Is this a calcium defficiency?

[senseless]

i noticed today that some leaves had some rust spots on them. mainly the leaves closest to the top bud. im guessing those are the youngest?

im on day 38 flowering in hydro and have been using pureblend pro grow and bloom, cal-mag plus occasionally and i have started pk 13-14 boosting on day 21 once a week. i use tap water and have never done a water change on the count of i have a bioponics tub.

id appreciate it if anyone could help. thanks

senseless

 

[senseless]

come on guys this difficiency isnt going to fix itself.

please help me.

 

[aeric]

my guess is yes...caused by pH swing combined w/the nute PB. I have seen the same exact problem with PB no matter the medium and with supplemental calmag. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can confirm/deny this.

 

[Blackmelo]

hey man, i have exactly the same problem on mine at the moment. Mine looks worse though lol. Anyway yeah I am definetely suspecting it to be calcium.

 

[senseless]

do you have any pictures of yours Blackmelo?

 

[nitrousBB]

hey man heres a shot of mine i fixed them up with dolomite lime sprayed on to leaves worked a treat

 

[Verite]

Imo you seldom get calcium def from tap water. Tap water has plenty of calcium [ and magnesium], then if you are supplimenting it too then I would assume you have either the opposite going [ Multi level lockout from Calcium being too high, too high calcium locksout almost everything but nitrogen ] or you have some ph issues preventing proper nute uptake.

 

[senseless]

then what should i do? keep topping off with water till the nutreint level lowers and lockout goes away?

 

[Blackmelo]

hey senseless, I'm pretty sure it is a calcium defiency since mine has gotten better since I fed it cal-mag. Only problem is I've got a new problem now grr...

here is a picture of mine:

 

[Sauce]

You probably overferted, like Verite said most tap water has plenty of ca in it.

Btw, Calmag is mostly for r/o water users where the extra boost in ca and mg is needed. I'm not saying it can't be used with tap water, just in most cases is not needed.

 

[Verite]

Krinkled motled leaves is a classic sign of ph problems. What ph range is the res kept in? How often is the ph checked?

 

[Sauce]

With hydro you should be measuring some things, ppm/EC, ph, and res temp.

 

[senseless]

yea im sure we know that but unfortunately some of us have lack of funds for hi-tech digital meters and just have to learn to read our plants and find what they need.

blackmelo- i agree with Sauce, i think you overferted. Q: is the difficient growth mainly in the lower/older leaves?

 

[Verite]

Thats what soil growing is for. If you think you can wing a hydro grow without the meters then you will be frustrated to say the least if not just wasting your time.

 

[Sauce]

Ph drops are less than $10 and is the only ph indicator I use. A thermometer is also very cheap and most people have them on hand. A cheap ppm meter will run about $30 and I recommend at least having one. It will help a lot. I have a Hannah Primo (~$30) and it works well.

 

[Blackmelo]

Ok ppl, I can pretty safely confirm I was suffering from a calcium deficiency all along. It seems to be getting better now anyway.

senseless, heehee we are just proving to ppl that hydro can be done cheap I know I have spent less on my hydro than just 1 of my soil pots lol. Considering that, my hydro is doing really really well(ok I just realized i invested in the cal-mag, that makes it a bit more expensive...)

I don't measure temps, do not have and EC meter or ph meter. I am completely guessing how much to feed but this plant has caught up to my soil plants after about 2 weeks. With a deficiency. Going well is all I can say.

Not going to succeed without meters you say? We will see.



PS: Just because some areas in the world have high levels of calcium does not mean that applies to all places.

 

[Sauce]

I still don't think it was a ca deficiency but could have been. You can do hydro without measuring anything and people have done it, but when things don't go the way you planned you'll be thankful you bought a meter.

 

[Verite]

Without the meters you are just guessing. Most weed will grow in harsh environments but if you want it to thrive you'll have to get it dialed in. When you keep asking for help and people keep asking for what your ph level is at and you have no answer or meter people will just be guessing at the fix. When the plant takes different levels of nutes at different ph windows its the base from which you should set your diagnosis. Two sides of a deficiency is the lack of the right nutes or lack of a decent ph window to use them in.

 

[senseless]

heres a few pictures i took this morning. im leaning toward nutrient burn or calcium def.

i also took a ph test with the GH ph drops and my ph looks to be around 5-6 so i guess thats in check.


thanks for all the help so far guys.

 

[Verite]

Its a good start but drops, litmus paper, and the bi-metal probe dont give accurate enough results you can work with. You can get a decent hanna meter for $25 and its guaranteed to pay for itself on one plant if it increases the yield by 2-3 grams. The meter model is called Checker1 by Hanna and reads out to hundredths X.xx