Browning leaves

[Chronic11]

New grower here, can anyone help my identify the cause of this browning on my leaves? It’s mostly showing up on the bottom leaves and seems to be progressing. It’s also affecting other plants as well. (I know that there are other issues present with the plants here but my main concern right now and for this post is the browning on the leaves) I’m afraid if it continues my plants won’t be able to photosynthesis properly as they get bigger. It’s worth noting that I am using miracle grow potting soil, soil ph 7, temps never reach above 75 at the most, low 60s at the least, have given no nutes(just letting them get what’s in the miracle grow already, & yes I know miracle grow is a nono but I didn’t start researching a lot on growing until it was too late) also believe I was overwatering in the beginning of my grow but I let the soil properly dry and have been maintaining better wet to dry practices. There were a few fungus gnats here and there for about a week but after letting the soil dry nicely and putting up some sticky traps I haven’t seen any more show up. I also did a soil drench with cold pressed neem, emulsified properly with dr bronners castile peppermint soap.( browning on leaves was showing up before I did this, plants seem to have had no ill effects from the neem soak) these plants are under a 1,000 watt led grow light, about 3 feet above the top. They are bag seed(from random seeds here and there I have found in good bud) lighting has been 24/7 from seed, just switched today to 18/6 as I suspect the 24/7 could be doing more harm than good. Another plant which I’ve almost given up on had this browning issue but it has progressed to nearly destroying the first 3 nodes of fan leaves to crispy brown dying leaves. I’m not including pics of it because I’m mostly concerned about saving my other plants. Please help, any and all advice will be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Masterdank420]

Mg soil has slow release but not enough for cannabis. You'll need to feed it. The damage on the lower leaves wont heal, watch the new growth instead for indicators. The damage from overwatering is what you are looking at right now so if you already corrected it just continue on and if you notice any new issues post back.

 

[Chronic11]

Mg soil has slow release but not enough for cannabis. You'll need to feed it. The damage on the lower leaves wont heal, watch the new growth instead for indicators. The damage from overwatering is what you are looking at right now so if you already corrected it just continue on and if you notice any new issues post back.

Thank you, any suggestions on feeding? Not something I’ve looked into much as researching the web led me to believe feeding would burn my plants in miracle grow soil. It’s the feed up to 6 months type. Also have had people tell me they look to be burning from too much nitrogen. The only store around me that sells plant supplies is a lowes, and they seem to really love miracle grow as that’s the majority that’s available there. Im wanting to top the taller plant but am afraid to do so given it looks so ill. May try tying it down to lst it, although it’s getting kinda late for that lol. I realize now that I botched up a lot by not doing my research first and really just hope I can save these plants.

 

[Hairybuds]

What’s your water ph? Maybe from ph fluctuations

 

[Chronic11]

What’s your water ph? Maybe from ph fluctuations

I have not ph’d my water. Although I have been strongly considering buying the means to do so especially now that I’m seeing issues. I do have a soil/moisture/light sensor that shows my soil ph is 7. I’ve been using tap water. My town is in rural area and uses chlorine, I let the water sit for 24+hours before using.

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

I have not ph’d my water. Although I have been strongly considering buying the means to do so especially now that I’m seeing issues. I do have a soil/moisture/light sensor that shows my soil ph is 7. I’ve been using tap water. My town is in rural area and uses chlorine, I let the water sit for 24+hours before using.

Those tri-meters are worthless. They will read 7 no matter what the PH is. Looks like maybe light stress at that young... I know you're 3 ft away, but still, young plants can't process that much unless your running sealed and CO2. You got a PAR meter?

 

[Chronic11]

Those tri-meters are worthless. They will read 7 no matter what the PH is. Looks like maybe light stress at that young... I know you're 3 ft away, but still, young plants can't process that much unless your running sealed and CO2. You got a PAR meter?

Just the tri-meter / it reads around 500 on the smaller plant and 700 at the taller one. I started these out under a 1 or 200 watt. They actually didn’t really show many issues until I switched them to this 1000 watt light. I don’t know if it is the light or not, but I just switched to 18 hrs instead of 24 thinking they could be getting light stressed. The light also has a red/blue/all feature and is dimmable. I’ve just been running it at full strength.

