question for the experts

hey Roll it up world.. got a few pics for ya all to take a look at and hopefully I can get some idea of wut might be going on with these plants. as of right now, I have no idea of the pH of the soil or water, but Ican say that the water is coming out of a side by side fridge with a built in filter.
I tried to compare my leaves to some of the pics here on the forums but they look different to me. They are being fed MG,( less than half strength) maybe once every 7-9 days. any ideas of wut is happening to my plants and is there a cheap fix for it. working on very tight budget. Thank you.

i had the same problem with mg and it plagued me through my whole grow i was told it was to much nitrogen but I never fixed the problem with mg. I went and bought some fox farms grow big and it was well worth the $20 i haven't had the same problem since

If you are misting them with nutes in the solution or are drenching the whole plant foliar feeding you need to stop. Just water the soil. Maybe you should stop the nutes for a week or so to see what happens. I generally give my plants a little "Epsom Salts" (magnesium Sulfate) at the rate of 1 tbsp. or less per gallon of water every month or so. You dont want to overdo it with this stuff. I learned this trick on pepper plants in the garden that won;t produce flowers/fruit. I dont think our problem is magnesium though. You didnt say what kinf=d of MG you are using, I still would cut back some... Its easy to overdo Nutes... and most of the expensive nutes people claim are so good are nothing more than MG with a bunch of BS advertising.

First of all, Thank you for the quick responses. I just mist the plants with straight water. I have my nutes mixed up in a 2 liter pop bottle which I add to the soil. the MG i'm using is the all purpose water soluble ( 24-8-16). I have been reading that yes MG isn't the best for growing. Since I live on the east coast of Canada, finding some of these nute companies that people mention on the site here isn't the easiest to do. Is there anything that I could buy at say Walmart or Canadian Tire that would be better than the stuff I'm using now?

looks like a ph problem try to folier feed if you cant afford a ph meter feed at quarter dose and use some epsom salts but make sure u disolve it warm water

when should I introduce epsom salts to the watering schedule ?

rollinbud said:

If you are misting them with nutes in the solution or are drenching the whole plant foliar feeding you need to stop. Just water the soil. Maybe you should stop the nutes for a week or so to see what happens. I generally give my plants a little "Epsom Salts" (magnesium Sulfate) at the rate of 1 tbsp. or less per gallon of water every month or so. You dont want to overdo it with this stuff. I learned this trick on pepper plants in the garden that won;t produce flowers/fruit. I dont think our problem is magnesium though. You didnt say what kinf=d of MG you are using, I still would cut back some... Its easy to overdo Nutes... and most of the expensive nutes people claim are so good are nothing more than MG with a bunch of BS advertising.

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The MG that I'm using is the all purpose water soluble 24-8-16

how old are your plants are you flowering

they are still in the veg state right now. I started them back near the end of Feb i think it was.

lol bashing on fox farms? ya u could try adding some epsom salt though i start with a tsp at 4 weeks from seed not a tbsp dont want to overdo it but hey to each their own

If you aren't using Reverse Osmosis or distilled water then you will very rarely run into calmag issues as most spring water, natural water, well water, and city water all have calcium and magnesium in them in amounts large enough to support most plants...especially if you are using a good base nute...anytime the tips on your leaves start to die like that it is nute burn...for real. I am a pro when it comes to overfert...I used to do it all the time...I have just recently stopped messing it up...so...I have a huge amount of experience...perhaps just space the time in between feedings...or get some alaska fish fertilizer...And you can get any nutes over the internet...most companies will send you samples for free...but you don't need big numbers like 24-whatever-whatever...most of my nutes are like 4-1-3 for grow or something like that...you just have way way way too much nitrogen...so water much less with no nutes until all the leaves on the plant are the same color..then wait one extra water cycle and then you can give them some nutes again...A plant that is underfed will grow better, and yield more than the same plant overfed...so ease up...even if it less than the plant can take it will be way better than too much....this is for real...I have done worse to plants by caring for them then I have in ignoring them...I have one strain that wouldn't need any nutes at all if you did it 12/12 from seed...it is so nute sensitive and I just gave up on it and stuck it in the corner of the tent and left it alone...and it became an awesome plant...I have one in veg that I am just vegging and vegging and vegging...I don't know why...and it has only needed to be fed once in over 6 months...so for real...some plants don't like it...and some only like a little...and some like a lot...and regardless of how much your plant likes whatever you are giving it is too much...so get some proper not killing ratio-ed nutes and then just let them grow...DNA Genetics Rocklock likes a lot of nutes...but it is DNA Genetics C-13 Haze that doesn't want any at all if possible...I can get the same yield off of both plants with similar veg times...One is just cheaper and requires far less work..would rather be ignored...but that is super boring...So I grow them both...lol.
Sorry I started ranting...
you can get organic ferts no matter where you live, and they are great to learn with...I couldn't figure out anything having to do with nutrients and how they work until I used organic amendments...it just made more sense to me...and is cheaper, and harder to hurt the plants with guano..I mean you can overdo it, but it is harder, and you will see more leaf curl than leaf burn...anyway you can get them anywhere and everywhere...just look up organic soil amendments and go from there.

