Troubleshooting help. SFV OG genetics. Week 4 of flower. Yellowing leaves and browning pistils.

[DirtyLarry]

Please take a look at these pics and let me know what you think I should do to help these girls thrive.

-SFV OG clones taken from vegging mother pant
-2 pants is a 30.5" x 14" cabinet
-each in a 3 gallon fabric pot
-100W spectrum king closet case led light
-mix of build soil and happy hippy organic soil
-vegged for 9 weeks with no additional food
-strong (2 tbsp per gal) dose of Earth Juice Bloom every other feeding since full day of darkness

I noticed them starting to go pale and gave them a teaspoon of fox farm cal-mag on the last feeding.

I'm a total rookie, so any advice is welcome.

 

[Chad.Westport]

It looks like they are running low on nutrients. It could be a problem with the soil Ph or just a simple lack of them. What is the NPK ratio of your food, how often do you feed it and if you measure the ppm of the nutrients before you feed, what is the ppm level?

 

[bellumromanum]

It looks like they are running low on nutrients. It could be a problem with the soil Ph or just a simple lack of them. What is the NPK ratio of your food, how often do you feed it and if you measure the ppm of the nutrients before you feed, what is the ppm level?

Looks like they're a little leggy too. Have you tested the light intensity at the canopy?

 

[growsince79]

More feed.

 

[linde]

yup

 

[DirtyLarry]

So does that mean like double than the strong dose? Like 4 tbsp/gal bloom and 2 tsp cal/mag? Full strength every feeding?

 

[DirtyLarry]

I did a double strength feeding, hopefully I didn't go overboard and the soil will insulate them.

I noticed some of the bracts are quite swollen, combined with the shriveled brown hairs do I need to worry that these girls self-fertilized?

 

[Chad.Westport]

Knowing what the NPK ratio will allow us to determine if the double dose is too much. I have some synthetics and I have some organics here, the synthetics are far more concentrated than the organic feed. Equal measurements of the liqiuds would not equal an equal nutrient load.

On the bottles, there will usually be a series of three numbers like 5-2-4, This is commonly the NPK ratio. There should also be a list of ingredients on the back that will list the N - nitrogen, P - Phosphorus and K - Potassium in percentages. Either of those pieces will help.

 

[visajoe1]

needs food, probably somewhere between 1-1.5ec should be helpful of a 2-1-3 or similar NPK. drop the cal-mag, its not needed in soil unless you're using RO water, and if using RO stop that and use tap.

no need to panic, you're in good shape, this is an easy fix.

 

[DirtyLarry]

Thanks Chad.Westport for explaining npk.

Sorry for ignoring you and Bellumromanum request for more info. Unfortunately I don't have an ec meter to test ppm or a light intensity meter.

As far as the nutes go:
Earth Juice Bloom is 0-3-2
Fox Farm Cal-Mag is 1-0-0

 

[MIMedGrower]

When plants are fading to light green they usually need nitrogen from a grow ratio fertilizer. I dont get why cal mag is used for anything but adding back minerals to ro water. Thats all it is for.

bloom nutes do not much more than signal the plant to flower and fade them prematurely. PK products are meant to be a supplement.

high pk is not actually needed to flower a cannabis plant.

 

[DirtyLarry]

Thanks. Can someone recommend a good grow ratio fertilizer with nitrogen?

I've been feeding with spring water from 5 gal jugs, bc my tap water is extremely hard.

 

[Chad.Westport]

The good news is the double dose, should not produce an ill effect. Those are very tame nutrients and are hard to overdo. One benefit of organics is that the doses tend to be less concentrated.

The buds have nice crystals and they look like they are within a month until harvest, not sure how long you've been in flower though. Considering that, my recommendation is different than if you were in the veg stage. You can still benefit from a little nitrogen due to the lack of it but generally you want to cut out nitrogen late in flower. The plant mainly is looking for the higher ratios of the P and K at this stage.

