Hi, I just started growing and I am a few weeks in. I have just started to notice potential problems with my plant. If you look at the first picture you will notice the tips of the leaves turning yellow/brown and starting to die.If you look at the second picture you will notice the leaves are starting to curl down and the stalk starting to lean to the left. If needed I will post all the specifications but I was hoping somebody could give me a general idea of whats going wrong just by viewing the photos. (such as if it could be a light, water, nutrient, temperature (or a combination of) issue) Thanks for taking the time to help me out.
It is currently only under 1 CFL that I keep about 1-2 inches away from the plant. The CFL is 23-W, 1,450 lumens, 6500 K Daylight. I pretty much keep this light on it 24/7 at this point (not sure if I should be doing 18h on and 6h off) I have been trying not to overwater it as i've been reading this is the most common cause of failing for a beginner. (I water it about every 2 days, I pick up the pot to see how heavy it is and stick my finger in the soil to see if it is still damp, I then use a mist bottle to spray the soil and just one small squirt on the plant) I also have a computer fan blowing on it (as you can see in the backround) but I just put that in about 2 days ago when I saw the plant had started to get bigger. When I first started this plant I grew it in shitty topsoil, I had then transplanted it into Miracle Grow potting soil that has phosphorus to aid in the development of roots (I have since read that miracle grow is not the ideal potting soil to use, but it is all I had readily available to me.) Here are three more pictures that may provide more insight. (first is with CFL light off, second is with camera flash, third is a close up of a problem leaf)
Is this how you "water"? EDIT: Specified watering procedure in more detail Watering: You decide on feeding (add fertilizer or not, which & how much), estimate the quantity of watering solution to be used and decide on its pH, depending on whether you need to correct the pH in the soil or not (in which case 6.6 is best). This decision will be based on measurement taken during last watering. Prepare a little more water than what you think will be enough, just in case. You add the fertilizer to the water, wait a few minutes, then start adjusting pH to desired level - some would say wait 30-40 minutes, I think it depends on how long it takes your nutes and your water to reach stable pH after they've been mixed. Cultivate the top 1/2-1 inch of the soil carefully (avoid harming roots) using your fingers or a fork - break up the soil, basically. This will help make water absorption more even. Give about one third of the water you intend to give, let it sit for 20-30 minutes. Then give the rest, not too fast. About 20% of the water you've poured in is supposed to leech from the bottom of the pot during watering. Measure the pH of the last of the runoff water - this will give you a good indication of what's going on inside the pot. Can't help you with the diagnosing, though. FR>
Thanks for the watering tips, it's all new to me. (+rep'd) Question though, How much water should I be giving to my plant? (Is watering every other day acceptable?) (Should I just be wetting the soil or really soaking it?) (Should I be adding Nutes at this stage??) Also, Anyone else on a diagnosis? (could it just be that my soil isn't PH balanced near 6.6?) Thanks!
PotNinja, 1) The quantity of water depends on the water retention capacity of your soil. Easy to test: you water until 20% of the water you've poured in has flown out from the bottom of the pot. You remember the approximate quantity you used for a pot of that size for the future. 2) You water when the plants need water, not according to a schedule. Depends on pot size, plant size, health, root development etc. Indicators: when the pot becomes considerably lighter (than it had been right after watering) and when the top inch or so of the soil dries out. Some experience is needed to get it right, but that will be taken care of, right? 3) You need to be pouring the water into the soil until it is not only soaked, but also excess water is running from the bottom (~20%). Your soil needs to have good drainage, people usually add 15-30% perlite to the soil for that. Coarse sand also works, but sand may need flushing before it can be used. You need to read up on soil mixes. 4) When to start feeding depends on which nutes your soil contains and how much. But usually you do not fertilize during the first few weeks, and no more frequently than any other watering. Also, give 1/2 or even 1/4 recommended strength at least at first. If your soil pH is out of range (6.2-6.8) nutes will not be absorbed efficiently by the plant, so keeping the pH correct is first priority. If you're seeing deficiencies and your pH is out of range DON'T FEED, CORRECT PH! Read the guide for beginners - a sticky at the top of the beginners' forum. Also these: PH and PPM...whats it all about.. pH and what it means for your plants Fertilizing Wisely FR>
BTW - if it's indeed heat stress then your watering practices prolly have been the cause. Check to see if the soil is dry, all the way down - either a careful finger or a wooden stake which you plant for a couple mins, then pull out and check how moist it got. If pot is light and top inch of the soil is dry - just water. If soil is dry deeper than 1 inch - WATER!
Thanks for the information. I had just checked my plant and ALL the tips of the leaves are starting to yellow, even the big leaves that just grew. Kinda sad =( (Update: After reading your post again whilst looking at my plant, I am 80% sure I've been under-watering it. I was so scared of over-watering that I have harmed my plant. I dug down to the bottom soil and discovered it was BONE DRY!, So I just gave it a healthy dose of water because today was watering day, and I can certainly feel the difference in the weight of the plant.) (I also have moved the light a little higher so it is not directly touching the plant) (I've been using a ceramic pot with no drainage holes but a porous bottom, Is this acceptable or absolutely not?)
