Every cycle plants start to yellow at mid flower

[overgrowit]

I just got done searching for root aphids, I spent about half an hour digging around and inspecting under bright light with a magnifying glass. As I was about to give up a decided to check out one of upcoming clones in the veg room, I have them in keg cups so it was easy to slide the root mass out. After a few minutes, I saw two tiny light brown crawlers come to the surface and then retreated into the medium.

They are so small I find that in order to find them I have to stare at the dirt like one of those magic eye pictures where you need to let your vision become out of focus.

I wonder if this few of them could really be causing this much trouble. I guess there could be a whole shit ton that im not seeing. It does make sense though, because I have had many good harvest in the past. This run and the previous one seemed to crap out at the same time(halfway through flower) which seems to be a common symptom of root aphids.

 

[dansbuds]

Aphids MAY be a part of your problem but drifter is right on the money .... your main problem is your PH is out of whack . your PH should be in the 5.8 to 6.0 max range otherwise your locking out some nutes cuz other levels are to high . drop your PH down to 5.8 pick up some Bayer tree & shrub insect control for the aphids & you'll be back on track in no time .
week 3 & 4 are when the plants stop using so much N & start using more P & K which is why most defs show up then & most people use a PK Boost like PK 13\14 to combat this issue .
don't go adding anything right now just drop your PH levels ..use the Bayer & continue feeding like you were ... you'll be fine .


growem green & stay safe ...Dans

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I use a tablespoon of lime per gallon of mix on average.

 

[Pakrat]

They look hungry or locked out and a little wet to me. How often are you watering? Is the bottom of the container getting air? Don’t know too much about pro mix and smart pots but those downward leaf tips can sometimes appear when things in the root zone get stagnant. What’s the PH of your nutrient solution after you mix it up right before you feed? Also, Flora Nova at 800 PPM with your tap seems a little on the low side to be in 12/12. Good luck.

 

[Crush]

I wouldn't feed at a higher N, I would actually go to Wal-Mart and get a moisture meter to show how moist the soil is.

You can have tons of PPM and N, but the plant needs water or it can't get the nutrients up the plant.

This is the reason why I'm doing a dense, water retentive soil this time around because loose soil has burned me too many times with too many dry spots. When you get a dry spot or the roots sit in dry soil, the portion of the root actually dries out and dies.

The better the environment your plants are in, the more light, C02, the more they'll want to drink water.

The way it works is like this:

The plant is watered. It start to almost 'sweat'. That's when it's doing well. It grows fast.

The plant has a built in mechanism to know that water is running out. It slows down growth and doesn't 'perspire' anymore or smell as bad..

The plant goes into a 'slow growth' mode when it knows the soil is getting dry.

The top of plant that is growing with all the light, and c02 etc is begging the roots for more nutrients.

The roots can't deliver any to the top of the plant because there's no water to carry it up. The nutrients are suspended in the soil all dry and waiting to be hydrated from water.

The plant then turns to itself, it's energy stores in the fan leaves and sends those nutrients up to the top. If it continues, they will dry out.

What happens is, when the soil is too loose, not retaining water, etc. the plant begins to sit in the dormant mode. It's not that it's crying for food desperately because that would be wilting (which is very common in smaller potting containers), but it knows there isn't a lot of moisture left and slowly eat the chlorophyll from the fan leaves to power the new growth.

So it becomes on issue of water, not so much PPM. This time with my new soil, none of my leaves have lost color the bottom at all because my soil holds tons of water.

The moisture meter should read on the high end. Let it go to the lower middle, then water till it's back up to high for best results.

Also you might be surprised at the moisture variance between pots.

 

[overgrowit]

I try not to over water because i have had root rot in the past, but I also try not to let them get bone dry but more a lighter weight than when they are fully watered. This drying out could have led to the salt buildup.

I think my main problem is PH. I usually never ph my plain water going in and have good results, but the last few times i have been having trouble.
I got a new Bluelab ph meter and tested the runoff from 5.8 water going in. It was reading 6.6 on one pot and 6.3 on another.

Also I gave some jacks bloom booster to a few of the plants that were flushed to see if they would eat. So far they are looking alot better.
ill keep on with updates.

 

[driftersmokinjo]

Glad you have found your culprit and got a handle on it be for to much damage done Did you flush the 1nz with the still high run off? If not I would. If they start uptaking too much nutes at 1 time you will have another problem.

 

[Crush]

Also I gave some jacks bloom booster to a few of the plants that were flushed to see if they would eat. So far they are looking alot better.

Because you watered them

Don't add more PPM during this time or you'll burn the plants. Start light.

Look for new growth coming out a dark green and leafs curling like bull horns. That will suggest that you shot too much nutes into them. 1100ppm is really high so careful..

 

[Elsweeto]

I'm having a very similar problem to your own. my pots are 5 gallon. and the yellowing started in spots spreading across the leaves.

I'm just wondering how you got on?
Ps. i know the thread is old but its worth a shot.

 

[overgrowit]

I ended up finding a small number of root aphids in my soil. I treated them with evergreen and they got better.
I have since switched to using Ebb and Flow buckets with Sunleaves "rocks" and rockwool starter cubes. Plants are looking much better.

Check your root zone for bugs, the ones I had were almost microscopic and almost impossible to see in promix.
The other thing I was suspecting was some kind of off-gassing so I have started to vent the room instead of running sealed with c02