Asking the OGs to help me diagnose this

Sick Plants & Problems
1

Hi guys. I have a particularly difficult plant that I am working with. It has been successfully revegged and cloned. I have kept it alive for maybe two years? It has always been a pain in the ass. Gives me grief when all the other strains are chugging along fine. It is definitely ph sensitive and prefers a more alkaline medium.

I have been watering with water adjusted to about 6.5. I am considering raising it closer to 7.0 to see if it likes that. It showed ph problems with any water less than about 6.0. It is in regular Happy Frog soil and is a low feeder.

I recently gave it a tiny dose (1/4 strength) of CalMag figuring the plant is so old maybe it needs some supplemental nutes right? It didn’t like that at all. Even that tiny dose gave me slightly N burned tips.

Despite the slightly N burned tips, the plant is slowly eating itself from the bottom up. Distinctive looking leaf damage turned upwards. Strong sun or heat greatly increases these effects, so it seems to be linked to transpiration. That being said the plant is growing quite healthy, but something is obviously wrong.

I am thinking about amending the Happy Frog with some dolomite lime. Maybe even top dressing a little in.

Another thing to mention is my humidity is wildly low. Like 30%. I am not sure if that is doing anything either.
I always appreciate the advice I get from you guys. Thanks for taking the time to read this and any help.

Early and late damage.

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Lower leaves on smaller branches are affected as well.
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I see low humidity is a problem, soil looks dusty dry. The pH of your water is ok at 6.5-7.2, however the soil pH matters more. The plant is healthy, age of the plant and conditions it’s been thru, it looks great. These leaves look like high heat has caused moisture build up from respiring to stay cool, dampening off. Over all cut em off and see if the problems continues.

Have a good night and a great Friday.

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I agree on the rh and ph being too low, I’d repot with fresh soil.

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Thank you. The seed was also frozen since ‘98 before I popped it!

It has been through hell, but still going strong. Overall the plant is healthy.

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I kinda rolled my eyes when you said the soil is dusty dry. I water every few days, and certainly when the plant looks thirsty.

Then I stuck my finger in the soil and dug around. Holy shit half of my pot is dry! I need to look into mulching or something to minimize how much moisture is evaporating from the top layer of my soil. If nothing else, that was a help.

I will work on my ph and rh. See if that does the trick.

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Maybe feed a touch less too.
I see a bit of tip burn on the leaves.
I think that means high P.
The crispy leaves look like too much K.

You need a lot less of those 2 than most folks use, especially in veg stage.
Cut the feed by 20% until the new leaves show no tip burn in veg.

The tip burn is no big deal, although it does indicate a possibility of high level of food.

If they start to get a bit yellow you can always spray, calcium nitrate to green em up in a pinch.

They look nice and green now, so need need for that unless they look yellow on the new growth.

Good luck
shag

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When soil is dry, more cations are available - basically dry soil has higher pH than when its wet. That could be why it looks like too much Mg and K.

Mulch is good, but slows gas exchange in the soil/roots.
Ive found it best to use a living mulch - cover crop. Clover and gas is a good combo. The added roots in the soil will retain more water while also distributing the water more evenly from top to bottom. And you get more nutrient cycling. Win-Win-Win

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