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Is this calcium deficiency?

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
HempKat Sorry for the late reply, a lot of things happened. I think that was definitely one of the mistakes in the beginning, but I quickly corrected that one. Till harvest I still had issues with the pH sometime inexplicably dropping multiple points, even after using two different calibrated pH pens. I am currently drying my first buds ever and I am very excited to start a new grow and improve it next year. Your help is greatly appreciated, have a nice Christmas time over there!

You have a nice Christmas as well and if this was your first grow ever and you got any reasonable harvest out of it then it's kind of like the old saying about any airplane landing you walk away from is a good one. Very few people ever start out getting things perfect their first time out the gate but over time and once you get some experience under your belt it just keeps getting easier and easier. Anyway good luck on your future grows, I'm confident they'll get better.
 

f-e

Well-known member
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Veteran
you specifically asked f-e and I didn't want him to perceive me as trying to speak for him.

You won't see any such drama from me pal. What's important, is getting our problems fixed as quick as possible.

Now if it were my round, then I wouldn't want you taking my go :)
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
You won't see any such drama from me pal. What's important, is getting our problems fixed as quick as possible.

Now if it were my round, then I wouldn't want you taking my go :)

Well even if you're a no drama guy it's still always a good idea to try to respect who the questions are directed to. :biggrin:
 

Boio_

Member
HempKat f-e This will be the final update on this grow. I will likely use my pH pens as well as the suggested API test kits for the next grow until I have figured this out. The good new is that the harvest was a big success. I expected a small yield of 20-30grams from the three plants, but, I am sure, given the help of everyone here, the yield is a whopping 80grams dried which are now being cured! New year, new grow. I am excited :)! See you all soon.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Thanks for the update Boio_

What we really like though... is diaries :) diaries and them little sweets in wrappers :)
 

Three Berries

Active member
My guess on why the pH drops so much between plants is the low reading ones are drawing more water out concentrating the metals? Do you use the same amount of water per pot and do you get the same amount of runoff? I like to get about a cup or so of runoff. Then suck that out of the tray and dry the tray. I just lay a towel in the tray and let it soak up what comes out later.

And as far as the pens go get one with a replaceable bulb. Usually they run over $60.

I have one of these. It is a good pen and holds it's calibration but you cannot replace the bulb. It will probably last abut 2-3 years depending on how well it its taken care of. They do make one with a replaceable bulb.

Apera Instruments AI209 PH20 Value Waterproof pH Pocket Tester, ±0.1 pH 0-14.0

https://aperainst.com/



Beware the replacement probe may cost as much as the cheaper version with out the replacement ability....
 
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Boio_

Member
f-e The good news is I made a diary and it is on my to do list to work through it and learn from my mistakes for the next one :)

Three Berries erries I bought a bluelab pen for 99 and have a cheap one for 30 and will use color strips on top of it next grow. I usually just water till there is run off. The amount of run off isn't exactly the same but roughly as the trays don't hold much. I use a syringe to put the run off in a cup and then read it. Could it be because of loose parts in the top soil from checking for how wet it is below the surface?
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
HempKat Sorry for the late reply, a lot of things happened. I think that was definitely one of the mistakes in the beginning, but I quickly corrected that one. Till harvest I still had issues with the pH sometime inexplicably dropping multiple points, even after using two different calibrated pH pens. I am currently drying my first buds ever and I am very excited to start a new grow and improve it next year. Your help is greatly appreciated, have a nice Christmas time over there!

Glad to hear it turned out better then you were thinking more then expected is almost always good. :biggrin: Hope you had a good Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year.
 

Boio_

Member
HempKat After all the corona craziness I finally got around to seeing my family and it was long overdue. I missed them very much and the time was good for my soul.

Hope you spent enjoyed your time too. Let's make 22 a good year.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
HempKat After all the corona craziness I finally got around to seeing my family and it was long overdue. I missed them very much and the time was good for my soul.

Hope you spent enjoyed your time too. Let's make 22 a good year.

Unfortunately Corona is still going pretty strong where I'm at, too many fools that refuse to get vaccines. On top of that all my living Family members had major surgeries they're recovering from so we all agreed to not get together this year just to avoid any risk of being exposed to Corona even though we're all vaccinated. Definitely spending time with family can be good for the soul especially when in times like these you have things like Corona keeping people apart..

Hopefully 2022 will be much better, they say the latest version of Corona while being the most contagious version yet is far less dangerous in terms of hospitalizing and/or killing people. That has led many doctors/scientists to speculate that between vaccines and natural immunity from those that get sick but survive, that maybe we'll achieve enough "Herd Immunity" that we might finally see an end to the Pandemic this year. I hope they're right .
 

