Light Brown Spots in Flower

[icky420]

Ok this might be an overwhelming amount of info....

Plants are "Misty" 3rd Gen cuts in 2gal bags...Transplanted about 4wks ago...Soil mix is 3 parts Happy Frog, 1 part Light Warrior + 1tsp Plant Success, 1Tsp Rainbow Bloom Bat Guano, and 2tsp lime to each Gallon of soil....

Some Feeding history:

tsp/1gal

Mon Dec 17th :
1tsp 16-0-0 Metanaturals N,
2tsp-0-0-0-6 Metanatuals Cal,
1tsp 3-3-3+Micros Metanatuals Base.....
I had a N deff that got a little bad because I didnt notice for a few days.


Fri Dec 21:
1/2tsp Meta N
1tsp Meta Cal
2tsp 0-0-1 B. Seaweed
1/2tsp EJ Catalyst
1/2 tsp Liquid Karma
I started to see signs of K deff, maybe it was lock out?


Fri Dec 28:
2tsp Mineral Matrix


PUT INTO FLOWER

I missed a few entries from Dec 28 until Jan 11. In betweeen I flushed them with about 1 1/2gal of clean PH'd water per plant.

Around Jan 4th-6th I know I gave them a light flushing with some added Sweet at 1 1/2tsp per Gal

Fri Jan 11:
5tsp/3gal Sweet
2tsp/3gal Meta Cal
1tsp/3gal 1-0-6 Bio Grow
I noticed a definite Mg deff
Before setting up my Hydro HUt



Sun Jan 13th:
I did a light flush of 48oz per plant with plain water @5.3..The run off was 6.8..And my little soil PH probe says the soil was 6.7.....I noticed little light brown spots coming threw the leaves, K def? It looks really early in what ever it is. Only affecting the middle and lower leaves, new growth is green and shows no sign of deff.

NOT MY PIC...But this is sort of what the spots look like... I think mine are more circular though.

A few important details of this grow: The whole beginning of this grow I had real cold night temps and I know that was keeping the plant from pulling nutes from the soil. As well I have been having a problem keeping the PH stable. Every time I water, whether Its PH'd clean water or nutes @5.4-6.2 depending on which, within 1-2 days after, my PH spikes up to 7-7.2. Thats why you see that I was flushing a lot, trying to get the PH back down......

I know I'm in some trouble here, I just want to get this grow over and go back to what I know worked for me. Please dont refer me over to the many threads having problems with their Hydro Huts, I'm not one of them...

Hydro Hut 2x4
2 250w HPS
Day temps 76
Night temps NOW are 68
RH 45%

Ok cant think of anything else to tell ya's...I'm sure I missed something important..

 

[MynameStitch]

Can you take a picture of the problem spotting?

But if it looks like that, it may be a calcium issue.
Since you said you are not having problems with your hydro hut.....
You already know the lower leaves are a nitrogen problem, did you fix that?

Why are you lowering your soil pH?
Your pH is fine when it is 6.5 to 7.0
Your mixture is not soiless. Stop pH adjusting your water, what are you using to pH adjust it with?
You added too much lime to the mixture for one and flushing will flush out nutrients....
Are you using RO water distilled or bottled water?
What are you using for pH testing? You have a meter? Is it calbrated every 2 weeks?

 

[icky420]

Can you take a picture of the problem spotting?

But if it looks like that, it may be a calcium issue.
Since you said you are not having problems with your hydro hut.....
You already know the lower leaves are a nitrogen problem, did you fix that?I believe so, they are still yellowing but I didnt want to add anything to the trouble

Why are you lowering your soil pH?It will continue to rise

Your pH is fine when it is 6.5 to 7.0. But it wont stay there, it will keep rising

Your mixture is not soiless. Stop pH adjusting your water, what are you using to pH adjust it with? Depends..most of the time Citric Acid for Down, and Potassium bi-carbonate for UP

You added too much lime to the mixture for one and flushing will flush out nutrients....
Are you using RO water distilled or bottled water? Distilled...TAP is 115ppm @7.2
What are you using for pH testing? You have a meter? Is it calbrated every 2 weeks?I do have a Milwaukee meter, regularly calibrated

Top of an upper leaf, not very top, thats still nice and dark green.

Bottom of same leaf

They just woke up and I noticed the spots are spreading... Any suggestions?

 

[icky420]

This clone is from the top of one of the plants in flower...I needed to cut it because of height issues..I would think its exhibiting a deff in whichever nute there was a low amount of when it was cut?

Whats your opinion?

 

[Homeless]

i'd reccommend a dose of cal-mag ASAP.

i had similar problems and ended up spreading to all leaves prety badly before I could contain it on a few of mine.

just get it to them before it corrodes.

 

[MynameStitch]

I would most likely find out why your pH keeps rising; it's either your not using a stable pH adjuster or something.

What brand are you using?
Stable pH adjusters you won't have to worry about them going up and down on you if you use them correctly.

I would most defiantly get something else or some other brand to stable your pH; how often are you watering or using your pH adjusters?

Like Homeless has stated, I would add some cal mag/ distilled water has nothing in it.
Have you tested the pH of the distilled water before adding any pH adjusters?
The pH should be low for distilled water... like around in the 5's if its pure distilled water.