If you are looking for organic solutions, I've used and liked Roots Organic products but I also hear lots of good things about Biobizz. You can also go for more of a fast acting synthetic solution like the Fox Farm Tiger Bloom.

 

[DirtyLarry]

Thank you. Since I made a few mistakes on this one, I'm not going to be a hard nose about organic. Fox Farm is what they sell at the local garden center so I'll probably pick up some Tiger Bloom. Should I stop both the Earth Juice Bloom and Cal-Mag?

I'm at week 4 of flower. Should I continue with nutes for every feeding for two weeks and then switch to pure h2o for 2 weeks then harvest?

I'm a little confused about timing the harvest as I read you should watch for any of the crystals to turn amber then harvest the whole plant. But if I wait for that how do I know when to stop the nutes for a flush?

 

[MIMedGrower]

The good news is the double dose, should not produce an ill effect. Those are very tame nutrients and are hard to overdo. One benefit of organics is that the doses tend to be less concentrated.

The buds have nice crystals and they look like they are within a month until harvest, not sure how long you've been in flower though. Considering that, my recommendation is different than if you were in the veg stage. You can still benefit from a little nitrogen due to the lack of it but generally you want to cut out nitrogen late in flower. The plant mainly is looking for the higher ratios of the P and K at this stage.

If you are looking for organic solutions, I've used and liked Roots Organic products but I also hear lots of good things about Biobizz. You can also go for more of a fast acting synthetic solution like the Fox Farm Tiger Bloom.

proven to not be true about nitrogen in flower. Dyna grow and advanced nutrients have published tests proving the ratio the plant uses does not change in flower. Also very little phosphorous used.

All the high p does is help signal the plant to flower. I have been using only grow nutes for years. Just taper the strength down during ripening and you can greatly increase yield and even potency by keeping the plant healthy longer.

 

[Chad.Westport]

proven to not be true about nitrogen in flower. Dyna grow and advanced nutrients have published tests proving the ratio the plant uses does not change in flower. Also very little phosphorous used.

All the high p does is help signal the plant to flower. I have been using only grow nutes for years. Just taper the strength down during ripening and you can greatly increase yield and even potency by keeping the plant healthy longer.

Yes, I agree, many different approaches, each with benefits.

 

[growsince79]

Thank you. Since I made a few mistakes on this one, I'm not going to be a hard nose about organic. Fox Farm is what they sell at the local garden center so I'll probably pick up some Tiger Bloom. Should I stop both the Earth Juice Bloom and Cal-Mag?

I'm at week 4 of flower. Should I continue with nutes for every feeding for two weeks and then switch to pure h2o for 2 weeks then harvest?

I'm a little confused about timing the harvest as I read you should watch for any of the crystals to turn amber then harvest the whole plant. But if I wait for that how do I know when to stop the nutes for a flush?

If they were mine, I'd drop the ej and just use 1.5tsp tigerbloom + 0.5tsp growbig per gallon.

 

[DirtyLarry]

Update and more trouble shooting help needed. The start of week seven of flower is in two days. I stoped feeding the earth juice bloom and Cal-Mag and started feeding tiger bloom. I fed them Friday am and closed up the cabinet, I came home Sunday afternoon and they are looking very wilted and pale. Some of the leaves are very dry. But the soil still has a good amount of moisture. The high temp inside the cabinet was 78 f and humidity has been about 40%. Should I start flushing them now and just give them ph adjusted water only for the next two weeks? I've been using the finger buried to the first knuckle test to make sure the soil is mostly dry before feeding them, is that the way to do it?

 

[DirtyLarry]

I said f it and blasted them with tiger bloom one last time. I cut off all the old dry leaves and any larger leaves near the bud sites. My plan is to flush for two weeks and then harvest. What do you think?

I know these buds aren’t impressive but if they taste and smell good after cure I’ll be way happy!

 

[DirtyLarry]

It's the last week of flower, does anyone have any last tips for me before harvest??