So basically today is the start of week 3 for my 3 plants and they are all showing signs of what I see as a boron deficiency. I'm planning to transplant in hopes the larger amount of soil will correct this problem but wanted a good technique to ensure I get my plants looking happy again. Right now the plan is to mix a non aerated kelp/alfalfa meal tea and apply that, then top dressing with about an inch of EWC mixed with some garden lime and kelp meal? Good plan? Deficiency I speak of: Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
*I* would venture a 99.99999 probability that you do not have a boron deficiency. Whatever, wherever you read to get that idea, stop reading it. Transplant if you want, but hold off on the tea and top dress. That leaf is more than likely a burn of some sort from feeding way too early or too much. With plants that young, it's like force feeding a 25oz steak to an infant. Both get very ill at the least. Transplant, wait for another couple sets of leaves, top the last set of leaves (not a FIM, cut the stem between nodes), THEN do the top dress and a few days later, the--very mild/weak--tea. Next time make sure the lime goes in your mix before use. Above all, slow down! You are trying to rush something that simply cannot be rushed. Wet
I do have garden lime in my soil mixture, exactly what's recommended in the beginner organic soil sticky. I have only been watering with pure r.o water so I don't think this burn is due to nutrient burn? Or will too much kelp meal, etc burn the plant? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum I do have garden lime in my soil mixture, exactly what's recommended in the beginner organic soil sticky. I have only been watering with pure r.o water so I don't think this burn is due to nutrient burn? Or will too much kelp meal, etc burn the plant? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Too much of anything can cause harm, kelp included. Especially on a plant that young/small. If there is lime in the mix there is no need for more if enough was added. If you are using ITG's mix, do a transplant only, no tea, no top dress. There is plenty of everything in the mix for a good interval of growth. Water only! Wet
thank you for all your help Wet. So you would say this looks like I may have added too much of something to my mix? It seems to start at the tips and move inward, tips turning brown while the leaf itself begins to turn yellow? I've read trimming these older leaves with damage can allow the plant to focus more on re-rooting after a transplant. Just transplanted all 3 into 1 gallon pots for now, I think they should be happier in a couple days. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I just had to like this post from the first sentence. The second one clenches it. Everything Wet said is spot on. How long did you let the mix cycle? Did you keep it moist? How fresh was your humus? (EWC & compost)
I can attest to that. I'm pretty sure excess coconut and aloe vera juice caused my plants to kick in additional growth (foxtailing) right about the time they should have been winding down.
The mix only cycled about 3 weeks and was kept moist and mixed well. My EWC I assume are pretty fresh as they are a local source sold at an amazing place called Concentrates I found. I am fairly confident transplanting them made them quite happy and I'm hoping to see some fresh healthy growth soon! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Just something to think about... The leaf damage that you are experiencing could be caused by overwatering. If you water too much or too frequently (especially with young plants with underdeveloped root systems), you're depriving the root zone of oxygen. Oxygen is essential for efficient nutrient cycling. Without proper levels of O[SUB]2 [/SUB]in the soil, plants will begin to show all sorts of nutrient "deficiencies".
No, it's just seedlings in fresh mix, nothing unusual with what happened. What I do for seeds/seedlings, freshly rooted cuttings, or even rooting cuttings, is save a quantity of mix that has had a plant grown to term in it. It has everything needed and in amounts that won't burn young/sensitive plants. I usually keep this in a 5gal bucket with drainage and set aside. 3-4 gallons of this is plenty, and moisten it every now and then. On the transplant, if you haven't done this. Take the plants and water to saturation with plenty of run off, sloppy wet. Take 2 fingers and put one on each side of the stem to steady it. Take the fingertips of the other hand and firm down the fresh mix in the container. I usually start at the inside edge of the container and work towards the plant, but from the plant outward is fine also. Whatever works best for you. One of the biggest problems with transplants is not getting good contact between the rootball and the fresh medium. Any air space or gaps and the roots cannot reach the fresh medium. The super wet mix and firming it down with the fingertips prevents this. You may need to add more mix, you may not, you'll see. Wet
-^^^^^^^^^ - THIS. It sure isn't a boron deficiency. Just wondering - who told you this or what makes you think it's boron? J
to be honest that's just what It looked like to me from the sites I checked out 😅 nooby mistake. Anyways the new growth looks nice and healthy, but I went to begin LST on one of three and it now has a bent stem at the bottom where it was temporarily trained one way. Is this bad? Should I take a fan lead to the side of the pot to hold it this way since its bent already? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
it's all good man, it happens to most of us at some point (usually early on). one thing to keep in mind, is an organic grow has a whole lot of pretty much every kind of macro and micro nutrients. Especially if you assemble it on your own, hell, kelp meal and neem meal have almost everything in them on their own, not to mention if you add the usual other ingredients, rock dusts, crab meals, and manure, etc, etc. More often than not, the problem is because of the soil not aging correctly. Almost never a deficiency. Sorta like how inexperience hydro guys usually over feed, it happens. and I wouldn't worry about the training of the plant, they are pretty resilent, unless you snap it off, they'll bounce back and do whatever you train them to do, I like to cut up tomato trellis' up, and use the smaller lower ring to make the plant circle around and produce more tops, usually if done right you can get 5-7 tops/colas per trained plant. I've also had success using the wire fence they use for fencing, the squared kind, that and a pair of dykes and you can make whatever LST frame you need, works well for "six-packs" meaning the style of training the plant to produce six colas in a symmetrical fashion, works damn good for cramming plants into tight areas. At the end the plant has a "six-pack" of colas