New To This.. Please help :( HITS PANIC BUTTON!!! 🛑

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ATLienNewbie

ATLienNewbie

20
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Medium: fox farms ocean forest soil

I’ve also been using a 24 hour light cycle
Temps 70-74
Humidity 45-60%


Three weeks ago I started seeing problems with my grow. I started using emerald harvest 3 part professional nutrients, which was recommended by my hydroponics store, and It absolutely ruined my grow. I watered every one to two days. At the time I thought I was allowing the plants to dry out but I wasn’t. I also wasn’t checking my ph run off or ppms at the time. I was strictly going by 75% of the nutrients listed and a ph adjusted between 6.0-6.4, the recommendation of the store. (Doing more research I learned that you can balance the ph of your plant by water at the high end of 6.0-7.0 some waters and watering at low end of 6.0-7.0 some waters) My plants ended up mutated within the 3rd water crazy holes were popping up and the older leaves were getting massive, dark green, hard, and curled downward. I called them the green goblins Lol. (I’ll include pics) So I instantly called emerald harvest got linked with a guy that basically told me i didn’t need to use emerald harvest yet. There was still nutrients in the soil, the store worker told me to use it for the entire duration even after I told him i was using ocean forest and what stage I was in. Emerald harvest also suggested I flushed my plants. Start taking the ph of the soil run off and start checking my ppms so I know when I need to start adding nutrients and when there’s too much nutrients. So I put a halt to using emerald harvest, flushed my plants, then noticed my ph was A 5.2 and I had a PPM OF 1000. Emerald harvest also said the ppm could be 1000 because of the food in the ocean forest that is unreleased. I continued to flush my plants, at the time I didn’t know that flushing with a higher end ph would be more efficient in raising ph so I continued to flush with a 6.0-6.4 ph’d water and the run off never raised. I put them back in tent did more research and learned about watering with higher ph. By the next water the plants are droop not wilt but extremely droopy and heavy. I will include pictures. I begin to think it was root rot from overwatering so the next watering i watered with just a higher ph water and hydro guard recommended by the hydroponics store. My plants started to look a little better. I continued to use water and make sure when I watered the plants were fully dry. My plants then started to become like colored and one plants was almost yellow. The next feed I use about 50% of the of the nutrients of emerald harvest the plants started gaining color back but now I water yesterday they are still droopy, leaves are small, and plant is extremely bushy. They been in soil since September the 10th. I’ll include pics. Please critique in the most straightforward way. I’m here to gain more knowledge please help. I will not cry about any response and I will try to answer questions in the most detailed way. So I can get to a healthy grow.

Thank You

Pictures show progression of problems to current day
 
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Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
First tell hydro store guy to fly a kite... should resolve a lot of issues right there.

Where to start.... first to much light back that off until you see healthy growth and cut back to 18/6. Pushing plants hard when they have issues will only make things worse.

Stop flushing and stop adding any nutrients as suggest by emerald harvest and is good info.

You have a mix or organic and inorganic nutrients so the first flush suggested was appropriate but it will also cause issues for a but because once the salts are out you have next to no available nutrients left in the soil and a severely reduced microbe population to produce more. And on top of that at this point the soil may be low on organic nutrients.

There are vastly different practices for preferred organic soils and using synthetic nutrients in soil.

Ppm is a waste of time in organics IMO and often 2000ppm is seen in those soils with no issues. Not gonna get into why.

Ph is important if you keep flushing your also washing a significant amount of the buffering capacity out and its possible that you may need to add some lime. On the other hand you may just have to wait after flushing for the lime to start being broken down.

When water organic you dont want runoff as it will wash available nutrients out of the soil and want to keep soil moisture between 30-60%ish. If you let it get bone dry it will affect the microbes. If you keep it to wet you have o2 problems affecting the plants and microbes.

With synthetic since the nutrients are so available unlike organic that take time to break down you want to water until runoff to prevent a build up and let the soil dry to around 20-30% before watering again.

