Newbie can't tell if this is light burn

[The^Dude]

I’m gonna echo everyone else, you’re among friends here. No one’s gonna say “wow, you messed up!”, we’re all learning, even after years. Don’t worry about screwing up some plants either, it’ll happen again and again but it’s not always your fault and no one here cares when it is.
Welcome to afn, where everyone is welcoming and we’re all getting high on our own supply
Sorry I couldn’t be more help. Whether it’s light stress or not, reducing light always gives the plant a chance to recuperate. Fox farm is inconsistent as well, so it’s probably mostly to blame. If you’re enterprising and want a recipe for mixing your own let me know, but there are some better, more consistent mixes out there. Your plants will probably be fine, even if they have a rough go they’ll give you some flowers. And then you’ll smoke them. Yep.

 

[The^Dude]

For testing your DLI and light intensity download Photone, use their advice on a diffuser as well. Use the free sunlight setting, it’s close enough to keep the plants safe from mean ol photons.

 

[Big Sul]

My first grow I did everything I could to kill them. It wasn’t until I incorporated LITFA (leave it the @#$& alone) that I started to learn. once u get over ur embarrassment, post a few pics. In the meantime, just give water only @6.4-6.5ph.

 

[Suki]

Hello - I posted in a different thread and a kind AFN person told me to post here. Below is the info but I should add that the spring water I am using has a PPM of 211. Thanks for all help and advice!

Hello! I didn’t want to be the stoopid newbie that didn’t research and asked a question and then awesome AFN members roll their eyes! I have read many forums and examined dozens of pictures. And I still can’t tell if this is light burn. Forgive me! I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. I have also read absolute conflicting info-such as, “if you use LED lights you must add Cal-Mag” to “it is a myth, LED lights do not cause a Cal Mag deficiency.” Please help me.
I have two Durban Poison Autoflowers. They popped out of the soil 15 days ago. The one in question is in Fox Farm Happy Frog soil. I planted the other in Fox Farm Ocean Forest. Look at the newbie doing a scientific experiment! Anyway, the one in Happy Frog started getting yellow tips on the new growth and newer leaves about 5 days ago. The other one was taller and closer to the light and didn’t get that. I raised the light two days ago to 24 inches. It is a Spider Farmer SF1000 at full blast. I leave the lights on 24/7 and have maintained temp between 65 and 80. I have to run a space heater to keep it hot enough but I am scared to leave it on at night, so I stay up way too late (obsessively reading about yellow leaves) and then turn it off for a few hours and that is when the tent temp drops to 65. I have humidifiers going and this week am trying to keep it around 65%. I have not given any nutrients, just spring water. I can guarantee that I have not overwatered them. That is the one thing of which I am sure I got a PH pen and a cheap TDS tester and did a soil slurry test. The yellow tipped one has a PH of 6.08 and 1110 PPM. I also tested the spring water and found out that it has a PH of 7.82 so I plan to use vinegar to bring it down on the next watering until I can get PH Up and Down. What is wrong with the yellow tipped one? It is getting worse. Also-please give me advice on anything I am doing wrong. The close up pictures were taken today. The picture of the two of them was taken 2 days ago. One more thing, the one in Ocean Forest is a much paler green. Is that because they say Ocean Forest is “hot”? I PHed that soil too and it came in at 6.62 with a TDS of 354 PPM. I gave up when I saw the PPM was so much lower. I thought if it was “hot” that it would have a high PH. See, I am lost.
PS-I watched half of the lighting video by the professor from Utah in case that would answer my question and was lost but I can’t afford a light meter! I know he basically said that inches don’t matter, intensity does. I tell my boyfriend that all of the time so forgive me for telling you how many inches my light is above my plants but I have no other option. I really do want to be a good newbie!

Don't mean to laugh but damn that ending got me lmfao

 

[Suki]

Oh my gosh! Thank you for responding to me! I had given up and was on here trying to figure out the most recent issue and saw the notification was red! I have jacked these up so much! I don’t even have the energy to try to figure out how to explain it to you! Here is one tidbit tho. I bought another SF-1000 light to spread the two apart and give more air circulation in the tent. I bought the same one on Amazon as I had before. I selected it from my recently purchased items even!! The manual cover looked the same as the original. I did not know that Spider Farmer changed the bulbs so now you have to hang it much, much closer to the plant. So I def gave one of them much less light and now she has tiny preflowers or maybe they are considered flowers (stoopid newbie here) and has stretched!! I will attach pics of the manual and new hanging distance. I did not notice that the little number on the bottom, right corner of the manual had changed. I would have thought they would have made it more obvious.
I am too embarrassed to attach pics of the plants as they are now! Yep,stoopid newbie tried her hand at LSTing!!
If I can figure out how to fix them, I will attach pictures in a few weeks if you are interested. Thanks again!

