Badboy's First Organic Attempt/Vanilla Kush

Not sure where else to post this, but i figure since im growing organic this should be the place.

Im not sure, but i think my soil is running low on nitrogen or somethings wrong.

Just need some feedback, whatchu guys think. I was thinking leaves look a lil pale.

Soil Mix consists of:

Peat moss
Compost
EWC
nutrient & mineral mix :
KIS Microbe Catalyst, Gaia Green Canadian Glacial Rock Dust, Calphos Soft Rock Phosphate, Pacific Pearl Oyster Shell Powder, Sulfate of Potash (Sul Po Mag, K Mag), Alfalfa Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Crustacean Meal, Kelp Meal, Ahimsa Organics Neem Cake/Karanja Cake, Tera Vita SP-85 Humic Acid, Fish Meal, Feather Meal, Steamed Bone Meal, Natural Calcite, Mycorrhizae*, and Benefical Microbes.

cooked for about 30 days


Picked a couple of these leaves from the bottom, no problems like this showing on new growth though so idk.


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It looks like you have a combo of problems. I'm not the best of troubleshooters, but I will ask you this: Where are you getting your water? Typically a N deficiency manifests itself in the lower leaves and progresses up the plant uniformly as the plant uses the available N from the oldest growth 1st. The leaves normally turn an even yellow with dark red or purple leaf stems. The one pic(maybe the light) looks like your getting a limey color up top as well.

Edit: The leaves you plucked look indicative of a potassium deficiency to me. It's sounds like you have all the bases covered in your soil mix, so the only thing I can think of is excessive salts or Cal/Mag locking up nutes. Maybe a better troubleshooter can give a more precise answer.

Edited by poppybgood, 25 December 2011 - 04:24 PM.

It looks like you have a combo of problems. I'm not the best of troubleshooters, but I will ask you this: Where are you getting your water? Typically a N deficiency manifests itself in the lower leaves and progresses up the plant uniformly as the plant uses the available N from the oldest growth 1st. The leaves normally turn an even yellow with dark red or purple leaf stems. The one pic(maybe the light) looks like your getting a limey color up top as well.

Damn a combo...Really... ..
My water is tap that i let sit out for couple days, but it was always in the back of my mind that my water might contain chloramine which doesnt evaporate, which means i have been killing the life in my soil with every watering :-(... (i hope not), but idk how i could check and confirm this.

For My first two noob attempts at growing i used fox farm nutes like most do so i just chalked up my failure to not having enough knowledge about the growing process, but now im somewhat dialed in, im pretty convinced something else is wrong.

The pic your talking bout is prob number 4, i used flash so thats y it looks extra limey.

Thanks for checking it out, any ideas on how to get chloramine out.

[QUOTE="Edit: The leaves you plucked look indicative of a potassium deficiency to me. It's sounds like you have all the bases covered in your soil mix, so the only thing I can think of is excessive salts or Cal/Mag locking up nutes. Maybe a better troubleshooter can give a more precise answer.[/QUOTE]

I just use water, and occasionally aloe juice(either lily of the desert or i extract the leaf), and bmo plant tonic (mycos,humics etc..), so there shouldnt be any kind of salt buildup, or deficiency matterfact so im lost.

Question: can dead micros cause any kind of anaerobic problems that you are aware of.

for the latter question, Lumperdawgs would be the guy who can answer that. My 1st instinct was that you are watering with tap water. Although it may not necessarily be a bad thing always, sometimes it is. Regarless of how much you bubble or how many different organic treatments you put in the water, it does nothing to dissolved solids. My 1st guess is either sodium chloride buildup, or calcium/magnesium buildup in your soil from the tap water. Since you're doing a small grow, try out some plain, distilled water the next few waterings and see if the symptoms improve. A cheap test you can do w/o a meter to see how much solids are in your tap water in the meantime- take a casserole dish, put a measured amount of water in it. Place it in the oven on low-ish heat until all of the water is evaporated. The powdery substance left behind is your solids.

for the latter question, Lumperdawgs would be the guy who can answer that. My 1st instinct was that you are watering with tap water. Although it may not necessarily be a bad thing always, sometimes it is. Regarless of how much you bubble or how many different organic treatments you put in the water, it does nothing to dissolved solids. My 1st guess is either sodium chloride buildup, or calcium/magnesium buildup in your soil from the tap water. Since you're doing a small grow, try out some plain, distilled water the next few waterings and see if the symptoms improve. A cheap test you can do w/o a meter to see how much solids are in your tap water in the meantime- take a casserole dish, put a measured amount of water in it. Place it in the oven on low-ish heat until all of the water is evaporated. The powdery substance left behind is your solids.

