Pretty sure I've overfed, please help.

[the_extremist]

Greetings from the Evergreen State! Legal Med grower in compliance with RCW 69.51A.

This is my first grow so I'll probably end up making myself look like a dummy here, but I'm curious as to what's going on and how to fix it.

Let me start off by saying I've been following the instructions the guy at the grow store has been giving me and things are starting to take a turn. He told me to feed with every watering and I'm starting to regret that. Lower leaves are yellowed and eventually dying, necrotic patches, curling etc. Moving up the plant slowly. Leaf tips are slightly burnt on some of the upper leaves, also along a few of the margins. There are a few, like very few, leaves in the new growth whorling a bit and showing odd sized blades. God, I wish I had a camera so I could show you guys. The tops and most of the leaves look pretty good, nice and green, healthy looking. Tips are slightly burnt, as I said.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I mistook the yellowing of lower fan leaves for a N def. starting three weeks ago or so so I bumped up my feeding about 50ppm to compensate. The probably has been getting worse and only really got bad the last week or so. They dried to to the point of wilting a little before their last feeding, but bounced right back like nothing happened, although I assume that stressed them a bit.

All four strains I'm running are reacting the same way so I'm sure it's poor horticulture at work here.

Today was their first day in 12/12 under the HPS's. I finally said enough is enough and just watered them each with 2gal of straight R/O @ 7.1 ph. Got plenty of golden runoff and the ph came out to 6.0-6.1 consistently. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say a full point swing on R/O water is a bad thing? lol

I'm pretty sure the ph is my problem (duh). But how do I fix it? Do I need to flush? Can I topdress with something? I'm lost here, fellas. Please help. Thanks for any help you can provide.

How long has this problem been going on? About three weeks now
What STRAIN are you growing? Chimera's Mental Floss and Calizahr, TGA Jack the Ripper, some bagseed that looks heavy on the Indica side
What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) all from seed
What is the age of your plants? approx. 10 weeks from seed, today was their first day in 12/12
How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now? six weeks
How Tall are the plants? just a hair over 24'', they've been topped twice, nice and bushy
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? first day of bloom
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) topped bushes
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot) one plant per 4-gallon pot
What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) two bags FFOF to one bale Promix HP, so approx 40/60 FFOF/Promix
What Nutrient's are you using? Botanicare PBP, CalMag+, LK
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful* CalMag+ @ 4ml/gal, LK @ 5ml/gal, PBP Grow @ 5ml/gal, haven't switched to bloom for soil formula yet. This all comes to between 600-650ppm before adding a little ph up to 6.5ph
How often are you feeding? Every watering (Pretty sure this was my problem, arrg)
If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients? haven't yet, this is the first day of bloom
What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect) CalMag, then LK, then PBP
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? 600-650 before ph up, 650-700 after ph up
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? Never checked it (dummy)
What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen? Hanna Champ pen
How often are you watering? I use the tip the pot method
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding?Last feeding was four days ago, gave them 2gal ea of straight R/O @ 7.1ph tonight
What size bulb are you using?400MH in veg, 600HPS bloom
What is the distance to the canopy?18''
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity)40-50%
What is the canopy temperature? 70F when lights first come on, peak is 87-88F
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)70F w/ lights off, 87-88F peak
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)410cfm exhaust
Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ? Very well ventilated, several oscillating fans, big exhaust fan, plenty of fresh air coming in
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? two wallmount oscillators blowing over the canopy to cool the lights, two box fans down low, two stand up oscillators to move air around the room
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? no, it drains decently
Is your water HARD or SOFT? I use an R/O machine
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? R/O
Are you using water from a water softener? no
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? I've been snipping off the lower leaves as they die, took cuttings a week ago
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when? Nope
Are plant's infected with pest's? Not at all

 

[Snype]

Thanks for filling out the sticky. If no one gets to you I'll look this over after I change a rez.

 

[Snype]

Alright I got a quick look so far but first thing I want to say is don't listen to anyone about what to give you plants esp. if they tell you to give them all the same amount of nutes when you don't have clones all coming from the same moms. Your plants are burnt. First thing that you need to do is flush you plants with 6.5 - 6.7 ASAP. Dump in twice the amount of the size of the containers. for the first day and when they need to be watered again only use water pH'd to 6.5-6.7 for at least 7-10 days.

Start with that and I'll get back to you in a minute. got my hose connected.

 

[Snype]

I see your you are nuting every watering and that is a big mistake. You need to water every 7-10 days. Also, because you're using FFOF, you never needed to nute in the first place for the first 2-3 weeks of the plants being transplanted into the 4 gallon pots. There is plenty of great stuff in FFOF and I use it all the time. I need you to test the run off for me to move on to the next step.

