HELP! My plants are yellowing and drying out!

I wish I could help but I really am not sure. I know most people here hate miracle grow, I wouldn't be surprised if it was something related to tour soil. Let this serve as a bump though.

 

ok, i'll try to help. i'm no expert, and i'm on my first grow(again) but i've learned ALOT about growing on this site. so. i'm pretty sure you're overwatering them. You need to water like every 3-7 days depending on the soil. you need to make sure though that the soil is dry before watering. stick your finger a few inches in the soil make sure it's dry then water. that's how i lost my first plant overwatering. i only watered every other day too. they don't need much water. hope i helped i'd really hate to see you lose your plant.

 

hey dude, for starters i'd agree with the guy above, that i would say you are over watering, the soil needs to dry out a good amount between waterings, also generally miracle grow is not recommend for growing MJ as its well known for nute burning seedlings/plants, & its water holding properites

i would think there is enough nutes in the soil from what you've said, are you PH adjusting yor water? theres a chance your ph levels are off, if this is the case it can stop the uptake of nutes, which in turn can show as nute deficency(yellowing of leaves etc)

 

I no expert but I have one cfl grow and it was very successful.

Lights - you need more. About a 100 watts worth for one plant minimum and another 50 watts of lights for each plant after that, minimum.

Not "equivalent watts," or "what it replaces" but real, actual watts the lamp uses.

Foil - get rid of it. Go buy some cheap, matte white poster board and cut it to fit on the walls around the plants - it will help reflect your cfl light far better than foil and you need every bit of reflection with cfls. Or paint the inside -flat white, not the glossy.

Yellowing: Like said above, lay off the watering, let them dry out. Good measure is when you stick a finger into the soil a couple knuckles and if you feel no moisture at all when you pull your finger out, go ahead and water.

Also, before you water lift the planters and try to get a mental grip on their weight and do a lift after you water. Do the same thing before and after for a few waterings so you can learn the difference.

Then, in the future you can stick your finger in and gauge and do a lift and gauge, presto - you get an idea when they need water.

What's going on I think is with all the watering the roots aren't getting enough oxygen to breath and they can start root rotting from this. A sure sign is if you are getting a funky kinda sewer like smell. When it's always damp the roots aren't driven to grow out and around searching for water and food, so less watering means the roots grow more and more root growth means more plant.

Except for the stretching going on they look like they're getting decent nutrients with no obvious ph drama going on. Anyways, a ph meter will give you a real good handle on your plants. Definitely do not try to correct right now with chemicals. Get a handle on the ph first, do some searches on distressed plants and the signs to look for, and go from there with amendments if necessary. Also a little organic fertilizer couldn't hurt in case this is simply the girls being a little hungry, which they might be if you've just been watering them and they've just been feeding on the naturally occurring food in the soil.

Good luck!

 

Check online or any available hydro shop. I have a Hanna brand ph tester and it works fine. Little pricy, about $140 retail but it really helped me dial in the PH and when you do that you maximize the plant's ability to take in and process nutrients. I know people who use the test strips and they work, too - most economical but not as exacting. Also, you might consider using organic npk for now because you won't risk nute burn. I was getting some lower leaf yellowing earlier and I amended with a little blood meal top dress and some organic 20 10 20 npk and it's greening up nicely.

 

pics please? i'd suggest finding a soil with zero nutes and just replant at this point it sounds like the best bet.

 

Based on other photos I've seen that looks like nute drama.

What water are you using?

Dirt - Any soil listed as "organic." You'll probably have to amend with blood and bone meal and do the fert feeds but stay away from MG products - Monsanto = poisoned environment, poisoned people.

That said, my first grow I used MG Organic and it worked fine, but I did have to amend it for the girls to have something decent to eat and grow with. Just stay away from the MG and the Scotts stuff - their regular consumer grade stuff has ferts already added which makes for the bad drama like you are dealing with.

You also might consider going organic ferts. They don't burn your plants.

While your plants are drying out I would get more lights and reflective white in your grow space.

Given the dirt you are using has fert stuff already in it I would replace the dirt. I don't think flushing will help but good luck if you do!

 

Flushing time realeased nutes is the worst idea it just releases way more nutes into the soil then it would if it were slowly releasing, best bet is new soil.

 

transplant