oh, no! redish spots starting to appear

[bigfun]

I noticed some small sign of distress, starting to show up in only one are of my photoperiod DeLaHaze (@2.5 weeks into flower)



Since I'm growing in soil, I don't have a ph meter, but after checking, I think I may run to Lowes just to get a cheapo.

I've in a 40/60 Perlite/Happy Frog mix, feeding Earth Juice products, lightly ... except, by accident I over fed Meta-K 0-0-10 recently, but not a drastic amount

Can anyone help with what trouble this is, and how to stop it from spreading?? It's only appeared of a few leaves so far.

I would sure like to keep this plant healthy

Many thanks!

 

[MedGrower]

Hey bro. Looks like a calsium defiency. Might be due to too low pH or...well... too little calsium.

This is interesting because Mg, Ca and K do interact with each other so you accidently feeding loads of Potassium could also have triggered this?

This might be useful for you:
http://www.growweedeasy.com/calcium-deficiency-cannabis

 

[Chester]

I don't see CalMag on your list of supplements ... mine get about 5 ml / gal of Botanicare's CalMag+ w/ every watering from 2 weeks on ... LEDs accentuate the need for CalMag ...

 

[bigfun]

Thanks guys! ... so, I wen't to Lowe's and they didn't have any cal/mag nutes, so I came back and added some molasses to my feed. Looking over the ingredients of my feed, there does seem to be an absence of calcium. I did also buy a cheap metal ph soil probe, I have not calibrated or even done any test, but just stuck it in once last night about an hour after watering, and the needle floated around 6. However, everything I read about organic soil/nutes says the soil will balance the ph. It could be I am a bit too heavy on the perlite (35-40%) ? ...

I will get some calmag, and try to do a better soil sample, check the ph.

I did also make a foliar spray with some molasses and Microblast in it, too (which has magnesium). But I think I may have just made my plants a little sticky ;-p ... I'm gonna "foliar rinse" them today.

I've heard boiling egg shells for foliar feed might help, too, for the calcium.

Oh, and one thing I read of interest, is there is not really such a thing as a "CalMag" deficiency, it can be one or the other, and both at the same time, but they are separate types of deficiencies to themselves. So, I wonder still what is the connection in this growing.

 

[MedGrower]

Reason there is a need for a product such as "CalMag" is that even if you have Ca defiency, you still want to maintain a proper balance between Ca and Mg as if the two are out of balance, there will be issues. So simply adding whole lot of Ca and soon you'll be having a whole new set of problems. This applies to us humans too BTW.

I'd remember there was a large study done in Canada about best ratio of Ca and Mg for tomatoes and it was about 3:1 Ca/Mg. I've been supplementing as 2:1 ratio, same ratio is generally recommended to us humans. It is constantly debated though.

 

[Chester]

I get mine on Ebay ...

 

[Waira]

...yup, classic Ca defc. symptoms,... yeah, that's far too much perlite for blending with HF, not that it has anything to do with the defc., personally, I wouldn't add more than a handful per gal, if any......I found cheapo meters are awful for accuracy, after testing them against good ones -- get an Accurate 8 soil pH probe, so there's no need to do the dicey run-off test method either, which is also prone to measurement errors,...(no hydro- shops near you? order online then, as Ca-Mg is something of a specialty item,... my fav' Ca-Mg supplement is General Organics CaMg+, an all carbonate based formulation in a fermented sugar base-- good stuff! ....definitely rinse that molasses off bro', or you'll potentially invite mold to the feast! Molasses does have Ca, Mg, some K and a little Fe in it, though I don't think it's a very rich source by itself, but what's there is at least chelated naturally already (more readily absorbed),... the sugars make the soil 'crobes go nuts , which in turn makes the plant happy! 1T/gal, a couple times a week is fine,.... -Forget the eggshell thing, makes no sense to me, CaCO3 is less soluble in hot water vs cold! ....True, there's no single defc. that's called Ca-Mg, they are separate defc.'s,.. but like Medi' says, these two nutes are directly involved with each other metabolically and with absorption, so it's no coincidence that they are paired together,...higher Ca % a than Mg too typically,... Ca is an immobile nute, so it tends to hit higher up on the plant; Mg is mobile, and occurs lower down... this mobility thing refers to the plants ability to remove it from other places-- older growth-- and send it up to support newer growth when lacking,...

 

[bigfun]

Waira, thank for all your insight! ... What is the disadvantage of too much perlite? I've understood that helps keep the soil more light and airy, and makes it more difficult to over-water, and about a 30% ratio is a very good mix.

I did make the epic drive to the hydro store, and the only thing they had left in the quart size was Botanicare CalMag+ ... they had that General Organics stuff, but only on the shelf in a gallon for ~$70, and so I went with the $20 what was available. It says to mix 5ml per gallon. I think I may flush some clean water through her, and then do a normal feed (1tsp Grow/Micro/Catalyst 1tbs Boom) w/ the CalMag.

It also says it can be used as a foliar spary. And you can double the strength for an "accelerated" application. I'm assuming to use it as a foliar feed is quicker (and more efficient), and that you use the same dillution in water as they recommend for hand-feeding. (they don't specify a difference).

And yes, I read that Mag actually helps with the absorbtion of calcium, which is why when you add only Epsom salt (only Mag), it can also help address the calcium problem.

If the plant doesn't seem to stop getting worse, I'll check into one of those nicer ph meters, although the one I bought does use the same 'technology' it's a "Mosser Lee Soil Master Moisture Light & PH Meter" ... I do like the light meter function on it, it helps see how the light drops off under different areas of my LED.

Many thanks and happy growing!

 

[Chester]

I use Botanicare CalMag+ ... I use up to 2 tsp per gal of RO water ... start her at 1 tsp to be on the safe side ... I use 25% perlite ... Happy Frog is pretty loose w/o it ...

 

[Waira]

the Botanicare is also very good stuff, and has many other things in it besides the Ca and Mg, so it's a kind of all-in-one product,...check the label so you know! It covers a lot of nutritional bases, including micro-nute's which you have in another product already, so don't include both when feeding....I tend to like having simpler products for certain things, like specific defc. treatments, Ca-Mg being one of them,... it gives you better control over what goes in, so there's no redundancy, or even too much of something else going in,.... note the 2-0-0 as well on that Botanicare, and be mindful of this extra N source,.. it's not much, true, but if you were having a N-tox issue, it would be, see what I mean? ..... perlite isn't going to hurt thing if overdone, just makes it overly light, so it will dry fast and hold less nutrients in soil since there's literally less of it,... for those who tend to overwater, it's great, but bad for underwaterers,... a pracrical preference, that's all!
Foliar is hands down the fastest way into the plant, but proper technique is required to get the most of it,... this includes using a water spreader/wetting agent with what ever you spray, even with rinsing water alone,... a couple drops of a mild detergent will do in a pinch, when not in bloom (residues),... the idea is to take the surface tension out of the soln., so it coats and sticks better, rather than just beading up-- more surface area covered= more absorbed! Spraying the undersides of the leaves is very important, as that's where more of the stomata are, and that's where stuff get taken in, and only when in aqueous solution,... keep the plant out of direct intense light sources (HID, sun) so it dries more slowly allowing time for things to get taken in, and don't let it go into dark time when still wet to avoid mold issues,...:smoking: