My plants are looking pale, it's a mystery

jcrunchy · Sep 25, 2020

I've been researching for about 10 days now. Not having any luck, so I am finally reaching out. I was initially having issues with brown speckled leaves at about week 3 of my autoflower grow. Now I am into Week 4-5 and it has progressed to plants becoming pale, lower leaves yellowing and falling. I thought perhaps calcium deficiency even though I am using tap water and Dynagro Foliage-Pro which has calcium, magnesium in it. (I have read many journals on this product and people have had great results, as well as the popular podcast going around of the Dynagro CEO talking about the science of the product, and warning about the bloom booster hype) Then the yellowing leaves makes me think nitrogen deficiency. Here's what I have going on:

-Mars Hydro TS3000 LED
-Properly vented
-5 gallon pots
-Pro-Mix HP Mycorrhizae
-Dynagro Foliage-Pro (up'd feed from 1.5ml per Gal, to 2, to 3 as problems worsened)
-5.9 - 6.2 PH for feeding solution
-Tap water is high ppm, 500ppm. Cutting it with distilled water but solution still goes in around 1200ppm. Too high?
-Runoff water is brown, 1900ppm, 5.5 PH
-Have supplemented product called Fish Sh!t here and there.
-Temps range from 70 - 85 F
-Humidity 50 - 60%
-2 smaller plants are Blackberry (4 weeks from germination) and 2 larger are Royal Cheese (5 weeks from germ)

So the only thing I can think of is water ppm's and perhaps a good flush, because maybe I have nute lock out and displaying multiple deficiencies? Can I immediately follow up a flush with feeding?

I know I have read that my ppm's are probably too high but haven't had these issues to this extent before with my tap water, and I wasn't cutting with distilled water before either.

Any tips are much appreciated... my brain is toast trying to solve this problem before it's too late.

Bernie420 · Sep 25, 2020

jcrunchy said:
I've been researching for about 10 days now. Not having any luck, so I am finally reaching out. I was initially having issues with brown speckled leaves at about week 3 of my autoflower grow. Now I am into Week 4-5 and it has progressed to plants becoming pale, lower leaves yellowing and falling. I thought perhaps calcium deficiency even though I am using tap water and Dynagro Foliage-Pro which has calcium, magnesium in it. (I have read many journals on this product and people have had great results, as well as the popular podcast going around of the Dynagro CEO talking about the science of the product, and warning about the bloom booster hype) Then the yellowing leaves makes me think nitrogen deficiency. Here's what I have going on:

-Mars Hydro TS3000 LED
-Properly vented
-5 gallon pots
-Pro-Mix HP Mycorrhizae
-Dynagro Foliage-Pro (up'd feed from 1.5ml per Gal, to 2, to 3 as problems worsened)
-5.9 - 6.2 PH for feeding solution
-Tap water is high ppm, 500ppm. Cutting it with distilled water but solution still goes in around 1200ppm. Too high?
-Runoff water is brown, 1900ppm, 5.5 PH
-Have supplemented product called Fish Sh!t here and there.
-Temps range from 70 - 85 F
-Humidity 50 - 60%
-2 smaller plants are Blackberry (4 weeks from germination) and 2 larger are Royal Cheese (5 weeks from germ)

So the only thing I can think of is water ppm's and perhaps a good flush, because maybe I have nute lock out and displaying multiple deficiencies? Can I immediately follow up a flush with feeding?

I know I have read that my ppm's are probably too high but haven't had these issues to this extent before with my tap water, and I wasn't cutting with distilled water before either.

Any tips are much appreciated... my brain is toast trying to solve this problem before it's too late.

1200 is too hot for an auto

suggest the flush and renute at 700 ppms use distilled then if the tap is that hot. Tap water ppms count towards the total.

could use a dose of mag/epsom salt to get things going again.

you can flush with the tap just use the distilled to feed with. ph to 6.5
get some microbes up in there as well

jcrunchy · Sep 30, 2020

Bernie420 said:
1200 is too hot for an auto

suggest the flush and renute at 700 ppms use distilled then if the tap is that hot. Tap water ppms count towards the total.

could use a dose of mag/epsom salt to get things going again.

you can flush with the tap just use the distilled to feed with. ph to 6.5
get some microbes up in there as well

Thanks for the input. I have gave it a try, as of yesterday when it was time to water. not sure how long before I might see a slowing or improvement of my issues. May I ask why you recommend 6.5 ph? I've always been under the impression soilless substrates like peat and coco tended to do better with ph'd feedings closer to hydro setups, 5.8 - 6.2 but I am no expert by any means.

Bernie420 · Sep 30, 2020

jcrunchy said:
Thanks for the input. I have gave it a try, as of yesterday when it was time to water. not sure how long before I might see a slowing or improvement of my issues. May I ask why you recommend 6.5 ph? I've always been under the impression soilless substrates like peat and coco tended to do better with ph'd feedings closer to hydro setups, 5.8 - 6.2 but I am no expert by any means.

thought you were in soil but you are correct

polishpollack · Sep 30, 2020

come back over time and discuss what changes you see. this will be interesting.

70's natureboy · Oct 1, 2020

Yup it's a mystery. Your runoff seems a little high but your plants don't look burnt, they actually look hungry. I can see that with 1.5 ml/gal. I usually run FP at 3 ml/gal. Do you suppose it is over-watering?

osowhom · Oct 1, 2020

are you spraying them under the light?

Dopesmoka · Oct 1, 2020

70's natureboy said:
Yup it's a mystery. Your runoff seems a little high but your plants don't look burnt, they actually look hungry. I can see that with 1.5 ml/gal. I usually run FP at 3 ml/gal. Do you suppose it is over-watering?

could be a lack of pk boosters I got the same problem

polishpollack · Oct 1, 2020

never use pk boosters, it's sold to the public to get your money. it will kill your plants.

jcrunchy · Oct 1, 2020

osowhom said:
are you spraying them under the light?

No, though it does look like that. I've foliar fed a couple times, after noticing the problem to see if I could correct it, but I did that at the beginning of the dark cycle.

Renfro · Oct 1, 2020

jcrunchy said:
Runoff water is brown, 1900ppm, 5.5 PH

This indicates a really low pH in the root zone.

Renfro · Oct 1, 2020

jcrunchy said:
5.9 - 6.2 PH for feeding solution

Generally Promix and other peat based mixes should be kept around 6.5 - 6.8. It's been my experience that the pH of the medium can crash and needs to be fed a little high to correct that.

jcrunchy · Oct 1, 2020

70's natureboy said:
Yup it's a mystery. Your runoff seems a little high but your plants don't look burnt, they actually look hungry. I can see that with 1.5 ml/gal. I usually run FP at 3 ml/gal. Do you suppose it is over-watering?

Yeah I don't see any burning. I have since flushed, and watered with a 500 ppm solution (including the ferts). I did 3.0ml/gal because like you, I thought they looked hungry if anything. I let them get pretty dry before watering. Not droopy leaf dry, but thirsty.

jcrunchy · Oct 1, 2020

Renfro said:
Generally Promix and other peat based mixes should be kept around 6.5 - 6.8. It's been my experience that the pH of the medium can crash and needs to be fed a little high to correct that.

I see your logic here. I contemplated that possibility. I did see this video though that address this topic. Thoughts?

polishpollack · Oct 1, 2020

What are the times of lights on/off?

My plants are looking pale, it's a mystery

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