Sick girls, please help

[Beardboy]

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor

Growing Medium: Coco Peat (Dutch Glory)

Growing Style: Grow tent, 29cm pots

Watering/Feeding Frequency: Every 3rd day, usually feed on 2nd/3rd watering

Nutrient Strength (PPM/EC): Cocos A&B (House & Garden)

PH Levels: Slightly under 7 (assuming my PH meter is correct)

Temperature/Humidity Levels: Average 25C/60% (fluctuates)

Air Flow/Fans etc.: 150mm inline fan

Lighting Type (CFL/HPS/MH etc.): HPS - 18 hours on, 6 off

Total Wattage: 400W

Growth Stage: Veg

Plants Age: Approx 1 1/2 months

Cannabis Strain: White Widow (feminised)

 

Hey guys,

 

Well after finally relocating to QLD and getting my own place, I set up my grow tent a bit over a month ago to grow the White Widow I've been dreaming about for ages. They all started well enough, but being a first-time grower it looks like I've made a lot of rookie mistakes, and now I desperately need some advice. I'll go through each plant, as they seem to have different problems:

 

Plant #1:

 

Sadly, this one is probably the healthiest of the bunch. As you can see, it's drooping a bit, and has yellow/light-green streaks running through some leaves, which started some time last week.

 

Plant #2:

 

I had to help straighten this one up as the top part of the stem was starting to bend a little. For some reason, this one's always had a lighter green colour. Regardless, it's the largest and perkiest of the bunch...but just a couple of days ago it started developing brown spots, and as of today have become much larger marks on some lower leaves.

 

Plant #3:

 

Believe it or not, this one was the largest and healthiest of them all last week! It had the same colour streaks as plant #1 (also started last week), but since has got much worse - to pure yellowing on the lower leaves. And as you can see, extremely droopy too.

 

All pics were taken tonight. One thing they all have in common is that their growth has slowed significantly over the last few weeks. They're all about 15cm tall atm. I suspected my PH levels were probably way off, so I bought one of those PH meters from Bunnings last weekend, and assuming it's accurate, yeah the PH was almost at 7. I don't have PH balancers, but I read that you can substitute with balsamic vinegar if you have to. So at the start of the week I flushed them all with a water/vinegar mix, which actually did seem to get the PH down to a more suitable level...for a whole day. Didn't make any difference to growth or the developing problems, and the PH has shot right back up to where it was.

 

I fed them all last night with 1/2 strength nutes. No improvements to any plant so far - the only different is the brown spots on plant #2 turning into the bigger marks you see now.

 

So, what do you think is wrong with these girls? Can they yet be saved? I still have a few seeds tucked away...but I'd rather just fix these ones than start from scratch. Please tell me what I need to do to get them back on track! I'm going to a hydro store this weekend to buy some proper PH balancers and PH tester so I can get the run-off levels. Is there anything else you recommend I should buy to help with my situation? I really need to get the PH levels fixed...should I flush again this weekend after I get the balancers? What else I can do?

 

Cheers!

[Rose Gardener]

First off, your pH is too high. You want to be aiming at 5.8 in coco.

 

Secondly, buy some proper pH up and down. Vinegar is not stable enough for this sort of application. Been there, done that, learnt the hard way.

 

With the pH being too high, I'd say you definitely have some issues with nute lock out.

 

Here's a link regarding pH, http://www.cannaversity.com/cannaversity/article.php?id=039

 

And this one is about nute problems including pics. http://www.cannaversity.com/cannaversity/article.php?id=057

 

You also have not mentioned what EC you are feeding at.

 

All in all I would say that if you fixed up your pH things should clear up. But I'm no expert and would advise waiting for a more qualified person's opinion.

 

All the best with it.

[Reverend]

Give the plants a good flush, and your ph should be 5.8. as you can see this is where the nutriments are taken up. Rosey is on the money.

 

[Beardboy]

Thanks heaps for the info Bella & Reverend, very informative links! Yeah nute lockout makes perfect sense. I'll give them a good flush as soon as I buy some PH balancers this weekend.

 

Unfortunately I don't have an EC tester...looks like that's something else I'll be buying at the store! You adjust EC by adding more water to your nutes, right? I've generally just been feeding at 1/4 or 1/2 of the nute to water ratio recommended on the label. But yeah it's probably off, I'll definitely get a tester to get that right, too. On the bag my coco soil came in it says the EC should be less than 0.3...does that sound right?

 

Should I feed them right after flushing them, or should I wait a few days for the soil to dry a bit?

[Auntynorm]

G'day Beard.

 

When in doubt, flush 'em out. Even though my indoor was in soiI, I flushed them every couple of weeks, to draw out the salts that had built up in the medium, seemed to work ok. :guitar:

[Rose Gardener]

Thanks heaps for the info Bella & Reverend, very informative links! Yeah nute lockout makes perfect sense. I'll give them a good flush as soon as I buy some PH balancers this weekend.

 

Unfortunately I don't have an EC tester...looks like that's something else I'll be buying at the store! You adjust EC by adding more water to your nutes, right? I've generally just been feeding at 1/4 or 1/2 of the nute to water ratio recommended on the label. But yeah it's probably off, I'll definitely get a tester to get that right, too. On the bag my coco soil came in it says the EC should be less than 0.3...does that sound right?

