What's been killing all of my grows for the last three years? PLEASE HELP!

[pheed]

It seems that no matter what I do, this exact same problem keeps happening to every single one of my grows. It's embarrassing that I haven't been able to figure this out, so somebody please help put a stop to this.

Current case in point: my Strawberry Cough, currently on day 50 of 12/12. On day 40 or so, she started to develop yellow fan leaves. The plant is now in pretty bad shape, showing brown spots on both new and old leaves.

She's only been flowering for 33 days, possibly due to topping shortly before the flip. Her buds have barely even begun to show crystals, and growth seems very slow.

I'm growing in FF Ocean Forest, in a 5-gallon airpot. Temps top out at around 80. Runoff ph is 6.9 .

For nutrients, I use Jamaican bat guano, kelp, and some earth juice meta k. When I first saw the rust spots, I figured it might be Calcium, so I top-dressed with 6 tablespoons of oyster shell. I would except at least a little bit of improvement, but it's only gotten worse. I've also used epsom salt for Magnesium, with no improvement.

At this point, I don't know what else to try. Strawberry Cough is supposed to be nutrient sensitive, so I'm surprised it's having problems.

Please help!

 

[RetroGrow]

Unfortunately, I'm betting you have broad/cyclamen mites. You will need a 100X scope to see them. The eggs are easier to spot than the mites. Eggs are found under the leaves. Being microscopic makes them hard to diagnose, but they are pretty much epidemic now. You will probably notice that they don't smell much, and buds are anemic with not many trichs. @ day 50, there's not much you can do. The damage is already done. You will have to heat treat or steam clean your room between runs. You can save your mothers if you have any with Kontos (chems) or OGBiowar (natural). Check out the broad mite thread. It's gotten really long, so I would start at the halfway mark, if you don't want to read the whole thing. You must have a microscope. A cheap one can be found @ Radio Shack or on Amazon, or invest in a good one that takes pictures and hooks up to your computer.

 

[canna woop!]

How much guano are you adding? In a top dressing or tea? It looks like a mineral imbalance leading to toxicity, but I am not sure exactly which mineral. Are there any plants you don't fertilize and if so how are they looking?

Also do you spray your plants with anything for prevention?

 

[RetroGrow]

He said it's been going on for three years. It's BROAD MITES!!!!
The only thing you can do at this point is a heat treatment. Room must be heated to 120 degrees F at the canopy. Turn off all A/C and fans. Add lights or space heaters to bring the temperature up to 120 for an hour. That will kill the mites. Check my gallery for album "Name that disease". You will see similar symptoms. I too had them for years before figuring them out, as did many other people. Go to the broad mite thread.

 

[pheed]

At the start of flower, I top-dressed with 2 tablespoons of jamaican bat guano. A few days ago I top-dressed with another 4 tablespoons, but the problem has progressed.

I'm only growing this one Strawberry Cough right now, so nothing to compare it to, but my younger AK-47 in the same tent is doing fine. And no, I don't spray with anything. I've taken an exhaustive look at the undersides of the leaves with a 100x mic and I don't see a hint of anything suspicious.

How much guano are you adding? In a top dressing or tea? It looks like a mineral imbalance leading to toxicity, but I am not sure exactly which mineral. Are there any plants you don't fertilize and if so how are they looking?

Also do you spray your plants with anything for prevention?

 

[Oliver Pantsoff]

Pain in the arse ey...Looks like braod mites bro. Put your battling boots on, and get ready for war!! Everything you need to know is in the "broad mite" thread...A lot of good info there...Research Kontos & Biowar for starters....Hope this helps..

OP

 

[Crooked8]

Ph is too high. Runoff should be 5.8-6.4. 6.8 going into new organic soil. After 4 weeks go in at 6.4. Runoff should be lower. Theyre locked out. Also looking hungry, whats the ec youve been feeding?

 

[Crooked8]

Id grab some easily up takable nutes like soil ab from house and garden or something like it. Cal mag from botanicare. Mix the nutes, ph to 6.6 and water to runoff, wait till shes semi thirsty careful not to overwater. If the pot is heavy, wait. You want runoff around 6.2

 

[pheed]

I've considered the possibility of ph lockout, but I've read in several places that ph adjustment isn't necessary when growing organically in soil.

Example:
"You shouldn’t worry too much about your water pH and we don’t recommend pH adjustment of water for soil/compost plants. Many soil growers still make the mistake of adjusting their pH when growing in soil but there really is no need – you could even be damaging your plant and its potential yield. The nutrient availability pH range is much wider in this organic environment than in hydroponics and the introduction of acidic pH adjusting liquids into these environments is neither necessary or desirable".
http://www.growell.co.uk/blog/2011/04/getting-your-hands-dirty-growing-in-soil/

Ph is too high. Runoff should be 5.8-6.4. 6.8 going into new organic soil. After 4 weeks go in at 6.4. Runoff should be lower. Theyre locked out. Also looking hungry, whats the ec youve been feeding?

