new grower with newbie issues.

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corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

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Hey all, i am nearing the end of my first grow. i have experienced quite a few issues along the way as most probably have. I've worked my way out of some, but currently am fighting with what i am assuming to be nutrient issues. I have done endless research and alot of it has helped but i am at a point where i really could use some assistance. I will try to summerize this as much as possible.
soil: fox farm happy frog with 20% perlite in 5 gal smart pot
nutrients:general hydroponics, 3 part with cal mag plus, gh ph up/down
water:store bought distilled
strain:world of seeds afghan kush ryder auto fem x2, cannuk amnesia auto fem-1
seedling stage- slow growth, but everything looked very healthy. up until week 4 or 5 i did nothing to regulate temp, no nutes. grow conditions werent ideal, temp was 85-90 farenheight with high humidity-80 percent plus. plants never showed any signs of stess. initally had small problem with fungus gnats which i was able to get under control.
-around week 5 i decide its time for a very light feeding of cal mag and molasses. at this time im ph'ing all water down to 5.8. a week or two later rusting on leaves begins. a bit of research prompts me to correct temp and humidity. from here on out i run about 67-70 farenheit with 60% humidity give or take. Conditions didnt do much to improve, but no signs of toxicity.
week 6:upon more research i determine the ph of my water is way to low. Add a little bit of lime to the top soil and start ph'ing water to 6.5-6.7 feeding fraction of values of 3 part, but following ratios. still feeding cal mag, roughly 2-3 ml per gallon. the plants did rebound the last week of veg, but transitioning into flower is really when one Afghan got in trouble, as well as my amnesia which was still in veg at this point. the Afghan was showing classic nitrogen toxciity, as well as what i determined to be calcium deficiency. the amnesia had badly twisted growth with calcium deficiency from what i could tell. at this point i do a flush on both. than end with a very low flower feeding of the 3 part and 3 ml per gallon of cal mag for afgan and a 1/1/1 plus cal mag for the amnesia thats still in veg.
-amnesia improves and is now in flower. needs watering every few days. feed every other time at 350 ppm roughly. i am now watering all plants with my smart pot on top of a 5 gallon bucket. with a gallon, i get about 10 percent runoff. amnesia has been about 600 ppm. last night i fed amnesia 350 ppm .5 gro, 1 micro, 2.25 bloom, and 3 ml cal mag. today i am now seeing a return of the brown spots on larger fan leaves with slightly burnt tips
-afgan has showed no signs of improvement. it drinks its water at half the pace of the other two girls. i am continuing to get the brown spots. this plant has not been fed at more than 350 ppm once per week. it has burnt tips and bad clawing. brown spots on all leaves and bud growth is quite slow. runoff is consistently at 7-800 ppm and run off ph is at 6.3ish with 6.7 in. At this point im wondering about root issues, ive read about brown spots being a fungal infection, which is possible, however it definitely seems to be somewhat nutrient related. the other afghan has gotten almost the exact same treatment. it started as the runt and has been almost problem free since seedling stage. life cycle is claimed to be 70 days with the afghans and 85 i believe with the amneisa. we are currently on day 54.

that sums it up, i wish i would have kept better records along the way of feeding but these plants have not seen much nutrients to date, which is why the nutrient burn (or so i think) is really puzzling me. is it my cal mag? its npk is 2-0-0. any help here is greatly appreciated. i dont know how much hope there is for the afghan, but i think there is still hope for the amnesia. Plus, I'm really trying to gather as much from this first experience as possible. To all of you who made it to this last sentence, i appreciate you more than you know. my next post in this thread will include pictures
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
8
front left-sick afghan
back left-afghan in good shape
right side-amnesia
lights-1 mars hydro 300 watt and 2 roleadro 300 watt, both led. 21 on, 3 off. venting to exterior of house with 6 inch duct/inline can fan.
 
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Nate_in_AK

Nate_in_AK

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Hello and welcome to the Farm!! ✌


Congratulations on getting this far! I'm not a dirt guy, and I'm pretty new too, but these look like nutrient problems to me. Amnesia droops like she is over-watered, but also has some twisting that is concerning. That rear Afghan looks like it is starting to develop similar issues to the front plant...?

