Whats the problem.....

[big ballin 88]

I've been chasing this problem for the past 3-4 months and its really starting to bother me.

The plants start to yellow like a nitrogen deficiency, but then remind me of a magnesium deficiency. Its mimicking a lot of nutrient deficiencies in different forms, but isn't getting better with treatment.

I recycle my soil, but these are all fresh batches of soil, different from my old mixes completely. This is a base of peat and store bought compost. They are ammended with azomite, zeolite, epsoma biotone plus, rainbow mix, biochar and dolomite lime.


I've tried fixing this problem multiple ways and end up feeding them essentially every 4-7 days due to the problems. I even tried watering less which didn't help either.

• Azomite-Top Dress
• Dolomite lime-Top Dress
• Hydrolyzed fish-Root Soak
  • 4-2-1 for first brand; 11-1-.25 for the second brand
• Hydrolyzed fish and seaweed/humic acid(1-1-17)-Foliar spray
• Actively Aerated Compost Tea-Root Soak and Foliar Spray
  • Made from EWC, Fish hydrolysate, seaweed/humic acid extract, Publix molasses(low nutrition), Epsoma Biotone Starter + and sometimes Azomite
• Beneficial Nematodes for fungus gnats- Root Soak
• Epsoma Biotone Starter Plus-Top Dress

Its weird because when the plants go into flower, the problem goes away completely. I thought maybe it was the tent, but it is a Secret Jardin DP90.

Could it be root bound plants? I'm running out of ideas...I will be treating them with some more dolomite, bone meal and azomite as a top dress, since they were given AACT yesterday.

The AACT was a good mix of bacteria and fungal hyphae. Typically, I make well rounded vermicompost teas, but have been leaning towards bacterial blends, since it seemed to be a nutrient/nitrogen problem I'm experiencing.

 

[Zen Master]

you check for root aphids yet?

 

[Brother Bear]

Repot is what i would be doing if they were in my room

 

[Mighty Seed]

Curious about the biochar. If you add it directly to soil it will leach out nutrients. If you composted it then it carries those nutrients from the compost and fixes them in a usable state in the soil. Just adding charcoal will suck out what the plants need possibly causing the deficiencies you are experiencing.

I could be way off, just a thought.

 

[krunchbubble]

Repot is what i would be doing if they were in my room

ding, ding, ding!!! we have a winner!

 

[big ballin 88]

You are very correct Mighty. You must soak biochar overnight(using a good surfactant) in a nitrogen rich substance such as fish hydroslate. This mix really has no biochar to it. Any biochar that is in there has been soaked.

I'm starting to think maybe i make my soil to rich and lock out other nutrients? I know we're close to hardwater here, but shouldnt be a problem with organics.

I'll try the repot and see what happens....Thanks for the advice so far...

 

[Junkhead]

another vote for repot

 

[Stress_test]

Repot is what i would be doing if they were in my room

Completely agree.

Also: I wonder if the bottom leaves are getting sufficient light?

Micro nutes may help you out cause it is possible that they just aren't up-taking the N you are giving them. This makes sense too because they won't require as much N once in flower.