4 plants: Ortega, White Russian, MVTF, Chemdog D Set-up in closet: 400w HPS light,5gal grow bags, air purifier fan, fox farm soil Nutrients: Fox Farm Big Bloom(2tsp)/Tiger Bloom(1tsp), Grandmas unsulfured molasses(2tsp) plants are in first 5 weeks of flowering. water all 4 with 2gal of water every 2-3 days. half nutrients are used at each watering and molasses is used every other time. We flush and use just tap water every 3-4 weeks. the water being used is tap water the Ph strip shows 7.2 (+/- .1). When the nutrients are added the ph is lowered to 6.5 (+/- .5) Plants have been looking great until now. we had spider mites but got rid of them weeks ago via azmax. the fan leaves are turning yellow now and dying starting at the tips and then eventually the whole leaf. the plants are starting to lose their density of fan leaves fast. i am not sure if i am over watering or something else. I believe it could be that the ph is too high, thus not allowing the leaves to get certain nutrients. please leave any comments or advice, any help is greatly appreciated.
Looks to me they just need a 1/2 grow and 1/2 bloom feeding. If they are gonna go 3 weeks or more they need more nitrogen. Molasses has no nitrogen, just potassium and other stuff. Dont see ph as being an issue in those pics imo. just looks like nitro deficiency.
Thank you for your help! Would you suggest being the best way to get nitrogen to the plants at this point?
sorry its hard for me to say what the problem is here but i think it may be nute lock~aim for a pH of between 6-6.5 (i use lemon juice to lower my pH before waterings then i check the RO to see how its changed)...also your plants will eventually start to die like that, its called senescence, but it shouldnt happen until the plants trigger it towards the end of their lives. like i said my guess is either nute lock out or nute burn (feeding every 2 to 4 days seems heavy) although it doesnt look like burn to me...idk im no pro either... oh and another thing...molasses is not a fertilizer it serves as a carbon and nitrogen source for the microorganisms that are living symbiotically with your roots...they are a very good thing to have...unfortunately thay are the same organisms that are killed every time you apply those liquid nutrients of yours...they can do everything from increasing your plants nute uptake to adjusting the pH of your soil within its proper limits--in fact a good organic gardener has forgotten how to take a pH reading because he doesnt have too haha...dont panic bro, go organic
Ideally you should never have a yellowing leaf, until you begin flushing and starving the plant for harvest, or if the plant has a natural tendency to change colors along the purple, red, golden spectrum's... some plants naturally get a vibrant halo of red-purple around a neon yellow center and vice-versa, but these are healthy leaves nonetheless. You're either facing some sort of lock-out or environmental setback, or your NPK is lacking in a little N in your feed. JoeBlow mentioned using more "Grow", this will work, as Grow formula contains more nitrogen. Most inorganic (ie 'chemical', old term) nutrients when used correctly won't harm the organic beneficial bacteria and microorganisms living in your root system, but adding anything like a anti-fungal or peroxide treatment will. So use molasses sparingly and with caution, as it can sometimes do more harm than good if your environment isn't in tip-top shape, and you have a weaker beneficial colony. Good luck!
i use molasses like this. @ weeks from harvest I flush with molasses and h20. then feed straight h20, i will change the res 3 times in this 2 week period before harvest, the first time is the only time i use the molasses, roughly the last 10 days are straight h20. Dude is right if it is a ph issue, could easily be, you want to remedy that first before you think of adding or changing nutes.
Apologies if I get any of this wrong, but... I don't think that's often enough. Personally I do mine weekly which may be overzealous but, 3-4 weeks definitely doesn't sound as though you're flushing frequently enough. Also you did not mention that you PH adjust the flushing water either - if you don't, you probably should.
I just had the exact same problem, my pal says its natural for this to happen, i had a lowish ph and have added lime and just got some epp salts today ill try that aswell. if i were you i would stick your ph meter right into the middle of your rootball and see what the ph is, mine was 6.8 on the outside but in the rootball it was 5 giving me lockout, like i said iv added lime and limed water to get the ph up a little, all i can advise is get a good reading from your rootball an go from there, peace out. Jadedsoul.
Thanks guys, im going to get a ph meter since i was just using strips. i always thought it was a ph problem with nitrogen being the problem but figured i would ask the experts on here. Jadedsoul told me how to get the ph higher with epp salt and lime juice but what is a natural way to lower the ph. usually with a base but not sure what is best for plants. Also i might try joeblows idea of adding more of the grow nutrients due to higher % of nitrogen. Also thanks clos3tgrow3r for the molasses info, i am a bio grad so i know some about the microbs in the soil but didnt know that the molasses was possibly harmless if the colony might not be probiotic and more harmful. i have been using it sparingly because i knew it had some minimal effects. i am going to change all of this over time so i can see what the effects might be instead of doing this all at once. probably going to be doing this a long time so might as well do it right. thanks for the help and any more help is greatly appreciated.
Well, it sounds like you have the right attitude and perspective on growing and that is 1/2 the battle.
Right but the point I really wanted to make was that liquid nutrients are counterproductive to reaching your plants full potential...I think of nutrition on two different levels. First and most trivially is the quantity of what you put in your soil (NPK, ect, ect) essentially your nutrients be it liquid karma or a decomposed animal. Now secondly and most importantly imo is the efficiency of your plants nutrient uptake which is determined by the health of your roots--symbiotic bacterias are like mercenaries for this cause. There are bacteria species out there that can fix atmospheric nitrogen and produce ammonium for ya roots! Others still can literally "spike" pests in your soil and break them down into nutrients for your plant! Putting enough nutrients is no problem for me, no its maximizing my plants uptake efficiency that i focus on. Im sure i dont need to elaborate but just to give a basic example if you give 10 mg of K to two plants one has an efficiency of 50% the other is at 75% the second one is going to grow the fastest. Now I know liquid nutes are the convention but dont set your mind too firmly, people are waking up to reality. I sincerely would recommend you go check out the organic section and look up LumperDawgz, he is the most intelligent person I know when it comes to soil -- any post he makes is golden. Personally i put all of my effort In the beginning when I'm making my soil mix. After that I don't need to stress over pH or "feed" my plants a single time although I do make a variety of teas for the health of my microorganisms.