Automazar troubles

[boredguy24]

How's it going everybody?

I know this probably doesn't look great, my first post on the site being a cry for help but I just want to make sure I don't complicate the problems I'm having any further - and I really liked the form Hugo put together.

Soil Grows - Peat Based

What is your experience level? First Timer - actually second, the first didn't go too great.

Your Equipment:
.1) Type and wattage of lights. CFL's, 125 actual watts
.2) Distance from tops? about 4"
.3) Reflector type? It's called a flouro wing, I guess it's a bat wing
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? yes, passive intakes in the bottom of my cabinet
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? two 120mm exhaust fans and 1 small personal fan for circulation.
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule? 125W, I started with a 6500K for about 2.5 weeks and am currently using a 125W 2700K light. Schedule has been 19/5 the whole time (I know it's an odd schedule but its what I set my timer to the first time and I haven't felt like adjusting it.

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil, (coco, peat based soilless...) and anything you've added to it. (vermiculite, perlite, worm castings...) I started the seed in a 16oz party cup with MG seed starting mix to which I added a little (about 1/2 a tbsp) lime to bring the pH up. The runoff was 4.0 out of the bag. I transplanted to a 1.25 gal pot with MG Organic Choice potting mix with ~30% Schultz perlite about 5 days after she sprouted as I saw roots at the bottom of the party cup.
.8) Size of container. 1.25 gallon (8" pot with plenty of drainage holes)

Your nutrients and water:
.9) Source of water. (tap or filtered) What's it's ph? I've used filtered tap (through a pur filter) which has a pH of 6.8-7.2) and distilled water (pH 7.0). I used the distilled water so I could have some gallon containers to mix nutrients in.
10) Method of checking water ph. (ph pen, test strips, aquarium test kit...) Ive been using General Hydroponics test kit. It has a solution you add a few drops of to whatever you're checking and includes a color chart with pH values - it's not incredibly accurate, probably +/- 0.2
11) Method of adjusting water ph. (phosphoric acid, white vinegar, hydrated lime, PH Up...) General Hydroponics pH Up and pH Down
12) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule. Big Bloom () and Grow Big (). My schedule has kind of been all over the place, probably part of my problem. Here is a rough recap of the grow so far:

7/03 - seed sprouted
7/05 - 1 cup of filtered tap water
7/07 - transplanted and watered with 1/2 gallon of distilled water
7/11 - 1/3 gallon distilled water with 1/2 strength CalMag+
7/15 - 1/2 gallon distilled water with 1/2 strength CalMag+
7/19 - 1/2 gallon distilled water with 1/4 strength CalMag+, Big Bloom and Grow Big
7/21 - Started noticing brown spots on lower leaves which got worse quickly
7/21 - Flushed with 2.5 gallons of 7.0 pH distilled water
7/22 - Cut 1st and 2nd leaves off (pretty much dead), flush did seem to stop problem from spreading
7/23 - Started LST
7/24 - Brown spots starting on leaf tips of 3rd set from the bottom (same as before)
7/26 - 1/2 gallon filtered tap water with very weak nutrient solution (i added a cup of the mix I used in the previous feeding to a gallon of filtered tap and fed 1/2 gallon of this mixture)
7/26 - Switched light to 2700K light
7/28 - 1/2 gallon filtered tap, cut the 3rd set of leaves off.
7/31 - 1/2 gallon filtered tap with 1/2 strength Big Bloom and Grow Big (pH ~6.5, runoff ~6.5 or a little higher)


13) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering? see above
14) Any additives or tea's? (Superthrive, CalMag, molasses, Mother's Earth...) CalMag (2-0-0)
15) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate? seem to fluctuate a little (ranged from 7.0 to 6.5 so far)
16) What is your ingoing water's ph? anywhere from 6.0 to 7.0 depending on last waterings runoff...your runoff ph? anywhere from 6.5 to a little over 7.0
17) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray? No foliar feeding

Your growroom:
18) Indoors or outdoors? Indoors
19) What size of closet, room or hut? its a storage cabinet (12"d x 24"w x 28"h)
20) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? 76-83F ...With lights off? 70-76F, rh ranges from 35-55%
21) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom? no

Your strain:
22) What strain are you growing? (Indica dominate or Sativa dom?) Dutch Passion AutoMazar
23) Is this an photoperiod strain? no
24) How old is the plant? 33 days from seed
25) In what life-cycle is it? Vegetative, pre-flowering, flowering, rippening? I guess pre-flowering/flowering
26) From seeds or clones? seeds

I know that's alot to read but if anyone actually made it through please let me know what you think. I think its a P def. but it seems to get worse when I feed so who knows. I've also received a suggestion to add some Epsom salt and hydrogen peroxide to my next watering - I thought Epsom was for Mg and since I'll probably be using filtered tap from here on out I should be covered there, right? Also, I don't really like the idea of putting peroxide in my mix - I usually put an airstone in my mix for at least a few hours before watering anyway.