All of us have to start somewhere! I was in a similar boat with the stuff early on (if you look at the beginning of my perpetual thread you'll find plants that look nearly identical if not worse) and muddled through for some time before realizing that their stuff just didn't work for me. I'm gonna say its most likely nothing you're doing wrong, and more so just that their stuff sucks. Don't feel bad though, I think most new growers get suckered by them at least once in the beginning. Highly suggest starting a grow journal, that way you can get continous feedback if needed along the way! Tag me if you do, I'd love to follow along!

 

[VirginiaLegal]

Oh my goodness! Everyone is super nice and helpful. FYI, I am not techy, I have no Social Media accounts, I don’t know how to tag people and I don’t know forum etiquette rules so if I am not replying as I should, forgive me!
I got the Photone App! That is pretty cool. I made the white paper diffuser and I do have an iPhone. Again, I am not techy but I think the Sunlight tester was $2.99 so I went ahead and paid $5.99 for the LED tester. I picked the white LED one even though there are a few red bulbs. Did I make the right decision?
I will attach pictures!
The first one (I think) is the paler green one with a piece of duct tape around a branch in the middle. That is the Durban Poison in Ocean Forest soil. I think I started LST way too early (for both) and wanted to make a cool spiral I had read about. So now the stalk has grown along the top of the soil and I don’t know where to put all of the branches! I LST them both almost daily. Ummmm, also I planted them both in upside down airpots so I can’t take advantage of the holes (really stoopid newbie.) I also read that newbies should not LST but my boyfriend coaxed me to do it to increase the yield (impressionable newbie.)
Two days ago, when the soil slurry PH was 6.47, in one gallon of spring/distilled water, I watered with 3 teaspoons of Fox Farm Big Bloom (0-0.5-0.7), 1 teaspoon of Fox Farm Grow Big (6-4-4) and 1 teaspoon of Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus (2-0-0.) I PHed it down to somewhere close to 6.5. I was frustrated and don’t remember the exact PH and didn’t write it down. That was the first I even gave her Grow Big. Was that a mistake? The pale brown splotches on the leaves are from the watering. I jacked up my LST so badly that it is hard to water without dropping some on the leaves.
Regarding the light, I raised it a bunch but I don’t know if I am in veg or flower (you got it, stoopid newbie.) Will you tell me? Anyway, I stopped messing with it and according to my Photone app, at 24 hours the DLI ranges from 48.1 to 60 and the Par is 527-615. Should I change it to 18 on and 6 off? If so, do I reduce the light gradually or just turn it off for 6 hours? I worry about stressing them and making them hermie and don’t know if sudden light changes would do that!

The second picture (I think) is the darker green one and is the Durban Poison in Happy Frog. I LSTed her the same. I did not do a soil slurry test on her because when I dug a few inches down on my other one, I pulled up a root! So I thought the PH must be lower than the one Ocean Forest so I watered her with the same thing and also got water splotches on her leaves.
Her DLI at 24 hours is 40-54.2 and her Par is 486-550.
Is she in flower or in veg?

They both popped out of the soil 30 days ago.
Tell me what to do, please!

FYI, I’m glad someone got my joke on my first post!!

 

[Olderfart]

It looks to me as though both plants are female, assuming that what I am seeing is pistils, so you have a couple girls, and they are autoflowering. I would say that you are still in the veg stage for a bit yet. Once the flowers really start expanding (lots of new white pistils) you could call it bloom. There is nothing particularly magic about the boundary between the two stages, and different growers might classify slightly differently. Not that important in my opinion.

As to the lst, don't worry about it. Nothing you have done is likely to bother them much if at all. Give them a few days, and they will snap out of it and you will hardly know that you tied them up so much.

As to what to do, your plants look good to me, I don't see signs of the lockout that may have been going on earlier. I am not familiar with the nutes you are using, so can't advise much other than to say that you need to use a balanced nute package, and I am not sure that the ones you are using are intended to be used on their own rather than just supplementing other components of the fox line. This can be important.

I would not use CalMag in your soil unless your plants specifically show signs of deficiency. And unless the deficiency obviously includes calcium, I would just use Epsom salt to provide magnesium. Right now your plants don't need more of either. Given how good your plants look, I would continue with just ph'ed water for a while yet, and then gradually add a balanced nute package as you transition into bloom. Do you have other components of the fox line, or just the ones you mention?

At your early stage of learning, keeping the nutes simple can help. I would recommend just one part Megacrop for now if you can get some. If you want to adjust a bit for bloom you could add some of their bud explosion, but you could easily complete a nice grow with nothing other than the one part Megacrop. Yes, fancier lines may do a bit better in experienced hands, but MC will do the job just fine, and is less complicated for new growers. If you go with Megacrop, don't use the published EC/PPM levels, start low at ~250 ppm/500EC, and plan on ramping up to no more than ~450PPM/900EC.

