Trainwreck Strain Problems - brown dots on leaves

[PurplePunch]

This plant was growing great for about 1-10 weeks in veg. it was looking so great! Then the orangeish or brownish dots started. I have other strains in the same tent - no brown dots. The dots started on the lowest and most mature fan leaves, then it started moving up. Even the newest growth is now developing brown dots on the small leaves.

The plant is not actually THIS yellow. The camera did that. It's actually greener.

Does anyone with more experience than me have an idea?

 

[Heywood]

Here you go...

Read Me First

Hey guys, im surprised something like this hasn't been posted before but better late than never. I know i don't make policy around here, but i would think everyone will agree with me on this. It's very hard to diagnose a plant when you don't have all the information at your finger tips. If...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[TSD]

We need more info. Are you feeding it? What and how often, environment, etc. At first glance it looks like a potassium deficiency... but hard to say for sure or why without more info.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

Yeah looks like a lockout issue. Check you PH make sure its not drifting up into the 7s or 8s. Needs to stay lower. Could be a potassium or a magnesium deficiency. Also those leaves are looking rather yellowed. That is a separate issue IMO the leaf yellowing could be from overwatering. If I were you I would do 3 things. Remember this is going ONLY off of the picture I don't know your exact details of the grow. Im winging this off of one photo...

1) Check your PH in the soil. You can buy a cheap soil PH meter on amazon. Stick it in there and see what it says. The perfect PH is debatable but I see most guys running somewhere from 5.8-6.50 so if your soil PH is high then you just start PH down your water before you pour. Buy the PH down on amazon its liquid its cheap.

2) Start adding more supplements. Ideally start adding a nice healthy dose of CalMag and also perhaps a dose of a potassium rich fertilizer.

3) Stop watering that plant for a while and let the soil dry out. I cant see it in your photo but Im willing to bet the soil is likely overwatered. If its dark black in color and moist to the touch then its too wet. Let it dry all the way out for multiple days until you can pick up the pot and it feels really light. Once all that water has finally evaporated out then you can start to water again but go back in easy and water less than before. You gotta make sure the soil drys out fully in between each watering it allows air pockets to fill back up in the soil so the roots can breathe and receive oxygen. Yellow leaves usually is either from overwatering or Nitrate deficiency in Veg.

 

[PurplePunch]

Here you go...

Read Me First

Hey guys, im surprised something like this hasn't been posted before but better late than never. I know i don't make policy around here, but i would think everyone will agree with me on this. It's very hard to diagnose a plant when you don't have all the information at your finger tips. If...

www.thcfarmer.com

Sorry for the lack of details.

1. Are you growing from seed or clones? Seed
2. How old are your plants? 3 months
3. How tall are your plants? 3 ft
4. What size containers are they planted in? 5 gal
5. What is your soil mix? Fox Farm Happy Frog
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? Well water, PH to 6.5
7. What is the pH of your water?
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? 20-20-20 during veg every other week
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything? no
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights") A Mars Hydro awesome LED light. Due to plants stretching, I’ve dropped it to 40% strength
11. How close are your lights to the plants?24 inches
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? 4x4
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? 70 @ 50%

 

[PurplePunch]

Yeah looks like a lockout issue. Check you PH make sure its not drifting up into the 7s or 8s. Needs to stay lower. Could be a potassium or a magnesium deficiency. Also those leaves are looking rather yellowed. That is a separate issue IMO the leaf yellowing could be from overwatering. If I were you I would do 3 things. Remember this is going ONLY off of the picture I don't know your exact details of the grow. Im winging this off of one photo...

1) Check your PH in the soil. You can buy a cheap soil PH meter on amazon. Stick it in there and see what it says. The perfect PH is debatable but I see most guys running somewhere from 5.8-6.50 so if your soil PH is high then you just start PH down your water before you pour. Buy the PH down on amazon its liquid its cheap.

2) Start adding more supplements. Ideally start adding a nice healthy dose of CalMag and also perhaps a dose of a potassium rich fertilizer.

3) Stop watering that plant for a while and let the soil dry out. I cant see it in your photo but Im willing to bet the soil is likely overwatered. If its dark black in color and moist to the touch then its too wet. Let it dry all the way out for multiple days until you can pick up the pot and it feels really light. Once all that water has finally evaporated out then you can start to water again but go back in easy and water less than before. You gotta make sure the soil drys out fully in between each watering it allows air pockets to fill back up in the soil so the roots can breathe and receive oxygen. Yellow leaves usually is either from overwatering or Nitrate deficiency in Veg.

The problem started in veg but has gotten worse now that I'm 2wks into flowering. I almost delayed flowering due to this but I'm out of space!!

I started by adding calmag but maybe that plant had already locked out? I've considered my well water not having minerals, PH'ed to 6.5-6.7, ppm to 400 w calmag, watered more, watered less. The problem just keeps getting worse.

I appreciate your advice. At what point is a flush warranted and how often? The runoff water has tested at 6.0 PH so far.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

The problem started in veg but has gotten worse now that I'm 2wks into flowering. I almost delayed flowering due to this but I'm out of space!!

