Need some help & advice

[Emjayd]

Hello, first time poster and first time grower here looking for any help. Working on my first grow and one plant is healthy and getting ready to flower it looks like. The other is not doing well at all and I cant figure out why. It has been getting really hot here in NW Washington the past few weeks and all I can do is stick a fan in front the plants. Wondering if it might be heat stress. I fear the sick plant has lost too many leaves.

What Strain is it? Cheese
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Hybrid, not sure what %
How Many Plants? 2
Is it in Vegetative or Flowering Stage? Veg
If in Vegetative Stage... How Long? About 2.5 months
If in Flowering Stage... How Long?
Indoor or Outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If Hydro, Reservoir size?
If Hydro, Reservoir Temperature?
If Hydro, what type of Medium?
If Hydro, what type of Setup?
If Soil... What is in your Mix? Fox farms ocean forest
If Soil... What Size Pot? 5 gallon
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? T5 Grow Light (2ft 4lamps) DL824 on top, single fluorescent on bottom.
Is it Air Cooled? No
Temperature of Room/Cabinet? 75-90 degrees
RH of Room/Cabinet?
PH of Medium or Reservoir? 6.3-6.8
Any Pests? No
How Often are you Watering? Twice per day
Type and Strength of Fertilizers used? Fox farms grow big and big bloom
Size or Square Footage of Room? Little over 6 sq ft.

 

[AnimaSola]

Re: Need some help/advice

Looks like Ca deficiency, the affected leaves will never improve but you can stop the progression easy. Alot of people will say it's calmag deficiency but there is no such thing and Ca and Mg actually work against each other in excess. For that reason I recommend treating them seperately, although I do use calmag suppliment to avoid getting the deficiencies in the first place.
To add Ca with a little sulphur to boot (makes your buds smell better) just sprinkle some garden gypsum on the top of your soil or coco.
To add Mg (petioles will turn purple if it needs it) just sprinkle a few tablespoons of Epsom salts on your soil

 

[Emjayd]

Re: Need some help/advice

Thanks for the reply, I will try the garden gypsum and see what happens. Is this one of the reasons to mix dolomite lime in with the soil?

 

[AnimaSola]

Re: Need some help/advice

Lime will adjust your pH, garden gypsum will not change pH.

 

[Emjayd]

Re: Need some help/advice

That makes sense. How often do you recommend I should use the gypsum?

 

[Scientific]

Hey Emjayd

I'll jump in with a few thoughts as well.

First, it's not what you're asking about, but you need a lot more light to have a successful grow with a good yield. And if you can, move those lights above the plant.

Second, watering twice a day is not generally considered a good idea with soil. "Cannabis doesn't like wet feet."
Give it a good watering and then let the soil dry out to about knuckle deep is the usual advice.

I do agree that it looks like you may have a Ca/Mg deficiency. The easiest, fastest way to correct that is with a liquid Ca/Mg supplement, such as General Hydroponics' CALiMAGic. (Lots of brands available.)

Good luck, have fun, and don't take any wooden nickels.

 

[AnimaSola]

If you have an excess of calcium and not enough magnesium the excess of calcium will make the magnesium deficiency worse and vise versa. Ca and Mg deficiencies are two different things, there is no such thing as a calmag deficiency. They put Ca and Mg together because they are the two most common elements lacking at certain growth periods.

 

[Scientific]

there is no such thing as a calmag deficiency.

What your are saying simply doesn't make sense. There is no reason that a growth medium could not be deficient in both calcium and magnesium at the same time.

Yes, related chemicals can affect each other. Calcium and magnesium in group 2 of the periodic table, for example, or in group 16, someone taking an excess of selenium can have problems with sulfur. But possible interactions between related substances doesn't mean that there is an absolute cause and effect relationship between their levels.

 

[AnimaSola]

Ca and Mg are not one deficiency, they just put them in the same bottle.

There is no such thing as a calmag deficiency.

Ca deficiency affects the plant differently, shows up differently and if your plant is already Ca deficient and you go adding more Mg you will just make it worse and the same goes for Mg deficiency, if you go adding more Ca it makes Mg deficiency worse. I'm not against calmag suppliment, I use it alot, but if you go telling people to add calmag when they already have a Ca or Mg deficiency they they will just make it worse.

