Help with plant diagnosis please

[Cannasoir]

Hey this is my first post, and i need everyone to help me diagnose my plants.
Got them as clones and have been vegging for about 5 weeks.I also started 4 seeds around the same time. All the plants are in 5 gallon containers.
I water about half a gallon once a week with tap water that i let sit out for a week before using it.
I also spray the leaves down when i notice the Rh dropping below 40.
I am growing with two 300w clfs, one 150w cfls, three 100w cfls, and two blue plant lights that i plan on changing asap. i started with a 24-0 lighting schedule and moved down to an 18-6 two weeks ago. going to start a 12-12 for flowering in another half a week to a week. just trying to simulate the natural decrease in light in nature. All the clones are about 1'3" high, the seedlings about 11" tall.
I am using Miracle grow moisture control for most of the plants and Fox farms ocean forest for one of them. the one that i am using fox farms on is growing alittle slower but i have had zero problems with it.
I keep the cfl's about 4-5 inch's away from the plants, and the two blue plant lights about 7 inch's away.
My grow space is 8.41 square feet.
I keep the temperature between 74- 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
the Rh stays between 40 and 50.
I had a Spider mite problem early on, but i took care of that with an organic pepper spray, then i bought lady bugs to keep it in check after that. I do notice a small flying bug, which i think to be fungus gnat.
This is my first actual grow where i have done tons of research to make sure i get everything right. I have minor experience with growing and cloning two or three plants before.

 

[caregiverken]

Looks like you may have more than one problem...Im new also...and I regonize the mite damage...but I dont know what took the bites out of your leaves..

The good folks here will know.....

and now I wanna know

 

[BlueBlood]

Holy cow.

My simplest answer is that I'm betting you have high Calcium or low PH.
Do you check your PH?

Do you have hard water, or is your soil amended with a lot of Ca for some reason?

That's where I'd suggest you'd start anyhow. Good luck :)

 

[Cannasoir]

I think some of the rips on the leafs may be from me when i move and rotate the plants...
No i currently have not checked the ph. but i know i need to and fast.
i think the area i live in might actually have hard water, i just recently purchased one of the brita water filters for my sink, i think im going to start using that for the water for the plants as well.

 

[baba G]

Mites galore on those speckled leaves...Tear off the infected leaves and treat again, imo
One of the reasons I clean up the bottom of the plants the whole time is that it enables less of a habitat for bugs to brew and allows airflow and drying of the medium & you can't spray the bottoms of leaves that are level with the soil efficiently, ime
Your plants look good but would really be thriving with some HID lighting...
Do you have much airflow going on?

 

[Cannasoir]

im pretty sure i have exterminated all mites, i did more than one rinse with the spray about a week apart. i haven't seen any mites at all for about two weeks now. and i have two fans blowing in there. one directly in front of the door pushing air in, then another wall mounted fan blowing air around/ out. yes i know i want to get a 600w hps, but due to funds and such, iv had to stick with cfls this grow.

 

[Cannasoir]

iv also been on the fence about pruning and such. some people do it, some people dont. but i think im going to get rid of the infected leaves..

 

[Cannasoir]

Iv also been wondering about the color of my main stems. iv heard that a reddish or brown color can mean root rot. the plants all seem to still be growing well. i was wondering if anyone could tell me if the main stems seem fine.

 

[SodaLicious]

I think your stems look fine, Most of my plants almost always get purple stripes on the stems. I think sometimes it has to do with strain.

 

[caregiverken]

but due to funds and such, iv had to stick with cfls this grow.

I hear ya on the funds bro Been there. CFLs are great for veg. (up to about 2 feet)
Im not sure they will work well for flowering though.

iv also been on the fence about pruning and such. some people do it, some people dont. but i think im going to get rid of the infected leaves..

Like I said Im new at this...And I didn't wanna prune...I wanted to keep it all...
But I prune now, because its the best way to go for many reasons...
I found out 1st hand that the tops grow faster when you cut the bottom crap off.


Baba G knows this stuff well.
Im learning all the time here.

 

[Cannasoir]

thanks guys,I am taking all the advice into consideration. Its my first real grow so i know its not going to be perfect, but I am trying to make sure it comes out as best as possible.

 

[caregiverken]

Cool Man...Growing is a lot of fun. welcome to the Farm. and Farming
and those plants will be fine...just gotta keep an eye on em and keep the bugs off.

Good luck Bro. Keep us posted. :)

 

[coloradochem]

what up cannasoir welcome to your last mj forum. Mites are lil bastards and incredibly resilient! so keep sparying them, and watching for the them! Remove affected leaves as soon as you see them. One other thing bro, keep those cfls as close to the plants as you can during flowering, looks like you got some pretty nice node spacing, its real tite, so thatll help too. Purple stems are fine, at this point. Try to get away from miracle grow products, as soon as you financially can!!! have a great run mang, post some more pics when you go into flower.

 

[Cannasoir]

So quick update. I purged all the infected leaves. Also cleaned and sanitized the whole grow space. Now I am going to use Sierra Natural Science 203 organic insecticide as a soil drench to kill the fungus gnats and then also spray down the foliage for the spider mites. I was wondering if I need to flush after i do the drench to kill the fungus gnats? Any other important information will is greatly appreciated.

 

[Morgan]

I think your stems look fine, Most of my plants almost always get purple stripes on the stems. I think sometimes it has to do with strain.

Lack of nitro ??

 

[SodaLicious]

Lack of nitro ??

Na I don't think so, and it's not every strain that I have that does it. I find that most of m INDICA dominant strains have a purple stripe or coloured stem. But I haven't grown hundreds of different strains, just my experience with the 10 or so I have grown.

 

[Cannasoir]

Hey people.just doing a quick update. All the girls seem to be doing a lot better. Started flowering two days ago.I have a question, during my dark cycle which is during the day to help maintain temperature issues, I like to go in the grow space and make sure my temperature and Rh are remaining steady.I use a green light on my phone to look around, its just the color green on my phones screen. Is this bad? and if so, what type of light should i use to inspect them during their dark period ? I don't want to stress my ladies or turn them in to hermes.

 

[orbad]

I often use a dim flashlight aimed at the far corner of the room and let my eyes adjust to the dark for a bit if I have to disturb their sleep to spray or something. Hasn't seemed to have an effect.