Strange Problems With My Plant. Please Help

Conorfarmer

Member
iv'e been reading around a bit and from what information is about along the lines of plant problems, N def seems to be the main culprate. Would buying some nutrients such as tomato plant food be good, i have some at the local gardening store. Just an idea. And as for a update the bottom set of leaves have gone pale yellow and are working there way up toward the top of the plant (slowly), and growth is somewhat stunnted which makes me think its N def.

also i live in a hard water area, but i check my water before it goes into my plants and its between 6 and 7 (liquid indicator)
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Ok i see your points, the three pics show a leaf abnormall growing, slight interveinal yellowing and yes i believe in one pic one of the bottom leaves looks slightly like it could possibly be n deficiency.

The leaf twist and the brown spots as well as the horrible colour to most leaves leads me to think correcting the pH with a flush would clean the soil right back up and set a healthy pH. If this was the case giving it ferts now would make this condition worse. Is peat organic, i wasn't sure it was or not in every country as it is now a protected habitat? so may not have peast in organic soil?

I think maybe we could all agree a good long flush followed by ferts on the next watering might be a good starting point and maybe a repot next watering too.

Every soil i buy here in the uk is slightly acidic and turns more acidic with time, i have peat free soil and even that was acidic and got worse a little. Most soil over her start at 6.3/6.4 in my observations, garden lime and added magnesium in the form of epsom salts are essential items in peat and a lot of other peat free soils.

Dose the soil have peat in dude?
 

feelingreen

Active Member
I'm using the exact same type of soil, and it lists the contents as...

This product is formulated from composted bark, sphagnum peat moss, and pasteurized poultry litter, 55-65%

Guaranteed analysis

Total Nitrogen (N) ... 0.10%
0.002% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
0.001% Water Soluble Nitrogen
0.097% Water Insoluble Nitrogen
Available phosphate ... 0.05%
Soluble potash ... 0.05%

Also, it's notorious for coming infested with eggs, e.g,., fungus gnats, and doesn't buffer the acidity of the peat moss with dolomite lime (as it most certainly should, were it a quality soil).

Does that sound like yours?
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Similar, i don't get a detailed analysis i just get colour charts with numbers 1-9 for ferts strength and a pH chart which says 6/7. Ok i did runoff with a lot of soils straight out of the bag and found them all to be 6.3. I have just bought a peatless soil which is the same berand of soil i use with peat in, called westlands from garden health, i actually like this company and their soil range is exstensive but alass as you point out there is little lime and pH is low to begin with. My soil is top quality and find if it was stored indoors all its packaged life and wrapped properly it has no pests whatsoever. Dose have springtails in but these are not pests and good for the soil.

I have run peat frees before but still see pH problems. I take it the poultry is the nutes side of it and the sphagnum is the peat side and structure of it. I see most soils lack some basic ingredients and think they just want you to buy more of their products or else they think we love growing acid loving plants!
 

Conorfarmer

Member
ok i think i may flush my plants, So as iv'e never flushed a plant before what should i be doing and what should the pH of the water i flush it with be at?? thanks for the help >>>>>> also im uploading pics of how the plant is looking tomorrrow.
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Sorry didn't see you were in a hard water area, bit too stoned to make sense of the plants problem but i see you say you wana learn to flush? Well have i got the thread for you my friend, this thread explains pH with flushing and soil, also cal/mag and what to do. It starts with a grower having some bad pH problems which leads on to having to deal with cal/mag to buffer the plants and supply the plants with cal/mag, anyway read the whole thing its a great thread to learn off, will explain why to pH your soil to 6.7 you flush 6.7 water through the soil till the soil runoff pH comes up to 6.7 and that is how to do it. Don't flush at pH8 and stop when runoff hits what you want, this is bad! Read the thread -

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/437657-soil-runoff.html

Also to deal with your water problems a definitive guide to water thread started by a great scientist Doc1111, no longer around to answer my question!!! Anyway read these two threads and arm, equip and practise what they say. I am not saying that any of these two threads will solve your problem but essential reading in your situation. Good luck and good reading.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/294579-water-most-essential-compound.html - Just read first 3 pages (reast is just talking)
 