Hopefully a dirt wizard can offer you some advice. Keep digging around the forums, you'll find many requests for assistance, with photos, and you'll probably find someone who had your problem before. Sadly it can take a lot of reading. 📖📖📖

Good luck!!
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
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thank you for the advice! my lights came back on about 2 hours before this picture. the amnesia will perk up throughout the day, but during lights out and althe first 3 hours of lights on its seemed like its been drooping quite a bit, and than comes out of it. its the only one of the 3 that has done this consistently for the past couple weeks, not sureif thats normal. also nearly all of the growth on that plant was twisted and weirdly thick. i did quite a bit of defoliation just to get ot to where it looked like it could breathe, and its really been doing quite a bit better till now. the back left is due for some water today. i really wanna feed it but i did notice some burnt tips so i really dont wanna over do it. However with how little ive been feeding it i don't want it to go deficient. im really hoping to keep that one at least semi healthy
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
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heres some real time close ups of the rear left afghan. it does have some faint brown spots on the leaves accompanied by burnt tips. it did have a couple ever so slightly burnt tips a couple days ago but today its a bit more noticeable. brown spots are a first. also a shot of the amnesia, it seems to be drooping a little less, brown spots becoming increasingly noticeable on larger leaves towards the top of the plant
 
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corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
8
One more inportant thing to add is this is in our basement utility room. we are in the process of drywalling our basement. we have kept the utility room fairly well sealed and i have not noticed drywall dust in the tent, but it has made its way into the utility room and non the less its worth mentioning
 
GNick55

GNick55

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thank you for the advice! my lights came back on about 2 hours before this picture. the amnesia will perk up throughout the day, but during lights out and althe first 3 hours of lights on its seemed like its been drooping quite a bit, and than comes out of it. its the only one of the 3 that has done this consistently for the past couple weeks, not sureif thats normal. also nearly all of the growth on that plant was twisted and weirdly thick. i did quite a bit of defoliation just to get ot to where it looked like it could breathe, and its really been doing quite a bit better till now. the back left is due for some water today. i really wanna feed it but i did notice some burnt tips so i really dont wanna over do it. However with how little ive been feeding it i don't want it to go deficient. im really hoping to keep that one at least semi healthy
some few strains do droop their leaves up to two hrs before lights off and takes a little time to wake up. those strains to me grow really fast and really nice plants in the end.. no worries about that.
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
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some few strains do droop their leaves up to two hrs before lights off and takes a little time to wake up. those strains to me grow really fast and really nice plants in the end.. no worries about that.
that is quite reassuring, however the newly developed brown spots on the leaves do have me concerned. this one just entered flowed, hoping to keep her from turning out like her neighbor to the left. appreciate the input!
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

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For anyone following i have another small update.
First i went through and pruned some of the leaves in really rough shape on the rough looking afghan. i found some leaves where the spots arent as developed. i snapped a picture of two leaves, this will be the leaf in the second picture. Furthermore i noticed when moving the buds out of the way that the flowers would leave a sticky residue on my fingers. the buds on this plant are less developed than its "sister" in the back and the buds on that one doesnt really leave a sticky residie on your fingers. speaking of that one, i did find a leaf towards the back of that plant that had the spots developing, this is the worst one i have found on this plant to date. that is the leaf pictured first. maybe the stickiness is normal, i dont have enough experience growing tonstay if it is or isnt, but i feel as though the leaf pics are helpful. sorry for the post overload, i genuinely appreciate everyone taking the time to read through this, hopefully it can help someone else along the line
 
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stp

stp

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First of all, I would be using filtered water and not distilled. Here we have those machines outside stores that are filtered and still have some ppm which I believe is good. Here it’s 50 ppm. It’s a nutrient problem for sure. I was told I could go as hug as 1200 ppm before I had issues, so you are not too high on PPM in my opinion, but it sounds like your feeding plan is lacking. I also gave my 5 gallon smart pots at least 1.5-2 gallons each most times. Seen this chart before?
 
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corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
8
First of all, I would be using filtered water and not distilled. Here we have those machines outside stores that are filtered and still have some ppm which I believe is good. Here it’s 50 ppm. It’s a nutrient problem for sure. I was told I could go as hug as 1200 ppm before I had issues, so you are not too high on PPM in my opinion, but it sounds like your feeding plan is lacking. I also gave my 5 gallon smart pots at least 1.5-2 gallons each most times. Seen this chart before?
yes ive come across this chart on google but i the one i came across wasnt high enough quality to really make sense of any of it. there is a 5 step plant doctor page that really helped troubleshooting my ph issue in the earlier stages. i did just google that chart and found a legible example. My best guess after seeing this is not nutrient burn, but most of the problems stemming from potassium deficiency. would plants claw like that from being deficient in potassium? i would have to agree that i have been feeding extremely light, i just dont want to go overboard with them, especially considering the state they are in. Since ive been suspecting a nitrogen toxicity ive been trying to go light on nutes with a high n value, with the exception of cal mag since ive been kinda leaning towards a deficiency in calcium. its really seemed like the more ive used nutes, the worse this has gotten, and i havent even broke 350 ppm, so it has been mind blowing seeing diaries of these strains with people feeding 600-1200 ppm. definitely a steep learning curve. i also realized through more research that i havent been shaking my nutrient bottles prior to use😬
edit:i found another chart that makes it look to be a calcium deficiency for sure, ive been feedin 3ml cal mag per feeding, and this has not yielded any improvement. with 600-800 ppm runoff is it possible to have an issue with lockout at that number
 
