Ducksfoot Fan Leaves- Orange and Brown Spots, Crumbling

Hey all- So I'm growing some Ducksfoot indoors, which I know is never a very successful move, but I'm just doing it for a seed run before summer's outdoor grow session rolls around. My plants are growing very quickly and appear quite happy, except that some of the mature fan leaves are getting orange and brown spots in their centers and crumbling a bit. There is no yellowing and new growth is not affected- pictures attached.

I'm wondering if this is a problem ducksfoot just tend to have growing inside or due to the weird leaf mutation? In the mean time, I'm troubleshooting this issue and would love feedback.


What I have already done:

I checked the ph of the water coming from my tap and it's at a surprising 8- so maybe I'm having nutrient lock? I checked the runoff from watering them, and it's at about a 6.5-7ish. Just to try and solve the problem, I adjusted the ph of the water down to about a 6.5-7ish (I'm using kind of an oldschool PH test system) and that seems to have **Slowed** the problem down. Unfortunately it hasn't stopped even though I've flushed the pots out.

I'm using good soil and the happy frog 5-5-5-organic top dressing with the bat guano and the micorrhizi and dolomite lime and all that great stuff as well as Fox Farm original soil mixed with a bit of the Happy Frog soil from when I re-potted it. Essentially, I definitely think lack of nutrients isn't the problem, but if anybody can shed some light on the situation that would be great.

I want to note that since I adjusted the PH of the water, some of the new growth has had yellowing on the tips, I'm guessing the plants are shocked from the change in PH? I'm starting to feel like I can't win this one so if anybody has ideas please let me know.

Thanks!

My guess is that it's nothing to worry about, and just residual effects from the PH being off the charts. The rest of the plant looks pretty good, as far as color goes, so i'd keep an eye on it, get the PH under control, and you should be okay.

jawbrodt said:

My guess is that it's nothing to worry about, and just residual effects from the PH being off the charts. The rest of the plant looks pretty good, as far as color goes, so i'd keep an eye on it, get the PH under control, and you should be okay.

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I'll echo that and also add that your soil mix is pretty 'hot' and based on the size of your plant and the color of the foliage, you probably don't need to nute it all, if the ph is good. Generally, municipal water (tap water) is almost always alkali throughout the US.

I'm personally not a fan of guano because there's still ammonia being released and absorbed by the plant, albeit low trace amounts.

Keep an eye on your leaf twisting.... Check the forum for zinc deficiency threads. Whatever it is, she's still in veg and looking ok so straighten it out quickly and you're good to go. Good luck.

Alright thanks guys. I'll check out the zinc deficiency thing and keep with the PH balance. I'm sure with everything that's in the soil all the proper nutrients will be released once the PH gets taken care of