreme and simply not watered enough.

Hopefully overnight I'll see an even bigger result. I'm hoping to go to flowering in 2 -3 weeks if possible.

 

[Flower Child]

LOL. These weed plants are closet cacti.
And you are doing really well for a first attempt.

I overwatered 12 seedlings and killed all 12 my first try.............

 

[Iguana Man]

Things continue to look better. I raised the light again to keep it at 20" since the two ends that are LST'ed have grown overnight. In fact, all the new growth has sprouted up some but not quite as much as the LST'ed ends.

Looks like a lot of the newer growth is also darkening up a bit so even though many of the droopiest leaves haven't bounced back, the overall appearance looks much better.

Here's to H2O!

 

[Major PITA]

Over watering comes from frequent watering. With a 5 gal pot, I'd give a minimum of 1 gal water - really as much as the pot will hold. Now don't water again until needed.

Try to get your humidity up. It's about half of what it should be for the temp's you are running.

All in all, it looks good!

 

[Iguana Man]

Try to get your humidity up. It's about half of what it should be for the temp's you are running.

Really?! Damn. I thought 40-50% was ideal in veg and below 40% ideal in flower? I just moved the fan to a different location and closed the door some. That might get me around 43-45% but I doubt I can get it higher. I also want to go into flower in 2 weeks so I'm just going to have to deal with the levels as they are and hope for the best.


EDITED: I just saw that chart for temp/rh you posted in another thread. I guess I had my info wrong dude.

 

[Major PITA]

40% is good once the buds have formed - only because they are dense and you don't want a chance of mold.
At 80F, the optimum RH, as far as the plant is concerned, is around 75%.

 

[Heirloom]

I'm just gonna toss this out there, it looks like it has plenty of N and might be needing more Mg.

 

[Iguana Man]

Back to square one today. Notice the new growth leaves are all thin, as well as droopy? I moved the light to 24" today from 20".

 

[Iguana Man]

mods please delete.

 

[Iguana Man]

I'm just gonna toss this out there, it looks like it has plenty of N and might be needing more Mg.

I appreciate the reply. Am I mistaken though that an Mg deficiency would effect the lower leaves first? All my lower leaves look solid green and healthy. It's ONLY the newest upper growth that has been suffering.

 

[Major PITA]

Excess 'P' can lock out mag, but I've not heard of a 'P' deficiency causing a mag shortage.
New growth will be lighter green at first. Looks like you are still getting burnt tips with all the claw and leaf curl.
When and how much water did you give it? Any nutrients yet?
Small plants in larger pots do tend to stay small longer. Their first goal is to grow roots. With all that room, it takes a while. Once they've hooked up, then the growth explodes.

 

[Heirloom]

Whoa. Yeah. No more N. Mg for sure, maybe a micro shot, something with iron, and something with K. Epsom salt 1tbsp(15ml)/gal and some liquid kelp at the same rate, if you have it, would do the trick nicely. Stay away from the N sources for now until you get things balanced.

Give her a good 1/2 gal at least of the above mixture. Actually, as Major PITA said, as much as the soil will take (as long as you have good aeration in your media in that plastic pot). Make sure the soil is taking it up and it's not just channeling out the bottom.

A 1.5L pump up sprayer does a nice job of evenly distributing/soaking the soil surface. It particularly helps around the edges of the soil, near the pot, where water just wants to channel down the pot and out. You can spray it several times a day to get a good soak.

Good luck friend.

 

[Heirloom]

Excess 'P' can lock out mag, but I've not heard of a 'P' deficiency causing a mag shortage.

Nor have I. I don't think there is any need for P. I think the Mg and seaweed will correct the above ground, and help the root growth, unless there is something really funky with the cation balance. He/she has 30% coco in the mix, a known Ca and Mg sponge.