 

[doneit]

How do the roots look? you may have a problem with your water source as far as fungi/bacteria and such..
Snap a pic of the roots for us if you can

 

[bill cooper]

How's your lights off temps? , maybe lock out due to low temps ,either that or a calcium def imo

 

[Snype]

FFOF Soil gets fucked up after time in terms of the pH in the medium. I noticed that my Strawberry Cough did not like bat guano's. I tried the jamaican and then the indonisian. When you say that pH is not important in organics, it may be true but not the style that you are using. When I grew my Strawberry Cough in FFOF soil, they seemed to like a 1 part mix formula of ground up atlantic salmon. It was a teal blue bottle I think and the company was located in MA and sold at grow shops like Worms Way. They hated salt based nutrients for me also.

 

[pheed]

How's your lights off temps? , maybe lock out due to low temps ,either that or a calcium def imo

Lights off are around 69 degrees. Is that too low?

 

[Weezard]

A cheap and easy diagnostic

A cheap and easy diagnostic

Try this.
Cut a few slices of potato and lay them on the soil surface.
Give them 24 - 48 hours, then whip out your microscope.
What do you see?

Aloha, and good luck,

Weezard

 

[Granger2]

By all means do the spud thing Weezard suggested. This will at least eliminate root pests as a cause, or identify them.

Let me say that, after finding out the hard way, when different nute mfgrs say pH doesn't matter in organics, I say horseshit. To say that when there are thousands of different tap waters from different sources is just crap. If you have the right kind of tap it doesn't matter, but if you don't, it does. Nutes also have a role. I use Earth Juice in bloom, and with my high pH/lime/alkalinity water, staying pretty close to their chart, the mix comes about 4.3. This causes problems. I can testify that pH that low causes problems using it all the time.

IF you have a really healthy organic soil with a vibrant microherd, pH is less critical.

The question I have for these mfgrs is, Does it hurt anything to have the pH of your nute mix or water in the proper range? The answer is NO. So, especially if you're having problems, why not? It eliminates that as a possible cause.

First, I would remove as much of the layers of guano and whatever else you've been top dressing with, down to where you can see roots. I would buy some Citric Acid [EJ pH down], adjust the pH to about 6.4, and flush the plants.

Then I think you should change the nutes. Buy a GO Box. General Organics is pretty trouble free from my experience, and others. This has the complete line. Follow their feed chart. I would pH the water to about 7, then mix nutes, apply. Check pH of the mix so that the next feeding you can adjust the pH of the water [or not] so that the mix will have the pH you want.

Are you inoculating your soil with anything. You can use one of the products available, such as Plant Success Soluble, or make a slurry of EWC and top dress. Or even better, OGBiowar. Good luck. -granger

 

[yerboyblue]

Are the fan leaves starting to yellow and die at the bottom of the plant then slowly work their way up? It's looking really like Cal/Mag problems, which are indicative of Root Aphids. I dealt with the same problem for a year before figuring out I had RAs. The curling hook leaves at the top, coming out the buds, look like Broad Mite damage, but also could be overfertilization, as you may be trying to compensate for what looks like a deficiency.

Get out the lope/scope and check the damaged hook leaves for BMs, but I would suspect the root systems has some suckers and crawlers. Dig around and try to spot some, google pics of RAs so you know what you are looking for. You will most likely spot the nymphs, they are small so you have to stare, I personally never saw one until I transplanted or pulled stakes and saw them on those and the pots.

Oh, I also experienced similar damage recently, looked like both RA and BM damage but turned out to be the room. The paint I used was off gassing like a MFer. It was some cheap exterior latex. Tore out the floor and tables I painted and solved it. I very much doubt that's what's going on here though.

Lights off are around 69 degrees. Is that too low?

Not by any means.

 

[whiteberrieS]

While we're on the PH subject what's a good organic PH down?

edit: think im gonna try this. I don't like the PH down I have because I spilled a little one time and the shit scorched my countertop. The Down to Earth sounds like the plants would like to eat it anyway + the lower PH.

 

[Crooked8]

I think people use vinegar and lemon juice

 

[Crooked8]

I think i also heard it caused problems in the res

 

[RetroGrow]

While we're on the PH subject what's a good organic PH down?

edit: think im gonna try this. I don't like the PH down I have because I spilled a little one time and the shit scorched my countertop. The Down to Earth sounds like the plants would like to eat it anyway + the lower PH.

No such thing. They are unstable. PH down is MUCH better.