So... Maybe a bit too much?

[DireTaco]

Hello, new grower here. I decided to start off my foray into cannabis cultivation with organic, water only, super soil. I figured that's how I've been doing my vegetable gardens for years. But, I quickly learned I needed a more finely tuned recipe than a handful of this and two handfuls of that, etc. When I reached out to a friend with experience he recommended Dank Franks recipe with all the amendments.

I think this is where I went astray. I only had FFOF, perlite and ewc. So, I kept the perlite and ewc the same % and replace the unfertilized soil, coir and peat with FFOF. I used the same amount of dry amendments from the recipe. Cooked it for 2 months. So... How hot is too hot with organic soil? What would that do?

Because, this seems to work for veg and everything stays happy. The problem is (on my second run now) once I flip to flower things begin a steady progression of sadness. It looks like I have multiple deficiencies by the end, even though I know there is a ton of this stuff in there. It starts as (newb eyes) a Mg def with interveinal lightening and Ca with small brown spots and tip burn. This moves into a general ascending chlorosis with browning and crunching tips moving inward and red stems, N maybe. While the leaves get angry, my flowers stay fairly dense, frosty and yielding well (I think, I'm new). I can only assume what they would look like if the plant was actually happy. They all look like deficiencies not excesses so I am assuming a cascading lock out somewhere? What would cause this in flower and not in veg?

I use RO water which comes from the tap at 6.3 pH, I water only once dry and try to avoid runoff. Soil pH is 6.5. After saturation with RO water, I ran another few cups through to test, runoff was pH 6.3 and ppm 2,500. This problem also seemed to affect my sativa leaning hybrid much more than my indica leaning hybrid.

Anyway, I currently have a couple glue plants 2 weeks into flower and they are just starting to show the same signs of inter vein lightening and lower leaf spotting and tip burning. Does anyone have a suggestion on best way to proceed with this run? Stick with it, flush, supplements, idk...

Next time I will just follow a recipe letter for letter. I'm thinking about running an A/B with LC's #1 (coir) w/ Recipe #1 and something else. Maybe LC's w/ a different amendment recipe or Dank Franks as written. Any guidance from those with experience is welcome?

 

[DireTaco]

Here’s a couple timeline pics

 

[troutman]

You pH is good and that's a big step in the right direction.

2,500 ppm seems really high. You may want to investigate that.

Sativa plants are a lot more sensitive to nutrient overdoses.

 

[f-e]

Are the pots really big enough? Most people fall short early in bloom and feed them from then on.
Some leaves look very heavy. That kind of drop I find typical of RO if not hardened up. You can use it as RO but it shouldn't reach the root. If watering when dry, it likely does. RO is a solvent and does real work on the root zone. You kinda say it want's calmag, the usual RO treatment before use.

 

[flylowgethigh]

IMO soil is the easiest and most forgiving. I have a similar issue on my 1st run diary in the "big tent". I messed my stuff up by spraying BAS build-a-bloom by foliar, so be careful with sprays.

A tea with alfalfa, kelp, and some worm castings seems to help keep my plants happy in there under those LEDs.

One of the soil guys says in a video on water to NOT use RO, because it takes out some goodness. If you can use a particle and then a carbon filter, the water may be better.

I didn't hear anything about using microbes and fungus, Also IMO, the wetness of the soil is key... do not dry the soil out if it is alive. I wet from the bottom

These are things I have learned along the way on my first two runs, which I am doing my damndest to screw up. I also have / had the same issue with the leafs, still do.

 

[thailer]

do they ever dry out? how often are you watering them? when i would flip to flower, by the time they would be done stretching, they woudl start to yellow out in weeks 3-4 because i wasn't giving enough water during the stretch when plants guzzle it down. it seems to happen more often if they also are in smaller pots...like ten gallons or less. my bigger pots hold more water and they are not as rootbound or filled up with roots.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Mine in week 5 of flower guzzle a bunch, even after they have stopped stretching. 4 plants almost a gallon a day - each. 7 gallon bags.

 

[DireTaco]

Are the pots really big enough? Most people fall short early in bloom and feed them from then on.
Some leaves look very heavy. That kind of drop I find typical of RO if not hardened up. You can use it as RO but it shouldn't reach the root. If watering when dry, it likely does. RO is a solvent and does real work on the root zone. You kinda say it want's calmag, the usual RO treatment before use.

I was concerned the pots may have been to small as well. I used a larger size this past run with the glue with an up pot right before flower. With gypsum, ouster and dolomite in there I'm surprised it ran out of juice in 2 weeks though. I did try and run roots organic cal/mag and it seemed to slow the progression down. But I still have the ascending chlorosis and the calcium never seems to stabilie. That when I started wondering it I'm getting a lockout should I really be adding more stuff? Should I go to tap or just add cal mag to 'harden up'?

 

[DireTaco]

A tea with alfalfa, kelp, and some worm castings seems to help keep my plants happy in there under those LEDs.

One of the soil guys says in a video on water to NOT use RO, because it takes out some goodness. If you can use a particle and then a carbon filter, the water may be better.

I didn't hear anything about using microbes and fungus, Also IMO, the wetness of the soil is key... do not dry the soil out if it is alive. I wet from the bottom

These are things I have learned along the way on my first two runs, which I am doing my damndest to screw up. I also have / had the same issue with the leafs, still do.

I am interested in doing the tea thing, I just do not want to do it every time. Part of the super soil appeal to me was the simplicity. But I will definitely try that this run.

I did use great white every time I up potted and added dried molasses to my mix for microbes and stuff. I'm thinking about not using RO on the next run as well. I thought It would be better, but I'm getting mixed reports. Hopefully I never let it dry out too much.

 

[KinKrit]

Good job，all the best

 

[f-e]

I was concerned the pots may have been to small as well. I used a larger size this past run with the glue with an up pot right before flower. With gypsum, ouster and dolomite in there I'm surprised it ran out of juice in 2 weeks though. I did try and run roots organic cal/mag and it seemed to slow the progression down. But I still have the ascending chlorosis and the calcium never seems to stabilie. That when I started wondering it I'm getting a lockout should I really be adding more stuff? Should I go to tap or just add cal mag to 'harden up'?

Do you know what's in your tap? Your water company may publish this information online, or you could get an irrigation suitability report done. You can expect a $50 bill but that's less than an RO filter set.

 

[kushumpeng]

I think you have a bit to much stuff going on...from my understanding ffof is pretty hot by itself and you said you added some additional amendments? If so how much of what did you add? Your calcium maybe locked out try watering with ph 6.8-7 and see if that helps.

 

[kushumpeng]

Maybe add a bit of baking soda to your RO water.