 

[icky420]

To me distilled means water that got to sit out. Thats what I do, put water in a bucket, bubble it for a day or 2, and use it. Out of the Tap its around 115ppm [email protected]. I dont have a ppm meter anymore so I cant test the runoff, but I think I may have given them to much Sweet(Mg)??

I KNOW why I'm having PH issues, Its the Lime and Oyster shell bad combination...I'm just looking for a way to deal with it...

I only adjust water PH when soil needs it.(ever other watering)

I am using Earth Juice Up/Down for PH adjusting. I dont need to adjust much.

 

[MynameStitch]

WAter sitting out is not distilled, distilled water goes through a process sorta like RO, but not as filtered out.

Ok, so your using tap water sat out.

How much sweet are you giving them and how often?

You are supposed to use the earthjuice pH up and down and let it sit out for 24 hours with the water before using it, otherwise it's not stable.
If I remember correctly that is, I will double check...... It's either a pH issue or calcium, the leaf veins are the ones being affected the most, pH affects a lot of the leaf veins like that when it's not being stable, jumping up and down.
What pH is your run off?
Did you prune your plants at all or they get injured?

 

[icky420]

I had givin them 10ml/gal Sweet on like Jan 8th... Then on Jan 11., not sure why, I gave them some more Sweet 5tsp/3gal...
I flushed recently with plain water PH'd to 5.6 to try and lower the PH. I got a PH of 6.8 from that runoff.

I "pruned" the main stalk because the plants were getting to big...

 

[HeadyPete]

Lime and oyster shell is definitely the cause of the rising ph.

When I limed my coco I used ph down every time. Since I omitted it, I needed a little ph up, but now they are balancing out close to neutral, because coco is close to neutral.

 

[icky420]

I just went out and picked up a cheapy TDS-3 PPM meter to test the run off. I like knowing a ballpark amount of solids even if its not accurately reading the organics. So no need for a nice .5+/- accuate probe.

I will try to do a light flush tonight when they wake up, to check PH and PPM....

 

[MynameStitch]

That is a lot of sweet man, I would use no more than 1 tsp per gallon of water, but at least you are on the right track now.

 

[icky420]

So I tested my runoff the other night and I got 1200ppm with 100ppm water. This is the one thing I need to get straight. I either feed too much or too little...

I also have a few plants that have DIEING bud, all the hairs browned, but then the others look totally normal for 3wks flowering...

 

[MynameStitch]

How big are your plants now? Show pics of the dying buds, some do die off in 3 weeks of flowering, did your plants show sex before flowering?

What nutrients are you feeding them now and the dosage, is it the same or no?

 

[icky420]

Man the site when down the day I responded to this.....

So...Plants are a little over 2ft

These are clones so I didnt need to wait for sexing.

I havent been feeding them anything, I am afraid I have feed them more than enough...

I just flushed around 5 days ago, 3 gal of water through 2 gal bags, I got the runoff down to 280's ppm.... They are just drying up enough to be watered tonight..Maybe a light bloom feed?

Below are the leaves from the top of the plants, I dont think its light burn because the lights (250w HPS) are like 12in away, with a fan blowing over the tops, but who knows...

Wierdest part is how the leaf damage starts/progresses. It starts with the slight Bronzing(like on the center blade of the left leaf) of the out parts of the leaf, then that bronze part turns dark brow, and dies back...





I started to see leaves doing this before flushing, and they continued to do this for that last 5 days after...As well as rapidly yellowing and dropping lower fan leaves.

Can someone do me the favor

 

[MynameStitch]

Yellowing of the lower fan leaves shows nitrogen problems, those leaves you show are light burn, it just got old and the leaves died which is why it is showing the color it is.

Even compact fluros can cause burning, but the leaves have to be like 1 in away for it to do that.

Can you take pics of the plants so we can see where the damage is?
What is your pH?
Since you have been flushing I am sure they are in need of food soon, how many days into flowering are they now?

 

[icky420]

Yes I can take some pics later when the wake...

The ph looks about 6.8-6.9 testing with my little Soil Probe...

They are looking like they are in need of some N, I have upper leaves now starting to show some signs of yellowing...They are about 30 days fower....

Side note: The burnt bud I was talking about before has healed and started to grow normally. They 4 plants that had burnt bud are now way behind as far as bud growth but seem to be coming along. I learned that I needed to move the lights away a little more than I had them in my other box, even though the conditions before were much worse...Go figure...

 

[MynameStitch]

The ph looks about 6.8-6.9 testing with my little Soil Probe...

LOL. that damn thing always says the pH is around that area, get rid of it.
If you poor orange juice in with soil it will still tell you the mixture is the same pH which is total bullshit.

Your better off with a PH pen if you have money, if not then pH test strips but the pens are far more accurate.

I bought me one after learning about those soil probes.

 

[icky420]

I only CHECK the soil with it, I know about how inaccurate they are, but NO it does not always say the same area of readings...I was just giving you information you asked for. I have a pen as well as equipment that most people dont have, ex. Refractometer.

I will test runoff later tonight when I water. I'm thinkin I might give them some Bloom Guanos...