HELP! First Timer with Color Issues

[Pokemokeley]

Hi there! I am a new user and new grower. This plant is part of my first attempt at growing indoors ever. This is also my first post on the forum, thanks for having me.

My autoflower northern lights is 27 days old (from seed) grown in happy frog soil with dechlorinated tap water (pH 6.5 ppm 1300). No nutrient as I assumed soil would last for a couple weeks. Humidity is 60% and lighting is 24 hr with dedicated 300W (130 true watts) LED at 17" (recommended by manufacturer).

Plant was doing amazing for the first 25 days but the past two have had issues. Almost all established growth (old, and mod, but not new) is starting to fade in hue between the veins of the leaves. Some tips and edges are also yellowing and a couple are brown. Looking to get ahead of this before its severe.

I've had a few people suggest pH issues, others suggest magnesium deficiency, others say nute burn from hot soil. I'm looking for a few educated opinions. I'm not sure how nutrient burn manifests as the baby seedlings didn't seem to take issue with the soil so why would a 27 day old plant?

Thanks!

[Pokemokeley]

Figured I'd update with new pics. Issue seems to be progressing fast.

[D.A.A.S.69]

GoodMorning, it's definitely not hot soil,
Looks to me like you need to start feeding her properly now, she's done used up the nutrition in your Ofhf.
You might also want to tuck some of those leaves, behind others, if you dont want to remove them.
Welcome to Gwe, your gonna do fine when you start feeding.

[Pokemokeley]

Thanks for the advice. Current runoff ppm is ~1000-1100. Every nutrient schedule I've seen proposes something like half that in nutrients, so if I need to be feeding now why is my ppm still this high? Shouldn't it be closer to zero if there isn't anything left in the soil?

I'm not questioning your judgement, I'm just trying to understand further so I don't run into the same issue the same way again. seems like coco may have been a better choice in hindsight as I could have gotten used to adding nutrient from the beginning without being thrown off by initial ppm readings. I suppose my issue is the evidence suggests mkre nutrient is needed but the readings do not? you have a soil feed guide I can look at to better wrap my head around this?

Thanks again!

[D.A.A.S.69]

Whats the ppm of your water? I wouldn't worry about that anyway, your soil is depleted, imo.
What nutrients are you gonna use?
She's gonna do fine ,when you start feeding her, alot of folks don't go by the feeding schedules suggested by the makers.
I gradually increase mine until I see a little tip burn, then back off a little, but I don't use nutrients anymore, I use living soil, an teas.
If she were mine, I'd open her up some, where she can get good air flow, an more light to budsites.

[Texasbob]

I totally agree with DAAS, it is time to start a feeding schedule. Your plant will love you for it.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Texasbob, beautiful picture in your avatar, what part of Tx, do you live in?

[Pokemokeley]

Thanks everyone, where can I find a soil feed guide for new growers? I would do much better if I followed something rather than decided myself. I wouldn't know how much if each nutrient to feed in this instance!

Currently adding tap water at 6.5 pH and 170 ppm.
Runoff is 6.5 pH and 1100 ppm.

My current nutrient options are the General Hydroponics Flora series (Micro, bloom, glow) and Cali magic. Last two waterings have been a half a week apart and it's been dechlorinated tap water with 1 tsp of calimagic per US Gallon. The idea was to add water back at ~350 ppm to flush any salts I may not have flushed properly originally while topping up magnesium in case that was an issue. Ppm of the runoff dropped from ~2000 at first water to 1700, then 1300, now 1100 where it sits. I thought once ppm got down to a couple hundred the soil is depleted but I guess you're saying that regardless of a reading of 1100 ppm the soil is actually depleted?

You figure next water should be a feed, but how can I learn what doses are appropriate for my situation? Thanks!

[PRIMO]

Hi pokey, if you google G.H feeding charts you should find all the info you need, I would go with 30% to 50% of what they recommend. Some times less is more. Water to run off and wait til the pot feels light before water/feeding again, and don' forget the cal-mag.

[Pokemokeley]

Thanks Primo,

I looked up your suggestion and assume the Flora Drain To Waste (attached) is most appropriate for me. The attached chart highlights my problem (which I assume is ignorance).

You can see the ppm range for the entire bloom period (less than 1000 ppm) is less than my current run-off ppm (1100). So if I were to follow your advice and use a portion of the suggested values, the ppm needed is around 1/4 of what my current ppm is. This means I can't simply follow the guide as there is no available room for the additional TDS added with nutrient.

So my assumption here is I'm making a mistake in understanding what these charts indicate. Is it saying to add a flat 500-700 ppm on top of whatever the current runoff ppm is? Ex: if it says 600 ppm for "week 6" is it saying "add 600 ppm of the nutrient to whatever the current runoff is?" If so, my ppm would be about 1900 after feed. This type of chart makes sense if I were using hydro or coco because the base ppm of the medium would be irrelevant as it contains zero nutrients. It seems like I am starving my plants out of fear of overfeeding due to a high runoff ppm that doesn't match what these grow charts indicate.

I'll pull the trigger once I get this clarified. I just did a water with calimag only so I've got some time to figure this out. You guys have been awesome help thus far!

[Jordann]

I try not to look into EC too much. Drive my self nuts. Go by the plants needs morealess