Lighting First time grower. Yellow spots on leaves and nutrient burn advice.

[StayInsane]

Hi

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this and offer any suggestions. I guess I should start by describing the growing environment at the moment.

Light: 250W CFL
Medium: Hortico All Purpose Blend Potting Mix (http://www.hortico.com.au/products/p...d-potting-mix/)
Pot size: 3.5L (roughly 1 gallon)
Intake/outtake: 12v PC fan, passive intake
Air ciculation: box type fan
Cupboard size: 1.3m (tall), .6m (deep), 2m wide

I have attached photos of the four plants (all Auto seeds Auto #1) that I have in the cupboard. I germinated them around Saturday 4th August and potted them on Sunday or Monday. They started coming out of the soil on Wednesday 8th August and I turned the lights on then. So that's roughly about 20 days. So far I had just been watering them when the pots looked like they had dried out. About a week and a half ago I noticed the leaves go pale green and some developed yellow marking (some are still noticeable). I thought maybe it might be a nitrogen deficiency so I included some urine in their next watering. This improved their colour and some of the yellow spots turned green again.

I was a bit unconcerned at first about testing the PH of my water as I believe it is over 7 but have since bought a tester and have been adjusting it down to 6.5 for the last couple of weeks when they need water. I also bought a product called Ozi Magic Gro Juice from the hydroponics store and fed them twice last week. I think this may have burnt them as after the second feeding a couple of leaves had that burnt ends look to them a day or two later.

I have a rundown of the ingredients used in the Ozi Magic Gro Juice:

Seaweed Extract 1.5% Fulvic Acid 1.5% Humic Acid 0.5% Nitrogen as Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate 1.80% Mono Amonia Phosphate 0.24% Total Nitrogen 2.04% Phosphorus as Mono Amonia Phosphate 0.37% Total Phosphorus 0.37% Potassium as Potassium Nitrate 3.05% Total Potassium 3.05% Calcium as Calcium Nitrate 0.59% Magnesium as Magnesium Sulphate 0.31% Sulphate as Magnesium Sulphate 0.12% Zinc as 0.0002% Copper as Chelate 0.0009% Molbdenum as Sodium Molybdate 0.0005% Manganese as Chelate 0.0065% Iron as Chelate 0.027
Borax as Boric Acid 0.0048

I'm a bad dad as I did forget to turn the lights off one night about a week ago and I don't think I should have fed them any of that Ozi Magic Gro Juice stuff just yet. I wanted to know though would this provide the plant with most of its nutrition? I know the pots that I have them in are quite small but that's not a big concern for me at the moment. I don't plan to repot them but might buy some larger pots for next grow.

If anyone could offer me any advice about the yellowing on the leaves and any tips which would help me prevent any problems in the future it would be much appreciated. I thought i should also mention that there have some fungus gnats after the soil has been watered but they're the only insects I have seen so far. Thanks for any help anyone can provide

If there's any other information which would be useful to share let me know

 

[StayInsane]

Hi

Just wanted to update my post with pics from today. I was also thinking of giving it some water in about 6 or so hours and was wondering if I should add some milk to it for calcium? Is there anything I can do to make them grow taller quicker??

 

[namvet25]

Hold back on the nutes for awhile,looks like overfeed.Check PH and runoff PH it should be 6.3 or6.4.They are doing fine just don't over feed them at this stage.:smokebuds:

 

[StayInsane]

Hi Namvet

Thanks for the advice. I think you might be right. I gave them a light watering tonight (with some piss included) and they look beautiful. Apart from a couple of yellow spots (and the burnt tips which even look like they're recovering but might be my imagination) they look great and very green. The biggest ones name is Penelope and when i put my nose in the center of her she smells very pretty. Only slightly but it smells nice. I'm very pleased. Fingers crossed they keep doing well... Do you think I could start introducing more of the Gro Juice next week?

I also wanted to mention that the light im using is 2700k spectrum. Would this effect vertical growth do you think? Also do you know anything about low stress training? When do you think I should start doing that?

 

[Duck Commander]

how old are your plants? Have you checked your run off PH yet? I would wait untill your PH is on point before adding nutes, And when you do add nutes (around 2-3 wks) Only 1/4 strength to see how they take to it. Good luck and i hope they pick up soon it is a little slow to start with but give them time before you know it you will be harvesting mate

 

[StayInsane]

Hello Si

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. The pH tester I have is only the drops and I check the water I use and I have been checking the run off as well. The pH seems to stay the same when it comes out of the drainage holes. It's neither lighter or darker on the pH test chart. Hopefully this is a good sign for the soil. The seeds were placed in their pots either the Sunday or Monday (most likely the Monday) but I can't remember exactly. The first one came out of the ground looking like it was dead on the Wednesday and that is when I turned the light on for the first time. By that Friday I believe they had all come out of the soil and looked alive.

So if I measure it from Wednesday they have been out of the ground for 21 days now. When I added the Gro Juice last week I did give them a fairly generous serving and as there was some left over in the watering can I gave that to them the next day as well. Would I have stunted their growth severely by doing this? Do you think I should give them a much smaller serving of the nutrients with their next watering?

I also noticed that the new growth in the middle of the plant looks yellow but turns a nice green colour once it develops. Is this normal? They don't look like they have the Nitrogen deficiency anymore but i'm still worried. Any advice is greatly welcomed

Harvesting seems so far away still

PS plant 4 seems severely stunted compared to its friends, what should I do. BTW a friend gave them names but I cant remember. I think she called the big one Penelope and that's the one that smells nice if you put your face in the middle of her. Not a strong smell though

 

[StayInsane]

I think one of the plants has started flowering but they're only about 22-23 days old and not that tall either. Will they grow taller while they're flowering because even though they're cute they need to get a bit taller.

 

[rhapsodyrcks]

First off, you really should not be feeding your plants your base nutes more then once a week. Supplements depending on what they are can be given ever feeding.

Your soil should have all the nutes your plants need for 2-4 weeks. You just have to play it by ear. Whatever the amount the maker of your nutes says consider that the max not something you should be giving. Start off with 30-40% work your way up as the weeks go by.

Ditch the milk lol use Cal-Mag supplement.

Fungus gnats are easy to deal with get some fly sticky traps and insecticdual soap. You can buy that anywhere its non toxic to plants or humans.