New growth is showing signs of stress and deficiency

[thehighguy]

Im fairly confident my plant is experiencing some kind of deficiency. Im thinking its a immobile nutrient. On November 9th i added a dolomite lime solution and brought the soil ph up from 5.9-6.1 to 6.8-7.0. I then added Gaia power bloom on the 14th in preparation for flowering, with a slightly acidic top dressing. the soil ph has since stabilized between 6.4 and 6.6. is it possible the ph swings stressed the plant? I mixed the soil to acidic to start so its ph has been slowly rising since the grow started, as i have been slowly liming the soil. i want to flip the lights sometime in the next week or so, and i want the plant as healthy as can be for the event. any suggestions?

 

[Imzzaudae]

Plant was likely fine at 5.9 before you started messing with the ph. I don't see any signs of any deficiency.
This plant seems very stubby / compact how far from the top of the plant to the light?
Should be about 30".

Flip her. As you have already added lime. Lime is Calcium and Magnesium go very easy on the cal-mag.

 

[thehighguy]

The lights about 36 inches away right now. She is stubby because i topped her and bench the branch colas outwards. The nodes are approx. 1-1.5 inches long. Thanks for the response! I will hold off on applying any fertilizer for a week longer then originally planned (power bloom every 2 weeks) to prevent locking stuff out on excess Cal-mag. In the mean time do you think its worth adding trace minerals in the form of basalt rock? I mixed some into the soil before i cooked it, about a tablespoon in 14 liters of soil. the plants been growing for about one month now including the pre-veg period. Im sure their are still trace minerals in their as the roots likely just finished filling the container last week.

While i got your attention i was wondering if its possible to OD plants on organics. from what iv gathered online its possible but extremally difficult.

 

[Imzzaudae]

I guess it is possible to over do it with natural ingredients. But not likely. What where you feeding her. What was the low ph top dressing? Your plant actually looks to be in very nice shape. I noticed the 4 tops but it did not register that she had been topped. I'm sure there will be enough minerals in city water no need for more basalt rock. It will be slow release over months or years. No signs of any Magnesium issues what so ever.

 

[Bdubs]

Yes. Ph adjustments, especially wide swings will show some funky stuff. Those Ph numbers are all fine. Try and keep it consistent. Just like using too much Ph Up/Down in a hydroponic reservoir will put too much stress on the plant, and for hydro it is always best to do a reservoir change rather than to try and chase the Ph. It throws them all out of wack to constantly add acid or try to reduce it and back and forth.

You’ll be fine though, she is just adjusting herself to the new Ph and how she is going to break her food down. If flowering soon (and what you did doesn’t cause swings and chasing of Ph) that’s perfect numbers 6.4/6.6

My suggestion is to get Ph of soil stable, however long that takes. Give her at least 5 days after you’ve confirmed Ph is stabilized and then you may push her. I know it is tough to manage Ph in soil without overwatering to check runout. So be mindful of overwatering which I can see some signs the soil is a bit too wet. Let her dry up a bit, feed again bloom nutes/early flower nutes. You don’t need to push 12/12 just because you started bloom nutes. Get her ready to flip. Measure your runout on that feed and see where the Ph is. If it’s on target for you and no big fluctuations, then you can push it whenever.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

I don't know how watering is supposed to work with organics, but just looking at the leaves, they appear to be bursting at the seams with water, and the low, bloopy, compact plant shape is something we see with over-watering. Once the roots are struggling to get enough air, uptake of nutes can suffer. Just an idea.

 

[thehighguy]

I don't know how watering is supposed to work with organics, but just looking at the leaves, they appear to be bursting at the seams with water, and the low, bloopy, compact plant shape is something we see with over-watering. Once the roots are struggling to get enough air, uptake of nutes can suffer. Just an idea.

Yes. Ph adjustments, especially wide swings will show some funky stuff. Those Ph numbers are all fine. Try and keep it consistent. Just like using too much Ph Up/Down in a hydroponic reservoir will put too much stress on the plant, and for hydro it is always best to do a reservoir change rather than to try and chase the Ph. It throws them all out of wack to constantly add acid or try to reduce it and back and forth.

You’ll be fine though, she is just adjusting herself to the new Ph and how she is going to break her food down. If flowering soon (and what you did doesn’t cause swings and chasing of Ph) that’s perfect numbers 6.4/6.6

My suggestion is to get Ph of soil stable, however long that takes. Give her at least 5 days after you’ve confirmed Ph is stabilized and then you may push her. I know it is tough to manage Ph in soil without overwatering to check runout. So be mindful of overwatering which I can see some signs the soil is a bit too wet. Let her dry up a bit, feed again bloom nutes/early flower nutes. You don’t need to push 12/12 just because you started bloom nutes. Get her ready to flip. Measure your runout on that feed and see where the Ph is. If it’s on target for you and no big fluctuations, then you can push it whenever.

Thanks for responding! It could very well be a watering issue. The soil is about 25% perlite, the other 75% is a organic potting blend cut with peat 50/50. i flushed the pot twice before i limed (aqueous dolomite solution) it when i was trying to raise the ph, but i let the pot get dry after each flush. Approx. 15% run off on the flush. is that the culprit? I flipped the lights last night as suggested by the first response.... but over the last 2 weeks iv been slowly increasing the length of the night in my tent. 24 -> 22 -> 20 ->16. Is this good practice or a waste of time? that her this Moring and good view of nodal spacing. nodes are about 1.5-2 inches. Is that considered stubby? Also would i be better off using raw bicarb instead of lime in the future? Could it would allow me to better control Ca, Mg and Mn.

 

[thehighguy]

I guess it is possible to over do it with natural ingredients. But not likely. What where you feeding her. What was the low ph top dressing? Your plant actually looks to be in very nice shape. I noticed the 4 tops but it did not register that she had been topped. I'm sure there will be enough minerals in city water no need for more basalt rock. It will be slow release over months or years. No signs of any Magnesium issues what so ever.

The low ph top dressing was the soil blend i originally put her in. My Ph meter arrived after i planted, and the soil was originally around 5.3-5.5.... thats what i get for being inpatient. Their was not a lot of top dressing just enough to cover the fertilizer. Its on Gaia green all purpose and powerbloom (powerbloom was added as a top dressing in prep for flowering.), with basalt rock, a carb booster whole fish meal and a compost starter. I think the acidity is from the compost starter but it could be organic acids if i over fertilized. I have potash im planning on using in the mid to late phase of the bloom cycle, but its not in the mix yet. i also fed it once with a tea brewed from the soil blend and a small amount of fertilizer and molasses but that was a while back when i was trying to bring the soil to life. I cut the tea with tap water as it was quite acidic. thoughts on the blend? It may look like Frankenstein but it was cost effective and allowed me to target specific nuts during flowering.

 

[cannafarmer420]

You are over watering but the light green on new growth is just explosive growth if the rest of the plant is fine

 

[thehighguy]

You are over watering but the light green on new growth is just explosive growth if the rest of the plant is fine

so that light green is a good thing? which implies she took off now that the ph had been optimized. Thats good to know! I will reduce the watering frequency... thanks!

 

[cannafarmer420]

so that light green is a good thing? which implies she took off now that the ph had been optimized. Thats good to know! I will reduce the watering frequency... thanks!

As long as it's ONLY on the newest growth and nowhere else 100% good to go