Deficiencies- Looking for some direction

[11Hick11]

Hey everyone, hope your all doing well.
Been on this site lurking for quit some time now. Basically every day for about a year, lol. Its addicting. So much great info.

Anyways, i have some deficiencies going on and im not sure what direction to go and am asking for some help.
Indoor soil grow (Half Coco-Loco, Half Coco Core with added perlite)
Light = HGL 320 Watt XL V2 R-Spec QB (24" above)
Tent = 40"x60"x80"
Temp = 75low 85high 78avg
RH = 20low 40high 25avg
2 Gal pots

Last three feedings: (2 gal made, water until each gets runoff, doesn't take much. I leave some in tray and they suck it up pretty quick and then dump the left over within an hour)

1) Tea ( 2 gal RO water for 24 hrs) = 1/2 cup EWC , 1/2 cup Coco Loco, 6ml Seaweed Extract, 2tsb RO Uprising grow, 1tsb Unsulfer Molasses. (PH 6.56, PPM 1223)
2) RO Water + 3ml Botanicare Cal Mag plus + 1tsb RO Uprising grow top feed. (PH 6.47, PPM 321)
3) RO Water + 3ml Botanicare Cal Mag plus + 1tsb Unsulfer Molasses top feed. (PH 6.51, PPM 434)

Issues ive noticed:
1) Lower leaves browning/graying and turning yellow. Its moving up the plants.
2) Taco ing leafs- i raised the light last week 6" to see if it helps.
3) Looks like nute burn on tips.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Grape Ape x Sunset Sherbert

 

[Mr Bee]

I,m confused.you say its a soil grow but then say your useing coco and perlite.then in the pics your in hydroton
Are they in coco or hydroton?
I,v never ran any teas or anything in coco and I,v never ran coco without synthetic coco base nutes (what r you useing as base nutes?)and as far as that goes ph is usually 6.0 at most.between 5.8 and 6.0 but as I said I'm not sure of the methods your useing.

 

[11Hick11]

I,m confused.you say its a soil grow but then say your useing coco and perlite.then in the pics your in hydroton
Are they in coco or hydroton?
I,v never ran any teas or anything in coco and I,v never ran coco without synthetic coco base nutes (what r you useing as base nutes?)and as far as that goes ph is usually 6.0 at most.between 5.8 and 6.0 but as I said I'm not sure of the methods your useing.

Your right, that is confusing, that was just to cover the top so it doesnt dry out the soil to fast.

My idea was to build a soil by using Coco Loco & Coco Core & Perlite and then what i was thinking was to top dress with Uprising grow + EWC and then water with the molasses and teas along the way. In Flower i was going to use the Terp Tea Bloom by Roots Organic.

Im pretty sure i messed up by not having a compost in the mix. Im also pretty sure i dont know what im doing with my soil build. At this point i just want to get them well to clone from.

 

[Beachwalker]

(I) water until each gets runoff, doesn't take much. I leave some in tray and they suck it up pretty quick and then dump the left over within an hour)

Also if I'm reading this right you're letting the plants sit in their own runoff that's a no-no bra, you got to get that salt out of there, that's why you make run off in the first place

 

[11Hick11]

Also if I'm reading this right you're letting the plants sit in their own runoff that's a no-no bra, you got to get that salt out of there, that's why you make run off in the first place

Yes, you are reading that right, however i only let them sit in water less than an hour. Is that still not good to do? After water i do take them out of they trays and set them on that wire shelf.

 

[OldManRiver]

That's not a deficincy, thats a burn

 

[Jimster]

They look like they are slightly overfed to me. I let my runoff drain out and let the water run out. FWIW, I only feed about every 10 days, using 20-20-20 and growing in Promix. I usually don't have catch basins under my 5 gallon buckets, but during flowering, the Sativas mostly take a gallon or more a day and I need to use them but only for clear water without nutes. Feeding clean water allows excess salts to get cleaned out between feedings, so I let them drain out freely a few times before putting the basins under them again. If you are feeding constantly, I agree that you shouldn't let them sit in the juice for too long.
Its really easy to overfeed, especially if you have smaller plants. Even though they may look big to you, in the scheme of things, they are fairly small and don't need much to feed them. It's like feeding a toddler a whole pizza with extra cheese. Once they get larger, they can better use the food that you are providing. I know a lot of growers might disagree about only feeding every 10-15 days, but the picture is from 3 feedings of 20-20-20 in Promix with nothing else other than compost mixed in and some wood ashes. The tall ones are getting close to 7 ft. Go easy on the food and you will never have problems. 99% of posts are from overfeeding, so there is a lot of company!:)

 

[Mr.Juice]

I am by no means any authority, but I’d say you’re trying to hit them with too much. Too much water and too much nutrient, CalMag, molasses

Give them next two waterings of just RO and nothing else, flush any buildup you have going on and then come up with a new feeding schedule. Go for simple. No more than half strength. Feed , water, water and then repeat. And see how they go from there.

You didn’t say how often you were watering either. Extend the time between watering times probably too.

 

[BigCube]

Yeah looks like a hot mix for sure. Good trying running straight ph,d water through it till you have 2 to 3 times the runoff as your pot size. This should flush any extra salt buildup and might just solve your problem. Also how is your calmag?

 

[11Hick11]

Sorry, been very busy.

I water every 4 to 5 days. I try and catch it before the leafs droop and i have like an 8 hour window it seems.
Here is today, above pics wer yesterday.

 

[11Hick11]

@ OldManRiver, I think you hit it right on.

Yeah looks like a hot mix for sure. Good trying running straight ph,d water through it till you have 2 to 3 times the runoff as your pot size. This should flush any extra salt buildup and might just solve your problem. Also how is your calmag?