Tenp of watering should be the same as the twnpnof the rootzone.

Under LED room temp of 80f ish will benefit in uptake. Cold rootzones will slow uptake causing issues. So get em off the floor and raise temps.

The visual signs your seeing are probably from what you did a week ago. You have to give time to see if the changes your making are working.


At this point I would let them dry and not over water them to see how much if any nutrients are in that soil. If adding nutrients dont add more than 1/4 strength of you feel you need. There is no way to tell without a soil sample test other than correct you watering practices and see visually.

IMO you need to get a feel for watering. Maybe add some microbes or enzymes to the next feed to help process any organic nutrients left and see where that takes you over the next week.
 
ATLienNewbie

ATLienNewbie

20
3
First tell hydro store guy to fly a kite... should resolve a lot of issues right there.

Where to start.... first to much light back that off until you see healthy growth and cut back to 18/6. Pushing plants hard when they have issues will only make things worse.

Stop flushing and stop adding any nutrients as suggest by emerald harvest and is good info.

You have a mix or organic and inorganic nutrients so the first flush suggested was appropriate but it will also cause issues for a but because once the salts are out you have next to no available nutrients left in the soil and a severely reduced microbe population to produce more. And on top of that at this point the soil may be low on organic nutrients.

There are vastly different practices for preferred organic soils and using synthetic nutrients in soil.

Ppm is a waste of time in organics IMO and often 2000ppm is seen in those soils with no issues. Not gonna get into why.

Ph is important if you keep flushing your also washing a significant amount of the buffering capacity out and its possible that you may need to add some lime. On the other hand you may just have to wait after flushing for the lime to start being broken down.

When water organic you dont want runoff as it will wash available nutrients out of the soil and want to keep soil moisture between 30-60%ish. If you let it get bone dry it will affect the microbes. If you keep it to wet you have o2 problems affecting the plants and microbes.

With synthetic since the nutrients are so available unlike organic that take time to break down you want to water until runoff to prevent a build up and let the soil dry to around 20-30% before watering again.

Tenp of watering should be the same as the twnpnof the rootzone.

Under LED room temp of 80f ish will benefit in uptake. Cold rootzones will slow uptake causing issues. So get em off the floor and raise temps.

The visual signs your seeing are probably from what you did a week ago. You have to give time to see if the changes your making are working.


At this point I would let them dry and not over water them to see how much if any nutrients are in that soil. If adding nutrients dont add more than 1/4 strength of you feel you need. There is no way to tell without a soil sample test other than correct you watering practices and see visually.

IMO you need to get a feel for watering. Maybe add some microbes or enzymes to the next feed to help process any organic nutrients left and see where that takes you over the next week.
First tell hydro store guy to fly a kite... should resolve a lot of issues right there.

Where to start.... first to much light back that off until you see healthy growth and cut back to 18/6. Pushing plants hard when they have issues will only make things worse.

Stop flushing and stop adding any nutrients as suggest by emerald harvest and is good info.

You have a mix or organic and inorganic nutrients so the first flush suggested was appropriate but it will also cause issues for a but because once the salts are out you have next to no available nutrients left in the soil and a severely reduced microbe population to produce more. And on top of that at this point the soil may be low on organic nutrients.

There are vastly different practices for preferred organic soils and using synthetic nutrients in soil.

Ppm is a waste of time in organics IMO and often 2000ppm is seen in those soils with no issues. Not gonna get into why.

Ph is important if you keep flushing your also washing a significant amount of the buffering capacity out and its possible that you may need to add some lime. On the other hand you may just have to wait after flushing for the lime to start being broken down.

When water organic you dont want runoff as it will wash available nutrients out of the soil and want to keep soil moisture between 30-60%ish. If you let it get bone dry it will affect the microbes. If you keep it to wet you have o2 problems affecting the plants and microbes.

