young clone - nute def?

[spectrum]

there are several nute problems worrying me with this young C99 clone (& future mother). here are some specs:

soil: walmart potting soil w perlite, dol lime, blood meal, bone meal, worm castings, organic humus
pH: water 5.8 / runoff 7.0
light: recently put under a 400w MH
fert: has only been fed Liquid Karma so far
air: no exhaust vents & such, but plenty of fresh air in room.
temp/rh: 75f / 43%rh (the rh has been around 38-40 lately, so i have been lightly misting plants once a day + put a bucket of water in room)

this is my main concern:

i snipped this leaf off because it looked like it might have fungus or mold on it. upon further inspection, im thinking the nasty browness might be phosphorous deficiency. this one leaflet was curled up very dramatically. you can see an obvious sign of nute burn, but the leaf tips have all showed burn ever since the clone rooted in the peat pellet.

also my lower leaves are starting to turn brighter:

which i think is N deficiency

and.....

does this look like an early sign of potassium def to anybody??


im prepared to give her a light feeding of (pureblend) grow/bloom to see if it will help, but there are 2 things holding me back. 1) nute burnt leaves 2) she is very young, and in very well admented soil (w organic humus + LK!!) - so how the hell could she already be having nute problems???

any input will be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

[guineapig]

I am stumped on this one!!

This could be incorrect, but i am leaning toward over-fertilization via too much organic ferts.....is it possible you added too much bone meal? That's what i am considering right now and i will do more research on this particular case.....

guineapiggin'

 

[pmorris]

yep you can see the tip burn. lower the nutes a little bit

 

[spectrum]

thanks GP

i added to (1 gal) potting soil:
2 tsp dol lime
1 tsp blood meal
1 1/2 tsp bone meal
1 tsp organic humus
handful or so of worm castings
30% perlite


there is a small chance that i may have given it too much LK last watering.. but how can that cause nute def? a nute lockout from 1 watering??

im going to give it very light feeding of NPK next watering. ill post it if hurts/helps.

 

[spectrum]

yep you can see the tip burn. lower the nutes a little bit

i havent really seen any other leaf tips burn since it was transplanted. most took place while it first rooted in the peat pellet (dont clones usually naturally burn/droop a little once rooted..?)

who knows tho - ill flush it before the next feed, just in case. thanks

 

[Ronley]

Have you had expierence and success with this soil mix before, and with such young plants? I think in may be too concentrated.

 

[Guest]

I will add that peat pellet have never been my choice for clones or seeds my plants are just sucky with peat pellets same with Jiffy mix.

 

[spectrum]

this is my first time with this soil mix. i did the basic amount of each additive per gallon, from what ive read here on IC.. but i dunno - maybe it needs some refining. im going to give it a nice flush next watering, then a very light dose of grow fert.

its only been rooting in this soil for about a week, so i think its just a little uncomfortable in the new soil also this clone didnt come from the healthiest of moms. i am very confident i will be able to bring her up to better health tho.

 

[spectrum]

I will add that peat pellet have never been my choice for clones or seeds my plants are just sucky with peat pellets same with Jiffy mix.

yeah i dont think im going to use peat pellets again, except for seeds. this is the only clone i did in peat, the rest i rooted w gratefulhead's perlite wick cloner (which i will use from now on).

but this was the healthiest looking of my clones at the time, so im going to keep her as a mother & put the rest into flower after a lil veg time.

thanks k+

 

[sproutco]

You only added 2 teaspoons dolomite per gallon? Maybe the potting soil from walmart was already limed. Runoff ph at 7 is too high and should be closer to 6. You don't really have a source of potassium and micros by using bone and blood meal only. Seaweed would be an organic amendment to use to provide both k and micros. Seems like there is a liquid seaweed you can apply in water. n p k fert high in potassium that includes all micros (iron, zinc , copper, boron, manganese, and boron) might work well also. You still should hunt a source of sulfur. Molasses maybe? Gypsum could have been added at 3/4 teaspoon per gallon of soil to get sulfur. Remember blood meal is not gentle and ammonia nitrogen. This can be toxic and cause a superficial calcium deficiency.