Conorfarmer

Member
DSC01073.jpgDSC01070.jpg

these are some pictures of the leaves that i took off today, im starting to get worried and im also nervous about flushing plus to add to my worries, i dont have a digital pH reader i only have a liquid kit :/. And with the liquid pH kit i have pH up and down solution so should i use that to get the right pH for flushing my plants?

also i bought some plant food but i think i bought one which was for flowering but im hoping it will work anyway... it has a NPK ration of 4.0-2.0-6.0 - will this be ok???
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
That NPK is neither flower nor veg!lol! Ph up and down is ok as long as it is one of the recognised chemicals used to pH water for plants, check the internet for what is safe to use or post the chemicals here.

Did you read the soil run off thread? Should be clear on what and how to flush for correct pH and lowering soil nutes. Garden lime may be a good idea in the future.

I fear it may be a long hard drawn out process pH'ing flush with that pH kit. I would recomend every grower get a pH pen and ec meter, i use the trident from essentials and finding it to be my new best friend.

On the back of the plant food it may break the NPK values down in to soluble nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, the soluble part will work the quickest and some countries like ireland will only list soluable ferts, if it dose post the amount soluble or better still take a pic of the ferts info please.
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Those leaves look whack, can't tell you much of that, were they leaves from the bottom of the plant?

Not a lot of people know that lemon and lime juice is acidic but turn alkaline when digested by the human body, we grow best at pH7 to 7.5.
 

Conorfarmer

Member
the leaves were off the bottom of the plant. And what NPK ratio is best for vegging?? and i will start flowering like next week so is it worth getting nutes for veg? or should i just get nutes for flowering? And the information about what nutes i have now is all in the picture..

DSC01074.jpg
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Looks like tomato ferts, 4.2.6 npk is wrong should be more like 4.3.2 which is also 8.6.4 or 16.12.8 and so on. Flowering is more like 2.3.4. These are the percentage of ferts in the bottle and the ratio of each one compared to the other.
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
So lets update, pics would be good and what you have done since the start of the thread. Have you flushed yet? Lets get up to speed before we decide to add ferts, what are the plants doing, getting better or worse. Have you added cal/mag or similar and what is the pH doing?
 

Conorfarmer

Member
well i haven't flushed yet, the plants seem to be coping for now.. im going to order a pH digital pen but before i get that i probably wont flush as i dont want to flush with the wrong pH.. i'll upload some pics of the plants later but atm my camera needs charging.
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Ok dude you are in the zone. Plants are looking ok and you have done the sensible thing and bought that pH pen, so important to know pH if you have problems. Good idea waiting for the pH pen. I will link you my thread on pH, runoff and cal/mag so you got the basics to get started. The thread is about adjusting the soil pH and how it is done. I know it is a longish thread but this will teach you everything you will nedd to know, why to flush at 6.5 to raise the soil to 6.5. Please, please read the thread if you haven't already seen it, got a lot of praise for this thread and as the thread goes on you see how i and others managed to pH our soil to the correct pH, read from start to finish and then read again and should be good to go.
 

Conorfarmer

Member
also iv'e already started using the nutes, and i did this to see if my plants would improve and if they didn't i would know my pH was "whack", but seeing as they seem to be the wrong nutes should i stop? ok and i guess a proper read would be good, and what do you mean by cal/mag? sorry noob grower here :P
 

Conorfarmer

Member
i dont think my pH is that bad because iv'e been using the liquid tester kit and it seems to be like 7 but i dont 100% trust it. Also im gonna need to wait about a week for my pH pen :/
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Oh, if you need to or think you need ferts make sure it is a weakish dose till you get the pen. There are generally 2 types of ph liquid testers, one is cheap and has like three colours the other is quite specific and has a lot more colours and pH ranges. I guess you have the cheap one? I had one too and it didn't read pH very well, certainly not somthing i would trust but i do hope the pH is ok as it will mean a lot less problems. Update us when you get the pen and read the whole thread i posted, there are some pics on a few of the pages too. Good luck dude.
 
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