Help diagnose please

hugefathead

New Member
This is about 3rd week in veg. Growing in smart pots in fox farm ocean forest, happy frog potting soil, worm castings and perlite mix. Put a tsp of organic all purpose 5-5-5 in the mix when transplanted. Started with good looking plants now they have spots and more spots/death and curling. Maybe a pH problem? Been watering with RO water. Did one does of cal-mag about 12-10 days ago. Did one does (tsp) of Epson salt about 5 days ago. RO water tests 6.3-6.5 normally on the pH meter. It's a dutch passion almost pure indica grown from seed.
Grown in 64-74 temps about 40 rh%. Please let me know what you think is wrong.
 

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Buba Blend

Well-Known Member
Nice write up and pictures. That will help you get some responses.
Some questions to add to the list to help the others.
What lighting are you using?
When did you transplant, was it recently? What size was the old pot and what size are the new pots?
How often do you water and how much water do you give them when you water?
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
I'd stop the RO water, tap/well water functions very well in your soil type.
check out Organicare dry fertilizer, heap, easy, available, and proven
 

hugefathead

New Member
Transplant was about 3 weeks ago or so beginning of December. Went from a 1 gallon smart pot to the 5 gallon it's in now. Been watering about every 3 days approximately up until this week. Soil is drying out faster and been doing it about every 2 days this week. It was almost bone dry an inch down in 2 days. The ocean forest with the extra perlite and smart pots makes it very airy fast draining I believe. Maybe it's slightly under watered or just drinking more? More spots and drooping appeared after the last watering. Slight discoloring on some of the big fan leaves near the top. I'm beginning to think something is off about the RO water too. Maybe my pH meter is off too? it's pretty new got it around the time of the transplant just a 20 dollar one on Amazon. I have to find the calibration stuff asap. Just checked out that organicare stuff looks good. I don't have it in front of me but it looks really simliar to what I mixed in with the soil before transplant it was a jobes organic 5-5-5 with cal and mag and other benifical bac the bag said. Growing under 5x 3500k 90cri cobs taking 250w from the wall currently. Looking at pictures of other problems it looks like a little bit of everything (deficiency/toxicity) I'm very confused. I've read a lot about the processes but this is my first grow.
 

Buba Blend

Well-Known Member
Transplant was about 3 weeks ago or so beginning of December. Went from a 1 gallon smart pot to the 5 gallon it's in now. Been watering about every 3 days approximately up until this week. Soil is drying out faster and been doing it about every 2 days this week. It was almost bone dry an inch down in 2 days. The ocean forest with the extra perlite and smart pots makes it very airy fast draining I believe. Maybe it's slightly under watered or just drinking more? More spots and drooping appeared after the last watering. Slight discoloring on some of the big fan leaves near the top. I'm beginning to think something is off about the RO water too. Maybe my pH meter is off too? it's pretty new got it around the time of the transplant just a 20 dollar one on Amazon. I have to find the calibration stuff asap. Just checked out that organicare stuff looks good. I don't have it in front of me but it looks really simliar to what I mixed in with the soil before transplant it was a jobes organic 5-5-5 with cal and mag and other benifical bac the bag said. Growing under 5x 3500k 90cri cobs taking 250w from the wall currently. Looking at pictures of other problems it looks like a little bit of everything (deficiency/toxicity) I'm very confused. I've read a lot about the processes but this is my first grow.
More good info and you have some good helpers that have commented above.

Let me just add this. There are many threads on LED'S and deficiencies. You can also google led growing deficiencies.

This is from google, I'm sure there are threads saying something similar.

led growing deficiencies.
The transpiration differences mean that Calcium and Magnesium ions can be less mobile under LED and this may cause deficiencies that you will have to correct with nutrient additions. You may not notice this issue since soil (and many grow nutrients) already contain adequate levels of Calcium and Magnesium.
 

Stink Bug

Well-Known Member
Looks like they are on the verge of N tox too me. Dosent look like its anything to worry about at the moment. Just plain water for a few weeks until they grow through it. If those few spots on the leaves were a Ca deficiency then the newer leaves would be showing even more severe symptoms.
 

Blitz35

Well-Known Member
Looks to be a touch too much N, and you may have too much calcium or phosphorus, also your ph being a tad bit high, can lockout manganese which what those early spots may be. It's not a calcium deficiency as that would look much worse. Led's do not make your plant eat more of one or two specific elements..that's folklore that is passed around! Led's are more efficient than say hid's, so perhaps your plant grows better/stronger under one, so you need to feed it better. To say that an led makes calcium and magnesium immobile is completely wrong! First of all, calcium is already an immobile nutrient to begin with. The slight nitrogen toxicity is evident..remember, it's a domino effect. Work it backwards. The spots are either a calcium, magnesium or manganese deficiency with slight chance it's boron. So you have to look at what affects those nutes from getting to the plant (assuming it's in the medium already).

Bare with me....we know the nitrogen is too much..which in turn can lockout potassium and boron (slight chance it's the start of a boron def) and copper. With the extra potassium sitting in your medium, that as well can straight lockout boron, as well as magnesium. If magnesium starts building up, it will affect calcium, and ultimately the excess calcium in the medium will lockout manganese and boron. The lockedout copper in your medium (from too much potassium) can also lockout manganese and iron...excess iron would also cause a manganese lockout. Otherwise, if all is right, then i'd say the high ph would be locking out manganese straight up. It's the hardest element to get into the plant ph wise..it needs a lower ph than all the other elements. If you're constantly at 6.5..you have to water below 6 sometimes to swing the ph a bit so other elements like Mn can be uptaken. My guess points to a lack of manganese. Again, if your nutrients contain it, then it's there, just locked out for one of these reasons...best of luck!
 

hugefathead

New Member
Thank you all for the advice. What Blitz is saying makes the most sense to me. Reading grow weed easy plant problems pages up and down (and most everything on the site) but it makes sense. I don't buy the LED deficiency thing one bit maybe cheapo junk china ones with no spectrum in them - not very high quality cobs. I've seen so many plants grown under cobs that look perfect marijuana or other plants too. Looking at all pictures on there I kept thinking I have a little bit of a lot of problems. One of the lower leaves that i didn't post a pic of has a classic "claw" it's pointed straight down almost at 90 degree angle. N Tox as you guys are saying. That one pic I posted above has a claw going on it got worst today when I looked at it. It's also discoloring worst turning slightly more yellow. The middle vein down the middle of the leaf is purple (I don't think it's genetics). Some of the very "copper" color looking spots look like the boron deficiency pictures I've seen too. I follow what you are saying and it sounds like it makes sense. What do you think the best plan of action is to correct just water with lower around 6.0 ph water a few times see what happens?

I do not have good tap water it tastes horrible and is very hard but I have a water softener too. I have a high quality gravity water filter too i might try some water from that. It doesn't filter every mineral from it but supposed to remove pesticides , chlorine and a lot of bad stuff etc. Thank you all for the advise again though.
 
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