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[Emergency] Dying plant - Possible nitrogen deficiency
- Thread starter Radiant Oats
- Start date
insomniaczzz
New member
9fingers mentions this earlier. If they are autos, they need more hours of light. 12/12 is not good. Go with 18/6 or 20/4.
insomniaczzz
New member
I am going to use fox farm trio next grow. Other than that, I basically followed your method. Except, we did our transfer from the solo cups to 2/12 gallon buckets and they became root bound. Had to do another transfer to 5 gallon buckets. That bummed us out. Do you think it is because we didn't do proper LST?
ZigZag
New member
Yeah for sure_ PH >7 is just too high, especially with your grow setup up. If your water is ~8 to start then you need to get that down to about 6.25-6.5 for your soil mix. Your soil has nutrients in it so with plants that are less than 2 feet tall you shouldn't have nutrient deficientcies unless your out flow PH is over 6.5 and some kind of mineral/salt buildup is occurring?, especially if you haven't alternated with plain PH water every other watering and feed only every other time. With soil I'd start with PH 6.25 and 1/2 nutrients. I had a similar problem but was lucky cuz I caught it before there was much damage. To fix I would flush with water PH about 6.0_about 3 gallons for a 3 gallon pot asap_until at least 1/3 of what you put in has run out. Then do that again every day for three days. If the first 6.0 flush doesn't get it down try the next one at 5.5_until you get 6-6.5 runout. Be careful not to take the PH down too fast or your plants might freak. Do it a step at a time. I'll check my notes to see if you're having similar signs to what I experienced. I was in coco and not soil and it ended up that the nutrients were too light and the medium was calcium / magnesium deficient. I added a little Cal_Mag with each "flush" and things got better fast. Hope yours recovers too! Like 9fingerleafs said, if you don't get runout in 20 mins. then you may also have a drainage problem. Can happen in soil once the finer particulates settle to the bottom of the pot. My first grow I had a few issues with drainage in the smart pots and it was for the above reason. Second grow I put a 2" layer of those clay balls that people use for hydro with a screen cut to fit over the top in the bottom and then filled with coco. This works great for smart pots with soil or coco. If your smart pots have residue the looks like dried salt on the outside then your not flushing with plain water often enough and the salts are bleeding through the pots,
indication that you've got issues to solve.....
indication that you've got issues to solve.....
ZigZag
New member
Check out the Nitrogen Toxicity tutorial here on GWE. It looks like you might have a toxicity issue, instead of a deficiency..., maybe increased by wet soil in the bottom of your pots and possible PH issues to due to bad drainage...there is substantial leaf clawing and drooping which can be a sign of toxicity, overwatering, not enough drainage or PH issues. Hope you're able to get this turned around..
ZigZag
New member
I'm gonna have to take a look at your current grow....am just about to start my 4th grow but still haven't got the LST down as well as I want with autos. With the photoperiod I've been going to LST after the first FIM or topping and everything is great but with the autos Im having a hard time getting them to even out at the top....maybe I just have to be more aggressive about it?
insomniaczzz
New member
Yes, we did try to keep it simply. Does topping and LST help to keep the root ball smaller? I am not buying new buckets. It will either be the 2 1/2 or the 5s. We have too many of them to invest in a different size.
Radiant Oats
New member
Haha, yes the plan for next grow for sure is to get 3gal's and just using a normal pot and not those smart pots. The clawing started within the last couple days so that would make sense that i would end up with a nitro toxicity since i started to add more in. i looked extensively at both the deficiency and toxicity articles and at the time (the day before pic) a deficiency or ph problem was the only issue. Im sure I haven't overwatered them; to test the ph of the kindsoil deeper in pot i dug to the bottom and grabbed a couple pinches, all dry soil. This was a day before the og pics, the day i bought and received flora bloom. I will keep you all updated on the status of the plants; lights are due on in ~3.5hrs, i will post new pics then. A fyi update, the soil was moist before lights out. I read that i shouldn't water them and to just wait till lights come on, they havent received any extra nitro for what will be 24hrs so i don't think i did too much damage it in that capacity. 
So I will post pics with ph levels after i give them water.
So I will post pics with ph levels after i give them water.
