things keep steadily getting worse

Not really sure whats wrong. This is my 3rd grow and this always seems to happen.

Im almost to week 6 in flowering barney's farm red desiel, most of the leaves are turning lighter green. Alot of leaves have dark spots, and some leaves are curling way up and dried out, some curl down. They all seem kinda dried out.

Im using a 600 watt hps, and as of about a week ago i think i kept it about 16 inches from the top middle plant. Ive always kept a fan blowing right under the light so i thought heat issues werent the prob. But as of about a week ago i moved the light up to 18-19 inches away and i spread the plants out a lil more than they were.

Ive only been able to feed them tiger bloom and calmag....i ran out of big bloom awhile back.

Ive flushed them all 2 times already awhile back. Im guessing ill need to flush them again soon.

Ive tried heavy feeding with the tiger bloom and calmag, and ive tried light feeding, but as time goes by, they seem to be getting worst and worst.

It actually started with one plant, and as time went on, slowly 1 by 1 started looking sickly. Theres still about 2 or 3 plants left that look good, but at this rate im going im not feeling too confident about them.

If theres any other info you need please let me know. Thanks for reading

~10 week strain
Tiger Bloom + Cal-Mag+ are sufficient. Big Bloom is really not needed.
http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/Fertilizers/FertDB/prodinfo.aspx?pname=3629
http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/Fertilizers/FertDB/prodinfo.aspx?pname=4295

Difficult to see the symptoms with HPS lighting. What's the growing medium? What is your feeding regimen? What is the pH of your nutrient solution and the runoff? What source of water are you using?

Ah srry bout the pics, ill post some more when the lights go out soon.
Im using roots organic for the first time. i wish i would of stuck with ffof. Ever since i started using roots organic, ive spotted a few tiny gnats here and there. Im guessing there fungus gnats. I just sprayed the top of the medium and around the bottom of each pots with some insecticide i got from lowes about a week or 2 ago.
Im using tap water that sits in jugs for a few days before watering. Water straight out of the sink is usually around ph of 8.(i use the drops so i just have to estimate) So i try to bring the ph closest to 6.5, but it could be as high as 7 at times, and as low as 6. I think right now the past 2 times i fed the water is closer to 7. Ive never checked to see what the ph is after i put the nutes in the water. I have a habit of using big bloom and with that stuff you cant really check the ph with the drops.
I water the plants about every 3 days. There in 3 gal pots, i wait until there not bone dry, when my moister reader reaches around 5, which is moist/dry.
The first few weeks of flower i gave it 2 tsp of tiger bloom and 1 tsp calmag per gallon. Then i started to see some problems, leaves curling up, spots, all the problems seems to start at the top part of the plants. So then i flushed, and fed them even less, about half what i did before.
Well since they havent seem to get any better, the last 2 times i watered, i fed them with 3-4 tsp tiger bloom, 2 tsp calmag per gallon, just to see what happens, and now 1 plant in particular has alot of the top leaves curling way upward.
I have never checked the ph runoff. Does that mean the water thats running out the bottom of the pot?
Hope that answers your questions

lights are turning off soon. Ill post some more pics in just a few minutes.

Im on my second grow, and on my first I had the same problems, i'm a hydro grower. The spots for me meant nut deficiency, so I gave them heavy nutes. That over did it and made my tips the same as what yours look like. Seriously, if your hydro flush, flush again, scrub the buckets, flush and then keep your PH balanced and add no nutes till leaves are normal looking. Soil grow just give plain water and flush, flush, and flush again. Then once your leaves look normal again start nuts. I have been using nuts at a little less then half of what fox farm recommends. I use the whole fox farm line plus Hygrozyme, and was told fox farm is for people who know what they are doing, it kicked my ass the first grow but now can keep it maintained. Oh yeah, PH and TDS meter help a shit load as well, but come at a higher price for nice units.

These turned out alot better i think.

thomas12404 said:

Im on my second grow, and on my first I had the same problems, i'm a hydro grower. The spots for me meant nut deficiency, so I gave them heavy nutes. That over did it and made my tips the same as what yours look like. Seriously, if your hydro flush, flush again, scrub the buckets, flush and then keep your PH balanced and add no nutes till leaves are normal looking. Soil grow just give plain water and flush, flush, and flush again. Then once your leaves look normal again start nuts. I have been using nuts at a little less then half of what fox farm recommends. I use the whole fox farm line plus Hygrozyme, and was told fox farm is for people who know what they are doing, it kicked my ass the first grow but now can keep it maintained. Oh yeah, PH and TDS meter help a shit load as well, but come at a higher price for nice units.

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Thats a good idea. Ill just keep flushing until i see a change.Thanks man

I wonder if its a good idea to carefully take them out of their pots and fluff up the soil?

Disregarding the insecticide as a cause, I would surmise that your plants are unhappy due to fluctuating pH and nourishment. Given your light source, 4tsp TB and 2tsp CM+ is an ample amount. Feed every watering with 1/3 of that amount or feed full strength every third watering. But first, you must correct the pH of your runoff; yes, that's the waste water. That needs to be around 6. I suggest that you run some distilled water through them until your runoff is in the low 6 range and then begin the above mentioned feeding schedule. Keep measuring your runoff so you can adjust the feeding and/or watering pH to achieve the desired runoff pH. You may need to invest in some pH Down or continue using distilled water and use your tap as a pH-up. Nice flowers considering the plight. Good luck!

