Hi all, I'm in the middle of my first grow, and like many others, I thought I had it all figured out, but can't seem to get to the bottom of one problem ...
I have what appears to be a calcium deficiency, but it won't seem to go away, regardless of what I try to do.
Here's what my setup looks like:
Strain: Autoflower Blue Mystic
Grow Medium: Hydroponic (Top-fed DWC)
Number of Plants: 1
Size of grow space: 3' W x 1.5' D x 5' H
Age of plant: About 7 weeks; preflowers first appeared about 2 weeks ago
Lights: 1x Galaxyhydro 300W LED Panel on top, 4x 32W T8 lights for side lighting
Light cycle: 20/4
Light-to-canopy distance: 20"
Canopy temp: 79-83 degrees with lights on, 68-70 degrees with lights off
Reservoir temp: 68-72 degrees, cooled with a homemade TEC chiller
Reservoir size: 5 gal bucket
Reservoir PH: Currently 6.2, it has varied from 5.8 to 6.4
Water Source: RO Water
Ventilation: 190CFM Duct fan with carbon filter
Humidity: Currently 35% (lights on) to 45% (lights off). During veg, was kept at 70% with a humidifier.
DWC Bubbler: 125GPH air pump w/ 2 large airstones
Reservoir change interval: Weekly
Nutrients:
- GH Flora Series (Gro, Bloom, Micro)
- GH Floralicious
- GH Liquid KoolBloom (Started adding last week)
- GH FloraNectar (Started adding last week)
- GH CALiMAGic
- GH RapidStart
- Hydroguard
All nutrients have been ramping up from 1/4 the recommended dose on the bottle, currently at 2/3 strength. Exceptions are hydroguard (using at full strength) and CALiMAGic (see below).
The problem:
I began to see signs of a calcium deficiency (brown necrotic spots speckled randomly on leaves) immediately after I switched from tap water to RO water (about 4 weeks ago). I quickly realized my mistake and, 4 days after switching to RO water, I started adding GH CALiMAGic according to the directions on the bottle (1tsp/gal, before adding other nutes). Since then, the problem has persisted, with some leaves much worse than others. I've been steadily increasing the concentration of CALiMAGic to try to compensate. I'm currently up to 2tsp/gal (double the recommended dose). I'm not currently seeing any signs of other nutrient lockout, but I'm afraid to go higher. I've also been feeding it a weak CALiMAGic solution via foliar spray.
Affected leaves start out with small brown spots randomly appearing on the leaves. These multiply over time, and eventually consume most of the leaf. Leaves otherwise stay green until the brown spots take over about 50% of the leaf, at which point they start turning yellow. Some of the early leaves affected by this appear completely dead, but are not falling off the plant. Almost every leaf on the plant is affected to some degree, but some are much worse than others.
Additional history:
This plant had a bit of a hard time in its early life. It was sprouted in a failed hydroponic space bucket experiment, and was rapidly (about 1 week after sprouting) moved to its current growing space (it was still a seedling at the time). Over the next 2 weeks, I dealt with several miscellaneous rookie problems including lack of dissolved oxygen (too small of an air pump initially), too high reservoir temperature, and very mild nitrogen toxicity. During that period its growth seemed stunted. However, for the last 4 weeks, all of the environmental problems have been solved, and it has been growing rapidly - the only remaining issue is the (apparent) calcium deficiency, which is persistently appearing on new growth.
Since it started growing rapidly, it has been growing very significantly side-to-side, and is very bushy, but not terribly tall (plenty of growth nodes, but not much space between them). This is probably a consequence of the significant side lighting and relatively short night cycle.
Questions/theories:
My first question is, is this indeed a calcium deficiency? It initially started when I started using RO water, and it has all the signs, but after its resistance to CALiMAGic, I can't be sure. I don't believe it's a PH problem (the PH has been regulated between about 5.8 to 6.4 for the plant's life, recently I've been keeping it above 6.0 because I read that calcium is absorbed better). I also don't think it's a root problem, because the roots look healthy, and the reservoir still smells fresh and clean. I haven't noted any signs of pests (I've checked for spider mites, which can apparently cause similar issues) or fungus.
If it is a calcium deficiency, is it possible that it's the result of a nutrient lockout? I'm not feeding excessive amounts of nutrients, except possibly for CALiMAGic, which I started after the problem appeared. Is it possible that too much CALiMAGic can lock itself out? I don't see any other signs of nutrient deficiencies, even though this problem has been around a while.
Is it at all possible that it still, even after feeding 2x the recommended dose of CALiMAGic (for RO water), doesn't have enough calcium? Is it even safe to feed it more? My RO water is made from a 5-stage filter that produces very pure water (PPM 0, with a PH of exactly 7.0) - could it have even less calcium than the RO water CALiMAGic was designed for?