ZOnaVerde

Well-known member
Veteran
The light from SANlight requires a rich soil preferably with guano stick, worm and enzymes and, during the flowering period, a slightly higher amount of calmag helps a lot to slow down the deficiencies. Large pots would be ideal, heavy in 2l with this panel :joint:
The second thing to pay attention to is the distance between the flower and the LED because it is a strong light that can penetrate even at a distance of 60cm (I mean the 250W + models).
Being a light with passive cooling in the hot season, high humidity and extra nutrients can help.

You can give them small amounts of calmag, pk from week 3+, depending on the soil and the quality of the nutrients which is a current problem, there are LEDs that require a slightly higher concentration (apply to 500W +), and go in the first 2-4 weeks of flowering with grow nutrient, flower, pk, enzymes, bloom.

Good luck with the next grow!
 

Three Berries

Active member
After the last go around of using Calcium Chloride on nearly an IV feed, this time not so much. The current flower girls got some in Veg but nothing overly done. And just a bit of my home made CaMg and some CalNit during the first week of flower to accelerate the stretch. They are looking most excellent.

Taking about a 1/2 gallon a day mostly rain water. 1/2 strength nutes if the run off drops below 1000 ppm. pH is around 6.5-6.7 for the run off.

Two in veg started on pure peat and yellow from the start are now upotted to FoxFarm soil in 5L containers, one Ocean Forest the other Happy Frog. Intimal watering is done with my hard well water, then rainwater. Today the first time to run off for pH check on the Ocean Forest; ppm was 1870 and pH 6.0 with a 3 oz quantity of runoff.

Started two auto seeds in the peat plugs. One made it the other didn't. The survivor is looking good it's in some Promix BX soil.
 
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TanzanianMagic

Well-known member
Veteran
Hello Everyone,

this is my first grow and I ran into all sorts of trouble, but am having a lot of fun. I first assumed the tacoing leaves meant that they were getting light burn and so increased the distance to my lamp, which now turned out to have made my plants become much higher than they should have been. (Quick one royal queen seeds says it should be 50-60cm but they are about 90cm in height now). The damage persisted. Here is the data I have:

Soil: BioBizz light mix
Nutes: Biobizz Max, Bloom and Grow as well as later on Calmag (thinking I have a Calcium deficiency)
pH down: Biobizz ph down
Pot size: 2 litres
Light: Sanlight q2w 50w
light schedule: 18/6
Strain: Quick One (Royal Queen Seeds)
Tent 40x40x140 (now moved em into a 40x80x160 to accommodate for height

The run off pH of one plant was way to low for some reason at around 4.5 with an E of 1.7 while the other two had good pH in runoff at 6.1 and 6.5 but one of them having a very high EC of 3.9. My guess is, that I fed nutrients too often (every waterin) while watering too often (in the beginning everyday, until I realized and only did it about every 2 days). What I do not understand is why the pH and EC differ so much, as I always fed them the same nutes and watered equally (not in amount, but until some water ran through the soil and came out on the bottom). After the flush I was able to raise the 4.5 pH to 6 and lower the 3.9 EC to 2. The damage persisted and new leaves now a week later are bright green while lower leaves straight up die and crisp up.

Is this Calcium deficiency brought upon me due to my imbalanced pH? My shitty milwaukee pH meter broke and I ordered a Bluelab one.

1. You need to repot.

At this time, it is good to mix 1 tablespoon of magnesium lime (like Maerl) per gallon of light mix, and saturate it with water for at least a day before using. That prevents magnesium and calcium issues, and stops the pH from crashing.

2. The plants need at minimum 1 gallon per 1 expected foot of growth.

More soil means fewer nutrient deficiencies.

RQS Quick One's height listed is 60cm or 100cm - 2 feet or 3 1/3 feet. 2 gallons is bout 8 litres. 2 Litres is way too small to prevent nutrient deficiencies from coming up.

3. Watering - every 2 days is still too often.

After you repot, you should:

- water very slowly, until the medium is completely saturated.
- don't water again, until the top of the soil is dry in the morning.

That allows enough air to get into the rootzone for the plant to breathe. Think of it as the plant being watered by the evaporation of the moist soil. As long as the top of the soil is moist, it doesn't need to be watered.

4. Reduce your nutrient concentration.

Use 0.5 EC on top of the water's EC, max. (For instance if your water is 0.4 EC, add 0.5 EC for a total of 0.9 EC.)

