This is my first grow, it's a single Exodus Cheese growing in a mix of 1/4 soil 3/4 coco, along with some added perlite, with General Hydroponics nutrients +CalMag. I'm following this nutrient schedule, but halving the values for everything: http://www.growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com... and maintaining pH around 5.8-6. Runoff is always a bit basic, 6.2-6.5, so I pH nutes/water to 5.8. Right now it takes water about twice a week. I have 8 CFL's, 4 daylight, 4 soft white, all 40w. The plant is about 3-4 weeks into flowering period. It looks like I've got some deficiencies, maybe nitrogen, but I'm not sure. I notice it takes a ton of water to start getting runoff, and the schedule is a per gallon formula, but I didn't realize until today. Should I follow the amounts it says to the T? Could I have bad drainage despite the coco? The original plant was grown in soil and I transplanted into a much larger pot of soil/coco mix about two weeks before going into flowering. It didn't show any noticeable deficiencies until about a week ago but has always felt like its had a drainage problem, but I'm new to growing so I don't have much to judge by. Any advice would be appreciated in diagnosing, and fixing the problem. Thanks! Pics included. TL;DR: Think I'm giving my plant too few nutes, think it's N deficiency. What do you think?
I'm no expert but I would start with a heavy flush. I think you probably over fertilized. Makes sure you have good drainage. Drill extra holes if need be. Flush heavy with regular water at least double the container size. Triple preferably. Wait 24 hours. Feed at half your normal dosage and start doing daily waterings then work your way back up to the normal dosage . I need to know just how much soil/coco/perlite you used but it looks like too much nutes and not enough watering causing salts to build up. I use coco/perlite 50/50 and water 2 times a day. I have tons of drainage plus smart pots. Works very well. Even when I was in fox farm soil I was watering once a day once I was into flower. Make sure your getting run off every feeding. That will tell you how much water they need.
Adjust the pH of the water/feeds going into your plants and don't worry about adjusting them to the pH you get on the run off. That's not the correct way to measure the pH of your soil anyway, so you're not helping yourself any by doing that. If the water/feeds are correctly pH'd within a range of 6.3 to 6.7, you'll be good. You definitely have nute burn there. When you repotted and put the plant into fresh soil, that's like pre-feeding it for awhile without giving it nutes because the fresh soil is loaded up. If you fed on top of that, that's how you burned your plants. Like guygreenthumbs said above, you need to give it a good flush: Flush 3:1 tap water to gallon size container of plant. If you are in a 1 gallon pot, you run 3 gallons through it with the last gallon being properly pH'd. (And don't freak out about using tap water. It's perfectly safe to use without any negative affects. I've been using it (after adjusting pH) for 4 years now with beautiful healthy plants, so don't let others convince you that you have to buy spring water or use RO water. RO water is a real waste because everything has been stripped out of it. There are actually micronutrients in tap water that are good for your plant) Put it back under the lights and leave it alone until it has had time to use up at least 80% of all the water in the container. You're responsible for all nutes after the flush since you clean out the soil by doing it, but start nutes back at weak dose...like 1/4 recommended dose, and continue on from there. In flower, they need more calcium, magnesium and phosphorus so if you do end up with a deficiency, more than likely that's what it will be. Get yourself a ppm tester pen. They're fairly cheap (under $20) and by using one, you'll know how strong or weak your nutrient solution is. There is a range...something like 500-800 ppm, for nutrient water and it's important you don't go too far above that 800 or you risk nute burn, especially when the plants are younger and more vulnerable. I go above that, but I work up and past it over a period of time.. One more thing...I don't know what you're using to check your pH with, but if it's not something very reliable and of good quality, there is a high probability you're getting incorrect readings. So make sure what you're using is giving you true numbers. The first one I bought was a super cheap one and I realized a few months down the road that it wasn't giving me correct readings. All that time I was trying my best to get things right and because it wasn't working, I wasn't doing my plants any good. I don't like the drops either because the range we're shooting for is so specific and there is no way to tell with the chart that comes in that kit how close you really are to the right numbers. It'll take you awhile to get a grasp on everything, but if a 52-year-old grandmother can learn how to do this....anybody can!! LOL Good luck! TWW
When you say "Flush heavy with regular water..." Do you mean Ph'd tap water? Sent from my SM-G925T using Grasscity Forum mobile app
you are using coco/perlite plus soil, and using hydroponic nutrients, so I am not certain what PH range you should be in. some of your nutrients are coming from the soil you mixed in. some from the feeding. soil and hydro PH ranges are different. i am not certain of anything about the photos other than that he ought to do a deep flush. i think the PH in the medium is way high, probably due to salt buildup. i don't think its simply a cal or mg (or both) deficiency).... could be either way i think a flush is in order. if it IS a lockout of Ca and or Mag, given its extreme expression, its probably being caused by PH related lockout, not by not having enough in the mix... the 25% soil.... what is is? just my 2 cents
i normally i flush with 25% based nutes, so as to not upset the cation balance in the coco. flush until runoff PPMs are LESS than 100 PPM ( .5 scale) MORE than what you are pouring in, then feed as normal to the plant won't sit in weak nutrients for 24 hour. (it will grow better in full strength nutrients than in 25% nutrients, why have a day of slower growth?)
also, for what i see in the photos, the best diagnostic would be the runoff PPM. if more than 200 PPM higher than what you are pouring in, you need a flush. PPMs can climb into the 2000 (and much higher) range if salt has built up, and it can do that in as little as a couple weeks if not watering with sufficient runoff. you have a lot of coco in your mix, so runoff PH will usually be more basic than what you are pouring in - I never measure runoff PPM