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yellow shoots, sulfur perhaps?

bilbobonger

bilbobonger

Member
Been getting some yellowing on the new growth. Planning on throwing in some epsom salts, but wanted to get some feedback first, make sure that this is in fact a sulfur def. Everything I've come across on yellow shoots points to either sulfur of iron, though none of the pics I've seen quite match up.

It seems to start with yellow veins, then progresses to the tips and other parts of the new leaves. I'm growing in Canna coco, w/RO water. Here's my profile:

N-94
P-93
K-155
Mg-57
Ca-109
S-27
Fe-2.67
B-0.13
Mn-0.66
Zn-0.20
Mo-0.01
Cu-0.13

Got a pic here, though I don't know how clear it'll be. Camera's about had it. Keep getting lines through the shot. Thanks for your time.
 

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Grat3fulh3ad

Grat3fulh3ad

The Voice of Reason
Veteran
i'd drop the pH to 5.7 or so
and you might want to substitute some epsoms for some of the cal mag you use.
 
bilbobonger

bilbobonger

Member
Ok, so my pH is down at 5.7, but my plants seem to be getting worse. It's the same story on every run, Mg appears to be getting locked out, and I guess sulfur as well this time around.

Checked my runoff and it maxed out my ppm meter. Took a good 3000ml of my nutrient solution before the ppm in matched the out, which is at about 940 on my cheapo Hanna meter (not sure on the conversion factor). The runoff pH was at 5.5.

So I figure the only thing for me to do at this point, is flush the living hell out of each plant, and start a new mix. Does anyone have any ideas on what could actually be causing this lockout?

There's no visible brown algae in my res, and FWIU my nutrient profile and pH is well within the acceptable range for coco. The only real difference I can see between mine and H3ad's nutrient profile is my potassium's a bit higher. Mine's at 155, and H3ad's at 107 from what I understand. Could this be what's causing the salt buildup?

Thinkin about just runnin tap water on the next fill and sticking to the HG 0-6-9 formula with nothing else in the mix since my water out of the tap's only at about 60ppm.

Either that or I continue running RO and try adding in some epsom salt. RO water, 0-6-9 and epsom salt at .5gm/gal would put me at-

N-97
P-60
K-107
Mg-54
Ca-97
S-44

Any suggestions?

Sorry for the long post. This shit's killing me. I've lost count now of how many runs I've had go to hell. Really can't afford to lose another one.

~BB~
 

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D

darrmann

Member
I would do a quick flush and start out with 1/2 strength nutes. I dont see how your locking up if your ph is a constant 6.1 now 5.7 ph should stay between 5.8 and 6.2 with no problems. also add some cal mag if its mag. that should help. from what i know about cocco is its difficient in mag and you actually have to add it till the cocco soaks enough of it up and then starts getting to plant once cocco is maxed out. I think your defficient not getting locked out.
I look at my ppms but dont fill rez to a certain ppm, I follow my nute schedule and never seem to have a problem.
 
jolee

jolee

Active member
Ive seen this before with a few folk who use an ro filter here in the uk so for me its a calcium shortage. If its an mg def then the veins will stay green and inbetween will pale and go yellow. An imbalance with calcium can lock mg out. A teaspoon of epsoms in a litre of water foliage sprayed at lights out will suffice to sort an mg def out without overdosing on it.
Another question is...do you really need an ro filter cos sometimes they can be more trouble than they are worth

Good luck
 
bilbobonger

bilbobonger

Member
darrmann said:
I would do a quick flush and start out with 1/2 strength nutes. I dont see how your locking up if your ph is a constant 6.1 now 5.7 ph should stay between 5.8 and 6.2 with no problems. also add some cal mag if its mag. that should help. from what i know about cocco is its difficient in mag and you actually have to add it till the cocco soaks enough of it up and then starts getting to plant once cocco is maxed out. I think your defficient not getting locked out.
I look at my ppms but dont fill rez to a certain ppm, I follow my nute schedule and never seem to have a problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, doesn't make any sense to me either. Shouldn't be getting a lock out like this, but that's what appears to be happening. Why else would I end up with a salt build up high enough to max out my meter? Plenty of Mg in the mix. I've got my complete profile in the first post. My only thoughts are that I don't have the right cation ratio. Thanks for the response though.

jolee said:
Ive seen this before with a few folk who use an ro filter here in the uk so for me its a calcium shortage. If its an mg def then the veins will stay green and inbetween will pale and go yellow. An imbalance with calcium can lock mg out. A teaspoon of epsoms in a litre of water foliage sprayed at lights out will suffice to sort an mg def out without overdosing on it.
Another question is...do you really need an ro filter cos sometimes they can be more trouble than they are worth

Good luck
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the foliar feeding. I may give this a try. Though I'm pretty sure I've got enough Ca in the mix. FWIU, Ca def shows up as rust-like spots which I haven't been experiencing. Though perhaps it's been building up in the medium and locking out other cations.

Yeah, I'm also not so sure about the RO filter. Was having the same Mg problems before I bought the thing. Had my tap water tested and it came up high in Ca, so I figured that was what was locking out Mg. Process of elimination's getting expensive. May very well just use my tap on the next fill, though I've seen the same problems on this forum with or without the RO.
 
hazy

hazy

Active member
Veteran
I just checked out the thread on offgassing of the tubing. Could be. I hand water so no risk of that for me.
Your leaves with the marginal chlorosis looks like a K deficiency. If it is and not off gassing, then I would be trying to figure out what is locking out my potassium.

Things that restrict the uptake of K are too much N, Mg, Ca, or Sodium.

Your salt buildup is maybe being caused by the plant not uptaking because of stunted growth and nutes therefore accumulate.

I think go back to tap water and ditch the calmag and up your flora micro a couple ml.

So i noticed a lot of folks on that thread said they were ripping out those tubes. Only a week in, anybody noticing improvement yet?
 
bilbobonger

bilbobonger

Member
hazy said:
I just checked out the thread on offgassing of the tubing. Could be. I hand water so no risk of that for me.
Your leaves with the marginal chlorosis looks like a K deficiency. If it is and not off gassing, then I would be trying to figure out what is locking out my potassium.

Things that restrict the uptake of K are too much N, Mg, Ca, or Sodium.

Your salt buildup is maybe being caused by the plant not uptaking because of stunted growth and nutes therefore accumulate.

I think go back to tap water and ditch the calmag and up your flora micro a couple ml.

So i noticed a lot of folks on that thread said they were ripping out those tubes. Only a week in, anybody noticing improvement yet?
Click to expand...

Hey Hazy-
Yeah man, IIRC, people were having good results after switching to different hosing. Hoping this is it. If not, I'll definitely give the tap and micro a go. One thing I've noticed about using RO vs tap is the RO keeps a stable pH, and tap is always rising especially when recirculating my nutes. Not sure what that's about. But yeah, no intentions on using calmag anymore. Impossible to get the magnesium levels up without driving the calcium through the roof. Thanks for all your help.

~BB
 
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