I think this is right on now that i think what i did differently. I added the Coco Loco to the tea. I fed everyone and everyone has this issues. Thats the only thing i can think of that would burn em like this. As for the CalMag i always use 3ml per 2 gal RO every time i water (every 4 to 5 days). 2 gal waters all 5.

Would CalMag or Molasses or EWC burn like this?

 

[Jimster]

@ OldManRiver, I think you hit it right on.

I think this is right on now that i think what i did differently. I added the Coco Loco to the tea. I fed everyone and everyone has this issues. Thats the only thing i can think of that would burn em like this. As for the CalMag i always use 3ml per 2 gal RO every time i water (every 4 to 5 days). 2 gal waters all 5.

Would CalMag or Molasses or EWC burn like this?

Cal-Mag could cause some issues if you have high ph, since the calcium in it can cause nutrient ad magnesium lockout if excessive. Since you are using RO water, I doubt that is the cause. Molasses shouldn't matter either unless WAY overdone. Another issue to watch out for is when your soil gets too dry, as it can concentrate any freee water soluble fertilizers and potentially cause issues if the soil is consistently dry. In all cases, I would give it a good flushing and let it go for a few days until you feed it again. Depending on your water quality, tap water isn't always a bad option.

 

[11Hick11]

Cal-Mag could cause some issues if you have high ph, since the calcium in it can cause nutrient ad magnesium lockout if excessive. Since you are using RO water, I doubt that is the cause. Molasses shouldn't matter either unless WAY overdone. Another issue to watch out for is when your soil gets too dry, as it can concentrate any freee water soluble fertilizers and potentially cause issues if the soil is consistently dry. In all cases, I would give it a good flushing and let it go for a few days until you feed it again. Depending on your water quality, tap water isn't always a bad option.

That is exactly what is going on with the soil. It is realy dry all the time so i added the clay on top to try and stop that. They just dry out so fast and water just flows right on through and it was the reason i was letting them soak for a bit.

Tap is PH 8.1 PPM 788 today, sometimes PPM in the 600's but PH stay the same really.

RO is at PH 9.2 PPM 8 today. Got it to PH 6.26 and watered today with nothing else except PH Down.

Thanks for all your help with this man, much appreciated!

 

[Jimster]

Tap is PH 8.1 PPM 788 today, sometimes PPM in the 600's but PH stay the same really.

RO is at PH 9.2 PPM 8 today. Got it to PH 6.26 and watered today with nothing else except PH Down.

Thanks for all your help with this man, much appreciated!

That is pretty hard water, about double what I have. I truthfully don't know if it would hurt using tap water or not. With the ph being kind of high, maybe RO is a better choice. 9.2 Ph for RO water is crazy! If you are having trouble with pots drying out too quickly, you might consider putting them into bigger pots. You plants are starting to get to be a nice size and I'm sure they are fairly rootbound. A larger container would hold the water much better, especially since the situation will only get worse as the plants get larger. I use 5 gallon buckets and still have to water daily a gallon or more... indoors. This will also help to buffer the soil more and potentially keep you from having fertilizer and ph swings.

 

[11Hick11]

That is pretty hard water, about double what I have. I truthfully don't know if it would hurt using tap water or not. With the ph being kind of high, maybe RO is a better choice. 9.2 Ph for RO water is crazy! If you are having trouble with pots drying out too quickly, you might consider putting them into bigger pots. You plants are starting to get to be a nice size and I'm sure they are fairly rootbound. A larger container would hold the water much better, especially since the situation will only get worse as the plants get larger. I use 5 gallon buckets and still have to water daily a gallon or more... indoors. This will also help to buffer the soil more and potentially keep you from having fertilizer and ph swings.

Yes, the water is very hard. Every faucet has crust all over it. I switched to RO last year and it PHed at 7, now its at 9+. Usually the calmag takes it down a lot and same with seaweed extract. This time i used PH Down. 2 drops or so.

This morning they look better. I'll transplant today or tomorrow.

 

[Aqua Man]

I think something is wrong with your ph meter. When was the last time you calibrated it?

 

[Mr.Juice]

I think something is wrong with your ph meter. When was the last time you calibrated it?

My thought too, I bought a cheap pH meter in the beginning, thought I was doing everything properly and had a major F up.

If you wanna have a fun experiment, buy some red cabbage and make your own pH indicator. Not very accurate, but still fun

 

[11Hick11]

Its a Dr. Meter PH-100. I just got it about a mount ago, celebrated it before use with 3 buffers with distilled water, i did the same calibration about 10 days ago. I still have some water from this round that i already PHed. Ill do a calibration and recheck to see what i get. Ill need to reorder buffer powder after this test, only came with 3 tests so i hope i dont screw it up.

How often do you guys do calibrations?

 

[Aqua Man]

Its a Dr. Meter PH-100. I just got it about a mount ago, celebrated it before use with 3 buffers with distilled water, i did the same calibration about 10 days ago. I still have some water from this round that i already PHed. Ill do a calibration and recheck to see what i get. Ill need to reorder buffer powder after this test, only came with 3 tests so i hope i dont screw it up.

How often do you guys do calibrations?

Just make the solution and then keep it in sealed containers for further use. I calibrate mine once a week

 

[Ignignokt]

I own several PH meters and I rarely trust them implicitly, individually - however I will accept a quorum. I gotta say - the red cabbage idea is good. Back in the day - that was the standard for pool water and alot more. Depending on the sensing technology - and how consistently the sensor is kept wet ( I'm thinking of true hydro systems ) they can be really awesome. The pen style electronic type can be good liars, if you don't read and follow the directions carefully.