Help please, brown spots, crispy leaves

need help please.

Getting brown spots, leaves drying and crispy, then dying.



growing in

Clover Multi purpose compost (i do have some babies in reused biobizz all-mix and these aren't affected)

feeding
1ml fishmix

1ml agamic

1ml cal-mag even though i am in hard water area

temps between 20-28.C

growing under 4 x 15w Leds (small babies) and 4 x 55w PL-L CFL bulbs



going by the usual leaf symptoms pics, i thought it was a calcium or magnesium problem, in my other grows i never had these problems.

this problem is not affecting every plant

i have about 20 babies (early veg, about 4" to 6" tall) and about 1/2 of them are affected.



In my older babies (late veg about 6" to 12" tall) its about the same ratio of 50% affected



being that it only happens to the babies in Clover MPC (and not all-mix) what do you guys think is the problem?

If you're growing in straight compost, your roots can't breathe. Compost should only make up 1/4 - 1/3 of your mix, at most. You need aeration and drainage, as well as some looser material like peat or leaf mold.

Other than that, looks like you have bugs (white specks), mild calcium deficiency (rusty spots), magnesium deficiency (yellowing), and possibly some humidity or overwatering stress (puffy swollen/crinkly leaves).

Hawg Wild said:

If you're growing in straight compost, your roots can't breathe. Compost should only make up 1/4 - 1/3 of your mix, at most. You need aeration and drainage, as well as some looser material like peat or leaf mold.

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thx for the answer

Sounds obvious now lol
Afaik Clover mpc is mainly peat.

I have some used all-mix here, might just mix it 50/50 with the clover mpc
I even have a bag of coco, would adding about 10% coco also help?

subudai said:

thx for the answer

Sounds obvious now lol
Afaik Clover mpc is mainly peat.

I have some used all-mix here, might just mix it 50/50 with the clover mpc
I even have a bag of coco, would adding about 10% coco also help?

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Probably wouldn't hurt but I would add some aeration at at least 25%. Perlite is probably cheapest and easiest. Not familiar with Clover, so you may be right on the make-up of it.

Hawg Wild said:

Other than that, looks like you have bugs (white specks), mild calcium deficiency (rusty spots), magnesium deficiency (yellowing), and possibly some humidity or overwatering stress (puffy swollen/crinkly leaves).

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i got my lupe out to check, checked loads of leaves and cant see any bugs.
i did do a floiar spray and it may be just dry residue causing the spots.
Humidty does get high sometimes, i will need to sort that out
watering, i go by the feel of the pot and the affected ones dont get watered that much (your first reply diagnosed this)


thx again

Pests...your 3rd, 4th and last pic show them clearly; no loop needed.
They look short on P and Mg as well...
Good luck friend.

thx mate, any idea what pests they are?

CannaCountry said:

Pests...your 3rd, 4th and last pic show them clearly; no loop needed.
They look short on P and Mg as well...
Good luck friend.

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Which symptom is attributed to which deficiency?

CannaCountry said:

Pests...your 3rd, 4th and last pic show them clearly; no loop needed.
They look short on P and Mg as well...
Good luck friend.

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Gonna add to that and say it's the peat breaking down. I literally within the last week have been fighting the identical issue. The problem is acidity. The soil I had to grab(thanks covid-19) was mainly Peat and wouldn't ya know, 6 weeks of watering, my PH went from a solid 6.5-7.0 to low 5's and locked them out. ALL plants that were repotted with a base and top layer of new soil(same stuff), and pruned, are rebounding. They were also slightly rootbound and any salts that happened to occur were being strained through the roots.

Trust me. Same exact thing minus the bug dots. I was rootbound and my peat broke down and became acidic. Never used peat before. I like it other than this.

Clover is a lighter compost than All-Mix so would have needed feeding sooner. Clear Phosphorus deficiency going on too IMO as already mentioned above.
There has been a dodgy batch of Clover circulating in recent times but I think they've got it sorted now, which could explain the possibility of bugs. It's a shame because Clover is generally a really nice mix.
My peat-based mixes get some lime added to the final pot to keep the PH sweet.

Fun Bunny said:

Clover is a lighter compost than All-Mix so would have needed feeding sooner. Clear Phosphorus deficiency going on too IMO as already mentioned above.
There has been a dodgy batch of Clover circulating in recent times but I think they've got it sorted now, which could explain the possibility of bugs. It's a shame because Clover is generally a really nice mix.

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how can you tell there is a phosphorus deficiency

Dirk8==D~Diggler said:

how can you tell there is a phosphorus deficiency

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The brown water damage looking stuff on the leaves. Like I have in the pic i posted of the leaf i pruned.

Dirk8==D~Diggler said:

how can you tell there is a phosphorus deficiency

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Quite dark patches with sudden edges at random places on the leaves.

Fun Bunny said:

My peat-based mixes get some lime added to the final pot to keep the PH sweet.

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That's what I've learned this past week! I'm going super soil soon here anyhow. But from what I've learned, this gardener's Peat based soil is getting some lime mixed into the final pot.

Also worth noting that nobody asked or suggested testing runoff ph and ppm etc. I'm telling you, your peat broke down and you're likely running acidic causing a P and K lockout.

KingQuazy said:

Also worth noting that nobody asked or suggested testing runoff ph

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Testing run-off in compost won't help. This is a coco grower's approach. In compost the microbes are correcting the PH for you prior to delivering the nutrition to the plant's roots, so anything you're running through the soil won't have had the chance to have been affected by the soil life, if that makes sense.
The mix I'm currently using is comprised of 60% peat, 40% coco and contains enough lime, calcium and magnesium for a full cycle. It's called Tropic Mix but that's in the UK. Not sure where you are.

Fun Bunny said:

Testing run-off in compost won't help. This is a coco grower's approach. In compost the microbes are correcting the PH for you prior to delivering the nutrition to the plant's roots, so anything you're running through the soil won't have had the chance to have been affected by the soil life, if that makes sense.
The mix I'm currently using is comprised of 60% peat, 40% coco and contains enough lime, calcium and magnesium for a full cycle. It's called Tropic Mix but that's in the UK. Not sure where you are.

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I think you're confusing Living soil with compost, somehow?

KingQuazy said:

I think you're confusing Living soil with compost, somehow?

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Compost is a fundamental component of living soil. It's what brings the bacteria to the mix in the first place. The difference is that living soil is comprised of a far greater array of ingredients which can feed your microherd for much longer whereas simple compost will run out of steam sooner and needs to be supplemented, although even living soils need top-ups and added amendments at some point during the cycle. It could be as little as some microbe teas but they generally need something to keep the soil life thriving.