Not sure what to do. Yellow leaves creeping in during veg. Please help :(

I don't get it. The new growth at the top of my girls is green and beautiful, but a couple days ago, yellow leaves have been sneaking into my lower branches. I've read every deficiency guide, and they say when the lower leaves turn yellow and wilt, it's a magnesium deficiency. I'm already up to 850ppm, and am afraid to add some more Mag.

They're 3 weeks old, they sit in 50% perlite/50% vermiculite, I flood & drain every 8 hours, the pH stays at 5.8, and the nute temp stays between 70 and 75. Please advise before I do something stupid and make it worse.

My opinion is either something is sucking the life out of your girls before they have a chance (got bugs) or your ph is off and your plants can not absorb the nutrients. Maybe calabrate your ph pen.

cruzer101 said:

My opinion is either something is sucking the life out of your girls before they have a chance (got bugs) or your ph is off and your plants can not absorb the nutrients. Maybe calabrate your ph pen.

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I haven't checked my ph meter in a few months. I'll do it now. I haven't seen any bugs on the girls, but I guess I can give them a good once over with some insecticide. Thanx, Cruzer.

It could also be some kind of disease or fungus, if it's not a PH issue. Either way, you'll want to add more light, because those plants are stretching and weak. Also, ventilation is important too, so make sure there is a breeze blowing across the plants, which will strengthen them further.

A strong plant is a much easier plant to maintain.

I thought the plants were getting a little stretchy too. I'll lower the light. I stuck my pH meter in a 7.0 buffer, and it said 7.2. I figure it's not off too much to affect the plants. I also rubbed down all the leaves with some insect killing soap. I was afraid to aim the fan at the babies 'cuz I thought it would be too strong. I'll set it at a distance.

The guy who's teaching me how to grow is coming over in a half hour. He'll probably agree that I shoukld drain the rez and start over. Thanks for the input.

I found it best to spray them with Ph balanced water after the soap to wash it off so it does not clog the stomna.

i would say nitrogen deficency , Let us know what your mate says ,

Got the same thing happening with my grow, i thought it was a Nitrogen deficency. I have added a 18-18-18 fert to them about 4 days ago, havent seen any improvement yet. Let me know if you get to the bottom of it

He told me several things, and hopefully we got the problem. First he said I was watering too much. I figured with just perlite and vermiculite, and no peat moss, soil, or soilless mix, I wouldn't be retaining too much water. He said the vermiculite retains quite a bit, and that feeding 3 times a day is overkill. The 3-a-days are just for hydroton-type media. He said that there wasn't enough oxygen hitting the roots because the media was so packed in from the moisture that the plants were suffering a nute lockout. He said the ppm & nitrogen levels were fine for 3 week old plants. The problem was that I wasn't digging into the media with my fingers to loosen it up frequently enough to assist the aeration. Also, once he started digging in, and mixing it up a bit, he showed me some mold and green perlite. He said I could change the media if I want, but it wasn't necessary because it wasn't that bad yet. I probably will anyway. He said drain the rez, flush for a couple of days with either all water or 200 to 300 ppm nute soup, then bring it back to 600 ppm, and bump it up 100 every week.

He also said I had spidermites, and they were sucking the chlorophyll out of the leaves. He sprayed a real good coating of the insecticide, but told me to pick up some Neem Oil if it continues.

Mostly the problem was that the lack of aeration in the mix was preventing the roots from breathing, and getting fed properly. I'll do everything he says, and take some pics of the progress in a few days.

He also told me to take the sticks out because the girls should have been strong enough to stand on their own. When I did, they stunk and had mildew them too. I thought those bamboo sticks were neutral unless I got the wrong ones. That probably contributed to the problem as well.

Yep Looked like bugs.
Your grow caught my attention because I just had to abandon a similar grow, same 50/50 mix and same pots too.
I found that mix to hold water like crazy. I only watered them for one minute a day with 1 gph drippers. They were doing great.

I must have missed the 3 times a day part of your post. Yea, thats a lot.