Pictures are attached. Leaves pictured are different leaves in different stages of the problem.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
I have what appears to be a calcium deficiency, but it won't seem to go away, regardless of what I try to do.
Here's what my setup looks like:
Strain: Autoflower Blue Mystic
Grow Medium: Hydroponic (Top-fed DWC)
Number of Plants: 1
Size of grow space: 3' W x 1.5' D x 5' H
Age of plant: About 7 weeks; preflowers first appeared about 2 weeks ago
Lights: 1x Galaxyhydro 300W LED Panel on top, 4x 32W T8 lights for side lighting
Light cycle: 20/4
Light-to-canopy distance: 20"
Canopy temp: 79-83 degrees with lights on, 68-70 degrees with lights off
Reservoir temp: 68-72 degrees, cooled with a homemade TEC chiller
Reservoir size: 5 gal bucket
Reservoir PH: Currently 6.2, it has varied from 5.8 to 6.4
Water Source: RO Water
Ventilation: 190CFM Duct fan with carbon filter
Humidity: Currently 35% (lights on) to 45% (lights off). During veg, was kept at 70% with a humidifier.
DWC Bubbler: 125GPH air pump w/ 2 large airstones
Reservoir change interval: Weekly
Nutrients:
- GH Flora Series (Gro, Bloom, Micro)
- GH Floralicious
- GH Liquid KoolBloom (Started adding last week)
- GH FloraNectar (Started adding last week)
- GH CALiMAGic
- GH RapidStart
- Hydroguard
All nutrients have been ramping up from 1/4 the recommended dose on the bottle, currently at 2/3 strength. Exceptions are hydroguard (using at full strength) and CALiMAGic (see below).
The problem:
I began to see signs of a calcium deficiency (brown necrotic spots speckled randomly on leaves) immediately after I switched from tap water to RO water (about 4 weeks ago). I quickly realized my mistake and, 4 days after switching to RO water, I started adding GH CALiMAGic according to the directions on the bottle (1tsp/gal, before adding other nutes). Since then, the problem has persisted, with some leaves much worse than others. I've been steadily increasing the concentration of CALiMAGic to try to compensate. I'm currently up to 2tsp/gal (double the recommended dose). I'm not currently seeing any signs of other nutrient lockout, but I'm afraid to go higher. I've also been feeding it a weak CALiMAGic solution via foliar spray.
Affected leaves start out with small brown spots randomly appearing on the leaves. These multiply over time, and eventually consume most of the leaf. Leaves otherwise stay green until the brown spots take over about 50% of the leaf, at which point they start turning yellow. Some of the early leaves affected by this appear completely dead, but are not falling off the plant. Almost every leaf on the plant is affected to some degree, but some are much worse than others.
Additional history:
This plant had a bit of a hard time in its early life. It was sprouted in a failed hydroponic space bucket experiment, and was rapidly (about 1 week after sprouting) moved to its current growing space (it was still a seedling at the time). Over the next 2 weeks, I dealt with several miscellaneous rookie problems including lack of dissolved oxygen (too small of an air pump initially), too high reservoir temperature, and very mild nitrogen toxicity. During that period its growth seemed stunted. However, for the last 4 weeks, all of the environmental problems have been solved, and it has been growing rapidly - the only remaining issue is the (apparent) calcium deficiency, which is persistently appearing on new growth.
Since it started growing rapidly, it has been growing very significantly side-to-side, and is very bushy, but not terribly tall (plenty of growth nodes, but not much space between them). This is probably a consequence of the significant side lighting and relatively short night cycle.
Questions/theories:
My first question is, is this indeed a calcium deficiency? It initially started when I started using RO water, and it has all the signs, but after its resistance to CALiMAGic, I can't be sure. I don't believe it's a PH problem (the PH has been regulated between about 5.8 to 6.4 for the plant's life, recently I've been keeping it above 6.0 because I read that calcium is absorbed better). I also don't think it's a root problem, because the roots look healthy, and the reservoir still smells fresh and clean. I haven't noted any signs of pests (I've checked for spider mites, which can apparently cause similar issues) or fungus.
If it is a calcium deficiency, is it possible that it's the result of a nutrient lockout? I'm not feeding excessive amounts of nutrients, except possibly for CALiMAGic, which I started after the problem appeared. Is it possible that too much CALiMAGic can lock itself out? I don't see any other signs of nutrient deficiencies, even though this problem has been around a while.
Is it at all possible that it still, even after feeding 2x the recommended dose of CALiMAGic (for RO water), doesn't have enough calcium? Is it even safe to feed it more? My RO water is made from a 5-stage filter that produces very pure water (PPM 0, with a PH of exactly 7.0) - could it have even less calcium than the RO water CALiMAGic was designed for?
Pictures are attached. Leaves pictured are different leaves in different stages of the problem.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
and in my opinion, totally unnecessary, just like those other two I recommend you drop. Keep It Simple Stupid
