Calcium Def cause Rust?

I thought i read some where online that calcium deficiency could cause the disease Rust?

Is this possibly and more prone on cannabis?

Back when my 4 girls where about 3 weeks old i had a calcium def. typical copper spotting and such. it got slightly bad fast. like within 24hrs. Ran a flush on the plant with phd water and then a feeding of calmag and it seemed to stop once i added the calmag to the water. Im dealing with it again now 3 weeks into flowering but i have been feeding botanicare bloom and calmag every watering per instructions. growth is great along with bud growth but now im getting the spotting on new top growth again. Its gotten fairly bad once again within 24hrs ( could do anything due to plants where to moist).

I finally ran a flush on all 4 yesterday with phd distilled w/ calmag 5ml. I think i got it to stop as theres no real new copper colored spotting just darkening and dying now. 2 of my plants fans started turning yellow,copper, and dying off pretty bad within 36hrs. I pulled those.

What im curious is, am i truely battling calcium or now rusting? Back when i was in veg and had this issue, it started on 1 plant. Then by the next day it was onto the next plant, Then the following day onto my 3rd plant. Only 1 plant of the 4 didnt get it until about 2 weeks later ( this plant is ind other 3 are sat. random bagseed unknown strains ) Or is it just possible i got salt build up and it locked out my cal? No signs of Mg problems on the leaves. forgot to check runoff ppms before i dumped it.

Now once again it started at 1 plant, then the next, then the next, and now the 4th is getting it. I think i caught the 4th in reasonable time. I chalked it up the first time to calcium deff and maybe that all of them just happened to show it at the same time(ish) as i wasnt supplementing any calcium back then in my waterings, but i have been every watering since then, 4 weeks later.

random bag seed - 4 girls
FFOF soil - 2x3gal 2x1.5gal
Botanicare bloom 20ml calmag 5ml - fed every watering per botanicare instructions. No signs of nute burn or any other problem so i kept with the every watering feed.
400whp hps - 3x3x6 tent w/ scrubber and inline
temps 72 lights on - 66 lights off hum 35%

I almost think i need to be adding more then 20ml and 5ml at this point in their stage. they are taking the feedings really well but the bottles call for 27ml and 5ml now on week 3-6, but my nute chart from their site which i filled in pot size and such tells me to stay at 20ml. ending ppms are around 950-1050, but i feel like i should be higher now.

Heres a few pics of the spotting. Couldnt get any of the real bad leaves since the lights just went out in the basement.

Any help, links, info would be great.




Thanks in advance!
Crawlin

Looks like ca and mg def.

crawlintbss said:

I thought i read some where online that calcium deficiency could cause the disease Rust?

Is this possibly and more prone on cannabis?

Back when my 4 girls where about 3 weeks old i had a calcium def. typical copper spotting and such. it got slightly bad fast. like within 24hrs. Ran a flush on the plant with phd water and then a feeding of calmag and it seemed to stop once i added the calmag to the water. Im dealing with it again now 3 weeks into flowering but i have been feeding botanicare bloom and calmag every watering per instructions. growth is great along with bud growth but now im getting the spotting on new top growth again. Its gotten fairly bad once again within 24hrs ( could do anything due to plants where to moist).

I finally ran a flush on all 4 yesterday with phd distilled w/ calmag 5ml. I think i got it to stop as theres no real new copper colored spotting just darkening and dying now. 2 of my plants fans started turning yellow,copper, and dying off pretty bad within 36hrs. I pulled those.

What im curious is, am i truely battling calcium or now rusting? Back when i was in veg and had this issue, it started on 1 plant. Then by the next day it was onto the next plant, Then the following day onto my 3rd plant. Only 1 plant of the 4 didnt get it until about 2 weeks later ( this plant is ind other 3 are sat. random bagseed unknown strains ) Or is it just possible i got salt build up and it locked out my cal? No signs of Mg problems on the leaves. forgot to check runoff ppms before i dumped it.

Now once again it started at 1 plant, then the next, then the next, and now the 4th is getting it. I think i caught the 4th in reasonable time. I chalked it up the first time to calcium deff and maybe that all of them just happened to show it at the same time(ish) as i wasnt supplementing any calcium back then in my waterings, but i have been every watering since then, 4 weeks later.

random bag seed - 4 girls
FFOF soil - 2x3gal 2x1.5gal
Botanicare bloom 20ml calmag 5ml - fed every watering per botanicare instructions. No signs of nute burn or any other problem so i kept with the every watering feed.
400whp hps - 3x3x6 tent w/ scrubber and inline
temps 72 lights on - 66 lights off hum 35%

I almost think i need to be adding more then 20ml and 5ml at this point in their stage. they are taking the feedings really well but the bottles call for 27ml and 5ml now on week 3-6, but my nute chart from their site which i filled in pot size and such tells me to stay at 20ml. ending ppms are around 950-1050, but i feel like i should be higher now.

Heres a few pics of the spotting. Couldnt get any of the real bad leaves since the lights just went out in the basement.

Any help, links, info would be great.

View attachment 3302906 View attachment 3302907 View attachment 3302908 View attachment 3302909


Thanks in advance!
Crawlin

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distilled is causing your def.

why is that? Care to explain? I supplement with Botanicare Calmag+

crawlintbss said:

why is that? Care to explain? I supplement with Botanicare Calmag+

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there is nothing in distilled water, you may be giving it cal/mag, but not enough. up the dosage. especially as you go later into flower

thanks chuck! i was leaning toward i need to add more . should i be goin to like 7ml or 10ml? im going to feed everyone tonite. ill bump to like 7ml and see if it helps.

i understand purified has some cal/mg but ive seen many others with ro/distilled feeding 5ml with no probs. guessing mine are just some hungry whores. i need to bump bloom to 25ml aswell.

thanks!

