Here are the pics. I pulled off about 20 total leaves from the 6 plants. They just basically fell off with little effort on my part. I left these yellow ones on for help with diagnosis. From the middle up all plants are a bit pale but they haven't received nutes since Wednesday, just a flush. Tomorrow they will get their usual botanicare pure blend pro, cal-mag and liquid karma. I'll post ph tomorrow when the kit arrives. Quick question, when I ph tomorrow my plan is to 1. Test ph of my reservoir water. 2. Fill my 3 gallon jug with this water and then add nutes. 3. Test ph of water with nutes added and adjust to 5.8 if needed 4. Feed plants. 5. Test ph of runoff. Or, should I do step one and then adjust the water to 5.8 and skip the nutes and then water the plants and then test the runoff?? Thanks mmman for your time and patience
Danbridge- Thanks for the link! I have a similar one bookmarked but those pictures are much better. I'm thinking it must be nitrogen deficiency along with magnesium, phosphorus and manganese deficiency too. I usually feed every 3-4 waterings. Is it safe to feed every watering or every other watering? I'm using botanicare pure blend pro grow, botanicare cal-mag plus and botanicare liquid karma. They are organic and the guy at the hydro store told me its pretty hard to cause nute burn using organic nutes. Mmman- can you chime in as well? Thanks guys!
I don't understand something? The pix, I thought you said you were in Coco, is this correct? And, you say that the run-off ph has been corrected to 6.5 for the plants in the pix, right? You also say in the post with the pix that you have a res., do you have two separate grows?
Yes I think you misunderstood the information I provided My medium is empire builder sanctuary soil. I provided the list of ingredients in a previous post. I haven't ph'd as the kit comes in later today as I mentioned in yesterday's post. My last watering was done with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, as I read it was a natural way to lower ph and decided to give it a try. My previous post was about what to do once the ph kit arrives. No separate grows just my 6 ladies. I use a 45 gallon plastic container to hold my water and let it evaporate 36-48 hours.
I see said the blind man. Your plants are slipping in Ca, Fe, Mn and Boron... P and K are locked out completely, so correct your ph to 5.8 and get 50% of manufacturers recommended dosage of nutrients to the plants after ph run-off correction. I prefer to correct ph, wait 24 to 48 hrs and add nutes, rarely do I ever add nutes to ph'ed water.
Mmman Thanks brother. In half an hour I'm moving them to get their sunlight and I'll see what they look like after this dark period. Hopefully by noon my ph kit and nutes will be delivered. The pots felt a bit light when I moved them to the garage for lights out so I may have to water them a bit to withstand the heat from 11am-1pm. I've been reading up on coco grows and plan on feeding 3 times per week (3rd time flush with very light nute water) once they get back on track. Last years grow didn't have these problems at all so I'm certain my local water supply is presently at a higher ph than the local water I used last year. My plan, once they are stable is to 1. Check (but not adjust) ph of water in my 45 gal res. 2. Add nutes and then adjust ph to 5.8 Thanks for the help bud!
Mmman- Checked the water in my reservoir and it looked to be 7.5ish according to the color chart that came with the general hydroponics ph kit. I also checked fresh water from the hose and it came out as 6.0 so I guess the ph rises the more it sits out and evaporates the chlorine. I watered plants with 5.5-6.0 water and then fed them pure blend grow, cal mag, liquid karma with the water/nute mix at 5.5-6.0ph The affected plant has not gotten any worse and in fact is a darker green than the pale green it was the past 5 days. I'll keep posting throughout the week. Thanks for your help!
Mmman- Hey bud hope all is well with you. My plants are doing well and the one most affected seems to be recovering slowly. Getting a much better uniform green color (not pale green as before) and the spotting has stopped completely. Is it safe to leave the damaged ,eaves on or should I just lollipop those branches? Also my ph run off is coming out at around 7.0 but everything going is at 5.5-5.8. I read on the coco growing guide posted here at grass city that run off is not a good indicator of ph and it is better to test the soil itself. My question to you is, should I just continue to feed at the ph you instructed and the soil will over the next few weeks retain that ph or are there other measures I can take to ensure the ph stays in the optimal range. According to the empire builder sanctuary soil web page the ph of my medium is at 6.5. Thanks!
I would get a gallon of distilled water and run through to test ph when the worst looking plant needs water. Distilled water leaves you with a more accurate ph run-off measurement. If the medium your using suggests 6.5 is optimal ph, then run-off should be the same if you can get it within that range. Thing is, Coco and the lime applied by the manufacturers will continually keep your ph on the up and up, you'll find it necessary to continually knock it back, so try to lower your run-off. You might have to get a little radical at times to lower the ph. I've seen times that the soil I've constructed would build to 7 run-off on some strains and they would show a mild Fe deficit while other strains would not, e.g., my white widow are doing that now, so I ph'ed down to 2 and 3 (believe it or not) and had very little run-off, maybe a cup, and run-off was around 6.5. They respond well to me that way and as the water mixes with the higher ph it comes out corrected with very little run-off so I don't actually have to flush my plants until the last couple weeks before harvest. Experiment a bit with lower ph if your using commercial ph down and see how your plants respond, correction is always easier than it seems, you simply have to get in there and work at it.