Yellow tipped leaves???? HELP!

[grazsrootz]

Ok guys i am in the process of growing 9 plants. they have just sprouted about 2 or 3 weeks ago. i have them in normal soil i got at a home depot. I am using 3 ballasts with two ge ecolux bulbs each. My temperature is typically between 72-77 degrees with 49 percent humidity i havent really checked the PH level of my plants but i have been putting miracle grow tomato fert on them. i did that 9 days ago. I also have my lights on 24 hours of light with the balasts about 6 inches away from the plants.

My question is. what could be causing my plants to get yellow tips on the end of the leaves? do i have too many lights on them? do i need more? i am only planning on keeping 6 of the 9 plants. eventually giving away the slower growers in the next few weeks. how many lights should i have? what about ph, it seems to be controversial i have read a few different opinions on this issue.

another question what kind of schedule should i run my lights on i have read a few opposing opinions on this forum.

any help is much appreciated and needed thanks

i might be able to get pictures if absolutely needed.

[tcruse11]

Without pics and ph its hard to say. Did you use soil with nutes? I'm betting that you did and now you have nute burn. Should be giving your plants food till they are at least 2 weeks.

[grazsrootz]

i have just regular soil, it wasnt pre fertilized, i used a very diluted solution of the miragro tomato plant food, about one tsp per gallon of water, and put some on after about 2 weeks, and went back to normal purified water

[Anony]

2-3 weeks is too soon to use ferts imo, also depends on how fast they are growing.
Anytime you start using ferts, especially that early, is you start at 1/4th the recommended dosage, did you do so?
I am also going to move this to the "sick plants and problems" thread, as this is where it should be and youll get a better response there.

[grazsrootz]

i didnt water it down, i just used the minimum mix. i flushed them a little bit to see if it fixes anything.
i noticed they havent been growing very fast hopefully that helps. i have a ph meter and it is reading that the soil is about a 7. i dont know if thats bad, but i dont know if this thing even works, i tried dipping it in pure water, my mixed fert water, soda, and hydrogen peroxide to see if it works, they all read 7's but the peroxide read about a 6 or 6.5 does it sound like this ph tester is working?

[debelastoka]

I have asked around, and I do get a lot of good imput from a lot of experienced growers and it basically comes down to this, if you are using organic fertalizers (which I suspect you are), than you cannot get fert-burn, you can only waste fertilizer if you give a oversaturated dose. I also don’t suspect it is burn from the light because although you say your light is 6” away (which is far too close from what I understand) it would burn the plant at the spots that are most vulnerable to the light like the top of the plant for example. The tips of leaves are hardly more vulnerable than anything else, so if the yellow tips are just tips, it cant be light burn. From what I have been told it is likely over watering, , try letting the soil dry up for 2-3 days and see what happens, I had the same problem,and once i let them dry for a few days, the yellow tips stopped forming on new leaves, but the ones that were there are still there and not getting larger. It could also be a deficiency in some sort of mineral but that again is not likely since you are using organic ferts. If you are not using organic ferts than it’s a whole other avenue of troubleshooting. Hope this helped.

[grazsrootz]

Do you think my lights are efficient enough for the whole grow. I have 3 80W EV lights over 9 plants. Each is light has 3 plants under it. Would anyone suggest if I should upgrade my lights. And Right now I have my lights on 24/7. Should I reduce this to 20/4? Also what types of yeild do florecent lights usually produce?

[debelastoka]

Well let me put it to you this way, ive got 6 plants under a 400W Metal Hallide light, I know I could have done with a 250W for the 6 plants but the metal hallide produces less heat than a traditional HPS , this allowed me to fit a larger light into a smaller area without having temperature problems. So to answer your question 3 x 80w will do, It should get the job done. Know however, that the amount of yield you get is directly proportional to the amount light the plants receive, so a larger light will produce a larger yield. As far as your light cycle goes I’ll put it this way, marijuana is only capable of growing for 18hrs a day, so the other 6 hrs a day you have your lights running is effectively a waste of power, it won’t hurt your plants-per-say but a plant is just like a person in the sense that it too needs rest, so I do suggest you keep your plants on a 18-6 daily cycle until you decide you want to flower them at which point you put them under 12-12 lights. People typically put their plants under a 24/7 lights only when they are really young, you will get different opinions with regards to this practice but like I said, keep them under 18-6 and you will not be losing out on anything but a larger power bill. Hope this helped.

[oldskoolgrower]

Friends don't let friends use Miracle Grow.

[Rabiez]

Originally Posted by oldskoolgrower

Friends don't let friends use Miracle Grow.

I sacked all my friends for blindly regurgitating advice with no attention to detail.



Anyway, sounds like a touch of nute burn to me.

[oldskoolgrower]

Hard to tell without pics, but doubtful since he's not really feeding it much. If it's just regular old Home Depot topsoil then it's probably very deficient and should have had some organics mixed in with it.

I would get some Fox Farm organic nutes and feed it with those. It's quite possibly a Nitrogen deficiency. OP doesn't mention any curling or burning that would normally be associated with nute burn, and yellowing leaves are often a sign of not enough N.

[debelastoka]

Yeah a mineral deficiency was what it sounded like to me. There is this awesome link for diagnosing various mineral deficiencies : http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.p...8&page=1&pp=15
However I don’t suspect it a mineral deficiency or nute burn for the simple reason that you are using organic fertilizers. I mean a teaspoon a gallon sounds typical of organic grow formula which is what I use in my garden. Organics can’t burn your plants and they are usually balanced in nutrient distribution. But just like OldSkool said, it sounds typical of Nitrogen deficiency however cxheck the link I sent and see if the pictures accurately match your dilemma. Other than that, switch off miracle grow, and don’t over water and you should see improvement.

[oldskoolgrower]

Good analysis...again without pics we're just taking shots in the dark though.

[Rabiez]

Originally Posted by oldskoolgrower

Hard to tell without pics, but doubtful since he's not really feeding it much.

I read these quotes slightly differently then.

Originally Posted by grazsrootz

i have been putting miracle grow tomato fert on them.

Originally Posted by grazsrootz

i used a very diluted solution of the miragro tomato plant food, about one tsp per gallon of water, and put some on after about 2 weeks, and went back to normal purified water

Originally Posted by grazsrootz

i didnt water it down, i just used the minimum mix.

So that's feeding at 2 weeks, with what appears to be the lower end of the recommended strength.

Too much, too early.

Originally Posted by oldskoolgrower

If it's just regular old Home Depot topsoil then it's probably very deficient and should have had some organics mixed in with it.

Topsoil? Hopefully he means potting compost of some description. Needs clarification. If it is topsoil I'd be closer to agreeing with you, but if that's the case, we'll be seeing a lot more of him and his plants in this section. If it's compost, then I disagree; it should happily feed the plant for several weeks.

Originally Posted by oldskoolgrower

It's quite possibly a Nitrogen deficiency. OP doesn't mention any curling or burning that would normally be associated with nute burn, and yellowing leaves are often a sign of not enough N.

N def shows primarily at lower leaves with a general loss of colour. Yellowing tips is what he cites as the problem, which is classic onset of burn.

Originally Posted by OP

My question is. what could be causing my plants to get yellow tips on the end of the leaves?

Ho hum. Let's see if we get any clarification on the topsoil/compost issue.

[Rabiez]

Originally Posted by debelastoka

However I don’t suspect it a mineral deficiency or nute burn for the simple reason that you are using organic fertilizers.

Please explain this statement.

Miracle-Gro don't make a product called 'miracle grow tomato fert' or anything close, so why would you assume that it's organic when the rest of the range is chemical?