Weird looking leaves, are these ok?

[spase]

I'm growing in soil. Recently added a reverse osmosis for the water. Last watering was phed water. Ppm was 25. Ph at about 5.8 to 6. They were moved to large pots and week ago.
The leaves visually jump out.

 

[spase]

All the new leaves are generally brighter than the existing leaves, but this set is much bigger and they've always settled into the darker coloring at this size.

 

[Grownsince95]

If it's only at the top new growth that could be an iron issue.

 

[Halloweed]

It looks deficient in something but I still have a hard time diagnosing different deficiencies.

Someone else will chime in with a better answer.

 

[Grownsince95]

Are you adding calmag in the RO water?

 

[cannafarmer420]

I'm growing in soil. Recently added a reverse osmosis for the water. Last watering was phed water. Ppm was 25. Ph at about 5.8 to 6. They were moved to large pots and week ago.
The leaves visually jump out.

Did you add anything to the soil in the new pot? Also what kind?

 

[ArtfulCodger]

What soil? Is it amended? How long have the plants been in it? How much and what have you fed? Any supplements?

 

[spase]

It's my first grow. I started on miracle grow, but moved them to coco loco a week ago. They're about 5 weeks. I used just the PHed water after the repot. I added water until it started coming out the bottom.
It's just the one plant, the others look normal. They're all bag seed, so probably 3 or 4 varieties in the 4 pots. I say that because 2 look really close.
I've been thinking I need to get the CalMag to have on hand.

 

[Ninjadogma]

I think you have a pH related nutrient deficiency. You are growing in soil and soils have natural buffers that regulate pH in the root zone. You'll get a better sense what's going on measuring pH coming out the bottom, not what you're putting in on top. Once you get your reading, compare it to this chart and you'll be able to see what they're probably not getting. And then, the fix isn't adding those nutrients they aren't getting. The fix is correcting the pH.

 

[Ninjadogma]

It's my first grow. I started on miracle grow, but moved them to coco loco a week ago. They're about 5 weeks. I used just the PHed water after the repot. I added water until it started coming out the bottom.
It's just the one plant, the others look normal. They're all bag seed, so probably 3 or 4 varieties in the 4 pots. I say that because 2 look really close.
I've been thinking I need to get the CalMag to have on hand.

I just looked up Coco Loco and 6.5 appears to be the sweet spot for water you're putting in.

 

[spase]

I got a soil meter and it says 7 to 7.5. I'm close to watering again, so I'll run some through to test with my good meter. I was seeing the 7 to 7.5 in the soil, so I was adjusting for a little lower with my 6.0 water.

 

[Grownsince95]

Now I'm pretty sure it's an iron issue. Chlorosis on only the top growth combined with the switch to RO water with no cal mag and the 7+ pH. The lack of buffering capacity in the RO water is going to make the pH drift up really fast and make the iron unavailable. Any alkaline buffer in the medium will immediately neutralize the acid you put in. You see it right away on the new growth because it's an immobie nutrient. I would flush with a lot of 6.0 pH water to try and leech out any alkaline salts that may have accumulated up until now. If you were using high ppm tap water before they may have built up and will quickly neutralize any ro water you add now.

I would definitely use tap water until you get some calmag. If it's above 200 ppm just cut it with the RO water. Most good brands also have chelated iron in it which is more available at wider pH range. You will also notice you have to add way more pH down to the tap water and this is buffering at work. When that water hits your soil it's much more stable.

But definitely flush that medium a bit, it's holding too much + charged stuff. Iron is also + and needs low pH to be available.

I hope my all over the place explanation made some sense

 

[Ninjadogma]

I got a soil meter and it says 7 to 7.5. I'm close to watering again, so I'll run some through to test with my good meter. I was seeing the 7 to 7.5 in the soil, so I was adjusting for a little lower with my 6.0 water.

If your using a soil probe that's normal, what's coming out the bottom is likely much lower. You'll get a lower reading further down because that's where all the salts drop to. But I would only adjust down to 6.5. I believe thats what the maker recommends.

 

[Ninjadogma]

Now I'm pretty sure it's an iron issue. Chlorosis on only the top growth combined with the switch to RO water with no cal mag and the 7+ pH. The lack of buffering capacity in the RO water is going to make the pH drift up really fast and make the iron unavailable. Any alkaline buffer in the medium will immediately neutralize the acid you put in. You see it right away on the new growth because it's an immobie nutrient. I would flush with a lot of 6.0 pH water to try and leech out any alkaline salts that may have accumulated up until now. If you were using high ppm tap water before they may have built up and will quickly neutralize any ro water you add now.

I would definitely use tap water until you get some calmag. If it's above 200 ppm just cut it with the RO water. Most good brands also have chelated iron in it which is more available at wider pH range. You will also notice you have to add way more pH down to the tap water and this is buffering at work. When that water hits your soil it's much more stable.

But definitely flush that medium a bit, it's holding too much + charged stuff. Iron is also + and needs low pH to be available.

I hope my all over the place explanation made some sense

Grower is using a shelf soil and shouldn't need to flush unless there was some underwatering (salt buildup) or there was a bottled nutes mishap. Soil maker says give it 6.5, grower was putting in 6.0, kind of tells it's own story why it looks deficient.

 

[Grownsince95]

If your using a soil probe that's normal, what's coming out the bottom is likely much lower. You'll get a lower reading further down because that's where all the salts drop to. But I would only adjust down to 6.5. I believe thats what the maker recommends.

What salts are you referring to?

 

[Grownsince95]

Grower is using a shelf soil and shouldn't need to flush unless there was some underwatering (salt buildup) or there was a bottled nutes mishap. Soil maker says give it 6.5, grower was putting in 6.0, kind of tells it's own story why it looks deficient.

There looks like there was a salt build up because I doubt coco loco is buffered to 7.5 which is where he's at.

 

[Grownsince95]

Grower is using a shelf soil and shouldn't need to flush unless there was some underwatering (salt buildup) or there was a bottled nutes mishap. Soil maker says give it 6.5, grower was putting in 6.0, kind of tells it's own story why it looks deficient.

What exactly is the deficiency then? My assessment was iron and I gave the reason why.

 

[spase]

Thank you for all the comments. At the minimum, I'll add some calmag and adjust the ph to 6.5 and check what's coming out the bottom to verify. My tap water is around 200ppm. It's softened, so I'm not sure how that relates.
I've got a few gallons at 6 I'll add more water to bring it up to 6.5 - I'll probably have to double it. Should I use the ro or softened. I could also use the remineralized ro I ran to the fridge.
That was the first watering with the ro water and also adjusted to the 5.9/6.0. I'd been using tap water prior. I'm guessing I just lowered the Ph too much.

 

[spase]

Got the CalMag and some iron. I'm hoping she's dry back enough at this point to water tonight. I'm showing a few alternates my process this evening anyways as I'm on vacation next few weeks.

 

[Ninjadogma]

What exactly is the deficiency then? My assessment was iron and I gave the reason why.

Just a wild guess what happened, the RO filtering was recently started. When you put low pH water with bicarbonates in buffered soil it can interact with the buffers and actually raise the soil pH. So the pH goes up and suddenly it can't take in iron in that higher pH, and you've got an iron deficiency on your hands. Now that RO water is being used, this shouldn't be an ongoing problem and grower won't need to use "Kentucky windage" when ph'ing water to figure out what you'll get when it flows through the soil because it's now RO and no bicarbonates or minerals to screw things up.

With drinking water, the purification process lowers the pH. So it's not uncommon for municipal water to have bicarbonates to raise the pH to drinking specs (7.2-7.6).