Random dead spots on otherwise healthy seeming plant

[amsterdam11]

So far this has been straight forward. It's Lowe's organic soil with no nutrients thus far in a 3 gallon smart pot. Only two of the leaves have these spots. I also have a 1.5 week old seedling growing that has one spot on one of it's leaves. They're growing under a pair of 288 QB's at 3k approximately 18 inches from the light. Also the lowest original leaves shriveled and died for some reason and it looks like a outer layer of the plant is shedding off? It's a Barney's pineapple Express auto. This is my first grow. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[amsterdam11]

Also none of the pictures work for the stickied post in this section. Not a single example is there anymore, so they were only so helpful.

 

[Niblixdark]

Looks like either water light burn from drops of water you may have splashed on them or too much chlorine in water not evaporated enough causing the early beginnings of a lock out of Magnesium/Calcium.

 

[amsterdam11]

Looks like either water light burn from drops of water you may have splashed on them or too much chlorine in water not evaporated enough causing the early beginnings of a lock out of Magnesium/Calcium.

Thank you. I just switched to using RO water. Is there a was to fix my soil now to prevent further lock out or should i supplement calmag into their watering?

 

[Niblixdark]

Thank you. I just switched to using RO water. Is there a was to fix my soil now to prevent further lock out?

If it's RO water you are using you might need a little bit of Cal Mag but not a whole lot just yet. Your girl is still small.

 

[amsterdam11]

If it's RO water you are using you might need a little bit of Cal Mag but not a whole lot just yet. Your girl is still small.

Okay I won't add anything yet unless it escalates further. I finally got around to testing my tap water pH and it was above 8! It's practically drinking lime water. That's why I just switched to RO. Oh and This is an auto flower at 20 days old.

 

[chemphlegm]

stop ph, stop adding items, stop watering until....

feel the container with new dry dirt in it? dont water until it feels like that again before plant wilts. when you do water add only 3/4 of a gallon of water. anything else is ill.
link to your lowes soil ?

your old leaves will die off no worries, keep an eye on new growth, yours looks good, and well fed in that organic soil for now.

 

[amsterdam11]

stop ph, stop adding items, stop watering until....

feel the container with new dry dirt in it? dont water until it feels like that again before plant wilts. when you do water add only 3/4 of a gallon of water. anything else is ill.
link to your lowes soil ?

your old leaves will die off no worries, keep an eye on new growth, yours looks good, and well fed in that organic soil for now.

/pd/EcoScraps-1-cu-ft-Flower-and-Vegetable-Soil/1000180329

My account is too new to post a real link so if you go to the lowes homepage and at that to the end of the url it should bring you to the proper soil.

I've watered twice so far. The seed sprouted on 9/14, I watered on 9/23 and then 10/1 and that's all i've done so far. I transplanted into the 3gal pot on the 10/1.

 

[chemphlegm]

/pd/EcoScraps-1-cu-ft-Flower-and-Vegetable-Soil/1000180329

My account is too new to post a real link so if you go to the lowes homepage and at that to the end of the url it should bring you to the proper soil.

I've watered twice so far. The seed sprouted on 9/14, I watered on 9/23 and then 10/1 and that's all i've done so far. I transplanted into the 3gal pot on the 10/1.

i'd transplant to some quality substrate, promix, happy frog maybe, then begin light feeding. your mix is meant to amend soil, not really to grow in I think. looks like nice plant, hope it does well

 

[amsterdam11]

i watered and gave nutrients for the first time yesterday and let the plant be over night. i ph'ed the water to 6.5 after mixing 1/4 tsp jacks bloom booster in one gallon of water, i gave the plant about 3/4 the gallon. there's also this smaller plant that has similar looking leaves but not as bad. i tested the run off water and it was of the range of the test kit i have. it was showing under 4pH. i have not given nutrients or anything else so far other than water.

from what i understand. my soil ph is not doing great or i have a cal/mag deficiency. any help would be appreciated, thank you! it looks much worse in person than the pictures can represent or im freaking out

 

[Niblixdark]

Early stage of Mg deficiency, boost it a tad more. See the light green squares inside the darker outside square of the leafs.

 

[amsterdam11]

Plant update: I flushed it with properly pH'ed water and gave it nutrients, garden lime dissolved in and sprinkled on top of the soil, and added Epson salt to the water. So far it seems like it's doing better. The leaves that were looking rough, still look rough now but are not getting worse and are healthier looking now too. There hasn't been any new leaves that appear to be deficient in anything now.

I still might have Mg deficiency because the new growth is a lighter green and I was hoping someone could tell me that or not.

I've been foliar feeding too, but I'm afraid it's going to mess things up so hopefully someone can tell me to continue with that or not.

Thanks for the help again. I'll update in a few days again too.

 

[drsaltzman]

Looking good Amsterdam. Not seeing anything to worry about.
Plants go through little hiccups all the time.
Sometimes it's nature, sometimes it's us.
Most of the time though, they will prevail.

 

[amsterdam11]

Looking good Amsterdam. Not seeing anything to worry about.
Plants go through little hiccups all the time.
Sometimes it's nature, sometimes it's us.
Most of the time though, they will prevail.