Thanks man gonna test it out now... Im gonna get some bottles of distilled until i can find out if anythings funky with my tap water.
Hopefully it snows soon here, so i dont have to mess with buying bottles of water.

Not sure where else to post this, but i figure since im growing organic this should be the place.

Im not sure, but i think my soil is running low on nitrogen or somethings wrong.

Just need some feedback, whatchu guys think. I was thinking leaves look a lil pale.

Soil Mix consists of:

Peat moss
Compost
EWC
nutrient & mineral mix :
KIS Microbe Catalyst, Gaia Green Canadian Glacial Rock Dust, Calphos Soft Rock Phosphate, Pacific Pearl Oyster Shell Powder, Sulfate of Potash (Sul Po Mag, K Mag), Alfalfa Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Crustacean Meal, Kelp Meal, Ahimsa Organics Neem Cake/Karanja Cake, Tera Vita SP-85 Humic Acid, Fish Meal, Feather Meal, Steamed Bone Meal, Natural Calcite, Mycorrhizae*, and Benefical Microbes.

cooked for about 30 days


Picked a couple of these leaves from the bottom, no problems like this showing on new growth though so idk.


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Dude -

I seriously think that you are overthinking this. I personally think that your plants look healthy and fine. To get some yellowing or funny looking leaves on the bottom of your plants is totally normal as far as I'm concerned.

Keep an eye on it, but please dont try and take any drastic measures or change what you're doing.

Good job.

jerry.

Dude -

I seriously think that you are overthinking this. I personally think that your plants look healthy and fine. To get some yellowing or funny looking leaves on the bottom of your plants is totally normal as far as I'm concerned.

Keep an eye on it, but please dont try and take any drastic measures or change what you're doing.

Good job.

jerry.

LoL thanks jerry i needed that five finger slap back to reality....the only reason i was/am concerned are the odd coloring of the leaves (yellow margins green center), usually the whole leaf would yellow, but your prob right, i still gotta check out my tap water tho, its something i prob should've done for a while now.

City water or well water?

I use well water all the time and don't touch it - its fine. As far as city water I'm sure that if u just let it sit out for 24 hours you'll be fine.

Your mix, depending on how much of each item was used per CF of soil, seems like a hot soil, which is fine, but I have found with hot soils that they need microbes to cycle that many nutrients and time - sometimes 30 days might just not be quite enough, depending on how hot the batch is - do you get what I mean?

The plant(s) honestly look fine. Its hard to tell with pics sometimes due to lighting, but unless you see the little yellowing/funky lower leaves spreading north, I personally wouldn't sweat it.

Again - great work!

Make up yourself a simple ewc w/ a teaspoon of molasses aact and root drench and foliar feed if you're worried at all. Let the microbes work their magic - or, simply topdress w/ some good quality ewc or vermicompost or an inch or so of good compost.

Again - microbes.

Jerry.

LoL thanks jerry i needed that five finger slap back to reality....

Gotta look out for jerry. He's our hardcore organic terrorist.

What is the temp of your water when you water your plants? Cold water can shock your roots and produce lockout. Room temp water is best. What you are trying to avoid is a drastic change of temp at the root zone. This can upset the microherds.

Edited by WeeDroid, 25 December 2011 - 07:55 PM.

What Jerry said: only if it progresses up the plant and starts to take out a lot of fans should there be any room for real concern. Ideally, you want to have as many healthy solar panels as you can intact for flowering. If you're only growing one plant, I would use distilled water to be on the safe side. It should only cost a few dollars a week. With my city's tap water(which sucks), those leaves you plucked are exactly what I get if I use it, regardless if I bubbled it a month.

Question: Do you live near a coast?

City water or well water?

I use well water all the time and don't touch it - its fine. As far as city water I'm sure that if u just let it sit out for 24 hours you'll be fine.

