Too much or too little nutrients?

[Crane]

38 days old autos, mostly indica strains. Bio-Bizz light mix soil, BB grow and bloom, homemade calmag,molasses. 1 gallon pots. First nutes at 3 weeks. Doses about 0.25-0.75 of what's on the labels. Fed every other watering. Temps are high, about 30 C, 315w lamp is on 24/7.

The plants are getting pale, and all kinds of weird symptoms, one plant may be showing different than the other. Can anyone see from the pics am I fertilizing too much or not enough? I've been careful with the amounts.

Thanks!!

 

[Emilya Green]

Your plants are starving... yet you are feeding them...
That says pH to me... what pH are you adjusting your incoming water and water with nutes to?

 

[Crane]

Well I've been lazy doing that.. my straight tap water is 8.5 pH but with nutes added it was only 5-ish, which I have adjusted a couple of times up to 6-ish.

 

[Emilya Green]

its those ish's that are killing your crop... accuracy counts, and now because of your laziness you have major deficiencies, most likely iron, which then sets up multiple other deficiencies in the plant. Next run, try really hard to adjust for ANY fluid hitting the plants to 6.3 ish. Without this adjustment, most of your expensive nutes simply sat there in the container and were unable to be used by the plant.

 

[Crane]

Uh I'll really try to do it next time! I guess I somehow thought high pH now and low next time would somehow cancel each other out.... should I not give any more nutes now?

 

[Emilya Green]

I would keep doing exactly what you have been doing, just make sure that you never apply another fluid to the plants that has not been adjusted to the 6.3-6.8 range, with the optimum point being 6.3. At least by the end of this run you will be able to see the difference that this will make, although you have already affected your final yield.

 

[Crane]

I feel stupid, should have asked for help earlier...

Thank you for advice

 

[Emilya Green]

Also, not sure of your logic in giving 1/4 strength nutes with starving plants staring you in the face... but lets get with the program... feed those plants! Proper pH and the right amounts of food, and they could recover somewhat.

 

[Emilya Green]

I feel stupid, should have asked for help earlier...

Thank you for advice

Don't kick yourself... there is so much bad advice out there, from the experts in the hydro shops to experts on the forums, that it is surprising that many more people don't get in trouble during their grows.

 

[Crane]

I just had this notion that autos are somehow sensitive and easily over-fed, I guess that's why I have pedaled back the dosages.

 

[Emilya Green]

People trying to think for their plants is the second leading cause of cannabis deaths... let your plants decide how much they can take. Give them a full dosage, and see if the leaves give you an indication of over feeding. Same with watering... let the plants decide how much you give them. I wrote a nice paper on that subject... you should read it. Now that you are in flower, some of the ending thoughts in the thread about how to USE the roots you have developed will be most applicable to you, but also take note of the vegging instructions for next run. And yes, imagine how much better this would be going now, if you had asked earlier

 

[Crane]

Would it be a faster remedy to give them a chemical fertilizer just as a quick fix?

 

[Emilya Green]

Why? Are you now distrusting the nutrient line that you chose, even while you have never used it at full strength? Give that a try first... there are no quick fixes in the cannabis world.

 

[Crane]

No , I just was thinking that are the chemical fertilizers taken up faster by the plants than organics which first need to be muched by the micro-organisms etc?

 

[Emilya Green]

most of the organic fertilizers out there do not their components locked up in the salt chemical bonds that the synthetic brands use, so these nutrients are in fact immediately available to the plant, very much unlike chemical fertilizers. But bottom line, you have not yet officially used the ready to use nutes you have. Try that first, and see what happens before you give up on them.

 

[Emilya Green]

When we speak of the microbiotic activity, the little microbeasties that supply the nutrients to the plants in a symbiotic relationship in an organic grow, we are talking about their ability to break down raw materials into their base elements... whereas bottle supplied organic nutes have already had these things broken down, usually by fermentation, to make them immediately available, even in an organic soil with very little microlife.

 

[Crane]

Ok. I'm just worrying my a** off here. Gotta take a little

 

[Crane]

It was watering time this morning. They got the full dose of BB Grow and Bloom @ pH 6.0-6.5 (I only have pH paper to test). Fingers crossed.

 

[Nunyabiz]

I'd say your problem is they are ROOT BOUND.
1 gal pots especially if they are not fabric are woefully inadequate and once your roots get bound they will exhibit numerous signs that look like deficiencies.
In the future I would suggest no less than at least 7 gallon pots if you're bottle feeding and at least 15 gallon minimum if organic.

 

[Emilya Green]

Managed correctly, It is possible to go to flower and actually get yield, growing in a beer cup. I ran hempy in 1 gallon containers for over a year, and had great luck. These plants are now in flower, and the roots have stopped developing like they do in veg... now it is time to use the roots that are there. These plants are now hungry and need to be fed, and transplanting them to larger containers at this point will not be all that helpful.