Recurring Leaf Issues-4th Grow in a Row

[TribalSeeds]

You never let your PH go above 6.0 Tribal? The reason I flush each res change is that i'm paranoid about salt buildup, and that it's easy/convenient at res change. How do you achieve "half strength" for feeding without draining and remixing nutes? Do you start around 1000 and let the ppm's drop as you add water through the week? I'm gonna try your feed schedule and see what happens. My ppm's are around 910 right now and I have lots of light too, so hopefully it works out for me. Like I said, the plants generally look good, but I don't want a small problem to get worse.
P.S. Do you step back your ppm's later in flower, and if so, to what level? Obviously for the flush, but prior to that.

The PH naturally drifts, so I put it in a 5.8-6 and asume it rises to atleast 6.5, allowing the plants to absorb nutes at all the ranges in between. Ive never tested my run off though, I dont think it tells me much unless there is a huge problem. I also havent noticed any built up salts on the coco or anything using less than 1000PPM and CNS17.
Last grow I did feed,feed,water at 5.8 and up to 1200 PPM. I did notice salts building up on my Hydroton on the top of the pots suring this grow and I was flushing. I was using PBP and CalMag and I was getting a few leaves with brown spotting and burning all the way through the grow. Everything else looked good though and the buds came out covered in crystal.
I did a lot of reading on ICMag and found out a lot of users were giving full strength at 1000PPM and then filling the res back with just water and PH adjusting it so they could give the next feed at half strength. I decided to try this out, but my plants just seemed so vigorous I decided to reduce the half feeds during veg.
During flower I have increased the half feed to 1/3 of my waterings so far. I'm also using a zyme now because I dont want too much N left over(I also had some root damage on one of my girls). I did feed them a little Grow during the first 7 days of 12/12 because I read SD likes the N during early flower. Later in flower I plan to gradually reduce my nutes before the final "flush". I plan to just water as normal, 25% runoff until the last few days when I plan to give less water before the chop.

 

[skinzilla]

PBP? When you say feed, feed, water, did you just top feed the water every third day, and let the runoff drain into the res and mix with the nutes? Sorry to ask so many questions, I just wanna make sure I do it right. I'm using a product called Zenzyme, and the hydro shop guy said I should be able to feed right up until the 2 week flush if i use it, so maybe a half strength feed at each res change would cut it?

 

[TribalSeeds]

PBP? When you say feed, feed, water, did you just top feed the water every third day, and let the runoff drain into the res and mix with the nutes? Sorry to ask so many questions, I just wanna make sure I do it right. I'm using a product called Zenzyme, and the hydro shop guy said I should be able to feed right up until the 2 week flush if i use it, so maybe a half strength feed at each res change would cut it?

Botanicare - Pure Blend Pro (Coco & Soil Formula)
I dont use a res, Im still doing everything by hand. Well, Im using a Wet Vac(Without the filter, LOL) to remove the runoff this time.
Feed,Feed,Water is 100% nutes, 100% nutes then just water. You can also add silica or tea to this water mix. But I like the 100%,50%,100% or similar idea a lot better.
Im aiming for a 7-10 day flush. I think with coco if you back off the nutes before the flush you shouldnt need 2 weeks. Its all user preference though. Im still experimenting with my options.
Ive heard the same about the zyme products being used up until flush, but I plan to cut it in a couple weeks into flower so they arent eating up any extra leftover N. They shouldnt be rooting after the stretch either. Ive heard of people having issues with Hygrozyme in a recirculating system with Hydroguard, Im not sure about the other zymes out there, but Im not going to test it out on my flowering plants.
I just noticed your using a rinsing agent. Ive read that some of these agents can actually cause some leaves to start to die off because they send them signals that trigger hormones that tell them its the end of the life cycle. I think this info is available somewhere here under the finishing products and flushing agents info http://www.igrowhydro.com/info2-nutrients-pH.aspx

 

[skullznroses]

When will this stupid rumour end? If a drop of water on a leaf actually did act like a magnifying glass, then what would happen to outdoor plants when the sun came out after a rainstorm?

