Guide for Diagnosing Plant Problems

Mechanicalbuds

Active Member
I have heard that with ro. I've always had good luck with tap. But since I moved, water quality is way down. I truck it from my old city....what a pain.
 

KarmaKav

Member
probably not...some pics on the plant would help a lot. in normal light, at least one full plant pic, then closeups of the effected leaves.
I made these full image so everyone can see them close-up. Let me know what you think is going on with it. I have ph balance water for it, and nutrients with low potassium.
It's 5'4'' and no signs of budding. It's been growing since August 2018. It should have buds by now, one would think.
20190222_153932.jpg 20190222_153750.jpg 20190222_153956.jpg 20190222_153738.jpg
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
not enough light, a little too much food, a little too much N in that food. what light do you use, and what schedule?
i'm assuming you're in soil from the bottle labeled ph 6.5? how large a pot?

the thought that occurs to me is to airlayer that plant, twice. once about a third of the way down, and then again, after you take that rooted cutting, about 4 inches or so below the bottom set of leaves. put it, or them, under a stronger light, in good sized pots and they'll regrow. once they start to grow, top it at least twice......or you could just keep it as a perennial house plant.....
 

blackgolem

Well-Known Member
I am running r.o. water ppm of 5 to start it's good water I've decided I might have a calmag issue
could be over watering doesn't coco coir hold water if you want to water daily you should go all perlite. That and pH'd water keeps around 6 no worries RO water is great as well as using a straight hydro fert coco fert is different I hear and has to compensate for the retention of ferts coco can hold on to, so hope you have the right ferts along with the cal mag at small doses. Still think you're watering to often. Good luck
 

Mysturis420

Well-Known Member
could be over watering doesn't coco coir hold water if you want to water daily you should go all perlite. That and pH'd water keeps around 6 no worries RO water is great as well as using a straight hydro fert coco fert is different I hear and has to compensate for the retention of ferts coco can hold on to, so hope you have the right ferts along with the cal mag at small doses. Still think you're watering to often. Good luck
everything I've read says you "cant" over water coco I actually started watering more often because of the drooping but no change and I am useing coco nutes I'm just missing the cal mag I'm pretty sure that my problem I'm useing 50/50 coco to perlite and have read other people doing 70/30 and watering twice daily whats strange to is I use to have ebb and flow watering everyday and it seemed to be fine now that I'm doing drain to waste it's going to sh**
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
could be over watering doesn't coco coir hold water if you want to water daily you should go all perlite. That and pH'd water keeps around 6 no worries RO water is great as well as using a straight hydro fert coco fert is different I hear and has to compensate for the retention of ferts coco can hold on to, so hope you have the right ferts along with the cal mag at small doses. Still think you're watering to often. Good luck
the only way to overwater in coco is to immerse the pot in a bucket of water. the cellular structure of coco fibers looks like bundles of straws, as water passes through it, it draws oxygen in with it. it's actually better to water coco twice a day with less water each time than once a day with more water
ro water has no mineral content, you have to add even more cal-mag if you use ro water, than if you use tap water. the only time ro is better for your plants than tap water is if your local water has a very high concentration of mineral, like over 250 ppm....
most nutrients deigned for coco will have extra cal and mag added, which can actually turn into a problem eventually.
coconut palms grow along beaches, and they pile the husks up till they get enough to make it worth processing it. while it's laying there, it's absorbing salt water from the waves coming in, and from the sand it's laying on. that loads it down with chloride and potassium. that's why you have to add extra cal and mag, because the chloride and potassium are blocking the cec sites that the cal and mag would be using. that chloride and potassium gets washed loose after a couple of months of use, and then suddenly all that cal and mag are available to your plant, in LARGE amounts...you have to keep an eye on it, and adjust for it when that happens, usually around the 2nd or 3rd week of flower...
 

