Spots on one of my plants...

[maryjanesjungle]

...can anyone tell me what this might be? The only one showing these spots is of the strain "Flo" which is 60/40 Sativa to Indica, other 3 are bag seeds. DWC res temp is low to mid 70's, pH is 5.8, PPM is 730. I used distilled water and Tiger Bloom in the res and that's it. Oh and they've all been under 12/12 400W HPS from seeds.

 

[Chiefsmokingbud]

Kinda looks like the start of a calcium defficiency. Do you use any kind of calcium suppliment?

 

[maryjanesjungle]

N,o just Tiger Bloom like I said,.. and now that I look TB doesn't have any calcium in it. I do have some Sensi Bloom part A & B, part A has some calcium in it, 1.70%. Would this be enough if I switched my ferts from Tiger to Sensi?

Or should I just go get my ladies a big glass of milk?

 

[HeadyPete]

Get some CalMag or CalMax or Sensi Cal.

Pot loves cal and mag, especially during flowering.

 

[maryjanesjungle]

ya know the more i look at my sensi bloom ferts the more i want to use them. they seem to have more stuff in them then Tiger Bloom. Is it bad to switch ferts during flowering? I mean ill make sure to keep ppm and ph right before i go to a new tub, and with sensi bloom having calcium it would fix the problem right?

I could just get some CalMag or CalMax like you say, add it and then as needed add more nutes, the sensi bloom ones, but my res water hardly drops and ppm doesn't seem to go down either.

This is my first hydro grow so i don't know, is it typical to not have4 much drop in ppm and pretty much just go with the one res full you first mix for the whole grow?

 

[phatnuggetz]

hey mjj did you wash out your hydroton very well before you used it?

 

[maryjanesjungle]

I didn't at first no, (first hydro grow, I didn't know any better) but since getting everything set up I went with a deeper tub and cleaned all the clay residue out. Roots above the water level/below the pots are still stained a lil clay from it, roots in water have always been nice and white. You think that could be why the one plant is showing spots or were you just commenting on the pic's of the clay stain in my grow journal?

 

[phatnuggetz]

I usually get a pasta type strain and run it thruogh high pressure water to clean it out. It is really high ec ppm readin when you check a runoff sample.

 

[maryjanesjungle]

ya, since the tub change though my ppm's have stayed what i set them at.
So what do you think? go buy cal or is it ok to change to sensi and will its cal solve my problem?

 

[HeadyPete]

I'd have the extra cal supplement on hand and not rely on a all in one fert for that.

I don't see a problem changing ferts, just be aware of dose strength, go half what the bottle says until you see how the plants react.

When your plants get bigger you will notice quicker drops in ppm as they get better at sucking up the nutes.

 

[maryjanesjungle]

Cool,.. thanks Pete
I just got done changing out my res water before the lights came on this morning. Pretty easy actually, I just let the pump do the work into a gallon jug as I mixed up new res water. 1 tbsp of Sensi part A & B to each gallon jug of distilled water I just bought at the store made my ppm AND pH almost right on doing only that. I didn't get all the Tiger Bloom fert'ed res water out of the res but I swapped 6 gallons which is over 90% of it. I looked at some pic's of calc defi pot plants online and it does seem to be the problem. Makes sense since TB doesn't have any and I sure as hell know the distilled water I've been using doesn't. The spotting has gotten a little worse but hopefully it'll stop now.
I wonder though, will it reverse?

Thanks to all who helped me and my sick plants!

 

[Chiefsmokingbud]

I have always had calcium probs in Hydro. So i alwyas keep cal/mag on hand for it. I suggest you get some.

 

[HeadyPete]

Nope, won't reverse and may still get a little bit worse.

Distilled water contains no minerals so cal and/or mag are usually the first two defs to show, especially during bloom. Also, overfert like to much P can bind up calcium and cause lockout, even if you are feeding adequate cal. This usually requires a fresh rez.

You can bring up your ph to around 6.3. There is a misconception about ph and hydro vs. soil and to this day no one who believes they should be different can explain why. I have researched and most sources including reputable mags like Heads (in a hydro-specific article) state that proper ph is a range of 5.8 - 6.8 with a target of 6.3 being ideal.

I would love someone to explain why hydro should be lower than soil.

 

[maryjanesjungle]

Nope, won't reverse and may still get a little bit worse.

Distilled water contains no minerals so cal and/or mag are usually the first two defs to show, especially during bloom. Also, overfert like to much P can bind up calcium and cause lockout, even if you are feeding adequate cal. This usually requires a fresh rez.

You can bring up your ph to around 6.3. There is a misconception about ph and hydro vs. soil and to this day no one who believes they should be different can explain why. I have researched and most sources including reputable mags like Heads (in a hydro-specific article) state that proper ph is a range of 5.8 - 6.8 with a target of 6.3 being ideal.

I would love someone to explain why hydro should be lower than soil.

very good info, thank you much sir. I'm at 5.9 at the moment so i guess ill let it go up naturally. I switched to seni like i said and today got some cal-mag. I added 3 tbsp to the 7 gallon res which is a lil less then the 10ml per 4 liter does they recommend on the back of the bottle. Hopefully this fixes everything. I added the cal-mag to a gallon of distilled water to add it to the res and not like shock some roots w/ straight cal-mag, so now my water level is higher and I'm wondering,...
How close should the water level be to the bottom of the pots?

 

[Chiefsmokingbud]

About a 1/2" from the bottom. If you have roots coming out you can let it get lower as long as the roots are in the water. Keep in mind the spots won't go away, just that hopefully no more will form.

 

[maryjanesjungle]

ya understood about the spots,.. already trimmed some away. 1/2"? Are you sure? I was told by someone else that the roots above the water level are what get the most oxygen and if its too high your plants will have that over watered look. I'm at about 2" now but have plenty of roots down in the water. Just want to know what is optimal so I don't have that over watered look. I turned off my drip system to help with not over watering after a trip to the hydro store today where I saw there plants not even having one. Makes me wonder why I spent money on that pump

EDIT:

So I looked at the pic I posted to start this thread and was taken back by just how much my plants have grown in 3 days so I thought id take some pics and share. Also a few shots of the roots.

72 hours ago



Today



Darker pic but they look greener to me too..

 

[maryjanesjungle]

4 days of growth,.. minus one more male found too ;-)