My Sick Girls

[Newcagrower]

Someone please help me I'm freaking out. I have 2 white widow and a jack herer all showing the same symptoms at different stages. They're 5 weeks into veg and the fan leaves are turning brown. I am using fox farm ocean forest in 5 gallon pots with happy frog fertilizer, have a 250 watt cfl about 8 inches from them with 2 fans. About 3 days ago I started seeing the brown spots form on the upper fan leaves then spread to the lower ones and now on the worst affected it has spread to all leaves and are just forming on the other 2. I have only fed them once on week 3 at 1/2 strength and have been watering at 6.5 ph. When I first noticed I flushed them thinking it was Nutrient burn and fed them at next watering at 1/4 strength but there's been no change. I also noticed my runoff was coming out at 5.6 so when I flushed it is ran it with 8 ph water but couldn't get the runoff to budge. I flushed with approximately 15-18 gallons. I thought maybe they are not getting calcium be a useful the soil phone is too low but I didn't feel comfortable continuing to flush them. Someone please give me some insight before the last month and some change of my work goes to waste.

 

[Hate Life]

I wouldn't worry too much, fan leaves act like a buffer to protect the plants more vital parts.
I only see damage on the fan leaves, none of the shoots so for now you are good.

5 gallon pots seem more than enough space for a plant that size.

Also, I am pretty sure that the older the leaves are the less they photosynthesize (they reach a prime rate), so these older fan leaves may just be dying off naturally, and new parts of the plant will be getting the nutrient that they used to get.

Just relax, keep watering the plants, make sure not to pluck those damaged leaves, just let them turn yellow, and stick to your feeding.
I doubt this will effect your shoots.

If you have recently put them under more intense lighting this can happen as well.

Worst comes to worst then you may have to wash some soil out and repot them into a lower strength medium.

 

[Newcagrower]

I wouldn't worry too much, fan leaves act like a buffer to protect the plants more vital parts.
I only see damage on the fan leaves, none of the shoots so for now you are good.

5 gallon pots seem more than enough space for a plant that size.

Also, I am pretty sure that the older the leaves are the less they photosynthesize (they reach a prime rate), so these older fan leaves may just be dying off naturally, and new parts of the plant will be getting the nutrient that they used to get.

Just relax, keep watering the plants, make sure not to pluck those damaged leaves, just let them turn yellow, and stick to your feeding.
I doubt this will effect your shoots.

If you have recently put them under more intense lighting this can happen as well.

Worst comes to worst then you may have to wash some soil out and repot them into a lower strength medium.

They have spread to the shoots.

 

[Hate Life]

Then the worst has come to worst.

Soil is too hot, each nutrient carries it's own ph, so if you ph is staying low, then you have an excess of those certain nutrients.

Try half Ocean Forest and half soil-less mix such as Pro-mix, or Sunshine #4.

 

[BudBogart]

It's good to ask for advice here. You may also want to search "the charts" posted by seamaiden. They are great for learning what your problem could be. Good luck.

 

[Seamaiden]

That is a classic calcium (Ca) deficiency, I see no signs of Mg-. Once you're there, you're chasing your tail. The best you can hope for now it stopping the progression. Address pH *first*, then if it's in range, you can start giving Ca by foliar application along with adding a topdressing of gypsum (gypsum will not shift pH unlike many other forms of Ca).

Instead of doing a run-off reading, I'd prefer you do a slurry test taking soil from every pot and several areas in the pot, including as close to the bottom as you can. Those samples are mixed together before testing using the slurry method. I personally have found that 7-10mins is a good window for getting a relatively accurate pH reading.