Guide for Diagnosing Plant Problems

[Hash Lover]

I would try moving it away from the humidifier to start, but it looks pretty far gone. What is the humidity at in the area ? Maybe try a light fan on it to help get rid of extra moisture. What are your temps ?

 

[theshowdowns]

I did that but she is looking horrible. Would you suggest a) leaving her in the pot and dry there, or b) go ahead and clip her immature buds and begin drying?

Thyanks for you help

 

[theshowdowns]

I am trying to keep high 70's but was increasing them in an attempt to try to increase the humidity.

 

[ZEN MASTER]

I am about 3 weeks into flowering and one of my babies has starting wilting like crazy in the past two days. Any ideas of why this could be.

Last watering and nuting was 3days ago, and was with 10-20-10 miracle grow flower booster. View attachment 1334348

first problem is the miracle grow. go to the hydro store get you some proper nutes, and a proper medium. miracle grow is good for a wide range of plants and flowers, and the tomoto formula works great growing tomatoes. but you are growing weed my friend, so you should get something specific to what you are growing , just my opinion though. as far as your baby it looks like severe over/under watering, poor drainage(like Hash Lover said), or your roots are dying, or it may be a build up of the miracle grow in the medium.


PEACE!!!
-ZEN-

 

[theshowdowns]

Thanks

What's strange is that this just started happening after the entire time having no problems. The soil feels still a bit moist form just inserting a finger into the bucket. Some of the taller buds, the leaves seem less effected. We were never watering them very much, but the all received a thorough watering a week ago.

What do you suggest I should do?

 

[theshowdowns]

Should i harvest it now? If I leave it for a few days to see if it will recover and it doesn't will I be losing potency by waiting?

Any help is appreciated

 

[ZEN MASTER]

Thanks

What's strange is that this just started happening after the entire time having no problems. The soil feels still a bit moist form just inserting a finger into the bucket. Some of the taller buds, the leaves seem less effected. We were never watering them very much, but the all received a thorough watering a week ago.

What do you suggest I should do?

ok, well it is a big plant, so it could be thristy. those bigger plants like that get some big root balls, and eat alot of nutes. and a week may be too long to go without food. try feeding a light nute solution til you get a run off, if you already havent done so, and see what happens in a few hours, if nothing happens i guess salvage what you can. but on your next run, get some nutes, and a medium that's made for growing our favorite kind of girl. if you like watering by hand there are lots of soiless mediums to consider,fox farm has good mediums, there's also sunshine mix, and Canna has soiless and coco coir mediums, and each brand has specific nutes that work with their products to grow "WEED", not ornamentals, annuals, or tomatoes. i promise you'll have alot easier time. and since soiless mediums are "kinda" like hydro you can learn some fundamentals of straight hydro, which will make for an easier transition one day if you decide to go straight hydro. hope everthing works out bro.


PEACE!!!
-ZEN-

 

[Hash Lover]

I would cut the buds off to dry and just get it out of there. What happened and how bad did she get broke?

 

[Hash Lover]

I am trying to keep high 70's but was increasing them in an attempt to try to increase the humidity.

If you increase your heat most likely your humidity will go down.

 

[moni mane]

Thanks, helped hella lot

 

[fat geezy]

I have 3-4 week old northern light, which turn yellow, started with old leaves and going on the newer ones. when they were 2 weeks old I over nutried them with full strength solution of

B.C. Grow 1%-3%-6%
B.C. Boost 3%-0%-2%
thrive alive 1-1-1
Magic call 2-0-0
sugar daddy 0-0-0
next day leaves tips turned brown.
3 days ago I applied same solution but only half strength.
My leaves are turning yellow and tips turn brown. some leaves actually curling up. stems turn a little bit purple.
I don't understand if this time they had to much nutrients or not enough.View attachment 1346246View attachment 1346247
I would appreciate any advice

 

[Hash Lover]

What do you have for soil ? If it has nutes in it already you'll need to go easy on any you give them for the first month or so.

 

[fat geezy]

soil is coco, with out any additives wit 30-40% vermiculite

 

[Snow Crash]

Looks like early onset of Magnesium deficiency. Likely a result of your over feeding.

Your system appears to me to include far too much Potassium. This could be the element that is competing for uptake with Magnesium.

What I'd do is run a higher ratio of Nitrogen to Potassium and try to include a little more Magnesium. The MagiCal at 8ml per gallon should help. I'm not sure if you have to run the same amount of Grow and Boost, but if I were you I'd cut back on the "grow." I'm astounded at how little Nitrogen is in that product. Incorporating more Boost should help because it has more Nitrogen than Potassium.

So if you were using 10 of Grow and 10 of Boost then I suggest using 5ml of Grow and 15ml of Boost. Still 20ml of Macro nutrition, just in a different ratio of NPK.

