Dying plant - possibly hopeless situation, need advice ;_;

[Razztafarai]

Hi guys,

I'm halfway through my first grow, I've made loads of mistakes along the way that are beginning to manifest themselves i na variety of problems that I've having now.

My set up is
6x 105w CFL (3x2700k & 3x6500k)
Bio Bizz All Mix 70%, 15% Vermiculite, 15% Perlite
Nutes - Bio Bizz Grow, Flora Micro, Flora Bloom, Epsom Salts, Superthrive
Watering with britta filtered water at 6.5 pH
Temps range from 75-88F
Light cycle is 20/4
Humidity is high, I place 2 wet towels in the grow tent

Oh and I'm at week 8 of veg,

Plants are watered once every 3-4 days and fed once a week at roughly 1/4 strength, basically I give them about 0.5-1ml of each nute in about 1.5L of water

This is my sickest looking plant, I have 2 like this and the rest are fine to ok



I transplanted her a couple of days before taking these pictures as I worried about root rot, but her roots were fine not over-watered in the slightest as I had feared. The pH run off for all my plants have always been about 6.5-6.8, so not nute build up in the soils, the lights are keep just about the plants, there is more than sufficient airflow. I am truly at a loss and throw myself to your mercy!

Oh, one more thing, I use baking soda as pH up if use too much pH down.

 

[Mother's Finest]

Be sure to wait until the top half of the soil is bone dry before watering. Keep in mind that most healthy plants can survive for weeks with no water at all. Watering cycles should go from just damp enough that a handful of soil drips a few drops when squeezed, to completely dry about half of the way down the pot. Cut out the Superthrive until the problem is fixed. That stuff helps healthy plants grow better but can only hurt sick plants. Try to get your temps down a few degrees. That yellow, almost white leaf in the last pic is probably from Nitrogen deficiency and some of the brown spots are probably from Phosphorus def. The all-over drooping is not from a deficiency, however, and is the most important issue to fix.

 

[Razztafarai]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I think the drooping be attributed to the way in which I water my plants. To be honest I'm still very much uncertain how I should water them. I usually hold them above the bathroom sink and water (with feed) about twice the pot size, hold them there until the water stops flowing out the bottom and return them to the tent. The soil is mroe than usually bone dry when I do this. Am I going abuot this wrong? Should I be giving them less water?

Many thanks,
Razz

 

[Razztafarai]

Spock merely finds the problem "Intriguing", Worf reckons my plants are "without honour"

 

[DrFever]

i would suggest switching to 18 / 6 light cycle and try that plants look little heat stressed as for watering not sure if your flooding them but try 1 - 2 cups of water every 4 - 6 days i like to dry my pots out before i feed which depending on lights takes me 4 days

 

[Razztafarai]

Hi Dr Fever,

I guess I am flooding them, I read an thread during my research about a technique called "making it rain", but I don't think I'm doing it right. I guess I am just flooding them.
The plant in the pictures is in a 4L (0.9 gallons) pot, last time I watered it I gave it about 6L of water (with just epsom salts and superthrive as I had just transplanted it), most of it drained out the bottom of course but the soil was drenched afterwards.

I water all my plants like this.

You're advice is much appreciated,
Razz

 

[Razztafarai]

I have a completely new problem now!!! Argh, being a newbie is so stressful.

The dark period just finished so I went to check on my plants, on the advice of Mother's Finest I increased the dark period to 6 hours. The one I was worried about in the original post is no longer wilting as much and seems to be on the road to recovery. However, my healthier plants are presenting some kind of deficiency The stems in the fan leaves have become dark green and the leaves are now bright green the tips are showing signs of necrosis and the sides of the leaves are curling upwards! I was worried about nute burn earlier this week so I flushed them yesterday in just plain water, no nutes given at all. Have I washed all the food out of the soil? So now my plants are drawing food from the leaves? Please see pics below.

