Yellowing/dying leaves and slow growth, pythium?

Here’s a quick background. On day 38 in KIS organic biochar, growing two autoflowers Sweet n Sours from Mephisto Genetics. I over watered them about a week and a half ago, as well as fed them too much nitrogen and way too much barley, which I think caused a phosphorus toxicity, not 100%. I let them dry out a bit and they seemed to perk up but leaves are still dying on one of them, and the other has a lot of yellowing on the lower fan leaves. Could it be pythium? Nute lockout?


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If it’s pythium, and it’s bad, you’re going to notice some things. First is an ammonia-like stench, I find it smells like cat urine. I’m so keen on the smell that I can detect it long before my plants show signs of root-rot. Second thing is fungus gnats. I don’t know where you’re at in the world but in my experience the smallest bit of pythium attracts the FG like flies to the dung pile.

Might just be locked out from a pH issue too.

Plant itself as a whole looks great though. A couple more weeks and you’ll be past the point where you should be worrying about course corrections anyway.

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Thanks for the reply Trevor! Don’t notice any ammonia like stenches, so that’s good. Now are fungus gnats the ones that come around as soon as you leave food or decaying fruit or vegetable matter out? Cause if they are, I have a ton of those in my kitchen lol and none have reached my grow which is on my second floor.

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What’s your grow medium??? To me it looks like a lockout. If it’s coco I’d check that your ph is in range. I recently had similar looking leaf problems but in RDWC. I chased the problem for a week dumping the rez etc trying to fix it. Finally I borrowed my mates ph pen and found that mine was way off. Ordered a new ph meter and now a week later they are lush and green again.
I think although expensive it’s a good idea to have two ph pens and 2 e.c pens to compare readings :+1:

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KIS organic biochar. No-till. Can lockout occur in organic soil? What’s the remedy?

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Compost has buffers so no ph lockout. I’m unsure about super soil and organic stuff to be fair. Maybe @99PerCent or @ReikoX can help as I’m sure both are 100% organic and natural growers

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Looks like some defoliation could be performed … is there enough aeration components in the soil mix? Is this a water only mix ?

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Not sure but was wondering if biochar can be overdone in a mix seems to me it could seen some videos here and there where different ratios were used for the best results .

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:rofl:I didn’t think about your knowledge @Tinytuttle. Keeping it organic is in your title.
@OrganicMids your hero has entered the thread :v:good luck with your grow.

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It’s all good bro sharing is what’s all about the more the merrier IMO

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Without causing offence I doubt I’ll ever be looking for help with organics @Tinytuttle. That shit is too much work and as you well know I’m lazy AF :rofl:
I’ve a little more time now to dedicate to growing but I’ve no plans on making it a full time job unless someone employs me to grow. My attention span can’t cope with the organic threads here on OG :rofl:

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Yes, the soil is water only. There’s been nothing but raving reviews for both of KIS’s water only and with biochar. I’ve been weary of defoliating since they’re autoflowers. I defoliated the one that was in worse condition but left the other intact. Want to see if there’s a noticeable side by side difference. The one I’m not defoliating, was in better condition after the over watering and over feeding, but now it’s yellowing quite in bit as you can see in the pictures. I fed them a compost tea the other day, the yellowing seems to have worsened since then. Nightworm castings, microbe catalyst and some alfalfa meal went into the tea, fed them prior with it with no ill effects. Also, forgot to mention they were extremely lime green after the whole over watering fiasco, but the colors has improved except for the yellowing.

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You can take the odd leaf or two without worrying. Just don’t strip them all in one go. Autos do stall out if you stress them too much but it’s only for a couple of days. My autos I fim once and defoliate almost daily and still achieve respectable yields.

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Nope those are Fruit Flies for the most part but they do look alot alike.

And as for lockout it definitely can occur in organic soils, albeit not as likely. Could have been caused by too much or too little of something but let’s not focus on that.

As for defoliation and autoflowers, I would be removing the damaged leaves as they get bad but other than that you can pluck them or leave them your choice. The areas that seem to be yellowing are the larger fans closer to the bottom so it very well could be that they just arent getting the light they need to support themselves. Just a guess as I do seem to notice this in my own grows.

My only other guess is a feed issue. They do look a little hungry and this makes sense because this is about the time they will really start drawing a lot of nutrients from the soil.

@Tinytuttle has been a great resource for me in learning more about organic growing so I really cant add much more than they already have.

I think you’re gonna make out just fine either way, what’s left on it another 3-4 weeks?

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No offense taken see I’m just the opposite the whole chemical mixing , ph’ing is what makes my head spin with ph everthing is logarithmic if ones not paying attention things can go bad very quickly oops I squirted 5mls to much of something now I have to start over . More work no? I dont even understand the whole EC thing either I just not a fan of reading a plant to the point it develops tip burn then make adjustments to help correct with over feeding and cost along is enough to turn me off… but it’s all good Grow on !

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Yeah at least 4 more weeks. I don’t think it’s a nutrient issue for a few different reasons. For one they’re autos in Kis water only in 7 gallons. I would think the soil would have more than enough nutrients for an auto. For photos, KIS only recommends adding one nutrient pack prior to flowering. Second, I’ve had worms in there since the beginning of their life, producing more nutrients in the soil, no? And third, they’ve been getting teas since week two, and they just got a light malted barley feed yesterday. Maybe the aloe and coconut has been making them grow more vigorously? Making them use up more? Idk but my two other plants seem to be doing fine in the same soil, but they weren’t over watered

Yeah ec is a pita. I push until I see burn then back off. Later into flower I try to keep the EC going downwards. Kind of flushing and feeding at same time. That’s simple enough though. Just add h20. PH is my main problem. My tap water is mid 8’s. I lower slowly till I hit 5.4 - 5.6 over a few days and next morning it’s raised to 6.4. Eventually it settles though and I just lower until it goes to around 5.8 and drifts over a few days to a week to 6.4. I don’t change rez weekly. Fuck that. I change once a week into 12/12 to get rid of the nitrogen build up. Meters do all the work. It’s important to keep them in range

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What’s your water source like? Tap water, or RO? How often are you watering?

The dying leaves look like some sort of root issue, likely over watering. The rest of the leaves look like they could use some calcium and/or magnesium.

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Whole house is filtered through 1 and 5 microns and a carbon filter. They’re still drinking plenty. I let them dry out for 4 days. The pots were dry as a bone and then I started watering them slowly. Only 25ozs and then proceeded to 44 and now we’re at 64 for the previous. Started doing every other day again after the 4 days of being dry. Just watered yesterday and they’re starting to feel light again.

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I would keep giving them plain water and LITFA.

Note the old damage will not repair itself. Keep an eye on new growth.

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