MoleMcHenry
Member
Hi Stitch and ICMaggers. I'm writing on behalf of my sick Kalichakra bonsai mum. She was doing great until a week ago, then began getting droopy leaves on her top leaves. At first I thought I overwatered, but the drooping has spread down to progressively lower leaves and now those leaves are losing their dark green color and becoming light green. The light green starts in the center of the leaf, a the main vein, and is spreading out.
Yesterday I realized something was wrong, took a PH reading of the runoff, and it was very high, 8 or so. So I added a small amount of dolomite lime to the top layer of the soil and flushed the plant with PH 5 water to try and bring the PH down.
As (bad) luck would have it, I left my PH and TDS pens at a friends and so had to do my checking with the GH PH drops. I also ran out of PH drops when the runoff was about PH 7.5, so kept flushing some more. I flushed with about 3/4 gallons of PH 5 water. So, I don't have a way of checking the runoff PH for a few days, until I can get my PH and TDS pens back.
I left the plant alone for the night and checked on it today, and all the symptoms are still there. The soil is still very moist, so I will put the plant in my flowering tent with a 400w CMH and fan to help it dry out.
My question is: did I do the right thing? Based on my pics below and description, do you think you know what is going on with my mum? And you don't think I did the right thing, what do you think I should do to help get her healthy again?
Here are some pics taken 30 minutes ago. (Answers to Stich's questions below that)
ANSWERS TO SOIL QUESTIONNAIRE:
How long has this problem been going on? 1 week
What STRAIN are you growing? Mandala Kalichakra
What was the establishing technique? clone
What is the age of your plants? 4.5 months
How Tall are the plants? 10 inches
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Vegetative
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) Bonsai mum from clone
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot) 4 inch aquare pot
What substrate/medium are you using? Soil
What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) Mostly FFOF with some Black Gold All Organic and .5 tsp of dolomite lime
What Nutrient's are you using? None, only PH'd water (with vinegar)
How Often? Every 3-4 days
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? Tap water is about 165 ppm
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? 7.5-8.0
What method of pH test was administered? GH PH solution/dropper/color coded bottle
How often are you watering? Every 3-4 days (mentioned above, too)
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? No feedings yet.
What size bulb are you using? 4-bulb 96w T5 floro with 1 25w cool white cfl
What is the distance to the canopy? 3 inches
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity) about 40 percent
What is the canopy temperature? 70-75F
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range) Days: 7-
What is the current Air Flow? No fan, in closet with decent air movement
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? no
Is your water HARD or SOFT? I use tap water at 165 ppm
What water are you using? Tap
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? I fimmed the plant about 2-3 weeks ago
Have any pest chemicals been used? No
Are plant's infected with pest's? No
Any help you could give is appreciated.
Mole
Yesterday I realized something was wrong, took a PH reading of the runoff, and it was very high, 8 or so. So I added a small amount of dolomite lime to the top layer of the soil and flushed the plant with PH 5 water to try and bring the PH down.
As (bad) luck would have it, I left my PH and TDS pens at a friends and so had to do my checking with the GH PH drops. I also ran out of PH drops when the runoff was about PH 7.5, so kept flushing some more. I flushed with about 3/4 gallons of PH 5 water. So, I don't have a way of checking the runoff PH for a few days, until I can get my PH and TDS pens back.
I left the plant alone for the night and checked on it today, and all the symptoms are still there. The soil is still very moist, so I will put the plant in my flowering tent with a 400w CMH and fan to help it dry out.
My question is: did I do the right thing? Based on my pics below and description, do you think you know what is going on with my mum? And you don't think I did the right thing, what do you think I should do to help get her healthy again?
Here are some pics taken 30 minutes ago. (Answers to Stich's questions below that)
ANSWERS TO SOIL QUESTIONNAIRE:
How long has this problem been going on? 1 week
What STRAIN are you growing? Mandala Kalichakra
What was the establishing technique? clone
What is the age of your plants? 4.5 months
How Tall are the plants? 10 inches
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Vegetative
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) Bonsai mum from clone
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot) 4 inch aquare pot
What substrate/medium are you using? Soil
What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?) Mostly FFOF with some Black Gold All Organic and .5 tsp of dolomite lime
What Nutrient's are you using? None, only PH'd water (with vinegar)
How Often? Every 3-4 days
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? Tap water is about 165 ppm
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? 7.5-8.0
What method of pH test was administered? GH PH solution/dropper/color coded bottle
How often are you watering? Every 3-4 days (mentioned above, too)
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? No feedings yet.
What size bulb are you using? 4-bulb 96w T5 floro with 1 25w cool white cfl
What is the distance to the canopy? 3 inches
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity) about 40 percent
What is the canopy temperature? 70-75F
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range) Days: 7-
What is the current Air Flow? No fan, in closet with decent air movement
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? no
Is your water HARD or SOFT? I use tap water at 165 ppm
What water are you using? Tap
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? I fimmed the plant about 2-3 weeks ago
Have any pest chemicals been used? No
Are plant's infected with pest's? No
Any help you could give is appreciated.
Mole