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stp

stp

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My last grow I used the entire line of Bio Canna, and I fed them per their schedule and didn’t have any issues. Are you following the full schedule per the nutrient mfg you are using or did you cut some stuff out and free wheel it a little? My grow was organic and the cal mag I used was by Roots organics. It called for
1-3 tsp per gallon that’s 5-15 ml. I was giving 10ml per 3 gallons the entire time using that 50 ppm water. This is 4% calcium, 1% mag, 4% sulfur.
Then I’d add a couple shots of other things from Bio Canna line, and end up at 800-1000 ppm almost everytime. But again, organic so I never once tested or touched PH. Never checked it, and I didn’t care. I tested water ph once and it was close to where it should be. Just had the guy I am following with his side by side grow have little dots start to show and he corrected with this water soluble gypsum....which I’m assuming is calcium as this label says it’s made with Gypsum. I also almost never watered till I had run off...not until I stared flushing at the end. I was using Happy Frog also (fuck them for the gnats), and I did not feed any nitrogen the first few weeks. If you are in flower you should not be giving anything with nitrogen either.
 
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stp

stp

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I re-read your first post. I’ve never grown auto so I’m not sure of timelines. This can have an impact on your feeding schedule though, and certainly the phase transitions in growing auto flowers. Growing light induced flower (normal style) you have total control and can stretch or shorten cycles however you want. I think your four weeks before anything was too long, then your first “feeding” was cal/mg and molasses. That cal/mg should have been day one watering. You used completely stripped water, devoid of all nutrients, no calcium no magnesium. Molasses is not a food source the plant needs in Veg cycle. Im not sure it’s even considered a food but more of a carbohydrate for the plant. It could use that in flower, but not as a sole source of life, and certainly not in VEG.
you should have had a veg food, a transition food, and a bloom food at minimum. Cal/mg is not food.
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
8
My last grow I used the entire line of Bio Canna, and I fed them per their schedule and didn’t have any issues. Are you following the full schedule per the nutrient mfg you are using or did you cut some stuff out and free wheel it a little? My grow was organic and the cal mag I used was by Roots organics. It called for
1-3 tsp per gallon that’s 5-15 ml. I was giving 10ml per 3 gallons the entire time using that 50 ppm water. This is 4% calcium, 1% mag, 4% sulfur.
Then I’d add a couple shots of other things from Bio Canna line, and end up at 800-1000 ppm almost everytime. But again, organic so I never once tested or touched PH. Never checked it, and I didn’t care. I tested water ph and it was close to where it should be, so that never changed either. Just had the guy in following with his side by side grow have little dots start to show and he corrected with this water soluble gypsum....which I’m assuming it calcium as this label says it’s made with Gypsum. I also almost never watered till I had run off...not until I stared flushing at the end.
that is awesome info. i wasnt up until a few weeks ago just for troubleshooting purposes. larely ive been doing about a gallon and a half if i feed. i start with a half gallon of plain distilled evenly dispersed followed by a gallon of nutrient fortified water. as of recent ive been going going about a half of the recommended dose on the 3 part. however the last 2 feedings ive cut back on the micro a hair just because its 5-0-0 and i saw burnt tips and clawing which i attributed to nitrogen toxicity. my nutrients drop my ph down to mid 5s so i definitely need to adjust it. im assuming this is cus they are hydro fertilizers, they say they can be used with soil, whether its idea, probably not:/ pictured is the nutrients im using
 
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stp

stp

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Bail the micro, if you are in flower phase, 5-0-0 is hurting more than helping and it’s going to stack up and make the weed taste worse, possibly harsh. Once veg is over, I’m not adding liquid N anymore. It’s P & K time. If you see a loss in green color early flower, it could need a little bit the leaves should start yellowing towards end of flower anyways.
 
