Peppino Gavoni
Member
Guys
I'm new in the forum so I did not look at all the other threads, and besides it's my first time growing plants. It took me a long period of unsuccessful tries with seeds to get my first plants to actually survive the first two weeks and enter the vegetative state.
I do not grow with lamps, but in the direct sunlight, although in a pot, all day. The sun is really strong here and that's been a main cause of problems, probably: I'm on the Tropic of Cancer and in the middle of the desert. So no humidity and no rain, ever. The temperature now is 30 C in the daytime, dropping to 15 at night. That's about as low as it gets, in general (in summer it's 50-55 dropping to 30, and I'm talking Celsius).
My plants, Master Kush, liked it when I put them on a pretty shaded windowsill, outside. They thrived in the dimmed sunlight and they grew to the size they are now. So I put them on the other sill, in full sunlight, and after a period of adaptation, they now seem to thrive.
I started fertilizing them with NPK 14-10-27, and as they grew I turned to 20-10-20, adding a little N every now and then (mistake?). The plants are still in a pot, 15 cm both in diameter and height. The media is the only decent soil I managed to find here, something from Holland with a reported Ph range of 5.0-6.5. I know it should be a bit higher, and I have been looking for some lime, which should abound in this mountainous area - only, there is no farming at all and people are little interested in plants. So I'll try to get some calcium carbonate or baking soda in a drugstore or the likes.
Anyway, the problem now is the following. The plants look healthy enough, in general; one of them, though, has a few leaves that started drying, first the bottom ones (the very first two after the dicotyledon - see the first and second pic), but now even one of the very top ones (third pic).
These are the pictures.
I suspect the problem at the top might be because of water+nutrients that dropped on it, magnifying the sun (which is very strong even now, as I said). By the way: I made a point of constantly using bottled water for irrigation. But the bottom leaves have been showing these symptoms for a while.
I did some research and these are my guesses:
- Ph fluctuation (getting low). I don't know how to measure the Ph, though, without a kit, and there are none for sale in the whole country
- overwatering, a mistake which I tend to make
- overfertilization
- lack of Mg, which I immediately tried to correct by adding some Epsom salts - so now Ill see (if I understood correctly, Mg in slight excess could hardly pose a serious problem, but please correct me if I am mistaken).
Thank you all for your help guys!
I'm new in the forum so I did not look at all the other threads, and besides it's my first time growing plants. It took me a long period of unsuccessful tries with seeds to get my first plants to actually survive the first two weeks and enter the vegetative state.
I do not grow with lamps, but in the direct sunlight, although in a pot, all day. The sun is really strong here and that's been a main cause of problems, probably: I'm on the Tropic of Cancer and in the middle of the desert. So no humidity and no rain, ever. The temperature now is 30 C in the daytime, dropping to 15 at night. That's about as low as it gets, in general (in summer it's 50-55 dropping to 30, and I'm talking Celsius).
My plants, Master Kush, liked it when I put them on a pretty shaded windowsill, outside. They thrived in the dimmed sunlight and they grew to the size they are now. So I put them on the other sill, in full sunlight, and after a period of adaptation, they now seem to thrive.
I started fertilizing them with NPK 14-10-27, and as they grew I turned to 20-10-20, adding a little N every now and then (mistake?). The plants are still in a pot, 15 cm both in diameter and height. The media is the only decent soil I managed to find here, something from Holland with a reported Ph range of 5.0-6.5. I know it should be a bit higher, and I have been looking for some lime, which should abound in this mountainous area - only, there is no farming at all and people are little interested in plants. So I'll try to get some calcium carbonate or baking soda in a drugstore or the likes.
Anyway, the problem now is the following. The plants look healthy enough, in general; one of them, though, has a few leaves that started drying, first the bottom ones (the very first two after the dicotyledon - see the first and second pic), but now even one of the very top ones (third pic).
These are the pictures.
I suspect the problem at the top might be because of water+nutrients that dropped on it, magnifying the sun (which is very strong even now, as I said). By the way: I made a point of constantly using bottled water for irrigation. But the bottom leaves have been showing these symptoms for a while.
I did some research and these are my guesses:
- Ph fluctuation (getting low). I don't know how to measure the Ph, though, without a kit, and there are none for sale in the whole country
- overwatering, a mistake which I tend to make
- overfertilization
- lack of Mg, which I immediately tried to correct by adding some Epsom salts - so now Ill see (if I understood correctly, Mg in slight excess could hardly pose a serious problem, but please correct me if I am mistaken).
Thank you all for your help guys!
