What am I doing wrong? Nute issues.

[Scooby_Snacks]

I've been having the same issues with my plants for the last few grows. I'm having a Phosphorus deficiency issue. Depending on the strain depends on how bad it becomes. I'm using foxfarm nutes per the listed feeding schedule. The problem starts happening around week 3-4 of veg. I start getting brown at the tip and edges of the lower fan leaves. The plant is dark green but the spots between veins start getting light green. The leaves start curling down. They eventually fall off. The pictures shown are what's supposed to be a mother plant of some Humbolt CH9. I just pulled a few clones off. Plants are given one water feeding a week and one nute feeding with all foxfarm nutes. I wait until the soil is pretty dry before feeding again. All feedings are ph'd to about 6.7. They get fed about 1 gallon and are in 5 gal buckets. I'll feed until I get drainage. Temps are good in the room usually topping out at 85 deg. mostly in the low 80's. Ph is 7, although after reading the plant and pest problem solver again it says not to use a soil meter. Can anyone tell me how to test my soil ph with a test strip or a test tube ph tester as they said to do? I'm at a loss as to what the issue is. I ONLY have this issue with plants I veg more than 3 weeks. I have clones that were put right into flower after rooting and seeds started 12/12 that are the healthiest plants I've grown with 0 issues so far and almost finished (knock on wood). I'm both looking for the cause of the issue and how to stop it from happening again. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[HB Rob]

Does the stem appear red or purplish at all?

 

[Scooby_Snacks]

This plant no. I've seen the red / purple before with this same problem on other plants though.

 

[Scooby_Snacks]

I've tested ph every way I know. Test meter - 7 , runoff is really low at about 6. I also tested the soil with a test strip and it also comes up really low at 6.

 

[OldMedMan]

Hey my friend
Good to see you again!.
My first question is this. What soil are you using! If it's FFOF your killing them with nutes. FFOF and FF Happy Frog both have enough nutes in them for at least a month. I've done the same thing with it.
I don't care what the book tells you on FF nutes. Also make sure you start with
1/4 quarter the recommended dose.
If that's not the problem, then we will look further!
Good Luck

 

[Scooby_Snacks]

I'm using a potting soil from a local garden center. Everyone I know around me who grows other plants rave about it. I am starting to wonder if that and ph is not my problem. I'm throwing out the results using my ph meter and think I'm going to go with the runoff reading and soil test using ph strips. 2 of 3 say my soil ph is very very low near or under 6. I think I'm going to start adding dolomite lime in my mix to stabilize my ph, but that doesn't help me with these. My question than becomes if I run higher ph water or properly ph'd 7 water through it until runoff is within 6.7-7, will that correct the problem?

 

[HB Rob]

Everything here points to Magnesium deficiency. Cannabis, roses, tomatoes, and potatoes all need high amounts of Mg. Most commercial soils just don't provide enough and Mg deficiency is probably the most common deficiency among soil growers. I finally figured it out on my own through trial and error. In fact its so easy to spot once you know what it is that I'm surprised how often it goes misdiagnosed on 420mag.

Add 1 - 2 cups of Dolomite per 1.5 cubic feet of potting soil. That comes out to 1.4 - 2.8 tablespoons per gallon. It'll take care of all your pH, Ca, and Mg needs.

Hogdaddy had some very impressive results when adding plenty of Dolomite to his soil grow: Welcome to da Shack!

 

[Droopy Dog]

Everything here points to Magnesium deficiency. Cannabis, roses, tomatoes, and potatoes all need high amounts of Mg. Most commercial soils just don't provide enough and Mg deficiency is probably the most common deficiency among soil growers. I finally figured it out on my own through trial and error. In fact its so easy to spot once you know what it is that I'm surprised how often it goes misdiagnosed on 420mag.

Add 1 - 2 cups of Dolomite per 1.5 cubic feet of potting soil. That comes out to 1.4 - 2.8 tablespoons per gallon. It'll take care of all your pH, Ca, and Mg needs.

Hogdaddy had some very impressive results when adding plenty of Dolomite to his soil grow: Welcome to da Shack!

BIG +1 on the lime!!!!!!!

Even though my garden is well limed, I still have to top dress my maters with more about 2 months in. I'll also add some epsom salt till the the top dressed lime starts breaking down.

For my mixes, in addition to the powdered dolomite lime (1cup/cf), I also add ~1/2 cup of the pelletized lime. It takes 2-3 months to break down, but seems to start working in mid to late flower about when the powdered is all but consumed.

I also recycle my mix, so it helps there also.

Lime fixes/prevents so many problems and is so cheap, I'm amazed that so many are reluctant to use it, but will spend big $$$ for cal/mag in a bottle and pH'ng everything. LOL

DD

 

[endive]

Just wanna mention I didn't know starting out. Dolomite lime and hydrated lime shouldn't be confused. Hydrated lime can be used to sweeten the pH, but use very sparingly. It can burn as well as throw the pH way alkaline.

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

That looks like a classic magnesium def. to me - darker veins with lighter areas in between.

Add epsom salts, and keep that PH UNDER 6.8... 7 is too high. However 6 is on the low side for Mg absorption, so that could be the problem.

Here's the chart:

 

[Scooby_Snacks]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I think I've got it worked out to a ph problem causing those deficiencies. I'm using what I thought was good potting soil from a local garden shop. Since throwing away my ph meter and testing using strips and runoff, I'm noticing the soil is around a 6 ph. I'm trying to find other soil but don't know where to look. I got a nice big bag of powdered dolomite lime from the HD. I flushed my mother while adding some lime. I've also added it to my newest transplants.

Droopy thanks for dialing me in a bit more on how much to use. I have Epson that I'll top dress with as well. Can you give me an idea of how much Epson salt to use?

 

[Droopy Dog]

About 1tsp/gallon should do it. Top dress or water it in, doesn't matter since it dissolves so easily.

DD

 

[Scooby_Snacks]

First time with all my issues I've had this particular problem but I'm assuming when I corrected the soil ph with the lime I either did it too fast or the stress of the ph change alone caused this ch9 fem to go hermie on me. Had to pull out 2 large and 2 small from my flower tent and kill all my clones in veg. I have a chance at a mother still in my veg tent but it's a 50/50 prop since it's a non fem seed.

The lime did stabilize and fix my ph issues though.

 

[Droopy Dog]

IDK, powdered lime usually takes at least a couple of weeks to work, so it's not that fast. Never heard of it causing a hermie and I think I would look elsewhere for the cause of that.

DD