And there is a huge difference in the expensive nutes and Miracle Gro...Miracle gro is awesome for a lot of plants, but I have very seldom seen it have good results with this particular plant...I think it is because of all the extra stuff they put in it to make sure they have more than everyone else...lol.

There are other expensive nutes that are just as bad, but there are cheap nutes that are better than Miracle Gro. Alaska fish emulsions fertilizer is like crazy cheap and widely available..it is mucky grossness, but the plants like it...don't use it outside...things will come to eat it and dig up your stuff...
Bat guanos...you have to look at the ratios to see which one you want when...I actually just get peruvian seabird guano...12-11-2. I will use it from time to time if a flowering girl looks like she needs some Nitrogen...

Your all purpose food is the problem, You are in flower not gardening generally. Your fert 28 - 8 - 16 means Nitrogen 28 (way too high - save for veg) 8 = P and 16 =K
Too much Mg would lock out P & K of which both levels are way too low. Flower food is usually more P & K and less N. I'd say you have N overdose and P & K def.

Get a flowering formula that is low on N.

And would a flowering nute be alright for a plant that is still vegging? I haven't switched my plant over to flowering yet because i thought it looked like it needed to get a bit bigger first. Does anyone know of any companies that actually send samples to Canada? Fox farms does not, along with bio buzz ( i think thats the name) and there was one more. I have tried some of the suggestions that were put up in another forum, but when I emailed the companies, they said that they do not serve Canada. Any ideas?

lahadaextranjera said:

Your all purpose food is the problem, You are in flower not gardening generally. Your fert 28 - 8 - 16 means Nitrogen 28 (way too high - save for veg) 8 = P and 16 =K
Too much Mg would lock out P & K of which both levels are way too low. Flower food is usually more P & K and less N. I'd say you have N overdose and P & K def.

Get a flowering formula that is low on N.

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ive grown with this cheapo fert for years, also the expensive cartoon nutes, ive seen very little difference in quantity, but it does seem to change the flavor a bit for the worse.not enough to justify a 200 buck nute program...jmho

If you are growing on a large scale there is no replacement for top quality nutrients. I probably average 250$ per month on nutes, but take down 2.5 lbs per month so it is worth it. If you are just growing a plant or two than buying the expensive nutes won't really be worth it. If you want quality and consistancy than spend the money on the nutes.

see thats the thing. I'm not commercially growing or anything like that. I am just doing 2 or 3 plants at a time to better my chances of getting a female for my personal use. I have a very limited budget,hence why I'm growing my own. It's just more cost effective for me to do it this way.

stevemonett said:

when should I introduce epsom salts to the watering schedule ?

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omg epsom salt i say never epsom salt is used when you don't have any cal mag
think about it your adding SALT
first of all i wouldnt add epsom salt i am sure that mg has most of all macro an micro nutrients in it secondly looks like you spilled something on it its not the lower leafs you need to worry about its the new growth and to me it looks fine if anything you prob can give it a little more nutrients cause if you didn't spill anything on it then there's a good possibility its a start of phos def but look at your new growth thats what you got to worry about
Also you can very easily add a teaspoon of molasses in with your feeding this alone has enough of all nutrients to help with any def Good luck

so no to epsom salts. ok that easy enough. I know I didn't spill anything on the plant itself. When I feed with nutes, I pour it into the soil. the only time the leaves get anything is when I mist them with my water bottle. Would diluting the MG further be better? I already have the mix down to about 1/3 dose.
Here is the break down of the guaranteed minimum analysis that is listed on the box
Total Nitrogen (N) 24%
available Phosphate (P2Os) 8%
Soluble Potash ( K2O) 16%
Boron (B)( actual) 0.02%
Copper (Cu) ( actual) 0.07%
Iron (Fe)(Chelated) (actual) 0.15%
Manganese (Mn) ( Chelated)(actual) 0.05%
Molybdenum ( Mo) (actual) 0.0005%
Zinc ( Zn) (actual) 0.06%
EDTA ( chelating agent) 1.2%

Nothing wrong with Epsom salt, unless you overuse it.
Here's a clue or 2 for the clueless:
http://www.coolgreenery.com/Epsomsalt.html
http://www.saltworks.us/gardening-with-epsom-salt.asp#why

I usually put a little out at the rate of about 1/2 tsp. to gal of water maybe once or twice in a growing cycle.
It will not build up in your soil, just don't use it too much or you will get chemistry out of whack.
I wouldnt waste your money on expensive nutes, let others pay for their advertising. Id like to see one of the users of the expensive nutes post the contents of them. I looked on internet for say Fox Farms and not anywhere on web site I saw.