Hello Farmer Community, New Here..

[strngegrower]

Just a fellow lover of the culture of cultivating. Its so promising to see that this wonderful plant can flourish such beautiful girls. I am attempting a handful of bag toss(bagseed). To get myself once again familiar with the routines involved. Sadly from what I've been able to research, I think I might have run into a slight water issue. I think the water may be a bit hard, and/ or Ph a bit high. For temporary use I found some water conditioner I had around. ( vitagrow water conditioner ) The medium is foxfarm ocean forest mix. As I've had success with it years ago. The container is a 3 gal pot. With plenty of room for runs off so there is minimal buildup. The source of light is a combo of 2. I have them around 6 inches apart..as heat isn't an issue. Temps hover between 76 - 79 with occasional spikes of 80. The space I have to work with I'm guessing would be considered micro. 5h x 2d x 6w. And to answer another piece of information. One light is a 400w (mh) the other is a viparspectra 1200( non reflective black series ). The plant in question popped a month ago. I first thought it was overwatering. I started out with .2ml of b52 at 2weeks from pop date. It did well for a week...then began to show deficiency signs. From what I researched it looks like calcium or mag. Then it began to show signs like it was being over watered. I was giving it about 30ml of water every 2/3 days or when the soil felt dry. With the finger dig test to see if my fingernails would return with moisture. Up to the first knuckle. When dry I would water again..repeat. But lately it's has just gotten worse. I am wonder if she is being under watered as opposed to over watering. My resources are a tad limited to just run out and buy costly remedies. Cost efficient help would be appreciated. Let me know if there is anything I forgot. And great community by the way. You guys seems very helpful and almost like a brotherhood/sisterhood ( just incase there are any women cultivators here )

Oh I almost forgot, the lights are 24(vipar) to 28(mh)inches above. The spike of 82 is because I moved the gauge to move around the area. Just in case anyone was wondering.

 

[1diesel1]

Welcome to, The Farm!! Good to see all the info flow out of your post. Remember the search bar, it can take you places you never new existed in here. Take some better pics of your lady. That will help for a in-depth journey to your ailment.

 

[strngegrower]

Thanks for the quick response! And sure thing!

 

[Jimster]

I'm not familiar with a lot of the newer fertilizers and conditioners, but to me it looks like it def needs more water...you really can't overwater if you have good drainage, although it can happen if watered too often. The other possible problem is too much nutrients, which often makes the plant look like it needs water despite lots of it being poured. The pattern fits as you said everything was going well until you fertilized it. I use only Promix and composted manure 80/20 and have never had a problem in decades. From my understanding, a lot of the pre made soil mixes are pretty powerful already, nutrient wise. Adding more nutrients, especially at such a sensitive stage in growth, probably over-fed them.
Most fertilizers are somewhat acidic, but are also salts of their base components to make them water soluble. When you get too much of them, the salts will reverse the flow of nutrients and water to the plant, essentially drawing the water out of the plant. If I had the problem, would either flush it out a few times and see how it responds (since I don't think it will last long in it's current condition) or soak it for an hour in water to dilute the salts that re causing the issues. This is my opinion but is typical of the 1st stages of fertilizer burn. At this stage, I don't think you have much choice.
The plant doesn't look like it's a lost cause and appears to be doing a little better, judging by the new growth. Keep us up to date! :cool:

 

[strngegrower]

Here are a few more from a different angle

 

[strngegrower]

Those bottom fan leaves are why I was thinking it was a cal/mag issue from the water. Sadly.

 

[Jimster]

I never worry about the 1st couple of leaves since they are easily damaged and often turn yellow or freaky looking. If you have hard water, you probably don't need any additional calcium or acids unless the water is super hard or acidic. I'm not sure where you are located, but water isn't usually a problem unless it is contaminated...almost all tap waters will be OK and treated to keep the PH within reason.
Even when using only straight Promix without any added nutrients, I let the plants grow the first 2 weeks without any fertilizers. From my reading on the forums, Foxfarms seem to be pretty hot and a lot of people seem to have issues with them. Do a little reading, but I think a flush or a soak will work out for you.

 

[strngegrower]

Well. Location..I'll say its a closet grow :)
And if I remember right before I misplaced my ph meter, I remember the reading at almost 8.5 :sweating::sweating: out of the tap here, and it smelled of chlorine. That's the reason the Water Conditioner was purchased. Never used it. Moved shortly after purchase. ( Been at least 2 yrs ) I had a soil ph meter but that was lost as well. I plan on getting another one soon. As I'll NEED it. I had a soil, and water ph meter previously. But I hadn't done hydro in so long. Some of the parts get lost while looking at you ( pun intended lol ).

 

[strngegrower]

Also I know it's not needed but here are pics of the drainage. Just trying to give as much Info as I can

 

[1diesel1]

Also I know it's not needed but here are pics of the drainage. Just trying to give as much Info as I can

Soil looks pretty dry.

 

[Jimster]

Well. Location..I'll say its a closet grow :)
And if I remember right before I misplaced my ph meter, I remember the reading at almost 8.5 :sweating::sweating: out of the tap here, and it smelled of chlorine. That's the reason the Water Conditioner was purchased. Never used it. Moved shortly after purchase. ( Been at least 2 yrs ) I had a soil ph meter but that was lost as well. I plan on getting another one soon. As I'll NEED it. I had a soil, and water ph meter previously. But I hadn't done hydro in so long. Some of the parts get lost while looking at you ( pun intended lol ).

