Curing deficiency with tea

Hello,

I'm doing my first grow in a nix of ffof and happy frog. I jumped into the grow quickly and plan to make my own soil mix next go round, but it was possible this time. Up until this point, my plants have been doing rather well with just tap water that I let sit out for a day or so. The past few weeks I noticed them going more and more nutrient deficient but I was hoping they could finish it out.

I'm currently in week 6 since they started to show flowers (7ish weeks since 12/12) of a 9 week cycle. The buds are getting bigger, smelling amazing, and are gaining a ton of resin. However, I went on vacation last week and came home to find what was once a slight nutrient deficiency has become an emergency. Almost all the leaves are a bright yellow, veins are white, red stems, red and purple spots on some leaves, and lower bigger leaves were dying/dead. I had started using Epsom salts a couple weeks back, thinking it was solely a mg problem, and it seemed to be working until I came back. All of this was certainly exacerbated by the fact my humidifier went out and I came back to 29% humidity.

So I started with what has always helped mistakes in the past and flushed when I got home Saturday night. Got the humidity up, and they are looking a lot better. Still yellow and spotted but the leaves are transpiring again and the buds look great. Growth of the buds doesn't seem to be affected, as the runt of the litter, who has never showed any of these issues has about the same size buds as the affected plant of the same strain. So there seems to be hope.

Bottom line is I want to finish these organically, but am in obvious need of nutrients. Will a solid organic tea be able to solve my NPK deficiency. I see recipes all over, but any in particular you would suggest? The simpler the better, as the only ingredient I would already have would be worm castings. Or should I just buy organic ferts?

I have chemical ferts given to me buy the guy I bought the light off of, but the crusty salt buildup on the outside of the bottle where it's been spilled makes me wants it nowhere near my plants.

peace

A tea with some worm catings would definetly help her. You can get some bat guano to add to the tea. She definetly looks hungry. I feed N right up until the last 2 weeks before harvest. Just don't give her to strong a dose. Maybe a tsp of worm castings per gallon of water. And if your 7 weeks into flower 29% humidity won't hurt a thing. Better low humidity in flower than high. Good luck.

Week 7 of 9 is TOO late to be addressing deficiencies. During this time, you WANT the plants to be running out of nutrients. If those plants were mine, I'd maybe give a little dilute molasses, but other than that just ride it out and learn from your mistakes.

the crusty stuff on your bottle is both normal and fine.

you could make an organic tea that will cure def, just make sure it is really foamy and you use it and has quite a bit of ingredients.

SpicySativa said:

Week 7 of 9 is TOO late to be addressing deficiencies. During this time, you WANT the plants to be running out of nutrients. If those plants were mine, I'd maybe give a little dilute molasses, but other than that just ride it out and learn from your mistakes.

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Im just beginning week 6 since flowers started, which is what I'm basing the 9 weeks on. I think there's plenty of time to help them finish strong

Looking at your colas it seems like it's going to be longer than 2 more weeks till ready. I'd say more like 3 weeks. With that much time left i'd give them a light feed and molasses is a good additive to get your tea nice and foamy.

I'm about to run to the store and plan on getting some guano and an air stone for a tea. I am definitely open to more ingredients, should I just use a flowering tea that I find around here or will I need more N than most flowering mixes?

I have organic calmag as well but am not sure whether I should include it as well?

zack66 said:

Looking at your colas it seems like it's going to be longer than 2 more weeks till ready. I'd say more like 3 weeks. With that much time left i'd give them a light feed and molasses is a good additive to get your tea nice and foamy.

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Yeah like I said I'm basing since flowers appeared, not the flip. I'm thinking 3 1/2 weeks-4. I don't want bud growth to suffer and it hasn't appeared to yet, so I think there is hope.


i have molasses on hand as well.

You can use a flowering tea mix and add a tsp of worm castings per gallon. You should see a difference in a couple days. I keep my ladies green right to the end.

zack66 said:

You can use a flowering tea mix and add a tsp of worm castings per gallon. You should see a difference in a couple days. I keep my ladies green right to the end.

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Bam right on brother.

gonna go grab the ingredients right after I find a half way decent recipe on here.

any thoughts on the cal mag? I use tap water but not sure of ppm or anything. I have Epsom salts also but added them the previous 4 waterings to this one.

Wish I just would have made a solid soil mix from the get go, but live and learn.

If you've already given them some hold off for now just concentrate on trying to green them up a bit.

Just wanted to report back. The teas did not cure the issue with my plants. Dressing the top soil with garden lime did. It was a pH problem. Plants are looking much greener, though most large leaves are curled and twisted and dead towards the tips. It's only been about 5 days since the dressing, so I don't know how much more that will improve.

the buds are looking phenomenal and smelling very delicious. Putting on weight as well, though im sure theyd be larger had i figured this out earlier. Planning on pulling down the weekend following this one, but will know for sure after I pickup a microscope today and check the trichs.

moral of the story: Lime your soil. I will be making my own soil mixes in the future, but I would lime any store bought soil as well. Better safe than sorry.