blackgolem

Well-Known Member
the only way to overwater in coco is to immerse the pot in a bucket of water. the cellular structure of coco fibers looks like bundles of straws, as water passes through it, it draws oxygen in with it. it's actually better to water coco twice a day with less water each time than once a day with more water
ro water has no mineral content, you have to add even more cal-mag if you use ro water, than if you use tap water. the only time ro is better for your plants than tap water is if your local water has a very high concentration of mineral, like over 250 ppm....
most nutrients deigned for coco will have extra cal and mag added, which can actually turn into a problem eventually.
coconut palms grow along beaches, and they pile the husks up till they get enough to make it worth processing it. while it's laying there, it's absorbing salt water from the waves coming in, and from the sand it's laying on. that loads it down with chloride and potassium. that's why you have to add extra cal and mag, because the chloride and potassium are blocking the cec sites that the cal and mag would be using. that chloride and potassium gets washed loose after a couple of months of use, and then suddenly all that cal and mag are available to your plant, in LARGE amounts...you have to keep an eye on it, and adjust for it when that happens, usually around the 2nd or 3rd week of flower...
If I understand correctly, because I've never used coco coir, you need to water heavy for days to get out all the minerals out because it actually will cause problems if you don't. So how do you flush all that out to get to a suitable level with RO'd pH'd water right? Or just go straight coarse perlite RO'd pH'd nutrient rich water and problem solved. I mean how do you compensate for all that chlorine and crap seems to much work. Thought idea was to KIS
 

blackgolem

Well-Known Member
everything I've read says you "cant" over water coco I actually started watering more often because of the drooping but no change and I am useing coco nutes I'm just missing the cal mag I'm pretty sure that my problem I'm useing 50/50 coco to perlite and have read other people doing 70/30 and watering twice daily whats strange to is I use to have ebb and flow watering everyday and it seemed to be fine now that I'm doing drain to waste it's going to sh**
Really can
t say I use straight perlite so far no real problems I water once a week running a hempy in a small tub probably doing it wrong but works for me I use a moisture meter and its always like 3.1 on the scale and no droop so I stick with it guess you just have to find your own comfort zone really because who can really say whats best.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
If I understand correctly, because I've never used coco coir, you need to water heavy for days to get out all the minerals out because it actually will cause problems if you don't. So how do you flush all that out to get to a suitable level with RO'd pH'd water right? Or just go straight coarse perlite RO'd pH'd nutrient rich water and problem solved. I mean how do you compensate for all that chlorine and crap seems to much work. Thought idea was to KIS
it's not chlorine, it's chloride. chloride is half of salt, and the other half , potassium, is readily available from the environment the coconut palms grow in.
chlorine, in the amounts that are present in most municipalities water supplies, is actually good for plants.
i do not use RO water for anything but my cloner...i use tap water. the water here comes out of the tap at around 30-50 ppm...i know a lot of places are much higher, but until you get to over 200 ppm, or unless your town uses a lot more chlorine than normal to deal with some problem, tap water is just fine for your plants. it may damage any beneficial microbes you use, if it's higher than normal. usually, you can run your water the night before you use it, let it sit out overnight, and that will let enough of the more volatilized chlorine (the part you smell) evaporate out that it will only do minimal damage to your micro herd.
i rinse my coco before i charge it. i rehydrate it, dump it into a tote with holes in the bottom, and run about ten gallons of water through 5 kilos of coco, slowly. i let it sit for a day, then put it back in a solid tote, and add a couple of gallons of 500 ppm calmag water.i stir that up for a couple of days, then use it. that helps get rid of a lot of the extra potassium and chloride, which opens up a lot of the blocked off cec sites. i still have to supplement cal mag, but not nearly as much.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
Have some kind of problem here help is appreciated!
it's hard to say off of one picture...i'm going with ph fluctuations right now...could be the beginning of a broad mite infestation, but i don't think so...it crosses veins and margins so it's not n or mag...it's on lower leaves and not regualr, so it's not iron....do you have water with very high or low ph? did you forget to set your ph once or twice? or perhaps set it the right way, but do it twice? potheads can be absent minded...
 

Seederbreeder

New Member
I have well water thats what i have been watering with it has high iron but ph is normal im confused i didnt give any thing for fertilizer yet ethier so maybe low in something its also growing under my window sill untill i put it outside i live in nova scotia. Im new to growing so i could have made some kind of mistake i am a medical user also have grown for 3 years only so im still learning!
 
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