she is sick :( help

[cachorrito]

hi guys
im new here, i've been visiting the forum for info but is my first time participating
and is also my first time growing, she started allright but now she is getting spots and the leaves have been growing a bit weird, i notice the leaves aren't as "flat" as the other plants i see around, and for a couple of days now she had brown spot on her leaves and now some yellowing ones, i really hope you guys can help me out, i dont want to have to let her go.

she is a cropical fruit auto fem from cream of the crop

im not sure from what point you start counting how many days old the plants are
but i put her to germinate on 24/may, she popped after 4 days and plant her on 31/may
so she is around 17 days since i planted her now
my she is under 6 cfl's 20 watts each
this is her house

in the top has a pc power supply that has 3 fans to is.
2x 4'' fans one for air intake and one as exhaust,
and a small one right in top of the lights so it takes the heat out of there.

as soil i used:
osmocote premium potting mix and i added a bit of dynamic lifter and perlites
all is supposed to release nutrients slowly and gentle

note: a few things that i've noticed i have been doing wrong.
-too much water at the start: i did water her every day, but now i wait a day or 2 til she dries out to water her
- tap water: i water her just straight from the tap, in the last week i have let the water sit for at least 24hrs so it evaporate the chlorine
and... at the start i had her on 20/4 light cycle, and one day i forgot to gave her the 4 hours of darkness and she just grew faster than usual. and looking up for light cycles i notice a lot of people just leaves them on 24hrs of light so i decided to do that but maybe she was already used to have 4 hours of rest... i dont know if this may have hurt her but i just notices she has grown faster than before.
and another thing that i have in mind is that maybe is too cold for her. the air stream is straight into her maybe i should diverge it or something.

well any info is well apreciated and hope you guys can help me save her. she is gorgeous

thanks

 

[Antics]

Welcome to
That looks like one or more nutrient deficiencies.

PH lockout will cause the same exact symptoms, first step is to get your hands on a PH meter. The digital ones are the best, and most accurate. If you have budget limitations, one of the cheaper meters will do, but will NOT be anywhere near as accurate. (I use a cheaper one myself for now)

Soil PH should be right around 6.5, if it's too high or too low, that will prevent your plants roots from absorbing nutrients in the soil.

Once you check the PH, and have it sitting at 6.5 (use ph up,ph down type products to PH your water, and ensure you are using products made for hydroponics/soil growing, and not the pool products of the same name) then you can start feeding nutrients.

I never use slow release nutrients, it's very difficult to measure how much is released. Most growers will use nutes they mix and feed directly themselves, that way you know exactly what strength your plant is getting. To fix that issue might require a repot. You also can't flush soil using slow release, as the addition of water breaks down the nutrient pellets causing a release of more nutes into the soil.

Plant age is typically counted from when it emerges as a seedling.
Too much water, or not enough water will typically cause leaves to wilt, and the soil condition will tell you which one it is. Severe cases of overwatering can turn leaves yellow in a lot of plants.

I use tap water as well, and haven't had much of a problem. 18-24 hours of light shouldn't cause much of an issue other than maybe slower growth if there's too much light/not enough.

Temperatures above 80F/26.6C should be avoided. Day time 70-75F/21-24C is ideal for most plants.
Night time temps should never fall below 55F/13C. Most growers have night time temps 10 degrees F/3.7 C lower than daytime temps.

I think I covered as much as I possibly could/noticed since I kinda did things out of order. Anything else, feel free to ask away!

 

[cachorrito]

Thanks a lot for all the info it covers all my doubts

I'm gonna get a ph meter and products to adjust it.
I'll get to that first that seems to be priority and then I'll go with the nutrients.

I've just notice that the roots are starting to show up from the draining holes at the bottom of the pot
Maybe is time to repot, would you recommend to try to fix the soil issue now?
Should I use other kind of soil in the new pot? Would it mess it up if I use other kind of soil to try to even it up?

Thabks again, appreciate it

 

[Antics]

I would definitely thinking about GENTLY transplanting, as not to damage any roots. Use PLAIN potting soil without added nutrients.

Once you've gotten the PH handled, we can watch the plant closely for any NEW problems that appear, spots, and things like that. The old ones won't go away, so an attention to detail will help here! If you see new spots or problems, and your PH is where it should be, then you know it's definitely a nutrient deficiency, and you can add nutes at that point.

The reason we always fix PH first, is if we assume you have a nute deficiency before fixing PH, you might be adding 2x, 3x 4x etc.. MORE nutrients than the plant can handle, and then you end up with nute burn on top of the other problems.

As for nutes, there really are a ton of different nutrients you can use. I suggest anything that requires you to manually mix a measured amount into a gallon of water, and the measurements are usually listed according to the age of the plant, which will greatly reduce the chance of burning your plant with too many nutes.

Most of the nutrient systems I've seen will be a 2 part, 3 part, or 4 part system, which contain 2, 3, 4, different bottles with varying concentrations, and varying nutrients, which allows you to give higher measurements of some than others for the specific period of growth your plant is in, like vegetation vs. flowering.

It's a lot to learn at first man, I was there not too long ago, all these nutes, PH measuring, it can be a little overwhelming at times, but it IS worth the work when you enjoy that first smoke of what you grew.

 

[cachorrito]

i've just got a cheap ph reader as was the only thing available at the local store... ill get my hands into a digital one later on.

the reading comes to 6.8 so thats not too bad right?
ive got a thermometer aswell and the temp right now is 22C so thats great.
im going to repot her now with plain soil and try to get the nuts right.

i know is a lot to learn but im kinda exited
i love this plant its just amazing, and yeah i bet theres nothing like to smoke your own shit that you've taken care of and seen grown

thanks for the info man...

 

[Antics]

6.8 is at the higher end, but that works fine, and shouldn't cause any problems like what you're seeing now.

So we've found that your PH is fine, temps are good, and it doesn't look like CFL light burn, which really kinda skips the blotchy burning phase, and just tends to dry the leaf out completely.

So we can assume you have a nutrient deficiency

How much did you feed to the plants? You said you added a bit. Were there instructions for potted plants on the package?

Are you planning to buy some mix your own nutes, or do you plan to continue using the nutes you have now? (Which will be much more difficult, but not impossible)

 

[cachorrito]

ill get something to lower the ph a bit then, i dont want to keep her right on the edge.

i didnt really feed her as i thought the soil mix was suppose to do that, i did read somewhere that with that kind of soil should have been alright.

i have feed her yesterday with a maxicrop liquid solution for fruits and flowers. seaweed + fertiliser

contains in % W/V
total nitrogen (N) 1.48
total phosporus(P) 1.06
total potassium (K)4.22

the direccions says 9ml to 3 litres of water

i gotta get a 3 litre can so for now i just put a drop of it in the water that i gave her when i repot her.

and i coulnt find much for mixing so i got that, and the plain mix for the repot

 

[Antics]

Don't worry too much about the 6.8 PH. If my soil stayed at 6.8 I'd be a happy grower.

You can use a 1.5L container, and just use 4.5ml
You can also use a 1L container, and just use 3ml

I like to use old plastic milk jugs, just be sure to really wash them out good with very hot water, and very cold. Wash and rinse until you don't smell anything.