Nutrient Burn Or Something Else?

CropKiller · Apr 2, 2019

Hi guys,

This is one of my first attempts at growing.

Seed: Northern Lights Auto
Lights: 300W LED
Soil: Unknown (supposedly organic)
Nutrients: None

My plant seems to be showing signs of what I think is Nutrient Burn however I haven't given her any Nutes. The soil is supposedly organic (bought from a local garden shop).
From what I know, if the soil is too hot it can show signs of nute burn until the plant "grows into it".

I'm just a little worried as the last few attempts were failures =/

I could just be paranoid at this point.

I also transplated her a week ago form a small cup due to unforseen circumstances (I know it's better to plant autos in the final pot)

Any help would be appreciated.

Kepp89 · Apr 2, 2019

I think that means over watering. The watering is releasing the natural fertilizers within the soil and when the soil is ultra wet it gets “hot” because more activity occurring. I have an organic soil too and I noticed the heavier I water, the more likely tip burn would occur. Anything over 1 gallon results in tip burn on my 7-gallon pot

CropKiller · Apr 2, 2019

Hey thats a pretty good observation. I just watered her 2 days ago after a 5 day stint of no water (after the transplant).

I think you might be on to something. I'll experiment with the water levels and see the outcome.

Thanks!

Kepp89 said:
I think that means over watering. The watering is releasing the natural fertilizers within the soil and when the soil is ultra wet it gets “hot” because more activity occurring. I have an organic soil too and I noticed the heavier I water, the more likely tip burn would occur. Anything over 1 gallon results in tip burn on my 7-gallon pot

Kepp89 · Apr 2, 2019

CropKiller said:
Hey thats a pretty good observation. I just watered her 2 days ago after a 5 day stint of no water (after the transplant).

I think you might be on to something. I'll experiment with the water levels and see the outcome.

Thanks!

for future i believe you hold off on water for 3 days or so, then transplant. and after its set in its pot you water until you see the beginnings of run off. that way the soil will be hard enough to hold together and make it easy to transplant, then the fresh water will allow the old soil to take in the new soils nutrient contribution and minimal runoff means more soil nutes mixing instead of going down the drain

i'm a newbie so someone might chime in with a polar opposite of what i typed so take this all with a grain of salt

Ina · Apr 2, 2019

"Soil: Unknown (supposedly organic)"Тhats the main problem,the soil looks compacted "concrete" like some people say:)It retains moisture longer,you need much more perlite or something for drainage.It could be organic and rich on fertz but drainage is very important.The soil should be more fluffy because the roots need air.

CropKiller · Apr 2, 2019

I recently moved to a pretty remote location for work and no one around here has heard of perlite. So I decided to go without it.

The tip burn seems to be getting worse but I'll just ride it out and see what happens I guess.

Thanks for the help!

Ina said:
"Soil: Unknown (supposedly organic)"Тhats the main problem,the soil looks compacted "concrete" like some people say:)It retains moisture longer,you need much more perlite or something for drainage.It could be organic and rich on fertz but drainage is very important.The soil should be more fluffy because the roots need air.

OldManRiver · Apr 2, 2019

If you haven't fertilized, my bet is overwatering. Symptoms include slow growth, drooping and deteriorating lower leaves, turgid top. It can take a while to recover.

CropKiller · Apr 2, 2019

I had ruled out overwatering as I had waited 5 days between watering.

I'm a little inclined towards kepp88's theory of the soil still being quite hot. I'm hoping she'll use up some of the nutrients and balance herself out.

OldManRiver said:
If you haven't fertilized, my bet is overwatering. Symptoms include slow growth, drooping and deteriorating lower leaves, turgid top. It can take a while to recover.

OldManRiver · Apr 2, 2019

CropKiller said:
I had ruled out overwatering as I had waited 5 days between watering.

I'm a little inclined towards kepp88's theory of the soil still being quite hot. I'm hoping she'll use up some of the nutrients and balance herself out.

