What’s wrong with my girls? Please help!

[MJL]

Hello. I’m growing 2 Wedding Cake plants from MSNL feminized seeds. I started them in Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil in solo cups. Transplanted into 1.5 gallon pots at week 3. At week 6 I noticed what I thought was a calcium deficiency. I transplanted them again into their final 5 gallon pots and added CalMag even though I wanted this to be an organic dry amendment run. It is now week 8 from sprout. They’re still growing but the deficiency is getting worse. Please see pics. I’ve been watering with 1 teaspoon CalMag per gallon and am not seeing any results. I plan to feed Green Sunshine Company’s dry grow amendments next week - week 9. Can you tell me what’s happening here and what I can do to fix it? Thank you for your time and consideration!

[Rwise]

Whats the PH?

[dilvish]

way more info needed. My first guess, without more info, is that you are giving way too much CalMag. In soil like FF, CalMag shouldn't be necessary unless it's a very specific strain and even at that I would only use 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

Most "hot" soils run out of nutrients in about a month. Leaving out nutrients as long as 5 weeks past the soil using them up is definitely going to screw up the grow. At 9 weeks the plant has usually started blooming and ironically the nutrients are necessary more so during the vegetative stage, so unless you are really lucky, you likely won't get a very good yield, if at all.

[MJL]

I'm watering with tap water that’s sat out to dechlorinate at 6.2-6.8.

I could very well be using too much CalMag. Thank you. I’ve stopped giving it to them.

I thought that transplanting them into bigger pots with hot soil was equivalent to feeding them? I’ve spaced the transplants every 3 weeks to provide fresh nutrients. Week 9 is the first time that I figured I would need to top dress in my dry amendments.

[Fjeff]

Are you mixing in the earth dust with every transplant?

[MJL]

I’m not adding earth dust with each transplant. I’m using fox farm ocean forest soil with each transplant and that is already amended with approximately a month’s worth of food.

[Cali]

I’d say the light is too close. I know you will hear cal/mag over and over but if all else is good it’s either a crappy bag of cheap soil very likely matter of fact FF is. In my opinion anyway. Just look at other post same soils same nutrients same issues.

[Jebidiah]

I grow hydro but once I thought I had a calcium problem too… figured out it was high pH mixed with my light being way too close.

[Fjeff]

I would follow the directions on the earth dust bag. You are not supposed to use a hot soil for that product and you are supposed to mix the base in the soil and let it cook for 2 to 4 weeks before planting then top dress at week 4 with the bloom and again at mid flower.

[SoOrbudgal]

I'd transplant those bushy gals into bigger pots and flush that soil prior to doing so. Put the soil into the pots and soak it till it runs out a few times let it dry till just moist and transplant those mixed up nuted gals. Yep i'd never use that soil unless it was free of garbage compost that they use.

[MJL]

I feel like a big dumb dummy head. I never even read the earth dust instructions! Thank you for laying them out for me. I’ll do better with my next run.

To those of you down on FFOF I may have to agree with you. I used it last run and was chasing nutrient problems then too. Again, I’ll do better with my next run - no more FF for me.

Thanks for the flushing advice. I’ll give it a try.

[dilvish]

I had no issues with FFO. In fact I have reused it a few times. Ultimately you need to focus more on the basics. Ideally, many growers use supersoil that they have carefully constructed themselves in order to eliminate the need for added nutrients or very few . Barring that, most use either Coir or hydro. Using supersoil can be tricky. Unfortunately many first time growers tend to rely on it's nutrient base way too long and then problems or deficiencies in the plant start showing up. Next round maybe look at coir and a decent set of proper nutrients that are specifically designed for cannabis. For now, as mentioned no more calMag, adjust the soil with a good flush like SourBudgal suggested and make sure to add only appropriate nutrients for preflower stage and then move forward.

[Cali]

dilvish I have to disagree, I believe a good mix of soil has all the nutrients needed for a plant to grow from veg to harvest. I have done it. It a matter of plant to pot size. When I first switched to living soils I started in 20 gallon pots and had no issues. Now I am in 5 gallon pots and I have to top dress and add teas because the size of the plant is too much for the small amount of soil. In this case it’s recommended you flip as soon as possible to avoid a top heavy plant that the soil can’t handle. Knowing you have a quality mix and it doesn’t have to be as complicated as the tutorials here believe me, knowing that you can worry about learning the plant and how to water properly instead of all the other things that come with using bottled nutrients. In my opinion that is truly growing weed easy. To be clear I think a 15 gallon pot would keep a nice sized plant happy till the end and as always with a living soil you just keep using it no need to throw away. I went a whole year with a few harvests on those 20s without having to top dress anything. Though I did use kelp and alfalfa teas in veg.