I COMPLETELY disagree with this... your an ass hole for even suggesting you know what you are talking about. Don't confuse people on the right track. Yes, if you spray with water that has something in it such as neem, or even CalMag, EWC tea, or some other drench, and the leaves are under bright light you can get dead spots. Happens to me both indoors and outdoors.

I have worked at Farms smart guy, and we made a big deal about not spraying crops during the middle of the day. Hell, my boss would spray under the moon if the weather let him so he wouldn't fry the fruit.

In my experience pure water doesn't cause the leaves to get burned ever, so no... the sun doesn't kill plants when it rains.

Be very careful spraying plants with anything other then water... Always. Spray them right after the lights go out or spray them out of the grow room and then spray them with water before returning are two ways around this issue.

 

[skullznroses]

My opinion is that it is light nute burn... or there are some gnats/bugs in your soil. Dead spots on the leaves correspond with dead parts of the roots the little bastards eat I think.

Ever notice tiny flying bugs that look like fruit flys. Common to have even in the winter. I have just water for a few weeks with Bene Bacterial (Gnatrol) my plants are no longer shooting up any damaged leaves, I had some similar problems...

 

[skinzilla]

I actually had the little bastards last round, so I'm well aware of the critters. I haven't noticed any, but I am early in flower, so I may give the girls a blast of neem. I thought of nute burn too, but I wasn't sure. I've stepped my ppm down to 900 from 1050(give or take), and the plants are definitely big enough to handle 900 I'd assume. I broke out the mini step ladder and took some pics of the top of the plants if that helps.

 

[skinzilla]

Yes Tribal, I used an rinsing agent at half strength right as I went into flower. That was last Friday, but do you think that it could be part of the issue? I'm hoping a res change, a half strength feed, and lowering my ppm to the 5.7-6.0 range will do the trick, and I'll avoid the rinsing agents from here on in. Hopefully by Monday I'll have the problem beat(minor as it is).

 

[skinzilla]

Yes Tribal, I used an rinsing agent at half strength right as I went into flower. That was last Friday, but do you think that it could be part of the issue? I'm hoping a res change, a half strength feed, and lowering my ppm to the 5.7-6.0 range will do the trick, and I'll avoid the rinsing agents from here on in. Hopefully by Monday I'll have the problem beat(minor as it is).

Oops, I meant lower my PH-and I'll also keep my ppm in the 850-1000 range. Everything sound kosher?

 

[TribalSeeds]

Yes Tribal, I used an rinsing agent at half strength right as I went into flower. That was last Friday, but do you think that it could be part of the issue? I'm hoping a res change, a half strength feed, and lowering my ppm to the 5.7-6.0 range will do the trick, and I'll avoid the rinsing agents from here on in. Hopefully by Monday I'll have the problem beat(minor as it is).

There shouldnt be any need for the rinsing agent. Id also recommend spraying the neem and possibly a fungicide for the first couple of weeks of flower, until you see buds, but only when the lights are out. You want them to be dried before the lights come back on to be safe. Alternate between the two if you decide to combine them, and also make sure you dont overdue it with either.

 

[praisehim.]

I'd start feeding at 5.8 consitently. your nute regiment seems fine, your plants look healthy. The only to problems could be light or bugs. My guess is bugs... listen to tribal^^ spray em with neem or better yet, azamax.

 

[TribalSeeds]

Oops, I meant lower my PH-and I'll also keep my ppm in the 850-1000 range. Everything sound kosher?

Id actually stay in the 900 range for awhile with the problems you've had and maybe bump it up later and see what happens. You might have a light feeder, I havent researched the strain though. Keep things steady and simple once you get it dialed in. The plants dont like things to keep changing.

 

[TribalSeeds]

Are your coco nutes designed for tap or R/O and which are you using? You might also want to check their labels calcium levels when deciding what EC/PPM

 

[vannuysorganic]

I would say it's just a few random leaves on most of the plants. Here's some pics of the rest of the garden, but they're not that great. I still haven't figured out how to take good pics while the lights are on.