 

[spectrum]

hmm.. i thought the LK+prefed potting soil would be sufficient enough for micros. ill try to hit up the hydro store for some kelp meal before i transplant anymore of these clones. hopefully they'll have some gypsum there too.


i noticed a spider mite in my growroom last night (along with some strands of web between several leaves nearby). so every plant got a nice spraydown of Garden Safe Insect spray & i put the no-pest strip back out. i left some liquid stagnant on my mom clone tho, and i think that might be whats causing the browness/leaf curl. i thought this shit was 'garden safe'?? i guess not.

 

[spectrum]

pic update

pic update

she is looking worse
i think it is from the GS Insect Spray (sprayed 2 days ago), but if any more experienced growers have a better idea, please chime in. i just flushed her w a gallon of RO water, and gave her a very light NPK feeding.

pics:

 

[SEEDYNONO]

hopefully that flush will get things back to normal in time.. i'd say you definetely had some kind of lock-out issue rather than a true deficiency. prob ph.

good luck let us know what happens.

 

[spectrum]

final update & Q's.

final update & Q's.





FIRST THINGS FIRST......
i found out i was off on my pH measurements (Sunleaves Soil pH tester is WORTHLESS.) i got a General Hydroponics pH kit (ph^,phdown,liquid ph tester), and came to find out my tap water pH is 7.5. so i changed my pH to 6.0, and all new growth since then on my (topped) mom has looked very healthy. also the new fan leaves are tri-leaves for some reason.

all the pH damage from earlier in this thread has since turned yellow/orangish/brown & died off.

heres the weird thing tho - my runoff on both the mom & my new clones* is coming out around 7.8! the clones seem to look fairly healthy, other than some leaf curl & some yellowing/burn on bottom set of leaves......

...probably due to the high pH. they have much lighter soil mix* than the mom tho.

i plan on adding coco coir to my mix next time to help acidize my soil. also im going to try & be smarter and test my soil before transplant.
but yeah, let me hurry up and get to my Q's.... god bless any of you who take the time to read this and answer these:

1. how accurate is the GH pH tester?
2. how helpful would it be to tranplant these plants early, to a more acidified soil?
3. does a plant suffer from (permanant) pH fluctuations/problems if part of the soil has pH higher (2+) than the rest (outer part) of the soil?
4. any comments on the below soil mix (nutrient-wise) ?


*CLONES Soil Mix:
(added to 2 gallons of Wal-mart Potting Soil (w NPK & Sulfer & Dol Lime))
1 tsp dolomite lime
1/2 tsp blood meal
3/4 tsp bone meal
1 tsp kelp meal
1/2 tsp organic humus
handful and 1/2 of worm castings
perlite

 

[sproutco]

Sounds like you got the ph thing under control. Your plants are an abnormal shade of green. Watch out for too much nutrients. You may see burn on the leaf tips.

 

[spectrum]

the pics in my last post were taken under CFLs instead of 400w MH, so that may account for the abnormal coloring.

 

[Xtbudda]

Spectrum, I had used those ph test bottles for years, but after recently finding a cheap ph pen on ebay, I discovered my readings were off a fair bit using the color chart.
At the same time, I got the ph pen, I was having problems with clones in jiffy peat pellets and the runoff was ph 7. I always found peat pellets easy but here lately I have had issues with them and am avoiding using peat pellets now, from here on in.
Basically, what I found with the ph color chart, when i thought i was around 6.3, i was actually around 6.8. But the big difference I seen was in my nute ph. I use gh nutes and as you know it is colored, so when trying to find the right color using the color chart, i was still on the high ph side and as it looked good, would never use ph down to adjust the ph to 6.3, now with my readings i am adding ph down to my nute.
I am seeing better overall growth now, but I had made 2 major changes in grow now, adding dolomite lime and having more accurate readings on the ph.
Xtbudda...

 

[spectrum]

thanks budda, ill add it onto my To Buy list. i should be able to make for a while on the pH drops tho, as i am watering with plain water until around mid-flower.

i am very excited as to how my plants will look once i have them in a steady 6-6.5 soil.