Please, i know this will be a huge piece of text to read, but you will see that i really looked into problems i have and studied alot about this beautiful plant we all love and maybe even pinpointed the problems and solutions to them but i want your profesional opinions too since im a first time grower. I had a lot of problems before with this plant and i have overcome them all and im still trying and kicking. Here is info about plant: 2 months old, 4x40W cfl daylight, 25C, soil is in the picture, watering it with tap water ph 7. Ph of runoff water (destiled) was around 6 ~ 6.3 i think (hard to pinpoint with litmus paper). Note that soil is recommended by growers around my place and they didnt have problems with it. Plant is small because i used bad soil before i transplanted it. There is no perlite in soil, only on top 2cm. Ill put it when i do the next transplant, i didnt think it was that important before i know im stupid. There are 4 problems i listed from lowest to highest priority to me: 1. Bigger leaves drooping. I know they usually droop when overwatered. I watered the plant twice a week until the water starts dripping off from the bottom. Maybe it got overwatered because no perlite in soil? But this problem stoped i think, no more leaves are drooping tho the ones affected dont seem to be getting better. Maybe because they got too damaged by other problems listed bellow. 2. Bigger leafs discoloration. If it was Nitrogen defficency the lower ones shouldve started going yellow first right? By the looks of it, looks like sulphur/mag def? The thing is it looked like it was root bound, could that be a problem? So i transplanted it to a bigger pot and i think this problem stoped. 3. Dry brown top of leaves, even the most young ones This problem started when the problem number 2 started. After transplanting i think it really slowed down and maybe stoped im not sure. The only thing i know that causes this is Zinc defficency and over nuting, but for Zinc ph blockade PH should be like 7+ and i didnt use any nutes. So the only logical explenation for this is unsifficient Zinc in soil which i think is unlikely, and for the more likely answer i came to conclusion when i read that buildup of salts can cause same simptoms as over nuting? I never flushed the soil. I only watered it until it stars driping from bottom which i dont think is enough to wash the soil. So what im doing first thing in the morning is buying 10-15l of destiled water and flushing the shit out of it. Thanks vostok! http://forum.grasscity.com/blog/1093/entry-9829-fl... 4. Youngest leaves started curling up and wrinkling hard. - this is what looks like the biggest problem now. On last watering on sunday i added 1mg of these nutes: http://alturl.com/ofqfm in 1l of water to maybe help with the possible nutes def from problems 2 and 3. i dont know if that caused this. As far as i know, curling upwards means that plant is trying to keep water which is caused by: (1.) High temperature I dont think this is the problem as im using some cheap chinese CFLs which are not rly warm, i can even touch them no probs so they shouldnt burn the plant which is like 3-5cm far away, and i have a side fan constantly blowing on them keeping 25C at the top of plant. (2.) Heavy fan blowing When i gave the nutes on sunday, i wanted to make more airflow and so i ramped up the fans from 6V to 7.5V which made them blow more. I read today that too much fan blowing can dry the plant more and dus making her lose humidity and making her curl up. Maybe this was the problem? But they dont just seem curved, they are wrinkling hard now that i look at them. Dunno why they look that bad. My solution until now: 1. Flushing the heck out of the soil with at least 10L of destiled water. 2. Lowering fans to 6V when lights are on, 4.5V when lights are off. Also, you will notice i put the plant all to the bottom as far as i could from the lights just to be sure with temp problem if it exists. Maybe? 3. Maybe should i transplant it to a bigger pot with added perlite? Note that the soil that has roots in it i cant add perlite, only in the new soil. I already transplanted it like 1 week ago tho. Will anyone be willing to help me with this and give their opinion? Thanks for reading my essay x) P.S. Notice the little cutling im trying to clone next to it! ^^ 3 days and its doing fine i think, planning on taking 3 more if the first one makes it.
So i did few things. The fans were turned down from 7.5V to 6V and the next morning leaves already uncurled somewhat. I pulled the planet from the pot, washed all the soil i could, there was like 1 fist of soil still hanging on the roots so i just flushed heavily that part and put it in same pot but filled it with soil perlite mix 70/30. Bought the hidrometer which said 42% which i think is low, so i cut 1 bottle filled it with water, put one side of towel in it to soak and other part handged like a sail to spread water into the air. For now with lights off humidity is 65% and with on 55%. The plant looks like its recovering for now.
Looks good the ph Is still a little on the low side it's best around 60-70% RH and it also looks like it's starting to out grow the pot I'd transplant them asap Hope not works out Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Hope it works out* Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
First off...the pH thing. Adjust the pH of liquids GOING INTO your plant to 6.5 and don't worry so much about the pH of the run off water. There is a way to measure the runoff pH, but not just by checking it straight out of the drain holes. You also need a RELIABLE way to check the pH of these liquids. Litmus paper is just a shot in the dark. You'll need to order yourself a good quality pH tester pen if you want to be sure the values are correct. Don't be swayed by the cheap $12.99 ones on Ebay and Amazon either as they aren't worth your time and certainly not your money. A decent pen is going to cost you upwards of $60 or so but it's a worthwhile investment since pH is critical to the health of your plants. Extended watering and feeding with liquids out of correct pH range (6.3 to 6.7 for soil) will lock the roots up on your plant and it won't be able to take in any nutrition and will get sick. I suspect this is probably the root of your problems here. If you repotted the plant into good new soil, it should bounce back pretty quickly as long as you get the pH thing under control. One other thing....when you repot or up pot a plant, it's not going to do anything for awhile. The plant does all its root work below ground before you ever see anything starting back to grow much in the foliage department. It will take a plant several days to get re-rooted and settled before you see anything happening, so don't think the plant has just stopped growing. It's just getting itself adjusted to the new environment. NEVER WATER YOUR PLANT UNLESS THE CONTAINER IS DRY!!! By dry, I mean you can lift up the pot and it feels like there is absolutely no moisture left in the pot whatsoever. Only THEN, do you water again. These plants need defined wet/dry cycles throughout their life to be healthy and to force your roots to encompass the whole pot. With a repot, you won't need to give any nutes for 2 or 3 weeks as it will take it that much time to re-root and then use the natural nutrients in the soil. When you do start to give nutrients, having a EC/TDS tester pen (fairly cheap at under $20) will help you not burn your plants since it measures how strong or weak your nutrient solution is before you give it to your plants. There are quite a few things you need to know and understand that I refer to as the "basics" of growing these things. I suggest you do some reading on the new grower threads here and see if you can pick up on some of this. Best of luck! TWW
I figured out what was wrong with my plant... I got back from my trip and my plant didnt grow an inch, so i googled stuned growth and somehow i stubled upon this... FRIKING MITES! cyclamen mite, or broad mite most likely! Everyone worries bout spider mites so these fuckers dont get any mentioning in most guides! And they are quite different from spider mites! Here is the forum, it looks EXACTLY like mine i think youll agree... https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=246324 I bathed the plant in some pesticide with permitrin, i hope it helps. I saw people trying on 100 ways to get rid of mites... but all agree permitrin is very good. I just cant believe no one here knew it was mites... How should i treat this,like regular spider mites or?