Another what's wrong with my plants post (pics)

Hi everyone,

Very long time lurker on all of the boards, first time poster. Looking for a little help to diagnose and treat my plants.

I currently have 4 Beanhoarder C99 x Sweet Tooth #3 plants at 35 days from seed that have been showing some issues for almost a week.

Organic soil mix:
40% Pro Mix HP
40% EWC (2)/Composted Cow Manure (1)/Shrimp Compost (1)
20+% Perlite
1.5 cup per c.f Mykes Organic Tomato Food (5-6-8 plus Calcium)
1 cup per c.f Kelp Meal
0.5 cup per c.f Alfalfa Meal

Temps: Constant between 74 - 76F

Lights: 240/160w Full Spectrum LED x2 @ 14 -16" above top

Issues became apparent after using a microbe tea of EWC/Alfalfa/Kelp/BSM that included, and I think this maybe the cause, Aquarium 6.5 PH Stabilizer. I may have also inadvertently used too much of it. Prior to this, all plants had only been watered with either dechlorinated tap water or aquarium water - PH between 6 -6.4

Up until today, plants were in 8" hard pots. I have flushed twice with plain water. Now transplanted to 3 gal Air pots and watered with Aloe.



Please ask if you need any further information and any help would be greatly appreciated.

with all the soil amendments You shouldnt have to feed for at least 6-8 weeks, It looks like over fert is causing some nute burn. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688 this is a great thread, all types of info here. The tea you say was 6.0-6.4 may have been a little low, shoot for 6.5-6.8 I know if I run my nutes at 6.0 it leads to problems. How much did you flush thru the soil? 4-5 times the size of the pot is a good rule.

And watered with aloe, like fish aloe

I like to adjust with ph up or down, I tryed that stabilizer once and didnt like it too much.

what was the total volume of the soil mixed? I ask because you say 1.5 cups of tomato food, sounds a bit strong for 4 8in pots. I like to use very little fert in the orignal soil mix, as the plants get older, I will add some top dressing ferts when the roots are established and can handle a stronger fert.

sativa indica pits said:

with all the soil amendments You shouldnt have to feed for at least 6-8 weeks, It looks like over fert is causing some nute burn. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688 this is a great thread, all types of info here. The tea you say was 6.0-6.4 may have been a little low, shoot for 6.5-6.8 I know if I run my nutes at 6.0 it leads to problems. How much did you flush thru the soil? 4-5 times the size of the pot is a good rule.

And watered with aloe, like fish aloe

I like to adjust with ph up or down, I tryed that stabilizer once and didnt like it too much.

what was the total volume of the soil mixed? I ask because you say 1.5 cups of tomato food, sounds a bit strong for 4 8in pots. I like to use very little fert in the orignal soil mix, as the plants get older, I will add some top dressing ferts when the roots are established and can handle a stronger fert.

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Thank you for your reply. It also looks like nute burn to me, but also K deficiency, and a host of other defs.

The fertilizer, kelp, and alfalfa were added per cubic foot of soil and the whole mix was left to cook for 5 weeks. I flushed with 3x the pot volume on two occasions.

The Aloe was from an aloe plant that I pulverized and mixed into my water.

What would you suggest I do to correct the problem?

well first off, let them dry up really good, I wouldnt feed the soil untill they look like they need it, It looks like they are locking out due to a ph swing. you could try a foliar spray of really light nutes to help them along. Have you added lime? And try to get a ph reading of the soil, compost and tomato food can really go either way.

I have compost with chicken shit with a ph of 5.5 and compost of cow shit with a ph of 7.5, try to at least get the ph of run off and adjust from there, If its high lower it with ph down, looks to me like its low so raise it with lime or wood ash in small amounts mixed in the water, lime takes a while to work, next time mix in with the rest or your soil. wood ash is extreamly instant. but dont over do it.