I just want to cry ;___;

 

[luciferateme]

looks like a cal mag def, but as mother said you really want to get the watering situation sorted out. i have never watered enough water for two pot sizes. i know some do but they have a much higher perlite amount. also you have added vermiculite which holds moisture in the soil(i hate that stuff except for seedlings), the damp soil is probably stopping nutrient uptake and thats why you are seeing probs. get them pots dried out b4 you water again and dont water so much. if i were you i would water a max of 2 litres.
dont get annoyed its all learning, even when you are through all this you will find a routine that works for you and just because its different to someone elses doesnt mean its wrong. you can either squeeze soil as mother says or you can judge from the pots weight whether it needs watering.
also the only nutes i would be giving them is the micro and the bio grow. feed the grow at 2 ml per litre, dont worry if the water goes browny, i know it can un nerve new growers. on your next grow start the grow at 1ml/litre and work upto 3ml/litre gradually, i never use more than that but i do feed twice a week. so against there feedings regs i over feed 1ml per week.
one thing you can count on is thers always someone on here to help if you ever get stuck, but it wont be long b4 you are helping others.
good luck with rest of grow and sorry for going on a bit, weed night!
later
lu

 

[Mother's Finest]

First off, credit for suggesting 6hrs of dark goes to DrFever.

Your new pics are all nutrient deficient. When a growing plant doesn't absorb as much food as it is using, it begins to feed on itself. The lower, older, large fan leaves are usually the first ones the plant feeds on, like in your pics. The leaves that turn yellow all over are displaying a symptom of Nitrogen deficiency. The brown, crispy leaf tips are showing Phosphorus deficiency.

Try testing the soil pH if you haven't yet. The plants don't especially look like they have pH problems but it being slightly off could easily make your other problems worse. A probe-type pH meter ($15+) or a capsule-type pH test kit (~$6) can test the soil pH. Alternatively, liquid can be squeezed from the damp soil after watering & giving the water at least a few hours to equalize with the soil pH, and then that liquid can be tested for an approximate soil pH reading.

 

[Razztafarai]

My bad! Apologies Mother's Finest. I have a pH meter, my run off is between 6.5 and 6.8. So hopefully I don't think it's the pH. Thanks though! Yeah, the plant appears to be eating itself! Crumbs ;(


@luciferateme Awesome! I'm going to the hydro shop tomorrow, will some Dolomite Lime help? If so what sort of concentration should I be looking for? I've just flushed them yesterday so the soil is still quite damp, in their current state will they last another 4 days without feeding?

Cheers again,
Raxz

 

[chrisopher]

I'm probably way out heare but it's just possible that those blotches are caused by some sort of bug(s). I had a thrip problem that I originally thought was caused by ph or nutrients - all my fan leaves were dying. Don't stress - it'll get much easier once you sort it out . If you're using bio bizz grow why don't you follow their chart and give some nutrients every time you water instead of once a week?

 

[Mother's Finest]

Just try to let the water soak in some before testing runoff. Even after the main runoff stops, more can be squeezed out by pressing on the soil or grabbing half of a handful and squeezing it after the water's had time to soak in. The sooner you test runoff after watering, the more you are testing the pH of the water instead of the soil.

While Dolomite Lime does add certain nutrients, it will also raise your soil pH.

 

[Razztafarai]

I'm probably way out heare but it's just possible that those blotches are caused by some sort of bug(s). I had a thrip problem that I originally thought was caused by ph or nutrients - all my fan leaves were dying. Don't stress - it'll get much easier once you sort it out . If you're using bio bizz grow why don't you follow their chart and give some nutrients every time you water instead of once a week?

I don't think it's thrips mate, but cheers for the suggestion

But a big THANK YOU for the chart info!!!! I had no idea! I've just printed it off and stuck it up on the wall, I was at a loss to how much nutes I should be adding and when as it varies between brands. CHEERS!!! \o/

 

[Razztafarai]

Just try to let the water soak in some before testing runoff. Even after the main runoff stops, more can be squeezed out by pressing on the soil or grabbing half of a handful and squeezing it after the water's had time to soak in. The sooner you test runoff after watering, the more you are testing the pH of the water instead of the soil.

