need a doctor

[dharma]

Growing bubblegum,lemon skunk, super lemon haze. 4 weeks old. Using 3 150's at about 20 inches. All smaller than where I'm usually at, at week 4.
No pattern among any of the genetics. Similar traits are yellowing(from birth), burned tips and leaf margins. Half of all of them have leaves curled down and over like ram horns. SLH is affected the most having yellow and green mottling of color starting to develop small dry dead spots all over in addition to being rough and bumpy like and even dry feeling. Using 30% general potting soil(without extended nutes),35% sphagnum peat moss, 10% perlite, rest being compost, sand and some clay. Feed with foxfarm. 1st week no nutes, 2nd week half nutes and 3rd weed with their full scheduled nute schedule. pH probe reads soil at 7. Hanna digital reads runoff at about 6.5. Solution of nutes and water is about 5.5. Soil sample with rapid test shows it being very alkaline at 8 or higher. I alternate feeding and giving clean water about every 4-5 days. Not sure if any 3 methods of testing is accurate but does seem like it is a pH problem. Should I try to lower the pH? Read Stitch's great guide and it was suggested using vinegar or lemon juice. What should I make my nute solution pH be to lower it.

 

[BagseedSamurai]

Sounds like your PH is all over the place..

 

[doktoren]

Sounds like your PH is all over the place..

My first thought as well... Have you calibrated your Ph-meter ?
And how often do you feed ?? Let the soil dry out, and give the girls some pure water a couple of times, thats what I would do....

Dokster

 

[touringfunkband]

When you start feeding again, it would be a good idea to get some ph up to go with that Fox Farm. I use Grow Big and it's very acidic. I wouldn't try to bring down your soils alkalinity by using an acidic feed. Just flush and dry like suggested above and start feeding lightly.

 

[bobman]

Yes, I would give them a real good dry cycle. then only give them 6-8 oz of water, just enough to get the roots and surronding soil moist. Those are small plants in a 2 gallon trash can? Doesnt look like there is much perlite so that soil is heavy. basically you are suffocating the roots. What happens is a big ball of mud is sitting right under your pant. You think the soil is dry so you water again and ther roots continue to sit in this ball of mud. Personally I would pull them out and add a bunch more perlite then not water for a few days then resume with lite watering. Eventuslly they should pull through if you continue what your doing but it will probably get worse. Chasing ph is not what you want to start doing those roots need some air they are to young to fight through this heavy soil and muddy ball.

 

[bobman]

p.s. are picture 2 and 4 super lemon haze. I am growing that now. Difficult plant to dial in. But I tell you what, that plant just loves to flower. I was having all kind of little issues on the leaves and I still have not figuired it out. But when I put the potential moms into flower, boom, they just took off and overcame any issues they were having in veg. Beatiful plants in flower.

 

[dharma]

i appreciate the replies. yea, i've callibrated my pH pen. in the beginning i went 3 days between watering. i extended that to every 4 days and the last time i went 5. you're right about looking like not much perlite near the top. bottom 3rd of pot i put as much perlite and sand as anything as i near the top of the 3gallon pot i get to about 15-20% perlite and sand. i figure the top is gonna dry first and the bottom is gonna accumulate the most water. out of 12 plants, 3gal pots, i put a total of 2 gallons and i get about 2 cups of water to drain out. maybe take'm till i start to see a little wilting? thanks again for all the thoughts.

 

[bobman]

Yea, thats the problem. Thats a lot of soil for those little guys. I bet you can go 10 days before you water again. Usually the water accumulates in the middle beause of the holes in the bottom of the pot. You have yourself a muddy middle and the roots are suffocating. It always looks like a ph problem, but its nothing a good dry cycle and very lite feeding/watering can not solve.

 

[dharma]

good look there bobcat. that makes sense because 3 outa the 12 are considerably bigger than the others and they have gotten out of their funk. prolly cuz they are taking up more water and drying it out faster whereas the small ones dont have as much transpiration going on so not using nearly as much water. so you think that would cause the burned tips and margins?? so i'll go some more days. thanks for the insight.

 

[dharma]

correction, bobman, not bobcat. thanks again. your thoughts really make sense.

 

[bobman]

if your talking about those muddy brown spots, like on picture one, thats a tell tale sign of this problem. I do not know the science of what is happening but I believe the roots are suffocating in a heavy wet envirment and they are unable to uptake there food properly. It looks like lockout or a ph problem, and it could be, but it is caused from the soil being so wet all the time. That causes everything to get out of wack.

 

[bobman]

just as important as waiting to water it is equally inmportant not to get the soil so wet. Like I said just enough to get the roots and surrounding soil moist. start with like 6-8 oz.