LIGHT BURN or NUTE BURN? Photos with grow lights OFF and a confused old brain needs help!

Greetings fellow growers. Not hugely experienced, this is only my third grow and first time I have seen this issue. Based on looking at a couple dozen web sites and at least a couple hundred photos of various ailments, this looks to me like either light burn or nutrient burn. I am hoping for some smarter eyes to see these pics. It is worth noting that the first spots did appear 24 hours after a feeding but it is the same feeding it received 5 days prior (ph 6.0). Several weeks ago I added additional lighting to bring some extra heat to the tent but none of the spotting is on the newest leaves. It sounds crazy but close up the leaves almost look like they were sprayed with something that just bleached all the color out of the them. There's really no discoloration to any of the leaf tips. The discoloration is greatest in the oldest leaves. The plant is a 4 week old OG Kush. Thanks you in advance for any brain cells you could fire to help me return this plant to good health.

It's not the lights. Something is up with the nutes.

hmm I'm assuming you're not also foliar feeding? If not, the spots on the lower leaves there look like calcium deficiency.

Thanks for the time. OK, not lights. So nutes. I'm not foliar feeding HolyAngel but I have to say I was misting the top of the coco when it got dry with a container that had the Week#1 nutrient mix for another plant underway. That mix was .25 tea,floramicro .125 tea floragrow, and 1.0 teaspoon calimagic in a gallon of water ph adjusted to 6.0. Is it possible that spray caused the damage? I thought a calcium deficiency would hit hard on the top growth to start, but I'm seeing that's not always so. I wonder if I should just do a flush in the morning, clean her out, and give her a refill with 50% nuts for recovery time? Or...

Maineschroomer said:

Thanks for the time. OK, not lights. So nutes. I'm not foliar feeding HolyAngel but I have to say I was misting the top of the coco when it got dry with a container that had the Week#1 nutrient mix for another plant underway. That mix was .25 tea,floramicro .125 tea floragrow, and 1.0 teaspoon calimagic in a gallon of water ph adjusted to 6.0. Is it possible that spray caused the damage? I thought a calcium deficiency would hit hard on the top growth to start, but I'm seeing that's not always so. I wonder if I should just do a flush in the morning, clean her out, and give her a refill with 50% nuts for recovery time? Or...

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yeah usually you'd see the calcium deficiency at the middle and/or top of the plant, not the bottom. I had asked on the foliar spray though as yeah, water droplets left on the leaves when the lights are on can cause burning like that on the leaves since the water droplet acts like a magnifying glass for the light.

And you may be more right than you know HolyAngel. I found that in my desire for a warm tent here in the great north, I have 1860w of LED lighting and 150 watt of HPS in a 4x4x8 tent. They lights except for the 30 watt leds (x2) are at 48". But they were at 30 inches before I noticed the spotting.

Maineschroomer said:

And you may be more right than you know HolyAngel. I found that in my desire for a warm tent here in the great north, I have 1860w of LED lighting and 150 watt of HPS in a 4x4x8 tent. They lights except for the 30 watt leds (x2) are at 48". But they were at 30 inches before I noticed the spotting.

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There's no way you have that many watts in a 4x4 ... That's about 16.5 amps @ 120 volts.. you couldn't even run that on a 15 amp breaker.

How many real watts?

OK, that makes a big difference Corso312. Thanks. I just spent an hour getting better educated on lighting wattage calculations (maybe should have done that sooner). And you are correct. The real wattage of my lights is right around 600 watts.

Just to close this one out. It is now one week later and my OGK has recovered completely from what was foliar spray to increase humidity instead got on the lower leaves and burned the plant. The plant has actually recovered to the point that some of the damage that I thought would be permanent has "healed" and only minimal scarring remains. Thanks to HolyAngel for the fast diagnosis, and to Corso312 for telling me to do my homework. My lighting setup has improved because of it.

If you wanna know if your over feeding your plants check your runoff ppms.

If your feeding at say 500 and runoff comes out at "650+" 150ppms+ what you put in then flush. Easy way to not over fertilize your plants.

Also don't mist the top of your coco. Just water it if it looks dry till you get runoff.

Nute burn?

Johnhorror said:

Nute burn?

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I’m wondering the same thing...

I see a simple def. 1/2 Tsp epsoms salt to 1gallon of water. Foliar mist till wet on day one and three. Make fresh and repeat day 5 and 7 if needed. Doubtful though. Also use non-chlorinated water. Ph should be fine. Original OP I would also suggest a spritz of H2O2 diluted to 10% for what appears to be possible early PM. Just watch for powder to show up to be sure.

Look familiar? I'm not convinced it's not lights, are you using QBs?

Hash Hound said:

Look familiar? I'm not convinced it's not lights, are you using QBs?View attachment 4562709

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Leaves tend to roll upwards If not turn over when the lights are too much.

MICHI-CAN said:

I see a simple def. 1/2 Tsp epsoms salt to 1gallon of water. Foliar mist till wet on day one and three. Make fresh and repeat day 5 and 7 if needed. Doubtful though. Also use non-chlorinated water. Ph should be fine. Original OP I would also suggest a spritz of H2O2 diluted to 10% for what appears to be possible early PM. Just watch for powder to show up to be sure.

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Thanks for your input however I don't believe it to be a deficiency or powdery mildew, I been growing This strand for over 3 years now the only thing that I have change is that I've went from high pressure sodium to led on the last 3 grows, I also don't believe it to be light burn because my lights are over 36" away from my plants But I could be wrong about light burn this has happened within the last 2 days I watered them 2 days ago So it kind of makes sense that its nutrient burn I just wanted to double check just in case sorry for my Spelling I'm using talk
text and thanks again

Johnhorror said:

Thanks for your input however I don't believe it to be a deficiency or powdery mildew, I been growing This strand for over 3 years now the only thing that I have change is that I've went from high pressure sodium to led on the last 3 grows, I also don't believe it to be light burn because my lights are over 36" away from my plants But I could be wrong about light burn this has happened within the last 2 days I watered them 2 days ago So it kind of makes sense that its nutrient burn I just wanted to double check just in case sorry for my Spelling I'm using talk
text and thanks again

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I'm sharing my experiences in hopes to help. I abuse my plants and haven't lost one in a long time to anything but the cat or dog. I will dispute the "too much light" POV. Yet welcome any talks all can learn from. No judgement or hostility here.

MICHI-CAN said:

I'm sharing my experiences in hopes to help. I abuse my plants and haven't lost one in a long time to anything but the cat or dog. I will dispute the "too much light" POV. Yet welcome any talks all can learn from. No judgement or hostility here.

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And I appreciate that as far as the too much light thing goes my new LED lights are pretty powerful and they can definitely kill a plant lol It drains the magnesium But I use a bag Magnesium supplement for that. Also I have had my battles with Powdery mildew But I definitely over came that And I haven't had a plant die on me since I can remember I been growing since about 1996 But I definitely appreciate any thoughts for sure!

81 or 2 here. My crees will top a plant in around 2 days. But the leaves always roll into tacos and flip over before a complete yellowing. I use the epsoms salt foliar with good results when finding height for new plant. Spots are def not burn. That's in the tips.

Ok I think we are both right lol I was just looking at my girls and noticed water on them I believe it is caused by an overfeeding possibility that they are releasing the extra food through there leafs and the lights could be evaporating the excess at a high rate abusing the leafs to burn? I'm thinking of adding another fan to help out any extra humidity caused by this , its currently at 40 however I'm guessing that when the plants release excess food it may raise to 60? What are your thoughts?