Only if water can drain freely from the bottom, with no places for it to accumulate and cause root-rot. Some spread a layer of perlite on the bottom of the pot to prevent that problem. What size holes/pores? It should take them awhile to recover from the stress - if the soil dries out completely the active parts of the roots in that soil die, and need to be regrown. You wanna let the soil lose most of its water between waterings, but you still wanna keep all except top inch moist. A balance. A CFL is this compact cluster of fluorescent tubes? I don't like those, 'cause they generate a lot of heat and don't give a lot of surface, if you use them as main lights (hanging horizontally above). My preference is the long slender tubes (cool white - I read that was best for veg in one guide). I can keep them an inch and even a little closer from those lights, but I have a fan blowing across the tops of the plants and a good exhaust fan for the cabinet. As a general rule, the better the cooling you have, the closer the foliage can be to the bulb, up to a point, but it must never actually touch it. Plants that are relatively large and healthy use a lot of water. That's a good thing. If they are in small pots - like well rooted clones, for instance - they can finish up their water very fast. The result being you going to sleep leaving happy looking clones in your veg box, then waking up in 8 hours to find them half roasted, because they couldn't get enough water from the soil to cool themselves and the leaves were pretty close to (or even touching) the fluorescent tube, which would not have caused any damage had you watered them before going to bed. Luck : ) FR>
Very small holes, really wasn't designed to drain but more suck up the water from the bowl underneath, I guess i should go find a pot that can drain and transplant it. I thought CFL's were designed to release little heat, I put my hand under it about the average distance that the plant is and kept it there for a minute, It didn't get hot at all. (at this point judging from the pictures should I start the plant on a light cycle, I currently just keep the 1 light on 24/7) I am also wondering since I do not have an exhaust in my box if this is causing any problems. (There is a decent sized space between the lid and the box, I figured it would be big enough to draw in fresh air or vent the stale air in the box.) If my plant is still healthy by this weekend I'm going to completely rebuild the box correctly and make all the necessary changes. I just hope it lasts that long.
Yeah, a more suited pot would be better, but if water drains efficiently from below when you water then no rush - wait 'till you transplant. Light - I was talking about those densely packed (and usually short) clusters of fluorescent tubes. I prefer the long single tubes. But this is not my area of expertise, I can only talk about my current preferences. The hand test is a good test, so you should be fine. Some people say plants need some darkness in their day, 'cause that's how it is in nature, some think it's not really needed. Until you flower don't go below 18/6. And no radical changes (like initiating flowering ) while plants are sick or stressed, unless the change is a treatment or an improvement of conditions. As for ventilation - the space between the lid and rest of the box reduce the efficiency of an exhaust fan dramatically. A good setup is a (relatively) sealed box, with passive intake holes at the bottom on one side - you can put a fan for internal circulation on that side too, blowing over the tops, not too close to the nearest plant. It will be blowing towards the opposite end, where the exhaust fan will be (at the top, where all the hot air hangs) suckin' the hot air out. If the top is open you can, as a temporary solution, get a fan that will blow over the tops, between the tubes and the top shoots. I guess this will encourage the hot air to escape more quickly through the openings. You wanna be drawing cold air from below into the box, and hot air, from the top, and from the opposite side, out of the box, with wind rocking your stalks - a good thing in many different ways.
Ok by no means am I an expert but may have found your solution. Seemed to work for me and thought I'd pass this on. Turns out the PH was 6.2-4. Got it back down to 5.8 or so and she is recovering nicely. This really helped me so maybe it will for you as well. The first applies to hydro but I've included some info for soil. I would say 5.8 would be optimal and the below is why. Nute LockOut PH Ranges (N) - 4.5-5.0 (P) - 6.0-8.5 (K) - 4.0-4.5, 6.0-6.5 (Mg) - 2.0-5.7 (Ca) - 2.0-5.3 (Zn) - 5.7-8.5 (Fe) - 2.0-3.5 (S) - 2.0-5.5 (Mn) - 2.0-4.5 (B) - 2.0-5.0 (Cu) - 6.5-9.0 (Mo) - 2.0-5.5 I found these numbers a while back on the internet, but so far, they have been right on each time my PH has been off. I was at 6.0-6.1 PH for a few days and I started to get uniform, light yellow leaves, and burnt edges around the sides of my leaves. Just as this chart says, at that PH, Potassium (K) and Zinc (Zn) are locked out and the symptoms are of those two being locked out. That was only one of the many times list list has been correct and helped me out, so I'm a true believer in the list above.
Alright today I went to the store and picked up some extra soil. I picked up some Perlite and some Vermiculite. (I used 3 parts of my regular potting mix(with phosphorous), 1 part Perlite, and 1 part Vermiculite. Mixed them all together in a ziplock freezer bag) I just soaked the soil with water completely and waited about 20 minutes for all the water to drain out of my new pot (this one has holes on the bottom, Yey!), After it drained I moved my plant into it, topped it off with more soil and soaked it again, Drained all the water again and returned it to its box. (Tomorrow I'm going to go get a PH tester and see where its at) I hope this does the trick! (Update: If my internal fan is blowing on the stem will this cause any problems?)
If you're on a budget get an aquarium water testing kit (those that have a range of 6.0-7.6). They're relatively accurate. You can augment that with a wide-range kit (4-9) - could also come in handy. They sell those to ignorant ganja growers in hydroshops. Just don't go buying a cheap electronic soil tester. You want an electronic device? Then get one that's for water, not for soil (HM-Digital & Hannah are two good brands that I know of). Vermiculite - before you mix that into your soil, read this: THE pH OF VERMICULITE Bad verm killed my entire last cycle, I couldn't control the pH AT ALL, so be warned. Edit: Which means you should test its pH before deciding on whether to use it or not. As for fans: I direct mine at the top portion of the foliage and keep a minimal distance between fan and closest plant. Strong wind blowing directly on leaves, constantly, can 'suck' the moisture out of the leaves and stress the plant (water stress). Always do a research before you purchase soil - read about the brand, what's been ppl's experience with it, and so on.