Great! Thank you

 

[Niblixdark]

I second Promix for soiless. Great stuff !

 

[amsterdam11]

Hey my dudes. Update time. I cranked my qb's to max and was giving the two plants 260ish watts since my last post and that was a terrible idea. I'm pretty certain I almost burnt them to death but I noticed in time and they've recovered. I turned the power down to half and raised my light as high as I can. Everything near the top turned like green and the littler plant's leaves started to twist and twirl. I also turned my timer back to 18/6 from 20/4 because I don't think they liked that much h light.

Now I have some random dead spots near the tips of my.leaves. I thought it might be nute burn because I gave my first full strength feed but it doesn't look like the nutrients burn from pictures I've seen. It's like spotted at the tips and it's on old and new growth. Otherwise theyre doing great. The smaller plant is a haze express auto by pheonix seeds and it looks dramatically different from my pineapple Express. I have to keep these plants alive for about 5-6 more weeks so I really hope I can do that. And should I chop off the one or two leaves that are looking really rough?

I have bontinicare calmag coming tomorrow and nectar of the gods coming, Coco coir and 5 2g smart pots coming tomorrow too, but I'm not going to use the NOTG until my next grow with the Coco. I have questions about that too so if anyone is willing to help me there that be awesome too. Alright here are the pictures. If you read all the way to here, thank you you're awesome. Thanks

 

[Jypsy Dog]

Start of a Calcium Issue. Could be some P issue also. She's in Flower. Changing your lights back to 18/6. That's NOT A GOOD THING. She's Hungry. Feed her and put her back on 12/12.

 

[cannetix Inc]

Its really starting to look like it could be an early stage sulfur deficiency. This tends to show up as light/lime green coloration that progresses from the top of the plant down and also causes the veins to turn yellow early all, unlike N and Mg deficiency. The yellowing veins are especially evident in the last picture. You didn't mention that you use any compost, and decaying organic matter is a primary source of sulfur in the soil, as is the natural sulphuric acid content of rainwater which is obviously something you don't get growing indoors. Sulphur deficiencies are common amongst first-time growers because it is, for some reason, an overlooked element. It is one of the most abundant elements in living organisms and is rarely present in basic NPK fertilizers. It is also highly mobile and more likely to be leached from the soil with heavy watering.

It's really hard for anyone to say without knowing exactly whats in your soil and water. The only way to diagnose deficiencies/excess for sure is to have the soil analyzed or get a ppm meter.

Many micronutrients are absorbed better in slightly acidic conditions but if conditions are too acidic the uptake of sulfur can be disrupted. If your Ph is low and yellowing progresses downward I'd recommend getting your hands on some garden Sulphur or even simply adding a (thin) layer of compost, which cant hurt.

Best of luck!

 

[Jypsy Dog]

Its really starting to look like it could be an early stage sulfur deficiency. This tends to show up as light/lime green coloration that progresses from the top of the plant down and also causes the veins to turn yellow early all, unlike N and Mg deficiency. The yellowing veins are especially evident in the last picture. You didn't mention that you use any compost, and decaying organic matter is a primary source of sulfur in the soil, as is the natural sulphuric acid content of rainwater which is obviously something you don't get growing indoors. Sulphur deficiencies are common amongst first-time growers because it is, for some reason, an overlooked element. It is one of the most abundant elements in living organisms and is rarely present in basic NPK fertilizers. It is also highly mobile and more likely to be leached from the soil with heavy watering.

It's really hard for anyone to say without knowing exactly whats in your soil and water. The only way to diagnose deficiencies/excess for sure is to have the soil analyzed or get a ppm meter.

Many micronutrients are absorbed better in slightly acidic conditions but if conditions are too acidic the uptake of sulfur can be disrupted. If your Ph is low and yellowing progresses downward I'd recommend getting your hands on some garden Sulphur or even simply adding a (thin) layer of compost, which cant hurt.
There's NO spotting with a Sulfur issue. Magnesium is the preferred fix for Sulfur if it was the issue. Sulfur issues are also pretty rare.

 

[greg nr]

https://www.rollitup.org/t/5-mistakes-most-new-growers-make.899022/

You my friend, have achieved the trifecta of newbie screw ups.

-- too much light
-- too many nutrients
-- too much water

Stop, drop, and roll. Then leave your plants the f' alone. Seriously. Stop foliar feeding. It's an advanced technique and not needed unless you want the last nanogram of product possible. The only thing you should be spraying are IPM mixes.

Let the plants dry out thoroughly before adding more water or nutes. Don'e feed every time you water. Drop your EC or PPM to your light wattage. Keep the lights dimmed down and up high until the plant gets bigger.

Just chill. You are killing them with kindness. Btw, over watering will begin to appear like micro nutrient deficiencies because you are killing your root system. Root rot will quickly kill all the hairs on the root stems and the plant won't be able to take up the nutrients it needs.

The only thing you should add are microbes. I don't care which ones - great white, recharge, soil balance, mammoth p. It doesn't matter, pick one or two and mix it into your waterings. They will help your soil buffer ph and help repair a damaged root system. They aren't nutrients, it's hard to over apply them, so just follow the recommended levels.

Then leave them alone