You may well be right. Overwatering damage is a persistant condition which the plant has to grow out of. The only sign to me is those tips. Overall, the plants look OK. If it's due to overwatering in the past, the plant will grow out of it.

Edinburgh · Apr 6, 2019

Cheap dirt like miracle grow put food right in the mix, these wall Mart mixes often contain pests and even sodium, usually these are very hot mixes, you can avert this problem completely by buying a mix made expressly for cannabis, try fox farm, I will bet 90% of the people on this site who use dirt for medium use fox farms, it's good stuff.

motz · Apr 6, 2019

Use promix orange bag, has just enough nutes to get your babies above ground after that, I had to use miracle grow blue bag for veg and flower this round no compaction problems whatsoever.
I like pro mix with mycos also , blue bag with veggies on it for veg and flower. I also use pure blend pro for my nutrient regiment.
I don't buy that expensive potting soil, I also used to build my own.
Which becomes alot Xtra work, Schultz potting soil is good also.

Edinburgh · Apr 6, 2019

Yea I have heard of pure blend pro, fox farms was recommended to me and my plants luv it, I have a crystal candy autoflower that is showing pistols at 17 days, I don't think it's overly expensive at $25 for a large bag, it basically depends on what your trying to grow.

Jimster · Apr 6, 2019

I use Promix with some composted manure 4 or 5 to 1, and have never had ANY problems with nutrients, over or under. What is your Relative Humidity (Rh)? I sometimes see this if the air is really dry. Promix is almost impossible to overwater as long as you have drain holes in the bottom. Just my opinion!

MIMedGrower · Apr 6, 2019

Sure looks like the roots are too wet to me. Without good drainage not sure how to fix the problem. Maybe regularly scratch the soil surface and poke some holes in the soil with something that wont damage roots too much.

cannabis likes fast draining soil. Needs to stay only moist. Not wet.

Jimster · Apr 6, 2019

CropKiller said:
I had ruled out overwatering as I had waited 5 days between watering.

I'm a little inclined towards kepp88's theory of the soil still being quite hot. I'm hoping she'll use up some of the nutrients and balance herself out.

One of the more common signs of overfeeding or over nutrient levels, is a drooping of the leaves, sort of like they need watered. If the soil is too hot or too saline (from fertilizer), then the soil can actually draw water from the plant. Watering it won't usually help, although flushing might, depending on how hot the soil is and why it is so hot. Changing Ph levels can cause some nutrient levels to be locked up in the soil, then become available all of a sudden when the Ph problem is fixed, causing nutrient burn without adding any nutrients. In layman's terms, you are chasing your tail and/or Ph. I see more and more posts from people having problems with bagged soils, including Fox Farms, having too hot of nutrient levels, which seem to affect some strains more than others.

MIMedGrower · Apr 6, 2019

Jimster said:
One of the more common signs of overfeeding or over nutrient levels, is a drooping of the leaves, sort of like they need watered. If the soil is too hot or too saline (from fertilizer), then the soil can actually draw water from the plant. Watering it won't usually help, although flushing might, depending on how hot the soil is and why it is so hot. Changing Ph levels can cause some nutrient levels to be locked up in the soil, then become available all of a sudden when the Ph problem is fixed, causing nutrient burn without adding any nutrients. In layman's terms, you are chasing your tail and/or Ph. I see more and more posts from people having problems with bagged soils, including Fox Farms, having too hot of nutrient levels, which seem to affect some strains more than others.

Great post!

Just want to add that enough added large perlite or other drainage input to soils like ocean forest pretry much eliminates the nutrient burn issue.

Great point about salt in the medium being greater than in the roots. Osmosis states salts attract salts. I always try to err on the side of light feeding and dryish pots.

Nutrient Burn Or Something Else?

Nutrient Burn Or Something Else?

CropKiller

Kepp89

CropKiller

Kepp89

Ina

CropKiller

OldManRiver

CropKiller

OldManRiver

Edinburgh

motz

Edinburgh

Jimster

MIMedGrower

Jimster

MIMedGrower

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