Posable Zinc Deficiency, PLEASE HELP!

northerntights · #1 05-20-2008, 10:12 PM

Ok, so my plants are 4 weeks old, Blueberry from female seeds... Last week I repotted them into their final 5-gallon containers and this rears it's ugly head. From what I can tell it looks like a zinc deficiency but I'm not sure, and I know it's not that common so I could really use you guy's opinions. Here is what is going on:

Soil Mix:
ProMix Base
10% Washed Builder's Sand
10% Worm Castings
10% Perlite
Espoma Plant-Tone (I used half the recommended dose for container plants to be safe)

They have been fed once with the 1Tbsp/Gal of Earthjuice Grow (not bubbled, just from the bottle) with superthrive, Liquid Karma and a fungal inoculant.

Here is the odd thing, the soil Ph reads at 7! I thought Earthjuice was very acidic so maybe my test is wrong? It's the kind with those little green capsules and a testing vile.

Right now I'm flushing them just to be safe, hence the shower pics, and I used a little Ph Down from my hydro days to see if that helps but it's a shot in the dark.

Thanks guys, I really need help on this one. I want to clone these but I can't do that till they are healthy and REALLY don't want to buy seeds again!

Picasso345 · #2 05-21-2008, 07:24 AM

They look fine to me. What makes you think there is a def?

You need to test your water for PH and not your soil. Pro-Mix comes with lime, a PH stabilizer, so it will give you a 7 reading until things are really collapsing and you have a total disaster.

Florida Girl · #3 05-21-2008, 02:30 PM

The 3rd picture looks like you have the beginning of a problem. You don't mention the PPM of the nute /water solution.

As a first time grower... this is a lesson I'm learning the hard way. I have a meter... but I was only paying attention to the PH level.... I figured since I was feeding at a reduced rate of organic nutes I wouldn't have to worry about the PPM. WRONG!

I ran into a problem ... and have now learned that I have to pay more attention to what the PPM on the meter says then worrying about the measures listed on the nute bottle.

Here's what I'm doing now:

I start with 6 gallons of water in my reservoir... get a reading of PPM and PH with the plain water (it's usually around 450 PPM). Next I add a low dose of all the nutes I use (I'm using Botannicare Pro Grow and a dose of Epsom Salt formulated for plants). Even at the low doses, the PPM usually shoots up to 1600.... so I add water (to dilute) until the PPM comes down to around 1100 (I'm gradually increasing the number). Once the PPM is stabilized I adjust the PH from there.

I don't know if this is the right way or not... but it's what I'm doing and my plants seem to be recovering from my snafu.

If my way is wrong I'm sure someone will come along and correct me

Good luck

northerntights · #4 05-21-2008, 02:36 PM

I do have the beginnings of a problem, the internode length is WAY too long and the growth has slowed to a crawl. I don't have a PPM meter, I was using EarthJuice Grow by concentration. I'm switching to Fox Farm Grow Big, easier.

itsgrowinglikeaweed · #5 05-21-2008, 03:17 PM

I've been doing a lot of reading about Superthrive. As a matter of fact I just purchased some on Ebay Superthrive Plant Vitamins Hormones All Organic 1 oz - eBay (item 170220181261 end time May-23-08 19:29:38 PDT) Its supposed to be helpful when transplanting. Some really good stuff from what I've been reading. Even the few that said it did nothing...well it didn't hurt them either so....Whatever you do good luck!

northerntights · #6 06-01-2008, 10:32 PM

hey guys, thanks for all your help but I was unable to correct the Ph in time... had to do a transplant and a traumatic one at that. Luckily, it seems like the roots, due to the low Ph of the surrounding soil, didn't grow far out of their orianal root-ball. They are recovering now but I could only save 3.

I had planted a couple of tomatoes not long before and they LOVED the soil I had made so I know it wasn't that. So far, so good.