I'm looking for some help identifying the issue this plant is trying to show me. The organic bug has bitten me pretty hard and I'm obsessed with learning as much as I can. I'd love to hear any expert opinions out there, or even just educated guesses I've been using RO water for the whole entire run so I'm thinking Cal/Mg deficient? I'm also thinking it could be a K deficiency but the water has me thinking otherwise. I Think the issue may have been fixed in the last week because it does not seem to be getting any worse at this time. I top dressed with lots of different things over the last week so I'm not 100% sure what I did that may have helped or what it is I should be doing more of. Thanks for looking and I appreciate any input! P.S. I'm using regular tap water now.
Improper pH will cause nute lockout. I experienced it pretty hard earlier this season until I actually decided to test my tap water and it was testing at around 8.5. I had various leaf symptoms which was not cool. Things look to be improving for you though. What nutes are you giving them???
Sorry, I forgot to mention this is my first organic run so I'm using a "super-soil" mix that I batched up before I really knew what I was doing. My First Mix: 2 Bags Happy Frog = 4 Cubic Feet 30 Gallons 4 Cubic Foot - Base Soil 1 Cubic Foot - Perlite #3 Chunky 1 Cubic Foot - Worm Castings 1 Cubic Foot - Humus 2 Cups Dolomite Lime - 1 Tbsp/Gal = 30 Tsbp (2Cups) 2 Cups Kelp - 1/2 Cup Kelp Meal per cubic foot 2 Cups Guano - 1/2 Cup Bat cubic foot 1 Cup CottonSeed Meal - 1/4 Cup per cubic foot 1 Cup Alfalfa Meal - 1/4 Cup Meal per cubic foot 1 Cup Bio Live Meal - 1/4 Cup per cubic foot 1 Cup Neem Seed Meal - 1/4 Cup per cubic foot In the last week I've done roughly the following: (not all at once) Top dressed with Malibu Compost 2 TSBP of Fish Bone Powder 2 TSBP of Fish Hydroslate 4 TSBP Gypsum 4 TSB of Kelp extract ( .5-0-17) Vital brand I'm using Mofo's NTG revisited as my next base with a few tweaks.....looking for 40% aeration.
very nice. I would definitely say it's more than likely water pH level. Here is a chart that shows what pH levels different nutes are absorbed in soil the best at. If your water isn't the correct pH it will not be able to uptake the nutrients in your soil... Best of luck.
Thanks for the input. I know that RO water also lacks buffering so PH could very well be the issue. My other ladies who flowered earlier were in 10G pots and they look much worse. I also hit those other ones pretty hard with Bat Guano so I think that swung the PH lower in those pots. I learned from that mistake and have been taking it easy with the next batch of girls in the 20G smarties. I think that running tap water will help moving forward as well. I'll have to break out the old PH/PPM meter and test the tap for good measure to make sure I know my inputs are solid.
Any additives to the water will also alter the pH. I keep a 30 gallon barrel of pH'd water. It's tap water that's been pH'd down to around 6.5. I use it for my regular waterings. When I take a gallon of it for my FF nute feeding I always have to add 1.2ml of pH up to the jug after the nutes are added to get the pH back up to the 6.5 range. If you are adding additives to your waterings be sure to add those prior to adjusting pH and mix completely before testing.
I've been ignoring PH because I've switched to organics and I'm in the process of trying to adopt the "water only" approach moving forward. The problem is that I did not build my soil correctly and used too small pots. Because of this I've been top dressing all kinds of stuff to help fix the problems.....probably making some things worse with regards to PH. Anyway, I've got my own worm farm started and have sourced all of the ingredients to correctly build my "living soil" for the next round. I'm going to try the SIP method in my tent this year, it looks very promising! Thanks again for the tips, I think you might be correct in your diagnosis. I'm really trying to stay ahead of this Blue Dream to minimize deficiencies during flowering.
Thanks for the idea, I'll probably grab one of those soil test kits to see whats going on. I used to have a cheap meter you could put in the soil but it was pretty worthless. I've also nixed the lime in my next batch of soil, although there is some already added to the ProMix.....going with pure CSPM next time. 1 Bale of ProMix HP = 3.8 CF = 2.75 CSPM + 1.05 Perlite + *Lime + Wetting Agent + MYCORRHIZAE 1:1:1 Base mix (33%) —> Should aim for 40% or more aeration!! *Lime included in base mix for PH, Ca, Mg 2.8 CSPM (Base) —> 3.8 CF bale is only 65% - 75% CSPM 2.8 Malibu (Humus) 20.95 Gal 3.0 Perlite (Aeration) 22.44 Gal 1.5 Lava Rock (Aeration) 11.22 Gal —> Perlite or Pumice would be lighter 1.0 Rice Hulls (Silica, Fungi, Aeration) 7.48 Gal ------------------------------------------------- 11 CF (82.3 Gal) @ ~40% aeration (50% with rice hulls which breakdown) ~ 90 Gal after amendments are added in Additional Amendments: Per cuF base mix: (For Living Portion of Soil - 7 CF) Kelp Meal - 7 Cups (Nitrogen, Potassium & Micronutrients) Crab Meal - 7 Cups (Nitrogen & Chitin) Neem Seed Meal - 7 Cups (Nitrogen & Pest) Oyster Flour - 7 Cups (Calcium & PH correction for CSPM) Alfalfa Meal - 3.5 Cups (Nitrogen & Micronutrients) Gypsum - 3.5 Cups (Sulphur) Glacial Rock Dust - 20 cups 1.25 Gal Bio-Char - 80 cups 5 Gal Gal ***Small handful of worms per container***
Promix was an impulse buy before I learned that HD has 3 CF bales of CSPM which have been cut in field and sent to store, bypassing the sterilization process, and much cheaper too. I just finished reading "The Ultimate Guide to Soil" this last week and did the soil test that you speak of, it turns out we have a heavy clay mixture. I just spent the weekend tilling and amending the flower bed in the backyard, it was a mess, all compact and lifeless. I've still got lots of work to do on that strip but I think I'm up to the challenge now