Ready. Set. Diagnose!

Well last week my plant was having the problems of slow stunted growth, yellowing around the edges of the lower/middle plant leaves. My leaves were having ram horn issues as well as the folded leave issue. Some drooped down some went up. I had originally had no nutes at all added when the yellowing signs first showed up. I then added 1/4 nutes but with all the advice I got that it looked like it was burning I flushed. Well 5 days after doing that and the problem still getting worse I did add 1/4 nutes. Nothing has helped at this point. I can't seem to diagnose this. My plant shows so many types of problems I can't tell if its heat stress, under nute, over nute (not sure how the signs showed up originally since no nutes were given and they were 3 weeks old), or some other weird problem. Plants are all around 5.5-7 inches tall.

Visual symptoms:
- Yellow around edges of leaves middle/lower half
- completely yellowing leaves on lower half (may be to lack of light)
- crispy little tips at the end of the leaves now (looks like nute burn now)
- folded up leaves and curled under ram horn leaves
- purplish stem color (stems coming off main stalk and some side ones too)
- brown dead spots on lower leaves
- new growth is starting to have a light yellow coloring
- stunted growth

Info.
Strain: White Widow (annoying little shit to grow)
box: 2.5x3.5x5 ft sectioned into two boxes in the middle, growing in top half (will be receiving a tent next week).
medium: 1 gal grow bags in FFOF soil from the start
light: 400 watt hps 17/7 hanging 1 ft away with fan blowing on plant
watering: every 3-4 days depending on weight and finger test
ph: 6.5-7 when I pour in, runoff is almost always the same.
age: just over a month old. Was hoping to start flowering now but I do not want to with these problems going on.
Temp/humidity: 78-85 degrees with humidity around 50%

Any ideas you can throw at me I would love to hear.

only good thing is my non-main side branches are really starting to grow on the two plants I posted pictures on. The rest basically is not growing at all. I pray that these two plants I show are females. They are by far the best, bushiest, looking plants.

If I'm not mistaken, it's N toxicity. Due to the high amount of N (dunno from where thou) the older leaves and their veins have turned very dark green. Because of this all new growth seems a bit discolored or light. Eventually the plant can no longer handle the excess nutes and starts to burn.

I'm jusy 99% sure that it's N toxicity, so please check if the veins on the older, darker leaves are as dark as the leaf itself. If they are, then the above assumption is correct and you need to flush.

If the answer is however no, then you are looking at one straaange set of deficiencies, iron def (or possibly cold night temps) for the decoloration and a rather weird looking K def...

no its deff N Overdose advanced stages

It's surely an overdose and I would flush her and cut your feeding in half at least.
Good luck

Any idea of what the other issues are, such as the curling of leaves? Often this seems to be from overwatering, but my plant is very light when I water and I do not feel moisture when I feel down several inches. I'm just confused to why it showed all these signs before it had every received nutrients. I have heard of FFOF burning plants, but at the start, now when they are 3 weeks old and growing nicely. Thats my main concern is why did it originally start to have a N overdose. Could it be that the root structure just started to get large enough around week 3 to really use the nutes in the soil?

Everything else looks good to me.

Doctor Cannabis said:

If I'm not mistaken, it's N toxicity. Due to the high amount of N (dunno from where thou) the older leaves and their veins have turned very dark green. Because of this all new growth seems a bit discolored or light. Eventually the plant can no longer handle the excess nutes and starts to burn.

I'm jusy 99% sure that it's N toxicity, so please check if the veins on the older, darker leaves are as dark as the leaf itself. If they are, then the above assumption is correct and you need to flush.

If the answer is however no, then you are looking at one straaange set of deficiencies, iron def (or possibly cold night temps) for the decoloration and a rather weird looking K def...

Click to expand...

When you are talking of the veins, do you mean on the leaves that have turned yellow or on the normal still green leaves?

The ones that have turned yellow, the veins are still dark green compared to the yellow parts. On the leaves that are very dark green all around, the main vein in the leave is a lighter green but the ones branching out on the leaf I can not tell any color difference.

Pretty much seems like I am back to regular water again. When my plant starts to get better should the yellow edges on the green leaves turn back green or will they permanently stay that color? I guess what I am asking is what are good signs to look for to know if my plant is getting better? The yellowing stops, the yellowing recedes, etc. Thanks for all the help so far!

EDIT: as far as flowering goes, how long until you think it would be safe to switch over? I was hoping to by next weekend at the latest, but would rather wait it out if it means a better quality product. I guess I'm not sure how long it will take to fix itself or once I start flushing if its safe to change right after that. I hate being a noob....

I meant the veins on the still dark leaves.

If it's N toxicity and you flush, then the yellowing should slow down and eventually stop, while the leaves turn to a lighter green.

The affested leaves will remain affected.

I usually start flowering when I have 4-6 internodes. Remember that strong indicas double their size during flowering while sativas can even quadruple it. Some growers suggest that the most natural way to see if the plant is ready for flowering is when the first signs of preflowers appear. Then again, there are growers that start with 12/12 from seed and still have remarkable results.

Doctor Cannabis said:

I meant the veins on the still dark leaves.

If it's N toxicity and you flush, then the yellowing should slow down and eventually stop, while the leaves turn to a lighter green.

The affested leaves will remain affected.

I usually start flowering when I have 4-6 internodes. Remember that strong indicas double their size during flowering while sativas can even quadruple it. Some growers suggest that the most natural way to see if the plant is ready for flowering is when the first signs of preflowers appear. Then again, there are growers that start with 12/12 from seed and still have remarkable results.

Click to expand...

ahhh....see I was thinking that the leaves that were just yellowing on the sides would eventually turn back green. Might have solved my problem already the first time and just never realized it. lol, you live you learn and you make it better the next time around. now all i need to decide is if I want to try some auto flowering next time or not..... so many choices. funny part is the pot I will get from this will be more then enough for months of use if I were to smoke heavy which I don't at all right now. For some reason the growing of the plant is incredibly addicting, sort of a hobby, especially seeing the different ways it flowers. I want to try them all even though i'll never be able to smoke all of what I grow. Guess i'll just have to have friends over.... kiss-ass

And we all wish you the best of luck in growing.