I would do the flushing, then let the soil dry up a little bit to fluff it up. From the pictures you are going to run into problems with there size, and the roots are going to be spread everywhere and bet money on it you slow the grow and hurt your weight and dankness. I wouldn't do anything but flush till things look good, then start with half recommended nut feed. With soil what they say is water with plain water, let soil get almost dry then water with your nute mix on your next feeding. Never mix your nutes together fill water jug with half the water you will feed to the plant and add one nute, then do the same amount of water with your other nutes. It is recommended you water your plants with nutes every other feeding, not because your leaves are turning colors, you will run into problems every time with out the correct meters. Any thoughts on HYDROPONICS? It is a hell of a lot easier then soil, but can turn nasty fast if not watched daily, and is not cheap.

lightweight said:

Disregarding the insecticide as a cause, I would surmise that your plants are unhappy due to fluctuating pH and nourishment. Given your light source, 4tsp TB and 2tsp CM+ is an ample amount. Feed every watering with 1/3 of that amount or feed full strength every third watering. But first, you must correct the pH of your runoff; yes, that's the waste water. That needs to be around 6. I suggest that you run some distilled water through them until your runoff is in the low 6 range and then begin the above mentioned feeding schedule. Keep measuring your runoff so you can adjust the feeding and/or watering pH to achieve the desired runoff pH. You may need to invest in some pH Down or continue using distilled water and use your tap as a pH-up. Nice flowers considering the plight. Good luck!

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You grow in soil? I was going to throw in the bit about PH but smoked some trainwreck and you know where that leads, lol. I would advise to start with half ever other feeding. Fox Farm is some strong shit, and would hate to see the same thing happen. I have notice a big diff in what PH and PPM will do to diff strains. If he starts getting spots I would say check PH. If that checks out to be good add what you recommended for feeding. I have been growing trainwreck, and lemon skunk, both GreenHouse, and they love to be around 800-1000 PPM 442 factor. I have another plant that is a sativa and is a bitch in my 41/2'x51/2'x9' tents, and thats a good size tent. I can tell that would like the PPM higher bc the leaves are changing color, but im running a undercurrent 4 bucket system and need to keep it at the PPM the LS and TW like.

@thomas:
You cannot mix nutrients together? Water with each nutrient separatly? Why? Never heard that one before (but I'm not familar with those nutrients).

thomas12404 said:

You grow in soil?

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Not currently but it was my start; Pro-Mix and perlite.

krok said:

@thomas:
You cannot mix nutrients together? Water with each nutrient separatly? Why? Never heard that one before (but I'm not familar with those nutrients).

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Everything I have heard it is not good. If I hear something more then three times and people agree I will not do it, and recommend other not to as well. Think about it, and i'm not saying this is why, but what if you add to diff nutes together and it has a bad reaction, and damages the compounds. I just like to be safe, have you mixed them together without have any noticeable effects?

lightweight said:

Not currently but it was my start; Pro-Mix and perlite.

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So you are growing hydro now?

thomas12404 said:

Everything I have heard it is not good. If I hear something more then three times and people agree I will not do it, and recommend other not to as well. Think about it, and i'm not saying this is why, but what if you add to diff nutes together and it has a bad reaction, and damages the compounds. I just like to be safe, have you mixed them together without have any noticeable effects?

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Yes, using BioBizz Grow and Bloom, which are designed to go together. I have two grows behind me with those nutrients.
I can't even imagine all the work watering plants when you have to prepare several bottles just for one single plant.

If I were you I would call/mail the company behind your nutrients and ask if they can be mixed, instead of "when I hear something more than 3 times".

thomas12404 said:

So you are growing hydro now?

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I don't have a permanent residence or the funds to experiment with hydro. My last run was with vermiculite and perlite drain-to-waste and it fared far better than any potting soil I've used thus far plus the fruits of my labor didn't taste like moss.

Well..... i woke up today to see my very best plant not looking so good

I just got done flushing that one and one other. ill be flushing all of them all day i guess.

I check the runoff ph and to my surprise it looked pretty good. Somewhere in the low 6 area. 6.2 or 6.3 is my guess

o god this fucking sucks. I have a 600 watt light, and it looks like im steadily fucking up every one of my plants. I had high hopes of yielding somewhere around 12 oz's or more but at this fucking rate i think ill be lucky to yield a half pound...

smokermore said:

Well..... i woke up today to see my very best plant not looking so good

I just got done flushing that one and one other. ill be flushing all of them all day i guess.

I check the runoff ph and to my surprise it looked pretty good. Somewhere in the low 6 area. 6.2 or 6.3 is my guess

o god this fucking sucks. I have a 600 watt light, and it looks like im steadily fucking up every one of my plants. I had high hopes of yielding somewhere around 12 oz's or more but at this fucking rate i think ill be lucky to yield a half pound...

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I really couldn't grow that good in soil either man. With hydro I can check my ph and tds and fix it right away if needed. Soil acts as a buffer, but more of a pain in the ass buffer if you ask me. How do they look today?

thomas12404 said:

I really couldn't grow that good in soil either man. With hydro I can check my ph and tds and fix it right away if needed. Soil acts as a buffer, but more of a pain in the ass buffer if you ask me. How do they look today?

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Oh man still not to good. My best plant is looking to be in the worst condition now. 4 days ago she was fine. Atleast i kno for sure what the prob is lol that being too much nutes. i do this every fracking time. Ive been thinking about starting my next mother plant in a little hydro system, just to get a feel for it and to see if i can even do it. Im so out of money right now it would be hard for me to make a decent setup i think. Looks like the lights are going out in 30 min, ill post some more pics. they look pretty much the same tho, if not worst. I plan to flush them again whenever they get pretty dry. I just flushed them 2 days ago and it looks like they might be dry by tomorrow.

How did everything turn out buddy?