Long post, need help identifying probably nute issues

Sick Plants & Problems
1

Sorry, this may be a little long. Also sorry, there is a white and a blurple light on in the tent, so the color may be a bit off (even though the white is brighter). If needed I can get better pics later.

I have 2 Acapulco golds. I use tap water, that I let rest. I try to get the pH right, but I do not trust my current cheap meter. I use fox farm nutes.

I am growing in soil. The soil is from a local hemp farmer who sells it. He told me it may be a bit hot, especially for seedlings. I tried to grow in this soil once before (unmodified), and the plants (white widow from beans I used prior in ocean forest soil) died very early. This time I modified the soil. I mixed it with vermiculite and perlite as it did not have much at all in it. I added in a little of my own veggie compost and horse poo compost. Neither should have been very hot.

I planted in peat pellets, then transferred straight to the final grow bag. In the peat they did great, but once in the soil they stalled and became unhealthy. Both plants were showing all sorts of odd signs, and different for each one. They had different symptoms, but both were extremally stalled. They lived but poorly for weeks like this. Since the soil was fresh with compost, I was using straight (hopefully) correctly pHd water. At this point, I figured the soil was trash.

I hoped to nurse them along until frost cleared and I could transplant outside into different soil and let them run as outdoors for the summer if they survived.

I then changed up and experimented a bit, since these were basically written off for me. I added a little more Ph down to my water, and added half strength big bloom and a touch of cal-mag. In a week, the plants exploded with new growth and the stems thickened really well. So much so that after a little bit I had to top them and LST them down some. After a week or so, I recently switched back to plain (pHed) water for a bit.

Looking at them this morning they looked okay at a glance, but hidden in the canopy are some problems. One plant looks like nute burn to my untrained eye, the other I am not sure. So, after my long winded story, can you help me identify the issues?

Plant one, overview and bad leaves:

image
image726×964 97.2 KB
image
image726×964 152 KB

Plant 2, overview and bad leaves:

image
image726×964 89.8 KB
image
image726×964 84.3 KB

THANKS!

2 Likes
2

I would bring back the cal mag or more specifically calcium. Gypsum would work great. It looks like it may be deficient in that and that can lead to more problems in your soil like nute lockout causing those purple stems and leaf problems. You want there to be calcium in the soil. Not just in your plants.

1 Like
3

That def looks like nute burn to me, flush the hell out of it, wait 20 min for the salts to dissolve in the soil and blast it again then leave it for a week to let it show it’s signs of recovery or if it’s got any hunger. Since it’s all new growth it’s what it’s trying to obtain from the soil but can’t moving forward, not lower trying to consume what it’s hungry for. My bet is ph is completely out of wack and a hot ass soil. Flush should get u balanced on both, when u jump back into feeding in a week try quarter to half the nutes to get it back on track

5 Likes
4

Sativas don’t need nutes, except for a top dressing of ewc, if the soil is good quality. Get a better meter and get your water pH to 6.5. Do add cal/mag if you are under leds and flush your AG containers.

4 Likes
5

I have never heard that sativas don’t need nutes. Can you point me to some more info/research on that?

6

Foxfarm nutes come PH’d at 6.5. I would stop readjusting PH. I would flush them with a micro dose of foxfarm nutes 1/4 of what your using, along with a half shot of Cal Mag. Then leave them alone. When they dry and bounce back. Go back to building the nute strength up. I wouldn’t use PH up or Down with foxfarm. Maybe scratch 1/2 TBS per gallon of soil with some powdered calcitic dolomite lime.

Another grower that uses foxfarm very well is @BigMike55

1 Like
7

I do indeed. I have found that once you get it dialed in, you are golden. Noow I don’t use all the products. I do use what they call the FoxFarm Trio. I also like the Beastie Blooms and Cha-ching. And I always add about a tablespoon of Cal-Mag in a five gallon bucket of water plus the nutes.

1 Like
8

I followed the sage advice of a member who has vast experience growing sativas. If using nutes, go organic like 4-4-4 and small amount in the hole as you increase container size. Top dress with ewc as needed. I followed this when I grew Malawi gold and Oaxacan and had successful results, YMMV.

2 Likes
9

I haven’t watched the Fox Farm vids yet, But you say the FF nutes come pHd to 6.5. I presume that means that when used at full strength in pH 7 water it lowers the ph to 6.5. If so, then having a different starting pH or using half strength would not result in a 6.5 pH. Is that a safe assumption?