Your mix, depending on how much of each item was used per CF of soil, seems like a hot soil, which is fine, but I have found with hot soils that they need microbes to cycle that many nutrients and time - sometimes 30 days might just not be quite enough, depending on how hot the batch is - do you get what I mean?

The plant(s) honestly look fine. Its hard to tell with pics sometimes due to lighting, but unless you see the little yellowing/funky lower leaves spreading north, I personally wouldn't sweat it.

Again - great work!

Make up yourself a simple ewc w/ a teaspoon of molasses aact and root drench and foliar feed if you're worried at all. Let the microbes work their magic - or, simply topdress w/ some good quality ewc or vermicompost or an inch or so of good compost.

Again - microbes.

Jerry.

Its city water and yes its always left out to evaporate, but ive been hearing they are putting chloramine in water supplys now, which doesnt evaporate like the normal chlorine would, but i cant for the life of me find out if NY uses chloramine.

I get what u mean, i dont think the mix is THAT hot though because its been growing in this mix for a whole month now, so im pretty sure everything has been broken down for some time.

I did give it some compost and ewc top dressing last week, and an aloe w fish n seaweed foliar two days ago, so thats covered.

Maybe i am just worrying too much, it is just the small old growth that gets no light thats being affected, but better safe than sorry.

Thanks again.

Gotta look out for jerry. He's our hardcore organic terrorist.

What is the temp of your water when you water your plants? Cold water can shock your roots and produce lockout. Room temp water is best. What you are trying to avoid is a drastic change of temp at the root zone. This can upset the microherds.

LoL, he def is.... No, water temps not an issue, my water usually sits under my sink until im ready to use it. I try to always make sure of that.

What Jerry said: only if it progresses up the plant and starts to take out a lot of fans should there be any room for real concern. Ideally, you want to have as many healthy solar panels as you can intact for flowering. If you're only growing one plant, I would use distilled water to be on the safe side. It should only cost a few dollars a week. With my city's tap water(which sucks), those leaves you plucked are exactly what I get if I use it, regardless if I bubbled it a month.

Question: Do you live near a coast?

Nah, no coast that i know of, im almost sure theres a problem with the tap, im gonna test out the oven idea right now, had to wait for my muffins to bake :-D....

but ive been hearing they are putting chloramine in water supplys now, which doesnt evaporate like the normal chlorine would,

put a couple of pinches of fresh compost or potting soil or ewc's in your water when you sit it out to warm. That will sort you chloramine out.

I know I have chloramine in my water.

put a couple of pinches of fresh compost or potting soil or ewc's in your water when you sit it out to warm. That will sort you chloramine out.

I know I have chloramine in my water.

Wouldnt that be detrimental, it would kill all the good guys in the compost and castings wouldnt it. Did u find out for sure chloramine is in your supply, or just a hunch.

I know there is chloramine in my water. Everyone who lives in my city knows this as well. It's not a big secret.

You're not adding the small amount of organic matter in order to inoculate the water with microbes. Your adding it to deactivate the chloramine, just to be on the safe side and treat the microbes in your planting medium and in your teas quite kindly.

Your soil is already rich in microbes at this stage of the game.

If you want to do anything at all, I would say a top dressing of ewc's or an ewc's tea might be in order. However I'm a bit weak at plant diagnosis. Just recommending here what I've seen the organic heavyweights here recommend.

Edited by WeeDroid, 25 December 2011 - 08:34 PM.

"it is just the small old growth that gets no light thats being affected"

Really, unless that stuff ur seeing spreads, don't worry about it. Its totally natural for that to happen.

I don't think I've ever seen a plant that the slight inconsistencies you are showing hasn't happened to.

Go bake your muffins and enjoy your day *lol*

Merry Christmas. I'm off to enjoy my turkey and stuffing and 'taters & gravy and peas and pie right now *grin*

Jerry.

Thanks you guys....and Merry Christmas to you all.

Will keep yall updated.

I'm off to enjoy my turkey and stuffing and 'taters & gravy and peas and pie right now *grin*

I hope you have a rocker chair somewhere near by.

The phat man rocks!

Merry Christmas badboy. Do keep us updated.