I started by adding calmag but maybe that plant had already locked out? I've considered my well water not having minerals, PH'ed to 6.5-6.7, ppm to 400 w calmag, watered more, watered less. The problem just keeps getting worse.

I appreciate your advice. At what point is a flush warranted and how often? The runoff water has tested at 6.0 PH so far.

It is usually common for the plants to experience the worst nutrient deficiencies as they go in flower. 2nd week of flower is super common cuz thats when the plant shifts all its focus from vegetative growth to flowering. The nutrient demands of the plants increase dramatically during flower. Flowering basically pushes the plant "petal to the metal" so to speak and if you don't have enough fuel in the tank (aka proper nutrient blend) then the plant will struggle.

Also remember that the rust spotting and deficiencies on the leaves will never go away. Once they occur they are permanently imprinted on the leaves. To gauge your successes during the combating of this issue you must focus on the new growth. It will be the new leaves that look healthy and show less spotting. Once the plant becomes more healthy as the weeks tick by then you can start to slowly defoliate and remove all the ugly rust spot leaves.

What type of light are you using? Usually these deficiencies occur most frequently in LEDs especially high output units.

 

[Shaded_One]

Usually these deficiencies occur most frequently in LEDs especially high output units.

so much this - we toss a massive engine(light) into our cars(tent) without making sure everything else is up to par and then wonder why we've crashed into a wall :)

 

[IamN2pot]

Folks, when I zoom in on the picture I see serious tip burn on the new growth and the spots progress as the leaf ages. The OP says that they fed with 20/20/20 every other week and are using FF Happy Frog. Looks to me to be a problem of over feeding. The OP also states they are in a 4x4 tent with the Mars LED @ 40% and 24" above the canopy. Unless it's some massive actual wattage, 2 feet above @ 40% power isn't a likely suspect in my book.
I have seen the same issue in my grow and it was without question, in my grow, over feeding. I'm in a 4x4 tent and under a SpiderFarmer SF4000. I run it at 100% @ 12" over the canopy in bloom. I am in a hot soil to start with (here, The Bomb) and add Subcools recepie to make it a JAWS (Just Add Water Soil) system, but in the early days, enough wasn't enough.They looked just like yours do. Serious tip burn on new growth that advances into spots that grow and eventually will kill the leaf, leaving it dried and crispy. I took all 4 of the plants, in 5 gal pots and ran 5 gals of RO water through each pot. I then switched from wattering with RO w/Cal Mag added to filtered tap water (we have chloramine water) and pH it down with lemon juice. (citric acid neutralizes chloramine) It curred the problem for me and I now pay VERY close attention to any tip burn on my leaves.
Good luck with your spots. I hope you are successful getting new growth without the tip and leaf burn.
N2

 

[PurplePunch]

I tested my run-off water today and the PPM was 1000+, so I did a flush down to about 350 PPM. It looks like I was overfeeding and maybe had a ph lockout issue on top. I'll post in a few days with updates. I hope I didn't just kill it.

 

[IamN2pot]

I hope I didn't just kill it.

No, if you just flushed it and lowered the PPM from 1k to 350, IMHO you just saved it. You could see a 'happier' plant by tomorrow.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

It must have been overfeeding followed by a lockout because whenever I have seen N burn from overfeeding it is virtually always accompanied by bark green leaves and burnt tips. Those tips look burnt I agree with you 100% but the leaves are very faded and yellow which is confusing because most overfeeding is much darker from my experience. But it actually could be multiple problems occurring at once.

 

[PurplePunch]

It must have been overfeeding followed by a lockout because whenever I have seen N burn from overfeeding it is virtually always accompanied by bark green leaves and burnt tips. Those tips look burnt I agree with you 100% but the leaves are very faded and yellow which is confusing because most overfeeding is much darker from my experience. But it actually could be multiple problems occurring at once.

I'm glad I decided to ask you guys. This problem has been plaguing me for weeks. The leaves were slightly darker than normal weeks ago, but slowly they've been getting lighter (and more of a yellow/green). My phone seemed to amplify the yellow though, so it's not quite accurate. I didn't take the time to edit the pic to match the hue of the real world.

 

[Backyard_Boogie]

I'm glad I decided to ask you guys. This problem has been plaguing me for weeks. The leaves were slightly darker than normal weeks ago, but slowly they've been getting lighter (and more of a yellow/green). My phone seemed to amplify the yellow though, so it's not quite accurate. I didn't take the time to edit the pic to match the hue of the real world.

Yeah its likely what I suspected. The tips did burn and if you say it was much darker before that falls in line with what is to be expected.

 

[PurplePunch]

Update: the more damaged picture is from the upper plant. The better looking picture is about halfway down the plant. These were taken 4 days after the flush. Since this plant is a couple weeks into flowering, it's harder to find new veg growth. I know I helped it due to the run-off PPMs dropping so drastically. Maybe I won't see much evidence until the plant is further into flowering?

I also flushed all other plants (most in various stages of veg) and the new veg growth has been explosive. I probably just saved those plants from becoming what this Trainwreck became.

Lesson so far - I suck at adding nutes.