 

Should I feed them right after flushing them, or should I wait a few days for the soil to dry a bit?

 

I would DEFINITELY advise getting an EC meter. It's an essential tool imo.

 

At about 6 weeks I was feeding at an EC of 1.2 but all plants are different and nute requirements can vary a fair bit from strain to strain.

 

And yes, you adjust your EC by adding more nutes or water to your mix. The more nutes in the water the higher your EC will be.

I'm using the Canna brand coco nutes and have found that 2 mL of each part per litre of water gives me an EC of 1.3. This will vary from brand to brand I believe.

 

When it comes to the EC of coco, I don't really have much knowledge. All I know is that I flush the crap out of it before I use it. However, I am using the Richgo bricks from Bunnings and feel the need to flush it a little more than I would the bagged stuff.

Flushing your coco before use just makes sure that there's not crap in it that's going to affect the plants. Fellow coco enthusiasts, please correct me If I am wrong about anything. I'm not expert and am still learning myself.

 

With flushing, yes, it is best to let them dry out a little bit normally as over watering is a common problem coco newbies seem to have. I learnt all about over watering when I first started out in soil and have learnt from my errors. But no one is born all knowing.

I really don't know what to advise in your current situation. While your gurls are screaming for a feed, you don't want to stress them any further but keeping their feet too wet.

Hey Padre, you want to chip in here? You are my go to guy for info after all.

 

You don't need to wait for you pH adjusters to flush. You are fine to flush without adjusting your water. Both Padre and I do this without any detriment to the plants.

 

It is only when you are feeding that you need to make sure your pH is correct as the pH affects what elements are available to the plants.

 

I hope all this have made sense and been of use to you. As I said, I'm still learning too.

 

If anyone knows any different from what I've offered in the way of info, please let me know!

[stinky]

hay beardboy

 

also testing what comes out of your pot as run off is very helpfull

if the p/h starts to rise in my pots say to 6.5 for example

i would flush them with water that has been ph to 5.5 or lower as it can sometime take a fair amount of water to bring them down to 5.8 useing the normal method of flushing with ph water of 5.8

knowing what e/c going in and out of your pot is a must unless you are very expreianced and even than should be used

if you are feeding your plants an e/c of 1 for several feeds and your run off is comeing out at say e/c .5

than you know you should be raiseing your e/c going in

if the e/c starts to rise in your run off and your plants look burnt around the leaf edge

than you know its time to flush and lower your e/c going in

 

 

stinky

[Rose Gardener]

hay beardboy

 

also testing what comes out of your pot as run off is very helpfull

if the p/h starts to rise in my pots say to 6.5 for example

i would flush them with water that has been ph to 5.5 or lower as it can sometime take a fair amount of water to bring them down to 5.8 useing the normal method of flushing with ph water of 5.8

knowing what e/c going in and out of your pot is a must unless you are very expreianced and even than should be used

if you are feeding your plants an e/c of 1 for several feeds and your run off is comeing out at say e/c .5

than you know you should be raiseing your e/c going in

if the e/c starts to rise in your run off and your plants look burnt around the leaf edge

than you know its time to flush and lower your e/c going in

 

 

stinky

 

stinky.

 

I COMPLETELY forgot about that!

 

I always check my pH and EC coming out too, yes.

It helps you gauge how things are going and whether or not you need to raise or lower you EC....

[havik_racing]

hey man some good advice getting thrown at you here, someone from here mentioned to me in regarding ph down to use Hydrochloric acid, i bought a bottle 10$ and only need the tiniest drip to bring it down,my tap water here is pretty hard comes out at 7.5, Jaycar at the moment have Digitech Ph pens for 49$ awesome investment,

 

i had the brown spots appear to when i started nuting them started spreading to other leaves e.t.c, invested in a truncheon meter and seem to have it under control

 

good luck man!

[Beardboy]

Hey everyone! Thanks again so much for all the advice, it's been very helpful!

 

Havik I went to Jaycar and got myself one of those PH pens you recommended...SO glad I got that instead of a water testing kit!

 

I went to the hydro store today as well and got myself an EC tester as well as PH balancers, so I think I'm completely set now. The balancers work like a charm and I flushed all my plants with PH5 adjusted water a few times and tested the run-off as suggested until it hit 5.8 for each one! Interestingly enough, each girl was already starting to show signs of improvement before I flushed...they're all less droopy, and plant #2 has even shot up a few cm. I guess these are some tough girls. Can't wait to see how well they go now that the PH is at the right level!

 

I'll feed them again a few days from now. Will the PH stay at the right level until then? If so I guess I just make sure my nute mix is balanced at 5.8PH, give a few litres to each plant and test the run-off again? Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I'm still trying to work this EC tester out though! It measures in µ/S - I got some calibration solution at the shop as well, which calibrates at 2.76mS/cm...which I thought converts to 276 µ/S? I calibrated it to exactly that, but after testing it in a cup of tap water, the meter reads it at about 312 µ/S. Umm does this sound right? I'm still trying to work out how to convert the readings into EC, but this just sounds way off. It's a HM Digital EC-3 tester.