Nice garden>......

Try putting a pair of polarized sun glasses in front of your camera lense the lines will go away

I used to have a similar prob in my coco plants.... Now I flush all coco before use. Let the coco dry out a little every 7 to 10 days. Keep ph under 6. I am also dilligent about cleaning any pots or any thing reused with physan. Now those problems went away, not sure if it was one or a combo of all but hope this helps.

Oh yeah maybe start adding sm-90 if root issues have been a prob before......Peace

 

[skinzilla]

Tribal, I'm using tap water at the moment(letting it sit with airstones for 12 hours minimum before use). I don't have the option of buying an RO setup or new nutes right now, so I hope the nutes are compatible(i'll check the bottles later when I get motivated).
I'm gonna go with the 900 ppm and 5.8 feeding and see how she goes. I've carefully inspected for bugs, and haven't found any(nor any on my sticky traps), so I'm hoping we can rule out that problem.
Vannuys, thank you so much for the pic taking tip! I hate those damn lines, so I'll be giving the glasses a try for sure. I did flush my coco, but I haven't really let it dry out. If things aren't up to snuff next week, I'll give that a try too.

 

[skinzilla]

I had no polarized sunglasses, but I used my regular ones to try the pic trick, and much better results now. Thanks again.

 

[skinzilla]

I'm not sure if anyone's still following this thread, but after doing some reading here:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688 and looking at some other pics/links, I'm wondering if I didn't have the start of a PH problem as well as nute burn? A lot of the pics sure look like what I have(teef in particular, if I remember correctly). Sound like a possibility to anyone? Seeing how it's not TOO bad yet, would I be okay to just give water for a day or two when I change my res tomorrow, or do you think I should do a full fledged flush(hand watered from top)? No leaves are over 50 percent dead, so I'm hoping a couple bottom feeds/floods of just water and keeping my PH at 5.8 and PPM's at 850-900 I can avoid a full hand watering flush.

 

[TribalSeeds]

Im pretty sure both threads are the same ph & ppm problems. I don't think flushing will help. I actually believe it is hurting. Do a couple of google searches on Coco Cation Exchange Charge or capacity. Im on my phone or I would paste. Basically, when you flush coco you wipeout the nutrient bank and start over. The plants don't feed properly until the CEC is filled. This issue has caused the problems you are having in the past for me. Instead of flushing I just make sure I get good run-off when I feed.
The neem and fungicide recommendations are preventative. I highly recommend hitting the plants til you see buds. Don't over-use that stuff, it can kill leaves.

 

[TribalSeeds]

I would also try to avoid going too light on the nutes. You want to avoid cal/mag deficiencies. A cation exchange problem will cause every deficiency there is. Also try to keep ppms consistant.

 

[TripleDraw27]

Some kinda insect...

Know before you go buddy. You think about that ASSumption line.

This is false.^


I have had the same thing OP. Adjust PH, maybe look at your calmag ratios/ nute ratios. Read https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688 , I know its there, YOUR picture may not be there, but read those descriptions. But imo has to do with PH or some Nute issue. Its not a fucking bug.

When I frist got this a few cycles back, I was new to coco, i was weak on my cal mag. Not sure if it was my fix, my issues like your photos no longer exist. Its tough to say what it is from the computer, search your same keywords that you have used in the infirmary.

 

[skinzilla]

Agreed it's not a bug. I vegged them with an inch of sterilized sand on the top of each pot, to avoid fungus gnats, as I had a few last round.
Tribal, I'm using a Calmag supplement, so as long as I keep my ppm over 850, shouldn't I be okay, or is it not necessarily that easy? As I said, all in all, the plants look good, but I want to figure out how to get beauty looking ladies, from start to finish(isn't it good to be picky? lol). Once again, thanks a bunch for all the help folks. I'm gonna spray with low strength Neem at lights out tonight, change the res tomorrow, and hopefully i'll have some good results to post next week.