8.5 is pretty high for PH and can cause issues with nutrient lockouts...for plants to use some nutrients, they require the Ph to be within a certain range...8.5 sounds pretty high. It is probably higher than most that I've heard of, which is why I asked where you lived...so I could get an idea of water quality and chemistry. Too much chlorine can also cause problems. To compound issues with chlorine, it acts differently when used with fluctuating Ph levels... too basic and some chemicals will quit being water soluble and become unavailable. This can drive you crazy as meters will show a lot of available nutrients but in reality, the plants can't use them. When the PH is corrected, the unavailable nutrients are suddenly available and can cause too high of levels. Hmmmm..I would re=check the PH and do whatever is needed to bring it down to slightly below 7 or 6.5. See how it responds to lowered PH and proceed from there...my recommendations.

 

[strngegrower]

That was my thought but I wanted to seek advice from a more seasoned opinion than my own. You are correct. I will see if I can grab a meter. I already had to let one go. The poor little one was 8 weeks old. I was determined not to let the same thing happen to this one.

 

[Jimster]

That was my thought but I wanted to seek advice from a more seasoned opinion than my own. You are correct. I will see if I can grab a meter. I already had to let one go. The poor little one was 8 weeks old. I was determined not to let the same thing happen to this one.

I'm a minimalist when it comes to this hobby and don't use much in the way of specialized soils or nutrients. By 8 weeks, the plants should be pretty large and robust, ready for 12/12. Your drainage is excellent, maybe too excellent! Its hard to overwater when you have drainage like that...I would probably soak them pretty well depending on the water's PH. If it stays at 8.5, I would either used bottled water or a conditioner...but conditioner can be a real bitch too because of the PH levels and the nutrients availability changes a lot when you have to use water treatments. Good luck, patience will pay off!

 

[MIMedGrower]

Agree with @1diesel1 soil looks dry.

I keep seeing this here. Large pots with established but little plants only watered a bit around the perimeter.

That’s ok for a seedling but the roots need moisture. You have to plan the watering to handle the root growth. Don’t want them growing into super dry soil.

Always best to start in small cup or pot and transplant up so you can saturate the whole pot with water. Then let it dry out 3/4 before watering again.

Honestly not sure how long it will take to dry out but I would want to water the whole pot to some runoff to be sure it is wet all through. Then be patient. It could take more than a week to dry but that’s ok.

That’s my opinion anyway. :-)

 

[strngegrower]

Thanks! I may try soaking the bucket in between feedings. Soak ( til dry ) feed ( wait til mostly dry on top, then repeat. This should work out to ( depending on the time it takes to dry. About soak and feed once a week minus the length of time to dry

 

[strngegrower]

Thanks for the info. I'm a bit rusty, and forgot how much patients. I was trying as closely as possible to stick to a weekly feeding, and watering. But I'm learning I need to learn how quickly they uptake first before I try to force anything. Sometimes when it takes a bit longer than usual, I d of lose track of time when I'm not tending to them.

Oh and the one that was 8 weeks I was about to flower then the problem started right before. I used to start around 6 weeks from seed due to unknown height. This time around they're all around the same dob. One may be a lot of sativa dominant though! Like I said they're all bag toss. So different genetics and all. But it does seem to be more responsive. They're all on a very similar schedule.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Thanks! I may try soaking the bucket in between feedings. Soak ( til dry ) feed ( wait til mostly dry on top, then repeat. This should work out to ( depending on the time it takes to dry. About soak and feed once a week minus the length of time to dry

Best to feed the same way. Water to runoff when using fertilizer too.

Small plants need little to no nutes so start very light (15-25% max) and the runoff of 15-20% should help eliminate waste and extra salts.

The goal is to only Provide what is needed and we feed the soil not the plant directly so it helps to think of the soil health. Once there is too much fertilizer in there the roots can not take up water.

And they search out nutrients and moisture as the pots dry.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Thanks for the info. I'm a bit rusty, and forgot how much patients. I was trying as closely as possible to stick to a weekly feeding, and watering. But I'm learning I need to learn how quickly they uptake first before I try to force anything. Sometimes when it takes a bit longer than usual, I d of lose track of time when I'm not tending to them.

Oh and the one that was 8 weeks I was about to flower then the problem started right before. I used to start around 6 weeks from seed due to unknown height. This time around they're all around the same dob. One may be a lot of sativa dominant though! Like I said they're all bag toss. So different genetics and all. But it does seem to be more responsive. They're all on a very similar schedule.

What you just wrote is key! Let the plants decide what they need and when. Schedules only work when growing known dialed in clones. And they chose their schedule too. We just learn it.

These plants are 1-4 weeks old in ocean forest with 25% added large perlite.

Even in the small cup after I water it to runoff and plant the taprooted seed it doesn’t need water for 5-7 days under t-5 fluorescents. If I use HID lighting it still may take 3 days.

After about two weeks I can pick up the seedling by it’s stem and transplant it right into the 1 gallon pot with a nice strong root ball. The cup is mostly filled with roots by then.

I only water when the pot is alarmingly light. Like oops better water. With a probe moisture meter it reads dry 3/4 the way down the pot. And still no wilting. Maybe a little lower leaf droop.

The largest plant has only been watered twice in that pot in 10 days. It is almost 4 weeks from sprout. I will transplant it into a 3 gallon when dry. It will continue to root and grow for about 5 days and go into flower. Then as it stretches it will need water sooner. In my 1200 watt god flower room it will need resaturation every 2-3 days when in full bloom.

Hope this helps. I am writing a grow guide it seems. ;-)

 

[strngegrower]

Thanks for the info guys, and quick replies. They're looking pretty upbeat today!

 

[strngegrower]

Oh hey and MIMedGrower, that setup looks ideal. Sweet