Need help, leaves are pale, plants are not growing

[Fotzenschlaeger]

Hello everyone I'm beginner grower and need some help. My plants are too pale and are not growing at all or very little. I thought of nutrients deficiency but I'm following nutrients instructions and I'm doing full dose ( it is recommended to being on half dose) I'm using TA Tripart but no Calimag. Ph of water is around 7.0 but maybe I need to calibrate that device. Medium is coco/perlite with kompost and wormcasting (2 parts coco/perlite 2 parts kompost and 1 part worm castings) also I've put the lights a little bit more away (240w LED) now they are cca. 41cm/16,1 inches away from tops. Thank you for your advices

 

[amneziaHaze]

Where did the decision come to use coco?

 

[Eledin]

Tip burn is probably high nute dosage in such small plants, many people go half dose even with big plants. Coco is trickier, did it come buffered with any nutrients? Specially calcium? My understanding is that coco retains too much calcium so unless its properly buffered you need calmags for coco and some are better than others (I have little experience with coco). Is that the PH of your water after or before nutes? You should aim more towards 6,5 because 7 is not as good unless you have microorganisms in the coco. Tap water or RO? With tap water you might get away with no using calmag but with RO water you need to. How often do you water and what are the temps if you have them?

 

[Eledin]

Sorry idealy 6,2 for veg and 6,5 for flower but I didnt realize TA is organic so you should be good at 7, you have microorganisms? If the soil has worm castings or organic ammendments you most likely do in which case 7 ph is fine, or if you added them yourself.

 

[Eledin]

I talked about the burnt tips but the white edges are most likely over watering or feeding too much or doing something to create nutrient imbalance in the soil. Feeding too much can cause that. I had some white specs on the edges on the leaves sometimes, not as much as you, but it was because I overwatered them but could be something else.

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

Where did the decision come to use coco?

I was looking for ideal medium for both autoflowers and feminized seeds and I've red that coco-coir with perlite should be good... Which medium would you suggest then?

 

[amneziaHaze]

I was looking for ideal medium for both autoflowers and feminized seeds and I've red that coco-coir with perlite should be good... Which medium would you suggest then?

But you added compost as well.you use coco alone or you use soil alone.combo is allways soo random.
I use water.

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

Tip burn is probably high nute dosage in such small plants, many people go half dose even with big plants. Coco is trickier, did it come buffered with any nutrients? Specially calcium? My understanding is that coco retains too much calcium so unless its properly buffered you need calmags for coco and some are better than others (I have little experience with coco). Is that the PH of your water after or before nutes? You should aim more towards 6,5 because 7 is not as good unless you have microorganisms in the coco. Tap water or RO? With tap water you might get away with no using calmag but with RO water you need to. How often do you water and what are the temps if you have them?

It's rain water and Ph was measured after the nutes. I'm watering mostly every second day, depends on if the top layer of soil is alredy dried or not... And temperature in tent ist about 24°C. I thought that I'm giving them too little nutes because of pale color, I thought that nutes burn is when the leaves are dark green colored and tips are burned

 

[Eledin]

But you added compost as well.you use coco alone or you use soil alone.combo is allways soo random.
I use water.

He is right, is not good to mess with the ratios if you dont know what youre doing. But Ive done it too, I had a pretty shit harvest by mixing 50% coco with 50% peat (and perlite) when I was experimenting with soils that would dry quick. For a begginer a better soil would be a peat based soil with perlite. From a brand that sells substrate for weed of course.

 

[Eledin]

It's rain water and Ph was measured after the nutes. I'm watering mostly every second day, depends on if the top layer of soil is alredy dried or not... And temperature in tent ist about 24°C. I thought that I'm giving them too little nutes because of pale color, I thought that nutes burn is when the leaves are dark green colored and tips are burned

Nitrogen toxicity is dark green leaves yes, and nitrogen deficiency will yellow your leaves but it will eventually deplete them completely not just yellow them and it starts at the bottom. My guess is that youre watering way too much and thats preventing the roots from taking oxygen and hence why theyre so small.

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

But you added compost as well.you use coco alone or you use soil alone.combo is allways soo random.
I use water.

