First grow, Mag deficiency - maybe more?

[cavalier]

1. Are you growing from seed or clones? : seeds
2. How old are your plants? 29 days
4. What size containers are they planted in? 5l Air pots
5. What is your soil mix? 20% perlite
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? about once every 2 days with RO water
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? plant magic oldtimer organic 3-5-4
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything? no
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights") Mars ts1000 (135w)
11. How close are your lights to the plants? approx 45cm
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? 2feet
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? 24C 50Humn
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? no
16. How much experience do you have growing? First Grow

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So, first grow, Auto Strawberry pie from fastbud.

Since my tap water is very hard I've been using RO water, noticed something similar to magnesium deficiency (?),

so Applied 2 waterings with 1ml/L of calmag.

3 Days later

the plant is still loosing lower leaves (and I noticed that some leave's points are getting yellow , too much nutes?)

Is it normal for calmag def to take so long to recover, or is it something else entirely?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[lvstealth]

you say 20% perlite, what is the other 80%?

keep in mind that i know nothing and someone with lots more smarts will come along and correct me if im wrong...

but...

im thinking over watered for a very long time.

just because i dont want to sound foolish, i wont go into my reasons, but it is more gut than any knowledge. besides... its almost ALWAYS watering! lol.

seriously, i am basing it on the dark color, the leaf size and the leaves curving (not curling, but curving like it is trying to be an S)

@Aqua Man made a great thread about watering! might read that, it is not too hard to get through

keep in mind that i know nothing, just a big reader.

 

[cavalier]

other 80% is a compost mix.

I've been watering based on the top 1" inch (feeling if it was dry or not), to the point where the plant was a bit underwatered for a bit :/

One of the possible issues (which are not fixable for the moment), is that the grow box is only 82 cm high, so the light is pretty close to the plant. That is causing a very short space between nodes and possibly affects leaves structure.

 

[lvstealth]

ok... so you are using compost and nutes? i think that might be the issue. more than might be...

read Aqua Mans post on watering https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/watering-how-media-pot-size-shape-and-environment-affect-it.126852/

you can use your dimmer to have more flexibility with the light. if it doesnt have a dimmer you can get a smart one through amazon for less than $20

 

[cavalier]

Compost had 3-4 weeks of feeding in it, I began to introduce nutes in half dosage at the end of third week.

I’ve read the post about watering, but to be honest this still looks like the lack of magnesium

 

[lvstealth]

ok, so back to your question, "Is it normal for calmag def to take so long to recover, or is it something else entirely?"

you are treating it already for that and if it recovers that is good, but if not, you might want to consider that it is the use of the compost with the nutes and over watering, and that giving more isnt going to work.

 

[HarryHood]

i've got a strawberry pie going now. it's 45-50 days old and starting to frost and fatten up nicely. it was getting super bushy so make sure to defoliate. if you go to fastbuds site i think the dude says in the video for strawberry pie to watch the amount of nutes for her as she's not too fond of them.

happy growing!

 

[Anthem]

Compost had 3-4 weeks of feeding in it, I began to introduce nutes in half dosage at the end of third week.

I’ve read the post about watering, but to be honest this still looks like the lack of magnesium

Do you have more information on the compost? Do you still have the bag?

 

[cavalier]

Do you have more information on the compost? Do you still have the bag?

Yup, it's Westland John Innes No.2

In my understanding, it's a fairly recommended in the uk region.

Westland John Innes No.2 Young Plant Compost | Compost & Soils - Westland Garden Health

John Innes No.2 Young Plant Compost is perfect for developing strong, healthy plants when potting-on. Feeds for up to 5 weeks.

www.gardenhealth.com

Meanwhile today I flushed soil with RO ph6 twice to exclude any nutrient build-up and sprayed a bit of epsom salt mix (1ml/1LT) on foil before lights off. Will see if that helps (in case I exagerated with nutes and locked out magnesium).

 

[Anthem]

Yup, it's Westland John Innes No.2

In my understanding, it's a fairly recommended in the uk region.

Westland John Innes No.2 Young Plant Compost | Compost & Soils - Westland Garden Health

John Innes No.2 Young Plant Compost is perfect for developing strong, healthy plants when potting-on. Feeds for up to 5 weeks.

www.gardenhealth.com

Meanwhile today I flushed soil with RO ph6 twice to exclude any nutrient build-up and sprayed a bit of epsom salt mix (1ml/1LT) on foil before lights off. Will see if that helps (in case I exagerated with nutes and locked out magnesium).

You have basically cooked the plant or plants by over feeding them. All you can do is continue to water with RO water at PH of like 6.5 and wait. They may bounce back

 

[lvstealth]

Compost is food, so you over fed. You can't really flush compost. And the ph won't matter. I would guess the soil didn't "run out" of mag, so now you have messed with the compost and no telling what that did to its biosystems. So now nothing is really working right.

In the watering post it explains about ph, you might find it enlightening

 

[Aqua Man]

Probably to hot and definitely overwatered.

You can't go by the top inch and need to feel the pots (lift them) to see when they are taking up the water from the saturation zone... you will have a very high water holding capacity with all those organics. Usually I say don't water to run off but in this case I would add a small amount of cal mag to RO and temp adjust it and try to get a bit of runoff when watering... then let it dry.... and by that not the top inch (that will definitely cause overwatering in this mix) do NOT water until the pot is very light... almost like styrofoam. 100% overwatered here.

 

[cavalier]

thx for advices, finger crossed it will recover.

@Aqua Man should I continue to use RO (with addition of calmag) or is it better to switch to tap which already has those micro, at least until it recovers?

 

[Aqua Man]

Don't be afraid to underwater them once to see how long they can go in-between watering... I bet you will be shocked at how much longer you can wait to water them.

Here is how fast they recover from underwatering.... unlike overwatering which takes days or longer.

Video of clone recovering from underwatering

Ok in one thread I posted I was going to do a video of how fast plants recover from underwatering. In hopes that new growers see how easy it is for a plant to recover from underwatering when compared to over watering. I have some toss away clones sitting about and wanted to show how fast they...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Aqua Man]

thx for advices, finger crossed it will recover.

@Aqua Man should I continue to use RO (with addition of calmag) or is it better to switch to tap which already has those micro, at least until it recovers?

Depends what you tap water is but I wouldn't worry to much about that. Micros are needed in tiny tiny amounts and the only time I see a micro deficiency is from over watering, PH or uptake issues. I personally have never seen a legitimate micro deficiency caused by lack of.

 

[GNick55]

100% overwatered..
you can cut off the really bad damaged leaves.