Nutrient burn or nutrient deficiency? You be the judge. Help please? :)

[silusbotwin]

So I left my 5 seedlings (link to journal in my sig) alone for about 48 hours while leaving town to visit some family I haven't seen in ages. I came back home and before I could even unpack my bags, I went RIGHT to my veg box to check the ladies and they were looking pretty sickly. Of course I didn't worry at all, since I know marijuana to be an extremely resilient plant. They were sagging and looking horrible probably from lack of water. The leaves were sagging. As a matter of fact 4 of them were so bad that the entire plant was limp and saggy. Of course, marijuana being the TOUGH plants they are, they perked right up and pointed straight up again about an hour after watering them. The Jack Herer was the only one that looked perfectly and uniformly green and perky which leads me to believe that Jack is an extremely resilient strain.

Now here is the problem. The bottom leaves of the babies are looking pretty shabby. I'm not certain if the problem is too many or too little nutes. TRhe other day I ph'ed my run off and it read something REALLY low like 4.5 - 5.5 so of course I did what any soil grower would do and I flushed them nicely. Now the bottom leaves on 4 of them are looking crappy and on of them, even some of the top leaves are beginning to look a tad shabby as well. ANY and ALL criticism is greatly accepted and appreciated. Here are some photos of the damage. Thanks in advance ladies and gentlemen! Namaste!

 

[PetFlora]

Probably burn since you have them in such tiny pots.

 

[Wetdog]

First, if your run off is that low, I would snag some dolomite lime ($5-40lb bag at Lowes), and add it to the mix you're going to use when you transplant.

I would also agree with the nute burn and perhaps over watering.

Upcanning would help, but get the lime and add it to your mix BEFORE you transplant.

Wet

 

[max316420]

dolomite lime can be your best friend

 

[max316420]

what food are you feeding them and how much?

 

[PeyoteReligion]

Dolomite is why i use sunshine #4. It's already mixed in.

 

[max316420]

dolomite lime can be your best friend

And I now firmly believe this due to a wise grower named WETDOGGGGGG. I still can't thank you enough.. Take his advice cause I did and now the strain I was having terrible issues with is one of my top performers..

 

[asdewqasdfgh]

1234567890

 

[Wetdog]

Dolomite is why i use sunshine #4. It's already mixed in.

True, but just like FFOF with their oyster shell flour, they just don't add enough to get you through a entire grow.

That low run off pH listed by the OP is a good example. For what little good run off readings do.

But, I do agree, SSM#4 is one of the best mixes to use.

Wet

 

[chasmtz]

dont quote me on this but i was told by a family meber that "typically" nute burn happens up top and a lack of nutes shows up on the bottom. New to indoor growing but this basic principle has helped me on many successful outdoor grows.

 

[silusbotwin]

Probably burn since you have them in such tiny pots.

Yeah, I plan on doing some transplanting sometime in the next couple days

I gave them a very light (1/4 strength) feeding of FF Grow Big and Big Bloom once about ten days ago. I know FFOF is hot to begin with and I really can't provide an excuse as to why I made such a bone-headed move. I've been growing outdoors for years and I've been lurking forums very frequently for almost a decade so I should know better.

I'm pretty certain there is some burn but the colors in between the veins are making me think there is now a build up resulting in lockout. Since I flushed 3 days ago I'm going to test the run off ph when carrying out this evening's watering. I'll update with stats and better photos when my flowering tent kicks on a couple hours from now.

In your experiences with Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Fox Farms GB, BB, and TB when is it a good time to stop relying on the soil to provide food?

 

[max316420]

they are hungry, i have been using grow big for almost 10 years and you wanna give them at least 1 ts per gallon every watering. Its a quick release nitrogen and doesn't stay in soil long

 

[knourgro]

ya definatly watch your PH, those black/ dark brown spots and rapid leaf death are all symptoms of an outa whack ph. just use that dolomite lime like max said and start watering with water thats been adjusted to PH 6.2 (my opinion)

 

[silusbotwin]

Wouldn't it be just as good to adjust water ph with PH up/down as using the dolo-lime? If not, I'll make sure to pick up some dolomite lime on my next trip to the shop. Wish I would have seen this before, since I just got back from the hydro shop. Picked up some 3 gallon smart pots to transplant into tonight which should help big time. I'll update this thread with some run off ph readings before transplanting.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'd like to respond to each of your posts individually but there are quite a few and I have work to do right now.

 

[silusbotwin]

Somebody mentioned over watering earlier. It can't be over watering, I know that to be fact. I've made that mistake in the past, and these days I make sure my soil is thoroughly dry before watering.

 

[max316420]

1 teaspoon of grow big equals out to around 200 ppm which is kinda low for the size of them. I feed with every watering and thats why I only use 1 ts.. I was fucking around once and wanted to see how much grow big one of my ladies could take so I hit her with 10 teaspoons per gallon ( which I DON'T recommend) and it still didn't burn her

 

[max316420]

Somebody mentioned over watering earlier. It can't be over watering, I know that to be fact. I've made that mistake in the past, and these days I make sure my soil is thoroughly dry before watering.

Thats def not overwatering

 

[*BUDS]

Not much to worry about here. The first leaves are dying off no big deal ,when it starts to veg soon you wont even notice the bottom leaves. The sag is from the fushing as you have taken most of the air from the soil, be right in couple days. I doubt the ph was ever 4.5, looks spot on to me.

 

[laserbrn]

They need nitrogen, but I wouldn't add nutrients at this point to get where you want to go. It's transplanting time. If you put them in some FFOF with dolomite lime as suggested and maybe a little perlite they will be happy as a pig in shit.

 

[max316420]

Wouldn't it be just as good to adjust water ph with PH up/down as using the dolo-lime? If not, I'll make sure to pick up some dolomite lime on my next trip to the shop. Wish I would have seen this before, since I just got back from the hydro shop. Picked up some 3 gallon smart pots to transplant into tonight which should help big time. I'll update this thread with some run off ph readings before transplanting.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'd like to respond to each of your posts individually but there are quite a few and I have work to do right now.

After you get the hang of adding lime to your soil, you'll never have to worry about ph'in your water again.. it will be a thing of the past