curling leaves, yellow edges. please help a newbie

[noob33]

just found out that i have only 1 female and 4 males. now the female is starting to turn on me. it started with new growth curling under in that rams horn shape. now im getting yellowing on the edges of the leaves and more curling. here are some facts and pictures

250W metal halide closet grow
8 inch pot
i water once every 3-4 days
feeding with foxfarm grow big at slightly under recommended dosage
since ive gotten it ive used it with every watering, which would work out to 3 feedings in about 10 days.(im hoping this is the problem)
using LST. im tying down the new growth to promote bigger shoot growth
room running at 76 degrees F. heat isnt an issue
25
here is a pic of the plant from sunday afternoon (3 days ago). notice the curling on the new growth


here is a picture from today. she was fed inbetween these pics (on monday...2 days ago) notice how much its curling now? plus the leaves are yellowing around the edges. sorry for the crappy pic


if it looks smaller its because i cut two of the lower fan leaves off. they were rather big and just getting in the way of the shoots. anyway, what do you think? overfeeding? some type of deficency? im a newbie so i really dont know. ive searched and seen a million possible causes for this. if anyone can help id really appreciate it. im really bummed that this is my only female and i dont want to lose her.

 

[MynameStitch]

How much water do you water them when you water? Do you get run off from the bottom of the plant?

feeding with foxfarm grow big at slightly under recommended dosage
since ive gotten it ive used it with every watering, which would work out to 3 feedings in about 10 days.(im hoping this is the problem)

Yes, this IS the problem, using the rec dosage on plants that size is nuts.

Now you will need to flush your plants out with a lot of water, what size containers are the plant in?

You should never listen to the directions on the back of the bottle, unless the nutrients are made for cannabis.
Very few are exception to this rule.
FF is not the exception. You should feed them once a week, every 7 days and always have a plain watering in between if you can.

You should be using around 1/2 teaspoon to 1 tsp per gallon of water of the grow big with the size plant you have now.

After you flush them, which I would use around 2-3 gallons of water for a flush.... you should wait a week before feeding them again and use the proper dosage, the sooner the flush the less damage will be done.

What brand of soil are you using? How long as it been in this mixture?

 

[noob33]

thank you for replying, stitch. up until yesterday i had 5 plants in 8 inch pots. between the 5 of them, they were taking a gallon of water with 3/4 tsp of the foxfarm nutes

i am using scotts potting soil. the plants have been in this soil for about 3.5 weeks.

i watered on monday and was preparing to do so again on thursday. the soil is dry a couple of inches down.

there is only one plant left. how should i go about flushing the soil? will she recover from this issue?

 

[MynameStitch]

THe scotts potting soil, does it have timed released ferts in it?

You sure you used 3/4 teaspoon, I don't think the dosage was 3/4 teaspoon per gallon of the FF grow big.......

When you do water your plants, do you allow run off to come out the bottom, cause they look underwatered too with the way they are drooping, right now they are not showing nutrient burn....... I would wait on the flush to see if they show it or not.

Why is there only one plant left? What happened to the other 4?

 

[noob33]

dude. i just flushed. you scared me into it

i used 3/4 tsp per gallon. but i used it 3 times in ten days. when i water i allow runoff. i stop watering as soon as i see water coming out of the bottom.

yes...the scotts has those pellets.

there is only one left cause i just discovered four males. 4 out of 5 are male. this one is female

 

[noob33]

in regular light the outer edges of the leaves look light green....not yellow. they initally looked yellow to me when under the metal halide.

 

[noob33]

maybe i WAS underwatering. the leaves perked up overnight after the heavy watering i gave last night. theyre still displaying that rams horn effect, however not as bad as in the pic i posted yesterday. we'll see tonight when i get home. ill post a new pic then.

 

[dr_green]

problem still not solved, only because my plant has gone thru that and is still fight to recover. I just flushed my yesterday, but i think i might have to top all my new shoots

 

[MynameStitch]

When you do water your plants, do you allow run off to come out the bottom, cause they look underwatered too with the way they are drooping, right now they are not showing nutrient burn....... I would wait on the flush to see if they show it or not.

That is another reason WHY I said to flush, because they look underwatered badly.
I wanted to make sure, which is why I asked if any run off came out when you watered and if it did not I would know 100% part of it was from underwatering.
When you overfed you can get the same effect with the droopiness......
When you let the soil dry out too much you will cause problems with the plants absorbing nutrients, another reason why your plants were not showing the effect worse.
I would water and have a little water come out the bottom of the plants every time you water, but you may need to wait another day or a day 1/2 to water again, by now the plant has some roots at the bottom of the pots and you want to make sure they get water, but not sitting in it.

 

[noob33]

before i post the latest pics i want to thank you for taking the time out of your day to help me out. i appreciate it. now, here are the latest pics...about 24 hrs after i gave this baby a 2 gallon flush













shes looking much better than yesterday, but still not as good as she should. is there anything you can tell me by looking at these pics? thanks again

 

[noob33]

i think its time for some new soil. im gonna transplant tomorrow afternoon. this is my only female, which means she has the entire closet to herself now. ill probably put her in a 4 gallon container and let her do her thing. i dont want to bother you with too many things stitch, but it would be great if you could recommend a soil. i have a hydro store near me that has all organic products.

 

[MynameStitch]

No, do not transplant them, they are just now rooting the pot, if you transplant them now you will end up ripping out roots.

You do not want to put the plant into a big pot, this creates problems, this is one reason why you want to use the proper pot size to the size of the plant.

Do not transplant her, if the soil is used up you feed the plant until it needs a bigger pot size.

Your plants are also lacking magnesium, I see the start of it on one of the pics.
So next time you feed get some magnesium, like epsom salts if your nutrients don't have it in there...... I don't think it does if I remember correctly.

 

[noob33]

ok. gotcha. no transplanting yet.

ill pick up some epsom salt. how much of that would add to a gallon of water?

is it safe to assume that the droopiness was due to lack of water? could the lack of mg promote the droopiness as well? thanks again

 

[MynameStitch]

1/2 tsp per gallon of water, and use it everytime you feed.

So far it is safe to assume it was caused by lack of water. Right now there is no sign of a burn, I am sure you got it quickly, if your soil was wetter you would have already seen a sign of burn I guarantee it

Mag can promote droopiness as it can cause vigor problems within the plant, but I think it was more due to the water than the magnesium being low, because it's just now starting to a point where it would not cause the level of droopiness you seen.

There is still enough to keep the plant normal, but it's better to get it right when it's showing so you won't have any problems.
When you get it right away the coloring comes back, otherwise the leaves will turn necrotic and tan up from the plant sucking it dry.