This nutrient concentration will increase as the soil dries.
 

Three Berries

Active member
Here is the latest grow nearing the end. Mostly rain and some well water with minimal nutes in flower. They did have low pH issues but this was resolved and the run off is between 6.4 and 6.8.

But both show brown crispy edges on the newest upper leaves and some brown tips.

I was reading a calcium deficiency?


GDP 2 2022 #2 8 w.jpg
 

TanzanianMagic

Well-known member
Veteran
The damage to the serrated edge of the leaves indicates potassium deficiency/lockout. Which would also be consistent with the low pH.

If you want to keep them in these pots, which is understandable because of the relatively late state of flowering, you have to raise the pH towards 7 and slowly increase the EC/PPM levels.

For the next time...

- Choose larger pots

Actually the larger the better, however 1 gallon per expected foot of growth is the minimum to stay ahead of nutrient deficiencies.

- The Medium

You should use Canna Bio Terra - very easy medium - which is prefertilized and cannabis thrives in it.

Also, Light Mix is usually good basis for making a supersoil of 1/3 light mix, worm castings and perlite (put perlite in a tub with warm water for 10 minutes, scoop up everything that floats and discard the rest - the fine dust turns a mix into cement over time).

Add a tablespoon per gallon of magnesium lime, and a tablespoon of bentonite clay.

If you mix 2 tablespoons per gallon of bloodmeal (N), bonemeal (P), woodash (K), seaweed (micronutrients), bat guano (P or K) and another 20% of it's volume in perlite, into 2/3 of the base mix, wet it and let that rest for a month or more.

- Watering

If you don't use a water reservoir in the pot, you should let the soil dry out until the top of the soil is dry in the morning. Use 1/4 of the EC/PPM you want to end up with. This is because nutrients become more concentrated in drying soil.
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
I agree with Tanzan saying it's potassium deficiency/lockout and the lockout is due to calcium imbalance. I have been watching your plants from the beginning and was very interested in seeing the end results from your calcium applications. I have found that It's important to run calcium steady without fluctuation keeping it constant low ppm for this very reason. 😎
 

Three Berries

Active member
I think it's potassium excess acifying the soil from too much Langbeinite when mixing the soil originally. Same thing with the other grow and using 16 oz of peat. These two got a lot of calcium when in veg but this one the picture is of has had little in the last 10 weeks other than a bit of well water. The other one got a lot more calcium on into 2 weeks of flowering. That one is done at the ten weeks and I'm moving it out tomorrow.

The pH runoff is slowly dropping. 6.4 this morning.
 

AlphaCentaury78

Cosmonauta cannabico 🚀
Looks and sounds like you have multiple problems. It does look like they might be root bound which will cause leaves to yellow and drop of but what you described were definite issues of overwatering. I assume what you called tacoing is what is often called leaf cupping which can be caused by a number of things including over watering and the grow space being too warm. There was definitely ph issues with two plants being too low in ph, the one at 6.5 was fine and that would be supported if it was the one with the fewest problems. My guess is the one with the lowest ph is also the one with the worst issues and the high EC. since at a ph of 4.5 virtually all nutrients were locked out and with you feeding and watering daily the fertilizer was just continually building up to toxic levels. The one at 6.1 was just a little low but even at 6.1 all your main flower nutrients as well as calcium and magnesium were locked out. PH for soil should be ideally at 6.5 but can go slightly lower or higher although in flower it would be better to be 6.5 or slightly higher 6.0 is still too low and will have most nutrients locked out.

If it were me, I would transplant them to slightly bigger pots to relieve any potential rootbound issues and give them noting but water and get the run off ph at 6.5. It might take a few days before you see signs of improvement but it will be in new growth, the leaves that have been negatively impacted will not become healthy looking again, at best they'll die off at a slower rate. Once the plant starts looking better you can begin gradually feeding them as needed. You shouldn't be watering any more frequently the once every other day and the maximum number of feeding per week should be 2 with every 3rd watering being just plain water and the whole time the ph should be no lower then 6.3 and no higher then 6.8 and since they're flowering the range really should be no lower then 6.5 and no higher then 6.8.

Again the EC was likely highest on the plant getting the lowest ph because the nutrients were just sitting there in the soil with more being added daily. If the reason you got to watering them daily was because they would start to wilt if you waited longer that was when your plants were getting root bound. I've attached a graphic that shows the relationship between ph and nutrient uptake when growing in soil. The ranges are different for plants being grown in hydro..
Hi. Interesting table nutient.
👍🏻👍🏻
 

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