Help with first grow in week 6 of flower - Nute Burn?

[Nicks Pizza]

Hello -

Soil Growers:
1. Are you growing from seed or clones? Seed.
2. How old are your plants? Sprouted 6/23. 4 months old tomorrow.
3. How tall are your plants? 38 inches (3ft 2in)
4. What size containers are they planted in? 3 gallon
5. What is your soil mix? Fox Farms Ocean Forrest
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? As Needed - end up watering every day or every other day about 1/2 gallon of water at a time.
7. What is the pH of your water? 6
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? Fox Farms Tiger Bloom 2-8-4
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"). It's outside so I just use the sun, not sure on the wattage..
11. How close are your lights to the plants? Not very...
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? Not sure but it's my backyard so it's pretty big.
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? Varies - Highs in mid 70s and lows in the low 40s. Humidity ranges from 30% to 100%
14. What is the pH of the soil? 5.5
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? No
16. How much experience do you have growing? None, this is plant is the summation of my experience.


About the plant:
So I found a blueberry seed and threw it in a wet paper towel between two plates until it sprouted, then moved it to a solo cup with Miracle Grow Potting Soil and from there it went into the 3 gallon soft pot with Fox Farms Ocean Forrest soil. I did not have a "real" light so I had to move it outside to flower; the light I had was just a 34w LED I bought off of Amazon for like $30. I took a very haphazard approach to this grow and now see how beneficial a little planning could have been... I have enjoyed the process and would still like to finish strong so any help is much appreciated.

Issue:
I went out of town and had someone check on the plant for me. I watered/fed right before I left on Friday then it was mistakenly fed again on Saturday. Monday night I watered with 2 gallons and tested the ph of the run-off (5.5). I was hoping to see it stop but I think it's worse today. I thought it would stop as soon as I stopped the nutrients? Should I be concerned? I feel like it's so close to the end and I don't want to screw it up!

Pics attached.

 

[Polcatz89]

Yep looks wicked similiar to my previous burn...

 

[Nicks Pizza]

Thanks for the reply. So what did you do to resolve yours? How did things turn out?

 

[Aqua Man]

Doesn't look like nute burn. Looks more like a possible lockout. I hate to even think it but the first few pics kinda remind me of blight.

@MIMedGrower @Dirtbag @Jimster @oldskol4evr @1diesel1 there are plenty more folks on here also I didn't tag. I just don't want to give a diagnosis I'm not sure of.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Watered too often and not to runoff? Looks like no extra perlite was added so its at full strength nutrients and bad drainage.

I think the ph is low because of nutrient build up and leaf damage because of drowned and nutrient blocked roots.

Solution is almost always the same. Run some fresh water through to good runoff. I use a gallon for 3 gallon pots or example. And see what the runoff looks and smells and tests like and go from there.

 

[Beachwalker]

Doesn't look like nute burn. Looks more like a possible lockout. I hate to even think it but the first few pics kinda remind me of blight.

@MIMedGrower @Dirtbag @Jimster @oldskol4evr @1diesel1 there are plenty more folks on here also I didn't tag. I just don't want to give a diagnosis I'm not sure of.

Your pH is too low for foxfarm ocean Forest, you need to get it to 6.5 steady because your locking out like Aquaman said above

 

[Dirtbag]

I see a recurring theme in a lot of these sick plant threads... That being the use of Tiger bloom. The ratio is crazy high in P and given the watering schedule, your nutrients are likely locked out.

 

[Dirtbag]

Doesn't look like nute burn. Looks more like a possible lockout. I hate to even think it but the first few pics kinda remind me of blight.

@MIMedGrower @Dirtbag @Jimster @oldskol4evr @1diesel1 there are plenty more folks on here also I didn't tag. I just don't want to give a diagnosis I'm not sure of.

I agree.. Looks like some sort of blight on those yellow spotty leaves.

 

[Edinburgh]

You did good for the first time, but you need more than 300w to do any bigger grows.

 

[Beachwalker]

I agree.. Looks like some sort of blight on those yellow spotty leaves.