I did do what I thought was a decent amount of research before starting but I'm not too sure where to go from here.

 

[namvet25]

Don't use peroxide, it will kill the micros in the soil.It looks like your over feeding.What strain are you doing? You really shouldn't use veg nutes and flower nute together ,but I see you have flowers already starting so stick with flower nutes only but only feed once a week with light feed. your ph should be about 6.3 or 6.4. The main thing is do not over feed or over water, and keep ph in line.

 

[Muddy]

Looks like a pH lockout situation causing a P deficiency. Also some signs of over feeding. Your run off is too high, indicating that your soil pH is high. Your run off should be in the 6.3 - 6.5 range. Not surprising since you are using MG soils. They are about the worst for growing weed and should be avoided as they contain slow release nutrients which can really screw up a grow.

 

[Hugo]

The MG line with slow release nutes only requires from you you give them water. So, understandably, is not a canna grower's dream, as we tend to enjoy the control of the plants environment. Adding any nute to the soil will not make things better, in fact it will cause a salt build up over the time and will eventually result in what you are facing: - when the amount of salts in the soil becomes bigger than the roots own salts the plant will start loosing water into the soil in a process called osmosis (the same she uses for feeding).

Since you're kinda stuck with that soil for this grow I'd play defense. Get yourself some seaweed, some humic acids and some enzymes as well - these are not nutes, they're "energizers" that improve the uptake of the nutrients and the exchanges between soil and the plant's roots. These energizers, specially seaweed will also improve the mobility of the nutrients inside the plant. All good stuff! Don't give anymore nutes unless the plants starts showing a deficiency.
Even then you should consider giving the nutes foliarly by leafs instead of by roots.

Get this ebook and study the nutrients deficiency carefully: https://www.autoflower.org/f42/ed-rosenthals-marijuana-growers-handbook-2010-ed-8986.html

Hydroxide peroxide should not be necessary since you already pump air into water. I do it, usually, for at least 24h before using it on the plant.

I'm sure you'll do great considering... And welcome to AFN :thumbs:

EDIT: also, check if the lights aren't too close to your canopy as it looks like she's tending to sidecurl. A good way to check this is to see if the leafs are span out 2 or 3h after the lights went off.

 

[boredguy24]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, she actually looks halfway decent today - I haven't done anything since the feeding on Tuesday.

Don't use peroxide, it will kill the micros in the soil.It looks like your over feeding.What strain are you doing? You really shouldn't use veg nutes and flower nute together ,but I see you have flowers already starting so stick with flower nutes only but only feed once a week with light feed. your ph should be about 6.3 or 6.4. The main thing is do not over feed or over water, and keep ph in line.

Hey namvet, yeah I wasn't too sure about the peroxide, I'm going to stay away from it this time anyway - the strain is Automazar. I gave both veg and flower nutes because her lower leaves looked to be yellowing evenly which I thought was a sign of N deficiency (I realize now that it was more than likely locked out due to my high pH). I appreciate the input.

Looks like a pH lockout situation causing a P deficiency. Also some signs of over feeding. Your run off is too high, indicating that your soil pH is high. Your run off should be in the 6.3 - 6.5 range. Not surprising since you are using MG soils. They are about the worst for growing weed and should be avoided as they contain slow release nutrients which can really screw up a grow.

I've read a few horror stories concerning MG but it was all I really had available unless I tried mixing my own. I thought the Organic Choice line was supposed to be a little less awful and not be quite as hot or contain the level of slow release nutes as the original but I'm not positive on that. I do have a new pH pen on the way so I can get a more accurate picture of what's going in/coming out and I'll be sure to try to keep it in the 6.3-6.5 range, thanks - I thought the acceptable range was a little wider (~6.0-6.8) but since you and namvet both narrowed in on 6.3-6.5 I'll go with that.



Hugo, thanks for the link - I glanced at the ebook last night and it looks to be packed with info. Also, I've got some seaweed and humic acid solution coming on Tuesday. I did a little reading on them, but still need to do some more before giving any. Do you add a little every time you water? Do you think it would hurt to add a little molasses to the mix as well? I'll try to check her with the lights off soon, but the leaves have always had that sidecurl look to them.

Like I said above, the last feeding (1/2 strength Big Bloom and Grow Big on Tuesday) seems to have helped, not hurt - maybe it was because the pH was a little lower than what I'd been watering/feeding with.


My plan for now is to water tomorrow or Sunday if her pot feels too light with some pH 6.0 water. If she doesn't need it I'll wait until Tuesday and water with a humic acid/seaweed extract solution again with a slightly acidic (6.0) pH. Here's a few pics from tonight.

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend, later.