plant not looking too well

[lightlocker]

Ok guys I need some help. I used this organic soiless mix from a sticky on the organic forum, and it seems great except for the usage of the dolomite. I should have tested my tap ph beforehand, but I didn't and it averages 7.2-7.5ph, and I added 10 tbs of dolomite. I was told that I'm really gonna have to lower my ph because of all the dolomite, so I had been doing it at about 6.0-6.3 with help of apple cider vinegar, but last week or so new growth had starting looking more yellow that usual. So I figured maybe a little lower, last feed fed with ph about 5.5 I believe with about 3ml but no pbp. Now it seems to be getting worse and the leaves are droopy. Here's the info.

SOIL:
What STRAIN are you growing? Neville’s Haze/grapefruit
What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) seed
What is the age of your plants? About 3 months
How Tall are the plants? Hard to say, because of lst, maybe 8-10in?
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? veg, just about to put in flower
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) LST and topped
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot)6 gal, 1 subj
What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) 5 parts Coco, 3 parts perlite ( actually closer to 2.5), 2 parts wormcastings, and about 10 table spoons of dolomite.
What Nutrient's are you using?How much of each with how much water? How Often? *Knowing the brand is very helpful*-so far pbp grow at half strength every 2-3 waterings, which comes down to 2ml to the liter of water I’ve been feeder her
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used?
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"?Well, I’ve kinda been advised that with this size plant and such a big pot not to water till run off, but I grabbed a cup of soil and mixed with some water ph’d at 5.5 and it later came out to about 6.0 I believe.
What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen?pen
How often are you watering?every 2-3 days
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding?about 2 days ago
What size bulb are you using?150 w hps
What is the distance to the canopy?currently kinda high, about 18 in
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity)about 50%
What is the canopy temperature?80-90f
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.) Well I have a passive intake and pretty hevty fan blowing out, with two pc fans blowing on top of canopy
Is the fan blowing directly at plants?ya, but more above them
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? Well it’s coco, so I guess mostly wet, but I let the top dry out
Is your water HARD or SOFT? not sure
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? tap
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched?topped a while ago, but that part’s doing fine
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when?
Are plant's infected with pest's?no

Here are some pics to get the idea. I just realized it's really happening on new growth...

 

[MynameStitch]

she needs fed some nitrogen and magnesium.

How often do you water your plant?

I would use a little more grow, use like 5 ml to 4 liters of water.......
every 5 to 7 days

 

[lightlocker]

That's weird I've been feeding pretty decent I though; I did about 4ml per liter last feed, and I gave slightly under 2 tablespoons per gal of dolomite when first mixing. I would have figured that would have covered the nit and mag. I dunno though, this is my first grow, maybe this plant needs more.

Lately I've been watering every 2-3 days;from my understanding, you have to water more often with coco.Also, I've been watering about a liter per water, would you suggest more?

Lastly, whats a good ph for coco?

 

[MedResearcher]

5.8 - 6.0 is a good PH for CoCo, although I have never put dolomitic lime in my CoCo so I cant say how that will effect it.

I water every other day in pure CoCo, with a ton of run off, but I recirculate so I can afford tons of run off.

A lot of people have stated at least 10% run off is recommended, I believe there is a relationship between run off % and frequency of waterings. Such as if you water more frequently you wont need as much run off, but if you let it dry more (water less frequently) more salts tend to build up so you need to use more run off to flush some of those salts away.

Hope that helps a little, maybe next time dont add any dolomitic lime and just PH a nice big rez of solution. My water is about 7.0 -7.5 as well so I always add ph down when I mix the rez.

 

[MedResearcher]

What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"?Well, I’ve kinda been advised that with this size plant and such a big pot not to water till run off, but I grabbed a cup of soil and mixed with some water ph’d at 5.5 and it later came out to about 6.0 I believe.

I can see where the person who advised you is coming from. If you have a huge pot with a tiny plant, you sort of want it to dry out some so the roots reach to the bottom of the pot, although that has to do with water frequency not run off.

I would advise when you do water, make sure there is at least 10% or more run off. Especially since you are watering less frequently you want to flush those built up salts out.

I cant say that is your problem, but I think the runoff will help you prevent problems in the long run, keep the PH stable, and help prevent toxicities.

Good luck^^

 

[MedResearcher]

Hehe Forum spamming

Need Stich to chime in so im not chatting with myself^^


After taking one last look at your picture I noticed the CoCo looks pretty dry. Your plants look fairly big, and 6 gallon pots are big compared to most CoCo users but not huge.

I was using 25 gallon pots, 1 pot under 1 600 watt lamp for a while. I still watered every other day.

So my last and final recommendation, besides listen to Sitch, is to increase waterings to every other day with 10% or more run off. Make sure the water is PHd to 5.8-6.0 The dolomitic lime will slowly shift the PH but as long as your pouring tons of water through the medium it should keep balancing back.

Again good luck, and hopefully some of this might help ya^^

 

[lightlocker]

Definately helpful. You don't think that will be too much water?

 

[MedResearcher]

As long as the pot isnt sitting in a pool of water it should be more then fine.

CoCo is almost like a hydroponic medium, you really cant overwater it. It has something to do with its Cation exchange, and the fact that it holds tons of oxygen.

A lot of people water there CoCo multiple times everyday. Only thing you have to keep an eye out for is Fungus gnats. They love the wet CoCo.

r

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, I agree with ya med researcher

:nod:

Also I forgot to note, that you want to try to keep your pH down a bit so the nutrients can be more readily absorbed, do not go over the dosage I gave you but feed every 3-5 days since your in coco.

Ph needs to be in a good range 5.5 to 6.3, but for optimum uptake 5.5 to 5.8.

Some strains can handle the range and some can't; so to be certain keep it in that range, you added too much lime to the mixture with caused the coco pH to be at the range it is at, so you may have some lockout going, but since your not watering them to where water comes out, this could be a problem where some of the roots are not getting nutrients, in order to make sure the whole plant gets nutrients the entire roots need to get wet.

Since it's in a big pot, what you need to do is, lift the pot before and after a watering so you know when to water, the plant does need a little run off, not a lot but a little. Your in coco, not soil, if it was soil it would make a big difference.