Another newbie need help (pics included)

[bong_chat]

Ok, this is my first time grow that has made it this far. Things have been going well, but I've started to see some deff. in some of the leaves. Not sure which one I am seeing however. I think I may know, but I definitly need some help. I've already identified 1 female, and I want to keep her and any sisters she may have alive.

This is in a 4 x 2.5 grow area under a 400w HPS with remote ballast. My grow medium is FFOF in 5gal buckets. I water with distilled water with a tsp or so of black strap molasses every 2 or 3 waterings. That has been the only feed they have gotten, and that only started last week. They are about 3.5 weeks old, give or take. Ventilation is through a passive intake at the floor level and pulled through a carbon filter and 4 inch dryer duct into the attic. Temps never go above 85. RH is between 40 to 60%. Lighting was flipped to 12/12 2 days ago.

The majority of plants only show problems in a leaf or 2, but I want to catch anything else that may happen.

The kids



The girl




Now the problems



















They needed a watering today, so some of the leaves look a bit droopy. My soil PH tester shows my pH at between 6.6 to 7 depending on the plant. But my soil tester sucks so I don't know if it's reliable.

Anyone have any ideas? Help would be very appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Have you tested your run-off?

 

[Mister Green]

Looks like Mg defficient

 

[bong_chat]

I haven't tested the runoff as of yet. My pH testers is a soil only, and whenever I try to test runoff with it, my readings are all over the board. But for when i do get a better tester, do I test the immediate runoff, or do I leach for a bit and test that runoff?

Mister G. That's where my mind was going too. That's why I was giving it shots of BS molasses. Trying to keep things as organic as possible until my next grow, when I intend to use the moonshine mix. If my cal/mag needs boosting, what would you suggest? My biggest concern is I don't want to overfert and burn this early into flowering. I have a bottle of FF tiger bloom, but should I focus mainly on a cal/mag boost and go with a real feeding later?

 

[Blackvelvet]

I haven't tested the runoff as of yet. My pH testers is a soil only, and whenever I try to test runoff with it, my readings are all over the board. But for when i do get a better tester, do I test the immediate runoff, or do I leach for a bit and test that runoff?

Mister G. That's where my mind was going too. That's why I was giving it shots of BS molasses. Trying to keep things as organic as possible until my next grow, when I intend to use the moonshine mix. If my cal/mag needs boosting, what would you suggest? My biggest concern is I don't want to overfert and burn this early into flowering. I have a bottle of FF tiger bloom, but should I focus mainly on a cal/mag boost and go with a real feeding later?

When you test runoff, this is what you do...Water/fertilize the pot till runoff so the soil mix is soaking wet. Wait 1 hour. Then apply a small amount of distilled water to the pot surface till you get about 1 ounce of runoff. Catch this on a plate. Test ph. You can use ph test strips about range 4 to 7 till you get a meter.

Maybe you will find this helpful...

If your low on calcium, I suggest calling around to garden centers and find calcium nitrate. Tomatoe growers use this often to prevent blossom end rot. Since the nitrogen in it is nitrate nitrogen, its practically non toxic and wont burn even at high rates.

An alternative to the cal nitrate would be calcium chloride. It is sold in bottles under names like blossom end rot stopper for tomatoes.

Since calcium and magnesium compete (too much of one can cause a deficiency of another), you should apply both together unless your fert already contains mag. Try 1/8 teaspoon of both calcium nitrate and epsom salts per gallon of water along with the regular fert. This would give you about 35 ppm ca and 15 ppm mg. If your adding alot of potassium (like molasses) with your ferts, you might increase this dose to 1/4 teaspoon. (potassium competes with calcium and magnesium too)

If you are going to use calcium chloride, It will take the % ca and net weight of the bottle to give you a rate.

If your ph gets too low, you can apply some pulverized/powdered dolomite lime to the surface of the soil mix (maybe 1 1/5 teaspoons per gallon of mix) and stop adding cal mag to your water for a while.

Ocean forest soil begins to run out of nutrients after maybe 3 weeks so you can apply a regular fert like tiger bloom weakly with every watering. "Toss in" the cal mag with the regular fert. Don't forget to ph adjust the fert water before applying to prevent surprises.

 

[bong_chat]

So would it be suggestable to use cal/mag suppliments with every watering, and then use the full feed every 2-3 waterings depending on the needs of the plants.

Sorry for so many questions. This is the first time any grow went this far without me finding a way to kill them. Mr. Greenthumb I ain't. Plus one of the girls showed her hairs yesterday. First time I got to see those in person. On a plant anyway.

 

[MynameStitch]

easy you got a calicum deficiency; stop using distilled water or add some calicum to your nutrients; people need to realize that when you water they get the micros from what is in the water to suppliment them till they get fed.

Distilled has nearly 0 ph with NO micros involved.

get some calcium into them; dolomite lime 2 tablespoons around the rim of the plant and water.

You also need to get some food into them; your feeding regimen is not going to be supplimenting them well; they need better food.

use cal mag weekly if you use distilled water.

You need to feed weekly with a good NPK nutrient,

 

[bong_chat]

So I added cal/mag yesterday and fed with FF Tiger Bloom at about 1/4 strength to build up slowly to full strength. The feeding happened about 2 hours after lights on. Lights off was a 5am. So 5 pm I'll see if anything good happened, or if I succeeded in killing the kids. If you ever saw my backyard, you would see I could kill a plant with a glance, so I'm suprised I got this far.

I use distilled water, cause basically I don't even drink the water out of my own faucet. There's a bit of a wierd taste in it. Haven't had it tested yet, but I need to. It's not like the sulfur well water or anything. Our water comes from the city so it shouldn't be too hard. But it's an off taste, and I figured that if I won't drink it, it's no good for my kids. I've also heard that using spring water or drinking water may not be so good until you know the ppm of the water. I honestly didn't know that using distilled water needs to be supplimented with cal/mag. But hey, this is my first full grow, so live and learn, and I won't make that mistake again.

Ohh, and as of last night, I've ID'd 3 definite female, 1 possibly, 1 still unknown, and 1 that I am 85% sure is male. Watching that guy, cause if it shows nuts, I will execute with extreme prejudice.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

let me confirm mag def. and throw in calcium aswell.

i get this constantly with my girls in ffof i water with distilled.
you just need a calcium/mag suppliment sensical or cal-mag(plus)
both work great!

good job using distilled, its not worth the other junk in the water to give them a bit of calcium/mag that are in it.

btw beautiful plant!
she looks like a indica bud!!
nice!!!

 

[bong_chat]

Good catch DH. It is in fact an indica plant. Top44 I went with since this is my first full grow, and I hear it is pretty tolerant to newbies. I do want to try other strains, but I don't know what others are fairly forgiving.

This time I did get my hands on cal/mag plus. I hope I see something good when I see the girls again.

I'm thinking I may use the moonshine mix next time around. That seems pretty idiot proof, and that works alright for me. Plus I like the idea of going as organic as possible.

 

[Pirate]

How about an update. Did the advice above fix your problem? And which advice did you use?

Pirate