 

[LolaGal]

The ph runoff of 6.1 ain't that bad, give them water only for a while till they perk up.

It is unfortunate, but it happens. They will recover given time.

I would maybe hold off on flipping 12/12 for a week, let them get over the stress.?

Flush as instructed above, you are getting good advice.

gotta watch those grow store dudes, if you feed a lot, they sell a lot.

good luck.

 

[the_extremist]

Thanks for replying so quickly. Awesome.

I'm making more r/o water as I type, I'll probably have to wait until the morning to give them more. I have to fill two 32gal garbage cans back up.

They already had a 12hr dark period all day today. From what I understand switching back to 18/6 would freak them out, yeah?

Also, watering with ph 7.1 R/O water, runoff is coming out @6.1. I assume the soil must be pretty salty to swing the runoff by a full point.

 

[Snype]

Yeah also listen to what LolaGal said too. That was some good advise. And the last thing that I have to say if I didn't say it before is, each seed no matter if it's the same strain will be a little different in terms of how much nutes they want. This is why you have to slowly bring up nute level through a few week process to see how far they can go before you see some leaf tip burn. It sucks to have to do the work but once you get each specific plant dialed in, then you can back up your favorite one and keep it for life and always know what she likes. Keep in mind that Calcium and Magnesium lockout at 6.4 and below so when you start nuteing again (maybe 7-10 days or so), stay a couple points above in case your pH meter isn't perfect. When your plants return back to health, you want to give at least one watering in between minimum, I do 2 waterings in between nutes with 5 gallon buckets. Also when you nute in soil, don't nute when you plants are bone dry. If it gets bone dry and you need to nute, then you need to add a little water for at least a few hours first. Follow all these steps and you should be all good for the future! Thanks LolaGal for the help also!

 

[the_extremist]

Thank you both very much for your advice. I'm learning slowly.

I have to make a bunch of r/o water yet before flushing. Do you think they'll be okay until tomorrow night? Or should I flush with ph'd tap water? It comes out of the tap @230ppm. Would that be safe?

Also, I calibrate my ph pen every time I use it w/ 7.0 solution so I should hope my readings are accurate, lol.

Thanks again!

 

[Snype]

Your tap should be better than what they have now. I would do it now if they were mine but they are your plants. Happy growing and keep us updated!

 

[the_extremist]

Sounds good, I'm just gonna use the tap water, I'm too nervous to let them go another day. Ph'd to 6.7. I'm headed to the basement right now.

 

[the_extremist]

Three plants down, twelve to go. Each 4gal pot got 8 gallons of tap water @6.9ph 230ppm. I didn't want to dick around with adding any more salts for ph down, so I figure 6.9 is close enough eh?

The runoff water lost it's color around gallon 5 of the flush. I take that as a good sign.

 

[Snype]

Nice man keep up the good work!

 

[the_extremist]

Flushin' away. I just wish I had a bigger bathtub, lol.

 

[cyberwax]

Flushin' away. I just wish I had a bigger bathtub, lol.

I wish i had one!

How often are you watering? I use the tip the pot method

What does that mean exactly? Might it not also be overwatering? Kinda hard without a picture tho. Im having problems calculating the nute lvl ur using as im a hydroguy, but im sure your not supposed to feed at every watering aswell, someone fill in the blanks here.

 

[Snype]

I wish i had one!

What does that mean exactly? Might it not also be overwatering? Kinda hard without a picture tho. Im having problems calculating the nute lvl ur using as im a hydroguy, but im sure your not supposed to feed at every watering aswell, someone fill in the blanks here.

I usually need pics but not for this. This one was easy compared to others. If you're I hydro guy, this is very different. The way you tell when your plant needs to be watered is you pick up the pot and hand weigh it. If it feels just above the point it was when it was transplanted before watering then in needs to be watered.

 

[the_extremist]

Almost finished with the flush. Lots of work! Holy hell. Lol.

Yeah, I just wait to water until the pot feels more top heavy, like easier to tip kinda. You sort of just get a feel for it. Although I did let them dry out a bit much before the last feeding.

 

[<~Hades~>]

LOl when i read the title .....Only one answer

when in doubt ,flush her out

 

[Snype]

Good work ex! When you grow weed right, it takes work. Some people just fill up a jug with a bunch of things then blame it on the strain when it gets messed up. Got to put in the time!

 

[the_extremist]

Absolutely. You gotta put energy into everything you do. That's one of my rules in life.

I have a tendency to learn the hard way though, lol. I'm really surprised these plants aren't dead. In fact they look pretty damn good considering the abuse they've received. Speaks volumes about the genetics I think.

I need a camera in a bad way.

 

[the_extremist]

Runoff is now coming out at approx. 230ppm and 6.7ph.

Now I can sleep, lol.