stp

stp

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I read the feeding schedule, surprised they call for so much N for so long...but then Im thinking, hydroponic, so there’s no soil, no source of N unless you add some. You have soil, so I think if you used the gro and not the micro with the bloom, always adding cal/mg you should be fine. How much time is left though?
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
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I re-read your first post. I’ve never grown auto so I’m not sure of timelines. This can have an impact on your feeding schedule though, and certainly the phase transitions in growing auto flowers. Growing light induced flower (normal style) you have total control and can stretch or shorten cycles however you want. I think your four weeks before anything was too long, then your first “feeding” was cal/mg and molasses. That cal/mg should have been day one watering. You used completely stripped water, devoid of all nutrients, no calcium no magnesium. Molasses is not a food source the plant needs in Veg cycle. Im not sure it’s even considered a food but more of a carbohydrate for the plant. It could use that in flower, but not as a sole source of life, and certainly not in VEG.
you should have had a veg food, a transition food, and a bloom food at minimum. Cal/mg is not food.
The main reason i added the molasses was i read the sugars helped feed the microbiology in the soil. i actually stopped after the first feeding since the plant just wasnt responding well. i waited a long time to feed since i was using fox farm hf. They claim the soil can feed for up to 4 weeks. Ive read things about the soil being a little hot for seedlings so i didnt wanna overdo it. there is certainly alot if sense in all of that. i will definitely be moving away from distilled. its pretty late in the game for the one i think, but it be wise to get away from the 2-0-0 cal mag and switch to the roots. also just feeding the bloom from here on out? im certainly considering getting away from the general hydroponics. their ratio in flower calls for 1 gro2 micor 3 bloom which seems like a ton of nitrogen. thank you again for your input,
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

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I read the feeding schedule, surprised they call for so much N for so long...but then Im thinking, hydroponic, so there’s no soil, no source of N unless you add some. You have soil, so I think if you used the gro and not the micro with the bloom, always adding cal/mg you should be fine. How much time is left though?
awrsome, i will do that. im day 54 of 70 which is what world of seeds claims. so im guessing 2 weeks roughly. so probably a bit late.
however the amnesia has a little time left, like 5 weeks.
 
stp

stp

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Two weeks away, I’d feed zero N here on out. Correct with cal mg, but based on your numbers, it’s got N in it too? I’d try another, or gypsum. Two weeks out with my last grow, I was just about to stop all nutrients and give pure water the last 3 maybe four waterings over the next two weeks. It was not getting N for the Previous 6-8 weeks by the way. When you say feed the microbes, did you add microbes throughout the process or just go with what happy frog says it has? I add microbes throughout my grow with teas, products like Bio Rhizotonic and now Buildasoil’s Rootwise. I even foliar sprayed them twice with the tea. The microbes protect and help every process, you almost can’t have too many, and can have too few. I used molasses as a sweetener at the end by watering with it, the idea that the plant uses the carbs to create sugars for the buds. When I brew my own tea, I fed that bubbling batch a bit of molasses before I use the tea to water my plants.
 
corn.everywhere

corn.everywhere

33
8
Two weeks away, I’d feed zero N here on out. Correct with cal mg, but based on your numbers, it’s got N in it too? I’d try another, or gypsum. Two weeks out with my last grow, I was just about to stop all nutrients and give pure water the last 3 maybe four waterings over the next two weeks. It was not getting N for the Previous 6-8 weeks by the way. When you say feed the microbes, did you add microbes throughout the process or just go with what happy frog says it has? I add microbes throughout my grow with teas, products like Bio Rhizotonic and now Buildasoil’s Rootwise. I even foliar sprayed them twice with the tea. The microbes protect and help every process, you almost can’t have too many, and can have too few. I used molasses as a sweetener at the end by watering with it, the idea that the plant uses the carbs to create sugars for the buds. When I brew my own tea, I fed that bubbling batch a bit of molasses before I use the tea to water my plants.
sounds good, ill find something different for a cal mag. i figured the 2 Afghans will probably be flushed after the next feeding, so at this point its m9re about what im takin away but you have been a huge help.i never did add any microbes, just the mycorrhizae that was in there to begin with, which from what i read is lacking. definitely would like to do something different soil wise this next time around and also get away from the general hydroponics 3 part. definitely have learned alot through this round for sure though. also, my tap water is roughly 275 ppm out the tap. would it be acceptable to let it sit for a few days and for the chlorine to evaporate or just go with filtered. there are a couple youtube growers who ive watched that feed exlusively with there own brewed tees which was super cool to see. i would definitely like to go completely organic. at this point tho i really just need to track down some different cal mag and begin next time a bit more intelligently. again, thank you so much for your help, its definitely been huge
Edit: I just saw you were also growing in happy frog as well. yes, right of the bat, the gnats were terrible. Did you ammend it with anything besides perlite before using it? ive heard lime helps since the ph is a little low right out of the bag. we do have 1 whole bag left, so i will probably use that one up, but as far as mocrobes i feel like i could have done more. did you strictly just add throughout the grow or ammend with microbes in the beginning as well. again, thank you
 
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