Well i did some soil ph test on 3 of the moist plants today to find my shits pretty low. 6.2 average...whcih on most charts i see that means it wont be uptaking cal and mag which could be part of my issue.

I always just phd to 6.5 and fed them as alot of people recommended on here. not sure if its just maybe low due to the flush or not.

Should i just feed with a higher ph water next round? like ph to 6.7ish?

6.2 is fine

The leaves indicate low pH

crawlintbss said:

Well i did some soil ph test on 3 of the moist plants today to find my shits pretty low.

Click to expand...

How did you test the soil's ph? Did you check runoff, use a soil probe? Runoff ph depends upon how long the water sat in the container to equalize to the soil's ph, and how much water displaced that water into runoff (and potentially diluted it). Google for NCSU Pour-Thru Method to see what I mean. You'll also see how runoff ph 6.2 might mean your soil is considerably lower depending on how fast you got the runoff, how much you got. IMO, runoff is more useful for tracking the trend leading up to a problem, not a one-time measurement when there is a problem.

For soil probe I use a $60 Control Wizard Accurate 8. It's pretty good. Much better than the $10 2-prong meters sold in stores.

When I've had acidic soil I fed with higher ph (7.0) to help pull the soil higher. My acidic soil was due to overfeeding. If you just flushed, it might improve quickly. If you monitor runoff ph and ppms it would help you catch overfeeding before it's a problem. (After you have soil and nutes dialed in, you don't need to waste your time monitoring ph and ppm.).

Its a soil probe. but not the 2 prong stupid needle one. Its digital.

I do need to monitor ppm run off a bit more.

Would my next watering with a higher phd water help out a bit or do i need to add something else to help raise soil ph?

You could cultivate a tsp to a tbsp of finely powdered dolomite lime into the topsoil of your container. But, that takes 10 days to work its way into the soil and affect the ph. (In the future you should amend dolomite into your soil if you didn't this time. 1tbs per gallon of soil.).

If you think you had salt buildup from over feeding, reduce your nutes by 25-50%. It should improve without much effort. Adding dolomite lime won't hurt. It's ok to feed at a higher ph, but if the flush and reduced nutes improves the soil the way I think it will, you want to be careful not to feed high ph for too long.

Thanks Az! I did water 1 of my 3gals last nite with 27ml bloom 7ml calmag phd to 6.5. ( unfortunately that was full strength instead of your recommenced half ) These girls have been drinking hard tho. Needs water every other day. Im going to go check soil ph when the lights turn in within the hour. Thanks!

chuck estevez said:

6.2 is fine

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Interesting cause this one i have shows different...Not sure which one is right lol



I should probably recalibrate my ph meter too. I wonder if that is off and telling me 6.5 and possibly im feeding with something lower.

tested again today
2 of them have some low spots of 5.8 and most are averaging 6.2 still which i tihnk is causing my lockout.

Should i wait until they are all dry to pump any higher phd water thru them or do it now? 1 was watered 48hrs ago, another 12, another 2 16hrs. I base my watering on weight of plant.

Everyone is half wet right now. Dont really see any new spotting going on right now but some slight yellowing / Mag issue to some leaves tho.

5.8-6.2 isn't too bad. When I overfed and had acidic soil, I didn't have problems until my ph went a little lower than the low side of your range.

Soil ph rises as it dries. So, resist the urge to keep trying to raise the ph by pouring more things into the soil. You'll inadvertently hold it lower than it would have been if you let it dry. Let it thoroughly dry, then feed with reduced strength nutrients (assuming you had acidification due to salt buildup due to overfeeding, which is common) phed to 7.0. See what the runoff looks like. You could cultivate some *powedered* dolomite into the topsoil just before watering. You'll probably find you only need to water with higher ph water for 3-4 feedings.

touche on the drying out will rise the ph. forgot about that kinda. Just more worried if its becoming worse. my 1 plant doesnt really have it at all and shes sitting around 6.4 so shes okay.

Should i possibly look to switch to water>feed>water>feed etc or stay with my constant feed like botanicare calls for? Not sure if that will affect the plant to much not seeing its constant source of feed.

Thanks as always!

crawlintbss said:

Should i possibly look to switch to water>feed>water>feed etc or stay with my constant feed like botanicare calls for? Not sure if that will affect the plant to much not seeing its constant source of feed.

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Feeding a constant rate should be the same as feeding twice as much followed by none. That's what I do. I was feeding 1tsp/gal and had acidic soil around 2-3 weeks into flower. I reduced my nutrients to about 1/2 tsp every feeding and everything's fine. Maybe a little higher in flower. I watch the ppms. I do about 600-650 in flower.

The only reason I've heard for alternating feed/water is to allow the microbiology in the soil to recover from synthetic nutes. But, to me it seems like the same thing whether they get less all the time, or a lot followed by none. (I think if someone's concerned about their soil biology they should use more organic nutrients.).

interesting. im at about 1000ppm and my chart says i should be around 1300. They look like they are loving it and could even take more once the ph is stable again.

crawlintbss said:

interesting. im at about 1000ppm and my chart says i should be around 1300.

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If you're using hydro nutes in soil you might get by using higher strength. I did when I used GH Flora 3-part. That's what threw me off when I switched to a more soil'ish fertilizer. Going for the same ppm range caused me acidity/lockout I didn't have with the hydro nutes.

But, acidity when in flower seems to commonly come from salt buildup, which comes from overfeeding. You might want to google and find people using that nutrient to see how strong they feed. You said you're doing 20ml/gal. Everything I see says 15ml/gal. And, it's common to use 25-50% less than manufacturer recommendations. The safest thing to do would be to search for others using the same nutrient (in soil, not hydro or soilless) to see what they do.