While Dolomite Lime does add certain nutrients, it will also raise your soil pH.

OMG! You are like some kind of weed sage! That's awesome advice, I've probably been testing the just the water as it runs through my soil and not the actual run-off. I never thought to leave it for a bit to settle and /then/ test it! I've gone through all my plants It's still around 6.5 - 6.8 though but it's something I'll know to do properly for the future.

Yeah, I'm going to use dolomite lime to pH my water instead of Baking Soda (which I assume is worse to use), been told to pick up some Cal/Mag nutes as well. Good idea?

 

[TinyGrow]

Hey dude I am a first time grower, but have had your problem before in smaller plants. This is not a dying plant, just stop watering it until the soil is 90% dry and crusty and the container the plant is in becomes lite weight. Plant leaves droop when over watered. Also you dont want to over water your plants when adding the nutes your adding. You have quite a combination there, I dont know how those work together I only use 1 solution for my entire nute process. What I can say is that the lower leaves on your plant that are turning brownish yellow and curling up a little bits is nute burn.

Your problem, in my opinion, is that you are over watering your plants and since your over watering them its giving them too many nutes in too short of a period. Like I said just let the soil dry out, you wont hurt the plants - they thrive when the soil is dry. Those leaves will never come back to life and look regular, dont cut them off though just leave them or else youll stress the plant even more.

I hope this helps!

 

[twenty2]

cal/mg or pH. Brita filter is taking everything out of your water, including limescale and other minerals. so you might have a pH lockout, at certain pH levels mj cant absorb different nutes. so i suggest using a cal/mg supplement or using bottled spring water... that has worked well for me. another thing im learning is dont grow a bunch of different strains at the same time... learning 1 strain is hard enough 7 at a go is challenging.

 

[Kingrow1]

Read most of the posts on this thread and i think there is no way those pots dry in four days especially the big ones, not with the amount of water you are giving them at each watering, i got smaller pots that don't dry that quick, unless you got them in real dry hot conditions. Anyway thats my two cents worth, sure you will turn them around but i would scrap them if it were me and believe me it would be the last thing i would do but to start again now would mean i would yield more and learn more from new growing approach and working out all my mistakes on this grow. Just my opinion as these plants are very saveable. You seem to flush a lot for that amount of soil to.

 

[twenty2]

hey just wondering... i think i'm having problems from under-watering. the plants are in very hot conditions about 85-90 degrees most of the light cycle and the small pots (1gal) dry out quick in the light soil in the heat. dont mean to thread jack but im wondering if this is from over feeding or heat?

 

[OriginalBongster]

hey man everyone here is right the very first pics you posted are overwatering. The way to water your plants is to poke your pinky down into the soil up to your knuckle(where your pinky bends in half) and if the soil feels dry. then, and only then ,its time to water the plants. And as for how much water, add approximately 1 cup amounts, one right after the other until you see water coming out of the holes on the bottom of the pots. right when you see water coming out, stop watering. also dont forget to lightly mist the plants about every 2 or 3 days and alternate between using plain water and nutrient water. Hope this helps

 

[Kingrow1]

To the guy who said he had hot conditions recently and maybe underwatering, i don't know if you are or not but a way to help retain moisture in the soil is to cover the pots completly with somthing, loosley like with some stiff dark shiny card material pleaced over the top of the pot. This will keep the moisture in the top part and rest of the soil for longer as it will be shaded and cooler and humidity will be moister in that region between the soil and card/cover (which shouldn't be airtight) and hence less moisture loss. Not much help for hot climates but it will help stop the soil drying so quick. Another way might be those crappy water retaining granuales or what not but i like my idea better naturally.