With synthetic since the nutrients are so available unlike organic that take time to break down you want to water until runoff to prevent a build up and let the soil dry to around 20-30% before watering again.

Tenp of watering should be the same as the twnpnof the rootzone.

Under LED room temp of 80f ish will benefit in uptake. Cold rootzones will slow uptake causing issues. So get em off the floor and raise temps.

The visual signs your seeing are probably from what you did a week ago. You have to give time to see if the changes your making are working.


At this point I would let them dry and not over water them to see how much if any nutrients are in that soil. If adding nutrients dont add more than 1/4 strength of you feel you need. There is no way to tell without a soil sample test other than correct you watering practices and see visually.

IMO you need to get a feel for watering. Maybe add some microbes or enzymes to the next feed to help process any organic nutrients left and see where that takes you over the next week.
During the first stage i definitely was watering to ma. Basically washing away nutrients. Thanks for the advice. So is emerald harvest a synthetic blend ? If so should I water to run off with it ? And what nutrient line would you suggest?
On my next grow to prevent this should I wait to add nutrients until I visually see my plants discoloring? And also are you saying in the first stage where there is still unreleased food should I not let the entire medium dry out ? As to the end of veg when there is no food in the soil so you feed with synthetic nutrients so you allow run off ?

As to right now you are saying there no way to test how much nutrients is in the soil unless I send soil to lab ? And you suggest 25% of dosage? 18/6 lights ? Correct ?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
If growth is decent probably about 1 month or so you can start adding nutrients but this will depend on growth and pot size. Never used it. With organics you dont want runoff so keeping the soil moisture between 30-60% works well.

Once using synthetic we want to water to runoff and let dry to about 30% before watering again. This is to removes excess available nutrients and prevent a buildup.

Always start synthetic at aboit 1/4 strength and work up based on plant response giving a week to see how they respond.

Yes photosaturation and photorespiration are real and cause issues. Maybe read up on DLI (daily light integral) also reducing light can reduce the stress and allow then to recover faster. Download light meter by my mobile tools dev and adjust to about 20-25k at the tops for now. Reduce photoperiod to 18/6. Plants perform different processes with the lights on and off. 24hrs i would only use for seedlings if that.
 
ATLienNewbie

ATLienNewbie

20
3
This God dam phones autocorrect is shit.
I understand that burnt tips and mutated leaves are sign of too much nutrients. What are sign of not enough nutrients?

And how do I know when to transition into flower after problems are fixed ?

p.s last set of questions. And thank you so much. You helped me a lot.
 
One drop

One drop

Bush Doctor
Supporter
6,514
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I understand that burnt tips and mutated leaves are sign of too much nutrients. What are sign of not enough nutrients?

And how do I know when to transition into flower after problems are fixed ?

p.s last set of questions. And thank you so much. You helped me a lot.
He always dose A man to the rescue.... look up in the sky is it ..... oh no just a cloud .....
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Well first you need a consistent good watering practice. It would take forever to list every sign of excess or deficiency. So once you get a healthy start just pay attention for irregularities and post on them. It's something that takes a long time to get the hang of and so many possible causes for each and every one of them. I would be rich if I could write a definitive guide but unfortunately there is no one answer to almost anything in the growing of plants.

Concentrate on watering and environment. The rest will usually follow and any balanced nutrient should serve you well. Typical signs usually indicate that its time to add nutrients is a nitrogen deficiency... Light green new growth and yellowing of older leaves. Again though there can be many reasons that happens.. like over watering also.
 
iTurniGrow

iTurniGrow

431
93
When water organic you dont want runoff as it will wash available nutrients out of the soil and want to keep soil moisture between 30-60%ish. If you let it get bone dry it will affect the microbes. If you keep it to wet you have o2 problems affecting the plants and microbes

I didn't know that about it getting bone dry. Thats good info :p. Learning more and more -)
 
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