First time grower having spots on leaves any advice much appreciated

[kkaazz2]

Hi all I am a first time grower and everything went smooth until I found some spots on small lower leaves and darkening veins on larger leaves, also yellowing tips. I am on week 6 and just changed to 12/12 lights.Any advice please, I have been fertilizing on cannabis nutrient schedule with hydroponics ( floragro,florabloom,floramagic and calmag) thanks in advance:barmy:

Soil or hydro or coco: coco coir, 25% perlite

Strain:shark attack and critical cure, the first is more affected

Photo or Autohoto

plant age:in week 6

pot size:5 gallon

nutes or additives used and how often for soil:every other feed according to cannabis schedule with hydroponics nutes and calmag,always ph 6.5 and every other feed plain phd water

Air temps (max min):27/20

humidity:20%

lighting type and wattage (hps, led, cfl):250 watt hps

Light schedule:was on 18/6 now on 12/12 as of this weekend

ph level:6.5

EC (hydro and coco only) not measuring


feed schedule and nutes (for hydro and coco)alternating nutes and plain phd water
Thanks!

[Campesino]

Hi kkaazz2
Almost certainly is Ca related. What dose of Cal Mag are you giving? When you give "plain phd water" does it also have Cal/Mag?
I recommend you take a look at my guide (link in signature)
recommendations:

1. Give nutes (including CalMag) in all water (stop the practice of alternating flush)
2. If you insist on alternating flush, at least put Cal Mag in all the water
3. pH is pretty high, but that isn't likely the problem. I'd keep it about 6.3 until Ca issues are resolved, then 5.8-6.2
4. Start measuring EC/PPM (meters are really cheap)

[kkaazz2]

Thanks so much.i have been following the nutes schedule from growweedeasy so CalMag has been 2.5 ml per gallon.and followed the recommended phd water only then nuted water alternating.So is it best to always give full feed? I read about your recommendations and ordered a EC pen.i also had not added CalMag to my coco coir prior to growing. My runoff water measurement is ph 7, isn't that very high?TIA

[Campesino]

Right!
Ca issues showed up when you cut the dose from 5ml to 2.5ml - At the flip. You may need to go back to 5ml
Yes, for purposes of consistent rootzone EC your should add nutes to all water. You should absolutely add CalMag to all water.
SInce plant is having Ca issues inflow should be about pH 6.3. Otherwise inflow pH is better around 5.9. Ignore run-off pH. Worry only about inflow pH, inflow EC and Run-off EC.
Be sure to read my guide
Cheers

[kkaazz2]

Thanks! Will I go back to 18/6 or can I continue 12/12? Cheers

[Campesino]

Continue 12/12, Just increase dose of CalMag. It is possible that going to CalMag in all water will be enough, but I'd increase dose until symptoms are resolved.

[kkaazz2]

Ok thanks- so it's better to always add the nutes and not do any only water feeds?sorry it's my first!

[Campesino]

Yes, This is one of the main points that I make in my guide.
Four most important points...
1. Water often
2. Nutes Always
3. Set EC targets for inflow
4. Monitor run-off EC

[kkaazz2]

Hi Campesino thanks for all your feedback.i have been reading your journal and noticed that you have many nutrients that I am not feeding (Armor Sl,liquid Koolbloom and diamond nectar). Are they essential? What are they since I can't find those brands here...EC pen will be here in two days so I will post my readings.Cheers!

[Campesino]

Armor si is silica. It helps plants grow strong
Koolbloom is a PK boost used during flowering
Diamond nectar is humid acid. Used for nutrient absorption.
None are “essential”

[DankwingDuck]

Not required but I do recommend the humid acid and silica . Silica is going to make your plant stronger and the humic acid will help with nute intake and you can use them both as a folier spray every few weeks . Like camp said not needed but doesn’t hurt . Plus they are both very low ppm so thy won’t throw your numbers off much .

[MrGreenGenes]

Hi all, If its any help. You already know there are endless nutrients/products out there and it can be very confusing. That's why I went with a product that is all-in-one for my first grow. It can be used from veg through flower. You can see my nutrient lineup that how I mix them thanks to Campesino who greatly helped me fix my order. For my nutrients I use Humboldts Secret Base A, B, with Golden Tree. Link to product http://humboldtssecret.com/

[Chefbjy]

Just want to add with that low of humidity you might want to take it easy on nutes especially in soil. Not sure what medium you're using since you mention 3. Looks like you have coco soil perlite mix. You could have a high ec with that low humidity and heavy feeds.

What is the ratio of soil to coco?

[Campesino]

I am pretty sure that it is 75% Coco and 25% Perlite

In the initial post I think he copied "Soil or hydro or coco" and then wrote his answer: "coco coir, 25% perlite"

I think...

[Campesino]

But yeah, RH is awfully low! Good call Chefbjy
kkaazz2 Is there anything you can do about that? (There must be! it must take work to keep it at 20)

I'd be surprised though if the symptoms were burn. It is some specific issue and it doesn't all look like Ca but some does. It could be lock out and I think he'll learn something when his EC pen gets to him!

Humidity is certainly something to consider when setting inflow EC targets and RH 20% would require a significant reduction - which is not ideal for nutrition purposes.

