Help with Ryders think their overwatered but not drying out!

[Tjryder]

Hello AFN
I have 2 EasyRyder and 2 Diesel Ryders on week 7 from seed.
Soil-Ladybug vortex 75% perlite 25%
3Gal trashcans painted black with several holes drilled in bottom
Fox Farm Nutes
R/O water 6.5-6.8ph
Everything went great up untill about 3rd week flowering I started them on very light nutes growbig/tigerbloom/open sesame 1/4 strength only fed once. Started to see yellowing of bottom leaves with red stems. Yellowing slowly moved up the plant and older yellow leaves developed red/purple stems and started to dry up clawing downward then falling off. My first thought was nute burn/nitrogen lockout since I added nutes to the lively organic soil. "I have always heard when in doubt flush it out" so I flushed all 4 with R/O water and let dry for 3 days then hit them with Growbig 1/2 strength and 1tsp per gallon of Molassas. This seemed to slow the problem but not stop it 4 More days had gone by and the problem seemed to continue. On 4th day watered with plain R/O water then 3 days later hit them with 1/2 strength BigBloom/TigerBloom and ChaChing. Problem has not gotten much worse but leaves are not getting much greener and growth has about slowed to a hault. I have only watered when the top 2 inches of soil has been dry to the touch. However a few days ago I was rotating my room the pots seemed to be extreamly heavy compaired to my photo plants in ffof soil. I have one critical+ that is about 3' tall 2'wide in the same size pot and it weighs about 1/4 of the weight of my ryder pots when the top 2" of soil is dry. This brings me to the conclusion that my ryders are severly overwatered because of the unacceptable soil thats the only difference in the grow besides the nutes which I have only used grow big on the critical. With the plants being 7 weeks I was expecting to harvest in the next few weeks but that isnt going to happen with the growth as slowed as it is they look to at least have 3 weeks left. Any advise on how to save my harvest?

 

[realcarlos]

Welcome to the site Tj
Do you have pictures?
Some autoflower when the leaves start to turn yellow that means it is or almost ready to harvest. But you're in your third week so not sure about that. Pictures would help a great deal though

 

[Tjryder]

Yes I will get some pics posted. Just to be clear my plants are about 7 weeks from seed, I noticed and started trying to correct the problem at week 3

 

[Tjryder]

Heres some pics of my sick babys easy ryder is in the trashcan pot, desiel is in the blue pot also added a pic of my photo critical+ same size pot same waterings but different soil OF

 

[realcarlos]

It seems to be a nitrogen deficiency
"This is completely normal for mid to late flowering; as you would want your plant to naturally yellow at the end. DO NOT add nitrogen supplement to fix the problem; just let the plant yellow as cannabis does towards the end of flowering"
But it seems you were getting that problem early on even during veg. The ones that are yellow and dying don't think you can do anything about those (don't quote me on this) The new growth that comes in are you getting the same problem with those. I'm new to this as well so you have to forgive me. A more knowledgeable member should be able to help you

 

[Tjryder]

RC Thanks for your responces and advice. Going back through my log I had forgotten to tell you I started these in solo cups with OF. I tried the tier method on my last cronic ryder and it came out great the only problem I had was with the tiered pots it got too tall for my grow space at that time. So on these ryders I decided to pre cut the bottom of the solo cups and transplant instead of tier. It was a pretty effortless transplant but a week and I was very careful so they wouldnt stress too bad, but about a week after the transplant is when I started to notice the problem. I'm pretty sure this is caused by the "Ladybug Vortex" soil their in my ChronicRyder was in OF the whole grow and turned out great. So I guess what I realy need to know is if this problem can be fixed this late in flowering?

 

[realcarlos]

You're welcome.
Not sure if the problem can be fixed late into flowering. Autos are double edged swords. Their good because they can produce high quality bud and are quick. But bad because you have less time to fix problems do to the fact that its about age and not photo sensitive.
Not sure what the fix would be. I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to growing but there are many members here that will be able to help. I'm sure you'll get a better response with more help.
My apologizes for being able to help you more.

On another note. Since autos are nute sensitive.
When you start out your seeds/seedlings. It's a good idea to purchase soil that does not have any nutes in them this will cause them to burn/stunt

 

[Muddy]

You're the second person in as many weeks that has come here with problem growing in that soil. It contains both sand and shale, both of which are not good for growing weed. I've never seen shale in a plant mix before, so not totally sure of it's effects. But sand will compact the soil, making it hard for much needed oxygen to reach the roots. Plus you've compounded it by over watering them. I also suspect that your pH is probably off, again adding to the problems. The plants look like they need both nitrogen and phosphorus. The pale color of the leaves indicates not enough N, the brown spots and red stems, not enough P. Given what you have feed them they should have plenty which brings me back to a pH lockout issue. If your pH is off the plants can't take up the nutrients properly. Do you have any way to test your pH? A pH pen, tester strips? If not, you're going to need one or the other, preferably a good pen. Also, with R/O water, you need to supplement additional calcium and magnesium. Do you have a cal/mag supplement? So it looks like multiple issues but let's see where the pH is at and go from there.

As for watering, MJ plants like to dry out between waterings. Learn to judge the weight of your pots and only water them when they feel light.

 

[Tjryder]

Thanks for the info muddy I do have way to test ph and I usually have a ph of 6.5 when i mixed the nutes it dropped to about 5.2 I used a pinch of baking soda to up the ph to 6.8 ( tried to get back to 6.5 but added just a hair too much soda) note.. Amount of soda needed was less than 1/8tsp per gal I know I shouldn't use it but it was the only thing I could think of to up the ph I had on hand. So about the only thing I haven't tested is the runoff but I'm not quite sure when to water since the soil is pretty compacted as you said probably cause of the sand in the mix. I do have some cal mag but could I use molasses instead? The lockout makes sense since I Have no idea the ph of that ladybug soil won't be buying that again. I guess that brings me to my last ? What to do now? Do I just wait until the pots are light? Should I try to aerate the pot by stabing down in the soil with bamboo stake? Peroxide? I'm kinda stuck at what to do?

 

[Muddy]

I would let them dry out, then give them some plain pHed water and check the run off. Once we establish where or not their is a lock out going on we can then go from there. I think you're probably will just have to live with the soil for this grow. If you start poking down into the root zone you will damage the roots.