So im on week 3 of my grow. Plants are all from seed, sativa dom, in compost. Mostly grass clipping, and recycled happy frog. Two or three of the plants have very funky clubbed looking leaves that had some light spots, which have turned into a rusty necrosis looking color. Last feeding was dec 22. This is 1 week after. i fed them 1ml per gal of roots organic trinity, surge, ancient amber, and grow more jump start. (6.4 ph 150 tds). Temps are 65-75 but have gone as low/high as 60/78 for brief periods, as ambient temps change in new england. Humidity has been up and down. Im trying my best to keep it around 60 but its gone as low as 45 and as high as 70. Tried consulting the problem charts.. im thinking at first glance it looks like a P def. Bu that couldnt be. Somethings either being over fed, locked out, or i have two compounds that are reacting with each other. I mixed a 1/8 strength of grow more sea grow 16-16-16 at 180tds and fed them just now. Im hoping that corrects the imbalance but im going to keep a close eye and run fresh water through in a couple hours if i see any more undesirable results. Any input would be apprecated. Including a pic of the early signs, the necrosis, and the nute i just fed. Grow journal is here: http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1349269-DNA-Genetics-meets-Aurora-Innovations-4x4-600w
I appreciate the fast response. I don't see how that could be possible considering my PH up is calcium carbonate. I'm typically PHing up when it isn't even necessary and then PHing down to 6.2 ish with lemon juice. I checked the ingredients on the lemon juice and it contains sodium benzoate,sodium metabisulfite,and sodium sulfite. Perhaps those have an negative effect on chelating? or there is some other chemical reaction occurring? There simply should not be a cal def. I'll begin researching it now, but does anyone know of a better way to aid in calcium uptake?
The soil is about 25% perlite. And theyre in airpots. Over watering to the poibt of suffocating them would be tough in that setup.
It actually wouldnt. Medium is often mixed with 30% perlite and with smartpots waterlogging is common. It leads to fungus gnats which in turn, make grayish splotches appear on leaves, as they munch on roots. Your soil looks very wet.
And why are you adding ph up and down to soil? Ph up often ontains salts and lemon juice (citic acid) while good in small amounts can cause sulfuric acid to build up and cause ph to get outta wack, seems your kinda just gambling, or is there a method to the madness?
Only one is in a smart pot, the rest are in air pots, but duely noted. I Water when its dry about an inch below the surface and have a layer of gnat nix on top top help with fungus gnats. Ill be sure to go a good few days before i give them any more water. Would a foliar feed help in this instance ya think?
Why are you feeding seedlings? The cotyledons have enough stored nutrients in them to get you through two to three full leaf sets. So you water when the top inch of soil is dry? Do you water to drain, or just enough to hydrate the top layer of soil?
^^^ I agree...i start seedlings off in 1/2 gallon pots w/ promix and they're almost a foot tall with 4-5 sets of leaves before they'll need food and a transplant. No ph up...no ph down and no bottled nutes...most impotantly no deficiencies. Seedlings like a light evenly moist medium...not heavy & saturated. Sent from my SM-N900V using Grasscity Forum mobile app
My ph up is fine. I barely use a drop of it and it being Olympus up, I shouldnt have any salt issue. I'm not pouring ounces or even ml of PHup or lemon juice. Just a couple drops of each does the trick. And there is peat in my soil. No coco though. Never had a problem feeding seedlings as long as the ppm doesnt go too high. Even with nutes the tds on my feeding only hits between 100-200 which is in the low range of most peoples' tap water. If I have a seedling that can't take 125 tds, then I'd rather them not occupy space in my garden to begin with. I'm pretty confident that I could've double my nutrient concentration without causing any fatalities (not that I would want to). I'm aware that i dont 'need' to ph. But if my nute solution is at 7.5 and i only needed a drop or 2 of lemon juice to bring it down to 6.5 why wouldnt I? Typically with seedlings i spray the top of the soil with a chemical sprayer to supply water, but since my sprayer broke a few months ago, i was feeding the plants 1 cup each. Im going to diagnose my problem as being over watering for this reason. (watered them 4 times total so far. two waterings had diluted nutes. Two were plain). Im guessing i got ahead of myself pouring water in and probably could have done with half as much or less. On an adult plant, i would water till i get a little run off, then let the soil dry to at least an inch down Since yesterday, there is new healthy growth, and slight spotting on one plant. Im going to be careful about how much water i give them in the future. I get that you guys are probably used to people with terrible soil mixes, way over ferting, way over watering. I guess youll have to just trust me that my nutes are a low enough concentration and my soil has great drainage and is nutritionally sound. Thanks for all the advice and pointers guys! Highly appreciated.