 

[AnimaSola]

Excess Mg can cause Ca lockout and show up as a Ca deficiency.
Excess Ca can cause Mg lockout and show up as a Mg deficiency.

 

[AnimaSola]

Re: Need some help/advice

That makes sense. How often do you recommend I should use the gypsum?

I sprinkle a few handfuls in early flower or when I notice a Ca or S deficiency.

 

[Emjayd]

Hey Emjayd

I'll jump in with a few thoughts as well.

First, it's not what you're asking about, but you need a lot more light to have a successful grow with a good yield. And if you can, move those lights above the plant.

Second, watering twice a day is not generally considered a good idea with soil. "Cannabis doesn't like wet feet."
Give it a good watering and then let the soil dry out to about knuckle deep is the usual advice.

I do agree that it looks like you may have a Ca/Mg deficiency. The easiest, fastest way to correct that is with a liquid Ca/Mg supplement, such as General Hydroponics' CALiMAGic. (Lots of brands available.)

Good luck, have fun, and don't take any wooden nickels.

The T5 is getting switched out when I induce flowering. Was planning on inducing a while ago but then this started happening. I do feel Ive been over watering, ill start watering and letting the soil dry out. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Emjayd]

Excess Mg can cause Ca lockout and show up as a Ca deficiency.
Excess Ca can cause Mg lockout and show up as a Mg deficiency.

Already used garden gypsum.

 

[Richard Richardson]

Hi Emjayd, the gypsum should help, along with letting your medium dry out a bit between waterings. However, the most important thing for you to do now is to get more light on those leaves, even household LED lamps to augment your T5 setup. Also, take the lamp away from the bottom, it may look nice and add atmosphere to your grow room, however it will only confuse your plant. An oscillating fan will help air circulate around the leaves.

Your plant probably wants to flower now, so you should reduce the "light on" time to 12 or 11 hours.

Too much watering can result in the calcium from your tapwater clogging up the roots, where calcium should enter. Calcium in your tapwater is too big as a molecule and difficult for the roots to absorb, so once you alter your watering schedule to allow the roots to get oxygen, that should help. I have soft water and don't use any cal-mag. I add epsom salts to the watering can in flower and treat any spotting, like you have, by adding some liquid calcium.

 

[Emjayd]

Hi Emjayd, the gypsum should help, along with letting your medium dry out a bit between waterings. However, the most important thing for you to do now is to get more light on those leaves, even household LED lamps to augment your T5 setup. Also, take the lamp away from the bottom, it may look nice and add atmosphere to your grow room, however it will only confuse your plant. An oscillating fan will help air circulate around the leaves.

Your plant probably wants to flower now, so you should reduce the "light on" time to 12 or 11 hours.

Too much watering can result in the calcium from your tapwater clogging up the roots, where calcium should enter. Calcium in your tapwater is too big as a molecule and difficult for the roots to absorb, so once you alter your watering schedule to allow the roots to get oxygen, that should help. I have soft water and don't use any cal-mag. I add epsom salts to the watering can in flower and treat any spotting, like you have, by adding some liquid calcium.

Shouldn't I try to get the plant back to health before switching to 12 on 12 off? Or does it not matter at this point? Ill get some epsom salts and try this as well.

 

[Richard Richardson]

Shouldn't I try to get the plant back to health before switching to 12 on 12 off? Or does it not matter at this point? Ill get some epsom salts and try this as well.

It depends on the size of your grow space, the longer you wait, the bigger she will get.

She will need a bigger pot for flowering anyway & fresh potting mix will probably solve your issues.

 

[Emjayd]

So I added some gypsum to the soil and started letting it dry out more but it seems like its getting worse. I should also add that I started these from seed and use purified water for a while, then switched to tap when they started getting bigger. My Morsen Led Grow Light 1000W Full Spectrum Grow Lamp 100X10 Led Chip for Hydroponics Indoor Plant will be here tomorrow.

 

[AnimaSola]

Once you get Ca deficiency it will continue to progress until the gypsum is absorbed and distributed through the plant. How much did you add?

 

[AnimaSola]

Re: Need some help & advice

Those leaves that are curled up will never get better, just ignore them and make sure it isnt spreading.
Do you let your tap water sit out overnight?

 

[Emjayd]

Added a couple hand fulls per plant. It does seem like its spreading, the top part of the plant that looked healthy is now doing this, almost overnight it seems. My tap water does sit overnight in a pitcher.