5 babies in trouble (bottom leafs yellow droppy) pics and complete history/data/setup

[bengt]

The pictures speak for them selfs. My babies are about 25 days old and are showing signs that not everything is OK about 5 days now. They wore worse 2 days ago, but still worry me.

History:
Seeds: I just got some marijuana (that was really strong) and tossed some seeds on a plant vase I have at home, just for fun. 5 days later, 5 of them wore showing some life, and since I live alone, I decided to give them a try.

Soil: all plants got right now about 15-25% of original soil from the other (not marijuana) plant, 25-35% worm castings, 20-30% plant some fertilized soil (the one that looked nicer on the plant hardware store near where I live, in Brazil) and about 10% common bovine dropping mix. They seemed to like it until now.

Soil PH: about 6 - 6.3 on all plants. Measured with a cheap color table/reagent test - the only one I found were i live

Water: I only use bottled mineral water (ph: 6.28), ambient temperature. I water the plants when 2 inches down, the soil feels dry. That is about once a day (Brazil is a hot place!) or once every two days, depending on the weather.

Environment: they are about 2 weeks in what I hope will be their home until they give me buds. I know it´s not a big place, and I know not all of them will live thre (maybe up to three plants). I hope they will show me some signs of sex soon (OR they only show sex when on 12/12 light for flowering?)

Lights: all the way CFL, 3 x 45W 6400K lights.

Ventilation: 3 x cooler master silent 120x120mm computer fans, 2 out take and one intake. 6 days per week they live on their environment with open door, and with a medium size common portable fan blowing on them. So, ventilation and temperature are not a problem (I guess). Once a week I got a girl that comes and cleans up my house, so I leave the cabinet closed and only with the 3x fans working. After about 8 hours in there, when I open the cabinet I feel a hot air coming out... so, ventilation IS a problem IF I have to close the cabinet for a few hours. But this is a rare requirement.

Fertilizer: I got a 13-13-15 NPK fertilizer. I know it´s not the ideal one, I pretend to buy a 30-15-15 or similar soon.

My guess: since only the bottom leafs are getting sick, I guess it´s a Nitrogen deficiency (http://forum.grasscity.com/sick-plan...ems-guide.html)

Some photos:

[Help_Needed]

It looks more like a phosphorous deficiency, probably caused by your soil mix.

That mixture is very heavy in nitrogen, but low in micro-nutes. It's also really dense and will probably retain too much water, which might be causing problems. I'd recommend mixing some pearlite into your soil - use 3 parts soil to 1 part pearlite.

As for feeding them, try to find some plant food specifically designed for marijuana if possible. If you can't, you can use Miracle Grow all-purpose food, although you won't get quite as good results with it. Since you're already low in phosphorous, you could also try some tomato plant food, since that tends to be higher in trace elements than all-purpose ferts are.

[bengt]

why your guess is phosphorous?

I experimented a 15-0-0 special nitrogen plant food I got today, two babies got them. I hope I didn´t do a bad thing.

Well, anyway, the plants got like 15-20% taller today! And the leafs of two of them are almost normal! All I did yesterday was getting the CFL lamps like 5 inches higher and I gave them water mixed with a all around nutrient solution:

NPK 13-13-15
Ca 1%
S 4%
B 0.05%
Co 0.05%
Cu 0.005%
Fe 0.2%
Mg 1%
Mo 0.0005%
Zn 0.1%

[Help_Needed]

Originally Posted by bengt

why your guess is phosphorous?

Experience.

The black necrotic patches you can see on several of the leaves are a chief indicator. So is the color an placement of the yellowing that you're seeing on some of the other plants.

Nitrogen deficiency shows up as an evenly spread yellowing that covers the entire leaf. It looks almost like you've left it out in the sun too long.

By the way, props on posting all the relevant grow data in your OP. It really makes it easier to figure out what's wrong without having to wait for the grower to answer all sorts of questions.

[bengt]

thanks. They really did not get any better with the extra nitrogen, but did´t get any worse too.

How can I increase phosphorous levels?

[Help_Needed]

Hey, sorry for the late reply. I don't usually check the boards on the weekend...that's what work's for .

If you live anywhere near a hydro supply store, they'll probably have a suppliment that's high in phosphorous - most blooming ferts have it. If there's nowhere close, pick up some Miracle Grow tomato food and use that for 2-3 feedings. Make sure you mix the MG at about 1/4 the recommended strength to start out with, so you don't burn them. Increase the concentration slowly as the plants grow and get used to the extra food.

[bengt]

hi there. Thanks for the replies. I think the plants are OK by now, I did put some of my 13-13-15 fertilizer plus the nitrogen 15-0-0 fertilizer I found (previous post).

The plants seem to be OK, the leafs that wore badly affected are worse but all the rest of the leafs on all plants are as green and healthy as I think they could be.

I guess the affected leafs (the bottom ones) are going to be discarded by the plants, #5 already did drop one of the leafs. No point on wasting energy on that ones, I think.

I´m posting some photos i just took, so you can give me your impression.
Please note that the second set of leafs that wore affected on some plants are not getting any worse, so I think things are OK now. The plants did grow about one to two inches the last 5 days. I´m going to give them just water for about 1 week.

One thing I note is that my plants are more bushy and less taller than most of the 1 month old plants I see on the Internet. Is that ok? I guess is maybe their strain. I don´t know what strain it is, can any one guess?

[bengt]

bump! I would really appreciate some help! Thanks

oh, almost forgot:
the #3 plant is growing pretty fast, but the bottom leafs a strange yellow color and smelling like something acid (remembers lemon, orange) and the other two leafs above them are getting yellow too, the whole leaf.

I will post photos tonight. Thanks!

[bengt]

second bump!