Well I thought that ideal is to mix both coco/perlite and soil because some users were experiencing good results. On the other hand I've red that only coco alone is not good, so now I'm little bit confused

 

[Eledin]

If you were using only coco probably every 2 days would be okay, but you have compost in there that retains a lot of moisture. You cant rely on only the top not being wet. Lift the pots when you water them so you get used to know how much they weight when they still have a lot of water.

 

[Eledin]

Well I thought that ideal is to mix both coco/perlite and soil because some users were experiencing good results. On the other hand I've red that only coco alone is not good, so now I'm little bit confused

Coco with perlite is great. That confuses me too. Its just trickier, its better to start with peat based soils. Some people might have bad experiences with coco if they dont take the extra steps that coco needs like more watering to avoid accumulation of salts and start feeding way sooner.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Well I thought that ideal is to mix both coco/perlite and soil because some users were experiencing good results. On the other hand I've red that only coco alone is not good, so now I'm little bit confused

Havent seen many grows on the forum with mixes.all of them i saw allways struggled. Think of it coco is inert media that needs to get watered as much as 5 times a day and soil is once a week.compost has shit tone of nutes coco has 0.do you water with water or with nutes?

 

[Eledin]

Red circles is nute burn, the purple circles is overwatering, same as the pale yellow and the lack of growth. Thats my guess at least.

 

[Eledin]

More nute burn

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

Th

Havent seen many grows on the forum with mixes.all of them i saw allways struggled. Think of it coco is inert media that needs to get watered as much as 5 times a day and soil is once a week.compost has shit tone of nutes coco has 0.do you water with water or with nutes?

That's why I wanted to mix it so I can get some balance, I saw it online. Coco/perlite mix because of good drainage and soil because only coco/perlite is not good they said... Every third watering is only water, otherwise with nutes. I started at half dosage but thought that it is not enough because of pale color

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

Red circles is nute burn, the purple circles is overwatering, same as the pale yellow and the lack of growth. Thats my guess at least.

Thank you... Shall I flush them with plain water for some days or what would you suggest to do?

 

[Eledin]

I wouldnt flush unless they start getting worse, you could 1/4 a dose for a bit with the nutes too. As soon as the plant starts getting hungry the lower leaves will yellow even more thats what I look for to know if my plant is hungry, there's nothing wrong with a couple of fan leaves on the bottom that are not recieving as much light getting yellow, I usually lollipop them anyway so theyre gone for flower. If it gets worse even without feeding nutes or feeding very little, probably a good idea to flush but not for more than a day, do it in one sitting so the roots dont keep suffering.

Also water less often, feeling the weight of the pot when its watered and think that more or less half the weight is gotta be gone, not so much as half but it should be noticeable lighter. If you are in doubt, dont water, because when theyre dryish you can tell 100%. Ideally you dont want it very dry but sometimes happens and the leaves will get droopy, thats another sign to get an idea on how often they want water.

That said Im not 100% sure if thats the problem, Im just telling you what I would think it is and what I would do. It could also be a problem with the soil having bad ph if the compost was too acidic or if its too hot on nutrients which is why I think that flushing would be a good idea if they keep getting worse. But if they can take it, let em.

 

[Fotzenschlaeger]

I wouldnt flush unless they start getting worse, you could 1/4 a dose for a bit with the nutes too. As soon as the plant starts getting hungry the lower leaves will yellow even more thats what I look for to know if my plant is hungry, there's nothing wrong with a couple of fan leaves on the bottom that are not recieving as much light getting yellow, I usually lollipop them anyway so theyre gone for flower. If it gets worse even without feeding nutes or feeding very little, probably a good idea to flush but not for more than a day, do it in one sitting so the roots dont keep suffering.

Also water less often, feeling the weight of the pot when its watered and think that more or less half the weight is gotta be gone, not so much as half but it should be noticeable lighter. If you are in doubt, dont water, because when theyre dryish you can tell 100%. Ideally you dont want it very dry but sometimes happens and the leaves will get droopy, thats another sign to get an idea on how often they want water.

That said Im not 100% sure if thats the problem, Im just telling you what I would think it is and what I would do. It could also be a problem with the soil having bad ph if the compost was too acidic or if its too hot on nutrients which is why I think that flushing would be a good idea if they keep getting worse. But if they can take it, let em.

Thank you I will try it. IDK what Ph has the soil mix, I thought that with coco/perlite it would be neutral so I only measured the water...