Coco has some very particular properties that must be handled intelligently. It provides high levels of Potassium and builds a buffer of Calcium. This creates a less hospitable environment for Magnesium uptake than other medias. Over feeding Potassium and Calcium in coco will generally cause the problem you are seeing.

 

[Hash Lover]

That's interesting SC. I haven't tried Coco myself but did see something that it was particular to certain things.

 

[solosmoke]

yea babys dont eat alot just often ,i dont feed em nothing as long as i see there growing find, until budding ,every plant and grower is a little different ,

 

[Snow Crash]

That's interesting SC. I haven't tried Coco myself but did see something that it was particular to certain things.

Coco is definitely a monster unto itself. All systems and methods have their pros and cons. Coco peat has this exceptionally high CEC as a result of growing in salt water. This capacity to retain a great deal of ions and salts is a two way street with the media. On one hand it allows for some really beastly growth rates. Maybe not as great as aeroponics or a properly dialed (modified)DWC, but probably the most vigorous of all the various medias available. On the other hand it also relies on the grower having some insight into the needs and requirements of the media itself because over-feeding can cause a cumulative effect that will stunt flowering later on. During Veg it is difficult to recognize the over feeding as the coco is building a buffer of salts.

With coco there are some rules growers need to abide by. Never let the coco go dry as this will allow the salts to precipitate which is all bad news when you water again. Also, always feed with run off to ensure that any excess has a chance to wash out. If a great deal of run off is not possible to drain then be sure to incorporate regular pH balanced waterings at <200ppm to wash out the excess and allow the plants to consume the rest. Don't over water an immature root system as the coco can stay very moist beneath the top inch for quite some time.

Coco does work best as a top feed drain to waste system, and the more draining you can do the better the plants will grow over the long haul. The structure of coco is kinda spongey, or... like a kush ball (lol, I just remembered those things) and this allows the coco to hold on to quite a bit of dissolved oxygen. The high levels of oxygen in the media help the roots stay healthy and allow a grower to water as frequently as they see necessary. Most growers water every other day, with some watering and some watering every 3.

Most growers in coco that do have a problem get it after maybe 10 to 12 waterings, sometime around 40 to 50 days into life and generally coinciding with the beginning of flowering. It is a matter of getting the media to the proper EC and then dialing back the feedings when most people are thinking they need to push their plants harder. Many new growers also make the mistake of including high PK supplements early in flowering. This can greatly upset the balanced CEC and the ratio of elements available to the plant causing a series of problems that become difficult to diagnose. As I buzz around the sick plant forums I see the over feeding of Potassium through a blooming agent, and the over use of Cal-Mag throughout life, contribute to a great deal of issues for people. Deficiency in coco is generally a result of toxicity of a salt unless the plant is very young and has yet to be fed.

Coco needs somewhere around 700 to 900 ppm per feeding (always exceptions to this given genetic variation), EC around 1.4 to 1.7. This leaves a pretty big margin for error if the plant needs 700 and gets 900 on several consecutive feedings. Without the proper amount of run off, over time, this excess can build up reaching a critical tipping point that appears suddenly despite the cause being a slow accumulation.

If you'd like to learn more about the science of Coco I suggest this: http://www.cannagardening.com/node/1579/download

 

[fat geezy]

Snow Crash you know your stuff. if only i would be patient enough. I figured it was some kind of deficiency so i watered with the same solution, that what instruction indicated. by doing so I probably heart those plants even more.what do you suggest be my next step. i'm going to wait for you responce before doing anything else. thanks a lot.

 

[Snow Crash]

What I do in this situation is run through 2-3 gallons of water for every gallon of coco to rinse the media. It doesn't flush it outright, but it will reset your buffer and remove any toxicity. Directly following the rinse I then use a solution at about 500ppm that contains a balance of NPK, Ca, and Mg. I'd suggest a profile that was something like 3-2-2 with 1% Calcium and 0.5% Magnesium. This should reset the buffer and provide enough nutrition to the system to last until the coco is dry enough to feed again.

From that point forward just focus on keeping your Potassium levels a little lower and do whatever you can to get some extra Magnesium up in there. What is dead is dead, just try to keep the issue from progressing.

Another solution I've applied is simply watering with run off 3 or 4 times consecutively. This is a slower, but gentler, fix that will basically accomplish the same thing. It removes excess salt build up with the run off and allows the plant to naturally consume what is present in the media. There might be plenty of Mg in there, it just isn't available at the moment, so tossing in more nutrients is definitely not the answer at this time.

Don't worry though... Coco can be a tricky bitch with this stuff. You're not the first to suffer from the confusing issues.

 

[fat geezy]

Snow Crash, I really appreciate your advice; by watering with 3 or 4 times consecutively, how often should I water, daily? or wait till it dries up a bit?