[MrGreenGenes]

The EC pen tells all....Changed my grow once I started using one. Mandatory

[Chefbjy]

Not to rain on your guide to coco but I think ec should be treated differently in soil... I've been reading some and there are certain varabilities to consider. You may find this interesting. d71059c64b1dac601981c439aa9708993abf.pdf

[Redwasp]

Do you have any articles on soil in pots? Ill have to read that article again. But seems in pots and not the ground we are testing for different reasons.

[Chefbjy]

Pg 5. What I was referring to.

[Campesino]

But the whole article is about Soil EC, not Nutrient Solution EC. These are totally different things.
Soil EC can impact solution EC, but that is tangential... They are measuring the conductivity of the ground not the water! Different things!

I don't see anything in the article that is relevant to growing in pots or containers. It is a discussion of open fields and understanding what a farmer is working with. You should know what you're working with because it comes in a bag!

You need to look for articles on "fertigation in soil", not "soil EC"

[kkaazz2]

Thank you all for your input! I am actually a she so my humidity is low and was 10% since I started to periodically spray the plants it increased to 20%. Not sure what else I can do to improve that? EC pen arriving tomorrow so I will post results and could do with some input since I have never heard of EC;-) Cheers

[Campesino]

humidifier

Bowl of water with a towel in it

Adjust ventilation system

You need to address this

[Campesino]

My article on EC

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/201790-ec-ppm-and-fertigation-what-you-need-to-know

[Chefbjy]

Hang some wet towels.
Mist the walls with ph water.

[kkaazz2]

Thanks Campesino. It’s now 30%,still too low?what am I aiming at... will read your EC guide , appreciate it!

[Campesino]

50% is target

Usually this is not an issue because with frequent watering coco produces a lot of humidity.
How frequently do you water/fertigate?
The EC guide I posted is for any media. Since you are in Coco just be sure to read the EC section of the Coco guide (Part 3 it is on page two of the journal). The EC section of the Coco guide has all that the EC article has, and is more specific to coco.

[kkaazz2]

Hi there good morning. My EC pen is here! So I measured my plain water at EC 532 and ppm 266. After adding the nutes according to plant cycle and your guide ( flora grow,micro and bloom and cal mag,the others I didn't have) the EC measured at 1554 and ppm 777. So I added a lot more water but are there enough nutrients then?? Do I still worry about the ph as well? The outflow EC measured at 3280, isn't that awfully high?both of the plants are hybrids so not sure what to aim for.Humidity now around 25 so hopefully it will improve with more frequent waterings I had watered only once a day and with alternating nutes/plain phd water but am now watering once a day with nutes water - do you recommend twice a day? I can't get koolbloom here where I live is it worth to get an equivalent bloom boost high in PK? TIA

[Campesino]

Don't need koolbloom... for a while at least. Lets focus on the issues at hand.

1 Starting water: EC is high. At the top end of acceptability. Cleaner water would be better
2 I suggest that you target at least 150 below the bottom of the suppliers rec dose because of low RH
3 Reduce the amount of base nutrients keeping the ratios the same
4 There will still be enough nutrition in the water
5 Be sure that you water with good run-off each time
6 With RH that low, YES increase watering frequency - you should get run-off when you apply 1 quart of water!!!
7 Probably need to flush to drop EC, there is a lot of salt build-up in your media

[kkaazz2]

Thanks a mil I just did a flush until runoff EC was 1300 so hopefully that will help! Cheers

[kkaazz2]

Campesino Hi again so I flushed my plants last Sunday and since then I am watering twice a day with EC around 950, EC outflow measures around 1100 and humidity is around 35% . But now I noticed some of the lower leaves wilted😩Any idea what that could be now?thanks for your input!

[Campesino]

OK, It would really help to see a pic!

Now those EC numbers seem too low. What is your current stage of growth and what EC are you targeting? In Veg, with GH, 1400 is a good starting EC to adjust from.

Balance between inflow and run-off is good, and frequency is perfect. Can you describe their overall condition aside from the wilted leaves?

[kkaazz2]

Hi there yes will post a pic tomorrow,plants in dark period at the moment so since I had so much nutrient accumulation in the coco I had been feeding around EC1050, also a bit lower cause of my low humidity...but now I just measured my last outflow EC and it was 950, so lower than inflow. Will I just add more nutes then? I am in week two after the 12/12 switch, no sign of any buds or much happening at the moment!i am following your coco nutrient schedule now....thanks a mil

[Campesino]

Buds should show up by the end of week 2.
Yes, gradually raise EC. Keeping run-off in range. Can keep working up to 1600 run-off. Whatever inflow produces that. Gradually though.

[kkaazz2]

Ok here are some photos, is it a concern that the some lower leaves are wilted?Increasing the inflow EC now slowly. Just wondering about the last pic, is that early bud grow or just foliage?i am a newbie so have no clue)

[Campesino]

Early buds! And the leaves are wilting because they aren’t getting light. You should go ahead a cut all those lower shaded leaves off. It’s called lollipoping

[kkaazz2]

Cool! So exciting I will remove some lower leaves,will that benefit the plant?thanks for input!

[Campesino]

Yeah, they aren't providing energy, so they are just a drain on the plants resources and create additional humidity.