Sounds like you put the ph out of balance. I would doubt that you would have all those deficiencies when you are just in veg, your substrate would need to be pretty poor for that to happen. Water with normal water of around 6.8-7ph and you should be fine. Don't feed them anything just now imo as the elements are in the soil, the balance is just not right to allow the root zone to utlisie them.

sativa indica pits said:

well first off, let them dry up really good, I wouldnt feed the soil untill they look like they need it, It looks like they are locking out due to a ph swing. you could try a foliar spray of really light nutes to help them along. Have you added lime? And try to get a ph reading of the soil, compost and tomato food can really go either way.

I have compost with chicken shit with a ph of 5.5 and compost of cow shit with a ph of 7.5, try to at least get the ph of run off and adjust from there, If its high lower it with ph down, looks to me like its low so raise it with lime or wood ash in small amounts mixed in the water, lime takes a while to work, next time mix in with the rest or your soil. wood ash is extreamly instant. but dont over do it.

Click to expand...

I have retested my water and the ph is most definitely low. I'm glad I just bought new strips, the ones I was using before do not seem to be accurate. I did not add lime to the mix, as I was under the impression that my amendments were all neutral. Other than than the Pro-mix, this is obviously not the case. I will add it in the future.

Do you think I should add ph'd water to them now as a drench or wait until they dry out and need water?

DST said:

Sounds like you put the ph out of balance. I would doubt that you would have all those deficiencies when you are just in veg, your substrate would need to be pretty poor for that to happen. Water with normal water of around 6.8-7ph and you should be fine. Don't feed them anything just now imo as the elements are in the soil, the balance is just not right to allow the root zone to utlisie them.

Click to expand...

Thanks DST. Do you think I should water now (I just watered today) or wait until they dry out?

I would take a 1/2 cup of wood ash and mix it in a gallon of water, water all four plants a quart each. do you have wood ash? if not give them a boost of 7.5-8.0 water and try to get the ph going up, then let dry and put a fan on them.

if it is really low like 5.0 or lower you will need to give them 8.5 water to even out the ph around 6.0-6.5 wood ash has tons of micro nutes also and is great for your soil!! in small amounts!!

If you watered today with just water then you should be good until they need watered again. I find the hardest thing with plants is expecting them to bounce back within hours (which sometimes they can do), but in most cases being patient and allowing the corrective action to take place is the best thing. Over the next day or so your plant should start to throw out new leaf sets and if these are growing fine then it's a good sign you are back on the road. Overwatering could cause your medium to become clogged subsequently drowning your roots. If you see tip burn on the new growth then continue to correct with ph'd leveled water.

yes make sure you let it dry all the way thru after this episode.

Thank you for your help, sativa indica pits and DST! I greatly appreciate it.

**Update**

I followed sativa indica pits and DST's advice. I watered with Dechlorinated water and Wood Ash. The plants seemed to perk up a little and I waited for them to dry out. I then watered with 7.5 Ph water and they again seemed better. They are putting out new growth slowly and there is some minimal discolouration. Plants are greener and looking healthier, but aren't out of the woods yet.

After drying out, I have again watered them. I bought a PH pen and have now learned, to my great surprise, that my tap water is 9.1 out of the tap and 8.0 after sitting out for 3 days. This is much higher than I anticipated. To make matters worse, I realize that I was an idiot and forgot to put lime in my soil mix!!. I believe that this is most definitely the root of my problems. I tested my run-off and all plants were between 5.4 - 5.7. The one at 5.7 is doing the best of the 4. Water going in at 8.0 and coming in the mid 5s certainly proves to me that I need to increase my soil ph and add a buffering agent

Trying to find lime in the middle of the winter, without ordering it online, is proving to be next to impossible. I have a few more places to check and will order online if I strike out. I have some Glacial Rock Dust and Crab Meal on the way. Hopefully the Crab can at least help a little.

What can I do in the meantime to address my PH issue????

On a positive note: At 9 days since being cut, 2 of my 8 clones are showing a ton of roots. I used Jiffy Peat Pellets and fresh aloe as my rooting hormone. The remaining 6 are starting to show signs that they will be rooting soon.