What's going on here?

Hello,

First off, I would like to say hello to all the members here. I have spent numerous hours reading on the forums and books before I planted my first seed. Now with that said, I am currently around 3 weeks into the vegetative stage with 2 plants. They are feminized Nirvana's Northern Lights, and up until around 4 days ago, growth and health looked good. My veg cabinet is approx 1.5' deep x 2.5' wide and 3.5' high, and I am growing under 6 32W 6500k CFL bulbs, but 2 of these bulbs were added 2 days ago. I first noticed that one plant had developed brown spots on top of one of the lower leaves. Then a little bit later I noticed a few more spots on the other leaf of that set. The other plant showed no signs of this, until 2 days ago when it also began to develop these spots, however they are a little bit lighter in color. I also believe I have been overwatering after reading a bit more, as I watered once every 2 days or so when they were in their seedling pots (4" pots) 2 days ago I transplanted them into 3 gallon smart pots. I have been using Fox Farms Happy Frog soil in the seedling pots and now use Happy Frog mixed with around 20% perlite. I have not watered since the transplant. The temperature has stayed between 70-78F for the most part with a few fluctuations while dialing in the grow cabinet. I have not yet added any nutrients. Also, the water I have been giving the plants is not directly from the tap, but through an installed filtration system, and I realize this does remove nutrients from the water. After looking at diagnosis guides and pictures, it seems like they may be experiencing calcium deficiency paired with overwatering. Hopefully whatever is going on here is not detrimental to the plants life, and can be remedied.

Thanks in advance

Thanks for the response. I haven't fed them yet but I will start nutrients the next watering with fox farms nutes.

Did you add any dolomite lime? it looks like the start of a calcium deficiency to me

my vote is on PH issue causing the deficiency.

Nutrient lockout from a PH issue most likely causing a cal/mag deficiency, try to get your PH of water and runoff checked if possible.

I planned on testing the PH anyway, but do I need to wait until the next watering to do so? Judging by the color chart of the ph test kit, my water is around 6.8. If the PH of the runoff is off, should I flush the plants? I have not added any dolomite lime, but I bought calmag which I assume I can add after I am sure the PH is where it needs to be. Again, thanks for taking the time to give me your input and any recommendations of what I can do to correct the problem is greatly appreciated.

The plants are still growing at a somewhat steady rate, although the brown spots are getting worse. I haven't yet had the chance to test the ph, as the soil was still somewhat moist up until today but I will check the ph later today. I have noticed that the new growth is showing some small cracks in the leaves. Is it possible that these two problems are connected? I will get pics up later today. I have still yet to give them nutrients, and it's been 27 days since the germinated seeds were planted. What ph level should I be aiming for? Am I ready for my first low dose of nutes?

Thanks all

Here are pictures of the new growth.

Looks possibly like bug damage.

What is the small white things on most of your leaves?

Can you confirm you hab no bugs.


J

I inspected the leaves and there are no bugs visible. The white spots on the leaves is just saw dust that made its way through the passive intake. The grow is located in a wood shop so saw dust in the air is inevitable but I will probably put screening or some type of mesh over the intake holes to help prevent some of this. I was thinking it looked like bug damage as well but it's really only those few spots of the one plant, nothing else.

I wouldn't concern myself with that unless it starts effecting the new growth.

Doesn't look too serious. I'd try adding the cal/mag to the water and see if that helps.

Happy frog is not a very well amended soil, although it does have great bacterial content. That being said, I would also guess something in the ball park of calcium/magnesium/iron. Especially since you are using filtered water this is a common issue. Cal-mag should definitely help. Always test the ph of your water after you have mixed your nutes and before you water your plants. Shoot for a ph of 6.5-6.8 in your nute water before you add it to your plants. Hope this helped.
Happy growing!

Thanks for all the help. I will test the ph and assuming all is correct I will give it water with cal mag tonight and if not I will correct the ph and water accordingly. Thanks again and I will be sure to update the thread.

Last night I got my pH meter calibrated, watered both plants and collected run off from each. One tested 6.7, the other 6.6. I confirmed with the water color chart as well. After confirming the pH, I added 8ml of grow big, 4ml of big bloom, and 3ml of CalMag to a gallon of my filtered water, which combined tested for 6.7ph and watered both plants until I got run off (approx 1/2 gallon per plant) Hopefully this will remedy my problem. I plan to give nutes plus CalMag every other watering, and filtered water plus a 1/3 dose of CalMag (1-2ml/gal) to keep things in check. Would it be beneficial, or detrimental to remove the lower affected leaves? It's not a pretty sight, but if it will harm the plant in anyway, I can live with the eye sore!

Thanks again for the all the replies, RIU has been nothing but helpful as always.