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ZigZag
New member
I've used both smart pots and plastic buckets...couldn't make up my mind so got both. I'm more confident in the buckets because I know exactly how much water reaches the bottom into the tray below....and it does this in <10 mins. It also seems that a single watering with plain water cleans out the coco faster and more completely. My last grow I had everything the same but 3 in buckets and three in smart pots. When I dumped the medium out after harvest there was no residue buildup in the buckets but there was some in the smart pots. haven't really got an answer to that. The buckets are easier and faster to flush though, thats for sure.
Besides the 6 holes in the bottom I drilled four holes around the sides_ can tip the buckets up a bit to get all the water out. All the holes are 3/8 " and 5 gallon buckets. Its more work to have to water and drain them every day or two but after three grows and no rot rot or nutrient burn its been worth it.
Besides the 6 holes in the bottom I drilled four holes around the sides_ can tip the buckets up a bit to get all the water out. All the holes are 3/8 " and 5 gallon buckets. Its more work to have to water and drain them every day or two but after three grows and no rot rot or nutrient burn its been worth it.
I think the main problem is they got off to a slow start and they're being a little overwatered. If you're seeing discolored leaves the pH could also definitely be a culprit. Now that the flowering stage has started, they're not making new vegetative growth as much, and the plant is struggling while it's also trying to make buds at the same time.
I think you can save the plants, and the quality of the buds will be good, but since they are autos that have already started flowering, they're not going to get much bigger at this point. That means you're going to get really small yields with these plants. If you want my honest opinion I think you should put them in the corner of the tent and start some new plants at the same time if you possibly can. You're spending money on electricity to run those lights, and you want to make sure there's enough buds in the tent to get your time and money's worth!
Starting in smaller pots definitely helps prevent overwatering. Some people start in solo cups for that reason and transplant their seedlings to bigger pots around the time the leaves reach the edges of the cup. As long as you don't stress them during the transplant process this can help them get a really fast start. Another thing you can do if you do start seeds in big pots is water them in a small circle with just a cup or two of water at at time at first. Their young roots can't drink much. As they get bigger you should start watering enough to get runoff out the bottom, so the roots find their way down, then wait until the top inch is dry before watering again.
I'm sorry it's been frustrating, I think we've all been there! But I think you can salvage the buds from these plants, and if possible get something else going at the same time!
I think you can save the plants, and the quality of the buds will be good, but since they are autos that have already started flowering, they're not going to get much bigger at this point. That means you're going to get really small yields with these plants. If you want my honest opinion I think you should put them in the corner of the tent and start some new plants at the same time if you possibly can. You're spending money on electricity to run those lights, and you want to make sure there's enough buds in the tent to get your time and money's worth!
Starting in smaller pots definitely helps prevent overwatering. Some people start in solo cups for that reason and transplant their seedlings to bigger pots around the time the leaves reach the edges of the cup. As long as you don't stress them during the transplant process this can help them get a really fast start. Another thing you can do if you do start seeds in big pots is water them in a small circle with just a cup or two of water at at time at first. Their young roots can't drink much. As they get bigger you should start watering enough to get runoff out the bottom, so the roots find their way down, then wait until the top inch is dry before watering again.
I'm sorry it's been frustrating, I think we've all been there! But I think you can salvage the buds from these plants, and if possible get something else going at the same time!
Radiant Oats
New member
With the ph adjustments and switching back to 18-6 the plants actually died 
. Maybe i should have done it one at a time, *Sigh* All the once good leaves had died and dried while i was asleep. *Sigh* total waste, but I will try again with smaller pots and also use the solo cup starting method. This grow will have its documentation posted in a new thread when I get new seeds so I can get more experienced eyes on the matter. On a bonus note: YAY California and other states passed their legalization measures for recreational and medical use.
. Maybe i should have done it one at a time, *Sigh* All the once good leaves had died and dried while i was asleep. *Sigh* total waste, but I will try again with smaller pots and also use the solo cup starting method. This grow will have its documentation posted in a new thread when I get new seeds so I can get more experienced eyes on the matter. On a bonus note: YAY California and other states passed their legalization measures for recreational and medical use.
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I don't talk about it a lot but I've killed my plants before. I think many of us have been there When you start with the right setup and knowledge, it is a lot easier, I promise! I really think if you start again on this forum, you'll get a really nice yield!
Also, YAY CALIFORNIA!
When you start with the right setup and knowledge, it is a lot easier, I promise! I really think if you start again on this forum, you'll get a really nice yield! Also, YAY CALIFORNIA!