She's a Short Blueberry...

[thunderpob]

Hi all.
Need me some help with one of my plants, she is kicking my ass big time

I started off in a bad way by over feeding but i corrected that by switching to plain water for the last 30 odd days and have now moved onto feeding again for the remainder of the veg cycle.

This is how she looked yesterday.





Four out of five plants are doing ok. I am 39 days into veg and the average height is 17". In the last nine days the four that are doing well have grown between 6 and 8 inches, in the same time, the problem child has only grown 2 inches.

I am growing in "Bio Bizz All Mix" and a little bit of John Innes No. 3. and am now supplementing it with 4ml pl of "Bio Bizz Grow" after using plain rain water (ph6.7) for the last four weeks.

They are under a 400w metal halide about a foot away from the canopy and a 125w blue spectrum eco light that is a bit closer.

Temps range between 15c lights off to 28c lights on. I have good ventilation and i am watering only when the pots feel light.

There is no sign of disease or infestation



My theories so far are:

- She is still be suffering from over feeding - easy one, stop feeding and water with plain water again and wait until i see signs of her being hungry.

- There something up with the roots - don't even know where to start if it is.

- It's the seed.

I really don't want to ditch her if i don't have to, it just feels wrong.

 

[mexilandrace]

could just be a picky ass plant, it looks kinda over watered and like maybe your ph is off.

maybe a little mag def

 

[mexilandrace]

oh and I have a plant that acts similarly to that in veg but pulls through fine once I switch to flower

 

[thunderpob]

cheers mexilandrace, always good to have your advice.

anyone else like to throw in?

 

[chuckyoufarley]

looks over watered to me too

 

[HeadyPete]

I'd say overwater ( let the pots get real light in weight before watering) and/or poor soil drainage (ie. add much more perlite to AllMix and transplant asap) and overfed. Blueberry is a notoriously light feeder. BioBizz AllMix is pretty hot soil, I would lay off the BB Grow for a while till they get bigger. You don't need to add the John Innes, it is potting soil for established plants and contains and adds even more compost/nutrients. The only reason those plants aren't more burnt is because they are getting a ton of light for vegging and they are using most of the nutrients.

It is better to feed milder doses weekly than a massive one once a month. The trick is to learn how much is perfect for these particular plants. It takes time and taking notes of every watering, trimming, feeding, etc etc helps a lot. A monthly calender is great for that.

Best to start feeding light and work up then go heavy and burn them. Look for signs of nutrient deficiencies to tell you when it is not enough food. Bump up the dose a little next time and wait to see how the plants react.

Some first signs are:

Nitrogen - plant yellows from bottom upwards.
Phosphorus - dark gray/purple blotches on older leaves, leaf twisting
Magnesium - leaf edges curl upward like a canoe (also sign of heat stress) and yellow of leaves with green veins

This is a great thread (http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=4556&highlight=nutrient+deficiency) with tons of nutrient info and be sure to check out the links in the second post. This will help you understand nutrients and feeding. This is the most complicated part of growing, IMO.

Be careful with your lights being too close and burning/heat stressing the plants. 1 foot is too close for a 400 watt light. The 125 is probably okay where it is.

One last thing. Your temps are getting out of range on both ends. You are better to get the temps up a little at night with a heat pad or something, and the high temp down a few degrees. Maybe moving the lights up will help that.

Good luck.

 

[thunderpob]

thanks for the link HeadyPete, I will be bookmarking that one, re+ally useful diagnosis tool.

chuckyoufarley - she does take up a lot less water than the others so i am going to wait a while before I water again and I think I will not add anything extra food wise either.