Indoor health issues (with plenty of photos)

[polony]

My plant is early into flowering and has been showing various health issues for a while. The seed is a Cares seed's skunk. The location is essentially indoors, with the exception that I have been unable to have the light on for more than 12 hours a day (very obvious to passers by when it is on at night). This hasn't been an issue as the plant did go into flowering after a reasonable amount of time and my next batch of seeds are a type of AK-47 auto's, so I can't image a permanent 12/12 cycle causing major issues.

 

I use 1x 600W HPS light, am growing in a large pot with some premium potting mix (comes with a small amount of slow release osmocote mixed in, probably not ideal) and am now using Yates Thrive Fruit & Flower fert (was using the standard thrive for veg). The veg fert has an NPK of 27:5.5:9 and the flowering is 15:4:26. Now I know the second NPK isn't exactly perfectly in line with most cannabis specific ones, but it isn't far off, is flower specific and I can't imagine those NPK's being the cause just on their own. The ferts are cheap and easy to get, I have seen a couple of growers have success with them so I'd like to stick with those if at all possible. It's a shame those growers don't know enough to help me with my issues though.

 

I'll let you look at the various photos and explain what's been going on below. Yes the plant isn't in the centre of the pot, not worth explaining and will be resolved in the next grow. I will mention quickly that I bought a soil pH test kit the other day and it came out nearly bang on 7, so hopefully I've eliminated that as an issue. I have a fan blowing just to the side of the plant and I do rotate it regularly, having the fan aimed straight at the plant seems to blow it way too hard and I can only move it so far away, it still makes the plant jiggle a bit so I guess that would count as adequate airflow.

 

Grow light was turned on for this photo, hence the yellow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see some of the tips are yellow/brown and curled. I have been reading and this seems to be a nute burn issue. I was initially feeding them once a week at thrive's recommended nute dose, then decided to reduce this to half dosage twice a week to try and resolve. It hasn't made a difference so now thinking of going to half strength once a week, thoughts?

 

At the very top of the plant lots of the leaves are curled and damaged, I believe this is because I had the plant too close to the light. I have now moved it back to a bit over 30cm's away, will those leaves improve or is it permanent damage? It doesn't seem to be consistant with the photos of burnt leaves I've seen online but I can't think of anything else.

 

In very random spots around the plant small sets of leaves are similar to the top and 'cupping'. Many of the leaves look perfect so it's a bit of an odd problem, can't figure it out. I suppose it may also be related to my suspected excessive nute issue. I have been watering once a day but thinking of reducing this frequency to ensure the top layer of soil is dry before rewatering, I'm thinking I've been overdoing that a touch.

 

The other issue you will notice is small yellow spots on a few groups of leaves. I believe this may be spidermite? I am trying to resolve the issue and have a mix of 4 different 'miticides' to try out, am only using the organic/minimally toxic ones now that the plant is flowering. I am aware of the need to rotate miticides to avoid the buggers becoming resistant.

 

Last but not least, the very bottom leaves get very little light and you can see them dying, I assume this is normal for a setup like mine. I would love to spend some time and improve the setup to get a bit more light down there, but am limited by time at the moment. It's not in a small area so lining walls isn't an option, any quick and easy ideas?

 

So basically I've done my best to get you guys the photos and done my best to do some research and develop a hypothesis, I would love your help to get these issues sorted. Thanks in advance, what an awesome community this is!

Edited October 30, 2011 by polony

[conman]

hey polony, welcome to OZStoners!

 

I believe your right about the tops, it does look like they got to hot/close to the light. The curl may slightly reduce over time but its unlikely. I have found once its done they tend to stay like that. It is normal for the plant to use the nutrients from the very bottom leaves and they will then shrivel up and eventually fall off.

The spots and tips yellowing may be due to an over fert issue but it doesn't look to bad. I would keep with the once a week feed at full strength and then just water them with plain water every 2nd or 3rd day. She should tell you how often you need to water or you can lift the pot to see how heavy it is.

pH for MJ should be a little lower about 6-6.7 for soil out side of this can cause nutrient lockout. Don't rely on the soil pH test kits I found them very unreliable.

Over all I think your plant is doing well. It takes a lot of practice to get everything 100%. Have a good look through cannaversity(link at the top) the Nutrients & Mediums section is a great place for you to start!

 

Keep it up.

Peace

Edited October 30, 2011 by conman

[Frazz]

hey yea welcome up polony

 

conman^ has pretty much covered your plants' situation with good advice

i agree plant does seem to be doing pretty well,

and i have run outdoor grows in a soil PH of 7-7.1 , without any problems

 

only thing i could add is that maybe you could flush thru the pot with plain water

before resuming once weekly feeding

 

all da best with 'em

[polony]

Thanks for the responses. Good to hear the situation isn't too bad, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be sure of the pH though, I'd rather get these things spot on if I can. What would you guys suggest to test the soil pH accurately? Cannaversity is great shit, I found watching 'Ready set grow' on youtube was helpful too.

[-RiverRat-]

Hey polony welcome bro . Hope it turns around soon mate. Little more exxy but I'd be using hydro nutes at the least if going non organic. An ec meter would be a usefull tool also to measure whats going in. I dunno but i never gone anything above 1.2 ec with soil and waterings inbetween.. Im no soil expert however.

 

 

Conman can you elaborate more on the test kits your finding unreliable just its the first that Ive heard they are. Got me questioning my own kit here now mate hehe. Ive used the odd kit here and there and am about to retest some more.

 

Cheers fellas and thanks for posting polony. Again welcome

 

-RiverRat-

[everest]

welcome buddy , i know its aball ache .. but i pick all the osmocote , lumps .. bark out .. sift it if you like , then add heaps of washed perlite .. that shit fert will give medium results , grab some canna flower an superthrive .. or just carry on ...

 

ev

[conman]

Conman can you elaborate more on the test kits your finding unreliable just its the first that Ive heard they are. Got me questioning my own kit here now mate hehe. Ive used the odd kit here and there and am about to retest some more.

 

Mostly from reading other peoples opinions and from personal use. I still think they are better than not testing at all and im sure like with most things you get what you pay for. I have bought the one in the photo and after 3 tests got 3 different results I just guessed an average and went with that. This was one from the cheaper price range.

The pH of the water your using for the test will also effect the result you get. Always use RO water to test your soil with.

this works because pure water has absolutely no buffering capacity, and should be absolutely neutral at pH7. adding soil to it will instantly bring the pH of the whole solution to that of the soil.

 

http://www.hannainst.com/usa/subcat.cfm?id=001

http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product=soilsmarts

 

I grow my MJ in hydro now and have bought at least 6 Digital pH meters. I would recommend using one of these to test the pH of your water/feed solution before watering your plants. At least that way you know that you are giving your plants accurate pH, even if the soil you are using has slightly out of range pH.

 

Peace