I'll close by saying that your plants look healthy, you have not screwed up at all. You are still headed for a nice crop of bud, likely nicer than you could get from a dispensary. Good luck with it, and please don't hesitate to ask more questions.

 

[JP1]

Everyone is super nice and helpful

There's a lot of good folk around here. And a lot of them willing to give good advise

I am not techy, I have no Social Media accounts

At least a few here with no other social media, myself included, so you're not alone with that. This is a very different community then any social media I've ever come across

I don’t know how to tag people

Just hit the @ symbol and start typing somebody's name and it'll pop up in a little box and that'll tag somebody

I don’t know forum etiquette

I think it basically just boils down to don't be a jerk. If you put something in the wrong spot or make a mistake with something somebody will pop up and give you a heads up. This is a whole world of stoners here so mistakes are a regular part of most of our normal everyday lives

And welcome aboard!

 

[VirginiaLegal]

Wow! That is surprising! Thank you! So no more Cal-Mag. Got it! The nutrients I have are the Fox Farm Trio; Big Bloom (the only organic one and is to be used throughout grow), Grow Big (not organic) and Tiger Bloom (2-8-4 and not organic). I have not used Tiger Bloom yet. I thought they were all organic when I bought them. I talked to my friend about it since I read that the “salts” will kill the good stuff in the Brut Farms super soil I mixed in the bottom of the pot. My friend said that since I am new to this and will not reuse the soil to go ahead and use the “salts” since I am trying to feed the plant and not the soil. So, I planned to use the Fox Farm Trio but then I read about The Lucas Formula so I also bought General Hydroponics MaxiBloom (5-15-14) and KoolBloom (2-45-28) and I thought I would use that on one of them. Then I got frustrated and just used Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big on both of them. I get so confused with all of the info!! I need a mentor who will give me a shopping list and instructions on everything!!! Should I use Epsom salt each time I water?
Regarding testing PH, I have read that testing runoff is not accurate and that the soil slurry is the best. So, do I dig a few inches down to get the correct soil and damage the roots? And what does the PH need to be before I feed them again? Or do I not even rely on that and just look for something in the plants that would tell me they need to be fed? I did reduce the recommended amount for the Grow Big.
Regarding lighting, should I turn off the lights for 6 hours tonight?
Thanks very much! I appreciate all of the responses and help.

 

[tronN00dles]

Wow! That is surprising! Thank you! So no more Cal-Mag. Got it! The nutrients I have are the Fox Farm Trio; Big Bloom (the only organic one and is to be used throughout grow), Grow Big (not organic) and Tiger Bloom (2-8-4 and not organic). I have not used Tiger Bloom yet. I thought they were all organic when I bought them. I talked to my friend about it since I read that the “salts” will kill the good stuff in the Brut Farms super soil I mixed in the bottom of the pot. My friend said that since I am new to this and will not reuse the soil to go ahead and use the “salts” since I am trying to feed the plant and not the soil. So, I planned to use the Fox Farm Trio but then I read about The Lucas Formula so I also bought General Hydroponics MaxiBloom (5-15-14) and KoolBloom (2-45-28) and I thought I would use that on one of them. Then I got frustrated and just used Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big on both of them. I get so confused with all of the info!! I need a mentor who will give me a shopping list and instructions on everything!!! Should I use Epsom salt each time I water?
Regarding testing PH, I have read that testing runoff is not accurate and that the soil slurry is the best. So, do I dig a few inches down to get the correct soil and damage the roots? And what does the PH need to be before I feed them again? Or do I not even rely on that and just look for something in the plants that would tell me they need to be fed? I did reduce the recommended amount for the Grow Big.
Regarding lighting, should I turn off the lights for 6 hours tonight?
Thanks very much! I appreciate all of the responses and help.

Good call on dropping the CalMag, especially as your starting water ppm is on the high side.

As for pH, if your soil is half decent I wouldn’t bother checking runoff or slurry tests or anything like that. With liquid nutes in soil, all that really matters imo is the pH of the actual nutrient solution you mix up. Keep it between 6-7 for soil and you’re golden. Same goes for plain water in between feeds. 6.5 is the safest target in case your meter/testing device is off a few points.

Also, on the subject of liquid nutes, they’re all pretty well the same stuff, so it’s best to just stick to a feedchart. Use your while you have it

The main thing is to just stick to the feedchart ratios and adjust for ppm/EC and pH. I target 500-600ppm Hanna (1.0-1.2ec) excluding starting water myself but my starting water is super soft. Just don’t mess with the ratios on the feedchart is all, just the overall concentration. The feedchart has ppm/EC targets if you don’t have a pen, so if a week says 2.0ec you could feed half strength to get closer to 1.0ec, etc. just beware the feedchart uses the 700 (Truncheon) scale, not the 500 (Hanna) scale. Best to go by EC so there’s no ambiguity.

welcome to AFN!!!