^ good eye, brown circle with a black ring around it, thats septoria. Search 'mmj septoria' for more info

The fix is copper fungicide readily available at Lowe's Home Depot excetera, use as directed for best results. I've used it and it stops it cold & after a few treatments it was completely gone

 

[oldskol4evr]

seen this yesterday,didnt want to say much because i cant figure why your soil is 5.5 first off,ive ph test ocean forest,i have no clue how you got a bag of ocean forest down to 5.5 ph,right from bag its 6.5,i just asume you added acidfier or something else,then i see the ph going in is 6.0 why i asked 6.5 is right in the middle of all nutrient uptake,so had no clue what your trying to acheieve othr than maybe you wanted to use the soil to grow bluberry plants,they love really acidic soil.
so other than that im saying,just run with what you got,i would use my feeds at 6.5,plant looks pretty good for that low of every thing so roll with it,might should check your ph and ppm pens though

 

[Devotion1]

I've been having a lot of ph problems with FFOF at my facility lately. I found the culprit to be botanicare grow. I've used FFOF with botanicare for over a decade with no issue whatsoever. I'm starting to wonder if something has changed in FF's supply line of raw material. I switched to Root's Organics soil on a few plants to try it out and see if things improve. I also wont be using botanicare anymore.

I had success using 6.5-7.0 waterings to raise the soil ph back up and getting , my plants out of lockout. That's what I would suggest for you as well.

 

[Nicks Pizza]

Thanks for all the input! I am going to take this much appreciated advice and water 1 gallon of 6.5 ph water tomorrow then test the run-off. I'll also pickup some copper fungicide on my way home from the office tomorrow to treat the blight. I think it sounds/looks just like what is on this plant.

I don't quite understand this - if it's got a fungus (blight) is it ruined? Is the fungus not in the buds? Or do I have to get rid of it before harvest for the buds to be good?

 

[idylldon]

I'm starting to wonder if something has changed in FF's supply line of raw material.

For the past three years, I've used a 50/50 mix of FFOF and Happy Frog and never had any issues. I'm using it for my first winter grow of autoflowers and am getting a lot of nutrient burn in the initial seedling phase, which they thankfully grow out of. I, too, have been wondering if something has changed at FF since I've never had this issue before and I've used it many times.

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[Aqua Man]

Remove the affected leaves. I can't comment on the fungicide.

 

[Dirtbag]

I've been having a lot of ph problems with FFOF at my facility lately. I found the culprit to be botanicare grow. I've used FFOF with botanicare for over a decade with no issue whatsoever. I'm starting to wonder if something has changed in FF's supply line of raw material. I switched to Root's Organics soil on a few plants to try it out and see if things improve. I also wont be using botanicare anymore.

I had success using 6.5-7.0 waterings to raise the soil ph back up and getting , my plants out of lockout. That's what I would suggest for you as well.

If you change both variables, how will you know which one is the culprit?

 

[Edinburgh]

I use ocean forest exclusively, i have no prob getting my ph down to 6.2, my tap water is 7.3 clear runoff 6.2 consistently, ocean forest according to my hydro guy is a hotter mix than happy frog, but i grow autoflowers on an assembly line, i only feed a tad of botanacare pure blend grow in veg never burned a plant in veg, for flower i use botanacare pro bloom soil mix or atami bloombastic and sometimes burn just the end of leaf tips, this tells me my plants are at max nute uptake, in bloom my ph sometimes goes to 6.5 but not higher, you want your ph to be 6.0 to 6.5 max. Pic is crystal candy at day 22, its leaves look droopy beacuse she is about to go to bed.

 

[Smoking Gun]

@Edinburgh, you should be aiming for 6.5 pH, that is optimal in a soil environment.

I have a plant in Ocean Forest right now and am not a big fan. It is actually an old bag so not from new stock but I am still seeing issues with it. First and foremost I am finding I need to run it much drier than other soil blends, particularly Happy Frog. The plant does seem to look overwatered when I do a normal every other day watering. It also feels like using nutrients (Bio Bizz) at even low doses as often as I would in Happy Frog is putting too much into the soil and causing uptake issues. It really does feel like Ocean Forest runs more like a super soil than a regular potting mix. So I have ultimately backed off on my watering and nutes and the plant seems to be much happier.

 

[Devotion1]

I would not spray this plant with anything being so close to harvest, don't want any residual on the flowers

 

[Beachwalker]

Thanks for all the input! I am going to take this much appreciated advice and water 1 gallon of 6.5 ph water tomorrow then test the run-off. I'll also pickup some copper fungicide on my way home from the office tomorrow to treat the blight. I think it sounds/looks just like what is on this plant.

I don't quite understand this - if it's got a fungus (blight) is it ruined? Is the fungus not in the buds? Or do I have to get rid of it before harvest for the buds to be good?

Septoria AKA brown leaf spot will affect the leaves, but your buds are fine.

You can use copper fungicide up to the day of harvest, they use it on Tobacco (you'll find all that information on the pamphlet that comes with it)

If you don't use it you're going to start losing a lot of leaves, and you could possily lose the plant? Search 'septoria & brown leaf spot' for more info to make an informed decision

Also consider Bud washing, if I spray anything on a plant I wash the bud at harvest