 

[Chronic11]

This is the light they are under.

Amazon.com

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

Just the tri-meter / it reads around 500 on the smaller plant and 700 at the taller one. I started these out under a 1 or 200 watt. They actually didn’t really show many issues until I switched them to this 1000 watt light. I don’t know if it is the light or not, but I just switched to 18 hrs instead of 24 thinking they could be getting light stressed. The light also has a red/blue/all feature and is dimmable. I’ve just been running it at full strength.

You just answered your own question. They need a "rest period" .. especially when young. Too much light will make them weak, and not have time to recover from the day. You wouldn't want to stay up for 24 hours every day would you? Plants are the same way. I can observe my plants fully wilted after a couple of hours of lights out. They gotta rest man.

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

This is the light they are under.

Amazon.com

No offense... not a great light, but how far away from the canopy is it?

 

[Chronic11]

You just answered your own question. They need a "rest period" .. especially when young. Too much light will make them weak, and not have time to recover from the day. You wouldn't want to stay up for 24 hours every day would you? Plants are the same way. I can observe my plants fully wilted after a couple of hours of lights out. They gotta rest man.

I agree, I read so many articles about how 24/7 was the way to go and marijuana being the type of plant to not need a rest period. And under a weaker light that may be true to an extent. But it really does make sense that they would need a rest period, so I’m going to be doing that going forward. The majority of my problems happened after switching to this stronger light. I do think my initial overwatering and miracle grow may have an impact too. It’s just my first grow and I really didn’t have a big budget to work with for supplies. The light is about 3ft from the top of the larger plant, I’d say around 4ft from the smaller one. I have a couple small plants to the side that are under the weaker lights, they’re on a tripod type thing with individual arms that sit overtop the plant.

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

Let them rest for 6 hours, and see if you have good, new growth. If not, then you have another problem. Over watering, feeding, etc. Do one thing at a time and figure it out. Don't do 4 things at once and expect a resolve, you'll never know what it was. Be patient.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

You just answered your own question. They need a "rest period" .. especially when young. Too much light will make them weak, and not have time to recover from the day. You wouldn't want to stay up for 24 hours every day would you? Plants are the same way. I can observe my plants fully wilted after a couple of hours of lights out. They gotta rest man.

Green Crack doesn't need to sleep.

 

[Hairybuds]

Green Crack doesn't need to sleep.

It’ll turn into brown crack with no sleep

 

[Chronic11]

Let them rest for 6 hours, and see if you have good, new growth. If not, then you have another problem. Over watering, feeding, etc. Do one thing at a time and figure it out. Don't do 4 things at once and expect a resolve, you'll never know what it was. Be patient.

Thanks man. Definitely gonna do 18/6. Do you have an opinion on if I should feed them? Given the mg soil they are in I’ve been worried to do so. 1 other plant not pictured here has been clawing terribly from pretty early on, and I guess I was convinced it was nute burned from the mg soil. This is the plant I’m thinking about giving up on. Not gonna lie I’m kinda embarrassed by this one, not 100% sure what went wrong, but probably a combination of things given I’m a novice at this.

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

Green Crack doesn't need to sleep.

Hahah!.... man, I had some great GC phenos.. should have kept them, but I didn't have room at the time.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

It’ll turn into brown crack with no sleep

I'd show you my brown crack, but that's frowned upon here.

 

[Hairybuds]

I’ll pass, my choda is enough don’t need to see yours, lol

 

[DoubleAtotheRON]

Thanks man. Definitely gonna do 18/6. Do you have an opinion on if I should feed them? Given the mg soil they are in I’ve been worried to do so. 1 other plant not pictured here has been clawing terribly from pretty early on, and I guess I was convinced it was nute burned from the mg soil. This is the plant I’m thinking about giving up on. Not gonna lie I’m kinda embarrassed by this one, not 100% sure what went wrong, but probably a combination of things given I’m a novice at this.

This looks like PH lockout. I can see you're not fully saturating the pot, and that's good, but yeah... I've recovered worse with a 10.5-11 ph flush. May be best to just toss that one if you're not experienced in hard PH corrections.... I'd guess this one is in the low 5's PH.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I’ll pass, my choda is enough don’t need to see yours, lol