Well, these bad girls(hopefully) have been vegging for almost a month, but I think they got too much nutrients too fast. The reason I say this is because I mixed about a 15% mixture of worm castings into my soil, then after about 3 weeks I gave them some of Fox Farm's Grow Big. After the last dose I just started using plain distilled water again, due to a large amount of yellow on the bottom of the plants. Since I was going to LST these anyways in bigger pots, I was considering just re-potting all of them now with a new mixture of soil. Should this help the problem? They are about 18" away from a 400 W MH, I had to kill one it was showing some sacks, these others I'm not sure of yet. I have 2 fans on, one circulating the air and one extracting and blowing in. This is the biggest of the plants, I'm worried that it too, will be a male. I tried taking a picture of inbetween the nodes, but it came out pretty blurry. Help is appreciated, first grow here. THC bomb strain for anyone that is curious!
I wish I could help you but I would suggest also posting this in the sick plants thread, it may get more exposure there. Hope you find out whats keeping your ladies down soon!
I don't see any burn (dead, necrotic patches) but they certainly have some sort of deficency or lockout. Try flushing them. Take the volume of the pots and pour that same amount of pH-adjusted distilled water through the soil. If you want, you can go double the volume of the pots but you shouldn't need any more than that. Then next time they need water give them 1/2 strength nutrients.
That looks a lot like nitrogen deficency, which could be caused by pH lockout. Have you been adjusting the pH of your nutrient solution? If not, that's most likely the problem. Growbig is kept acidic in order to preserve the nutrients. You should flush and measure the pH of the runoff water. Check these out: http://www.amsterdammarijuanaseedba...ingsolutions/marijuana-health-problems.html#n http://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=37
Ok, this definitely could be the problem since I don't have a pH meter or anything. I was told that the soil would help balance the ph naturally. So what is the best approach for flushing the plants? Also, will this pH meter do the job? Or this one?
I think its pH as well. That meter will do fine. Youll also need some sort of pH adjuster to get it to 6.0. (pH down, Lemon Juice) All flushing is, is a heavy pH adjusted watering with a low ppm or no nutrients. Water deep. Enough that the water will start to run out of the bottom, in an attempt to "flush"out the nutrients in the soil. Depending on hot you mixed your soil, you might not need nutes until flowering. But get the pH fixed and then see how its coming along. Hope this helps. Good Luck.
The first meter is fine. I use that exact one. If it doesn't come with calibrating solution, get some 7.01 (google "ph calibration solution" if you don't know what I mean). This is how I would flush: I'm assuming that those are 1 gallon pots. Buy 6 gallons of distilled water (two for each plant). You can get it at most grocery stores for less than a dollar a gallon. If you can't find distilled water you can use the regular bottled drinking water that comes in one gallon plastic jugs. Don't use tap water as it has too much chlorine for this purpose. Bring your plants into your bath tub, open all the water jugs and adust them to a pH of 7. Slowly pour 1/3 to 1/2 gallon into each pot, making sure you pour evenly over the surface of the soil. Go smoke a bowl and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. This will loosen up some of the salts accumulated in your soil and allow it all to moisten evenly. Then pour a little more in, wait two minutes or so and look to see if you have runoff. If not, pour a little more and wait. Repeat until you finally start seeing runoff, then wait (you may want to take a sample of the runoff to measure the pH). After a few minutes, fill the pot to the brim. Wait til it goes down a little and fill it again. Repeat this until you've poured a total of two gallns through each pot. It will take a while for them to drain completely. Take a sample of the runoff water toward the end and it should be above 6.2. I've read that it's normal for pH of the runoff water to drop .5 points. It's very important that you go slow in the beginning of the flush so all the soil gets evenly saturated. Also, when I flush, I gently warm the water to a little above room temperature by setting the bottles in a warm water bath. It should not get above 80 degrees. 78 is good. This will help disolve the salts and keep the roots from getting too cold. Never flush with cold water. The leaves may wilt a little but this should only be temporary. Just put them in front of a fan as soon as they've drained completely. Water again when the plants need it, but hold off on the nutrients for the first watering after the flush, and if things are going well, use 1/2 strength the next time after that. Then go full strength. You should buy some pH up from a hydro store and use it in the future to adjust your water and nutrient slution to about 6.7. You can also use hydrated lime, which is dirt cheap, but use it sparingly; it's strong and you'll end up with the same problem you have now, but at the other side of the pH spectrum. Let us know how the flush turns out.
Thanks for the help fellas. Today I went ahead and mixed up some new soil and re-potted them in the pots I would like to finish them in. I'm hoping this will help with any problems I'm having right now, until the pH meter comes in.