# leaves turning light green with pics



## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

My leaves are turning a light green color. This is mostly happening to the topmost leaves but on a couple plants it goes down further. It is only happening to a few of my plants and they are all in the same room with no difference in light, nutes, water.
They are in pro mix,perlite, sand mix and are about 12-14 inches from my 600w mh with air cooled hoods. They are about 5 weeks old. I have ruled out overwatering(I let them dry right out) and too close to the lights. Temps are good, 75-80 day and 70-75 night. Hope this is enough info. Thanks
They look quite a bit lighter than pics show. Also one pic is of healthy plants


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

mikethegrower said:


> My leaves are turning a light green color. This is mostly happening to the topmost leaves but on a couple plants it goes down further. It is only happening to a few of my plants and they are all in the same room with no difference in light, nutes, water.
> They are in pro mix,perlite, sand mix and are about 12-14 inches from my 600w mh with air cooled hoods. They are about 5 weeks old. I have ruled out overwatering(I let them dry right out) and too close to the lights. Temps are good, 75-80 day and 70-75 night. Hope this is enough info. Thanks
> They look quite a bit lighter than pics show. Also one pic is of healthy plants
> View attachment 2379888View attachment 2379889View attachment 2379890View attachment 2379892View attachment 2379893View attachment 2379894


I don't know the NPK values of your feed but it could be a simple case of a lack of nitrogen or a slight magnesium deficiency. Otherwise they look great.


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

They look better in the pics. Here is what I am feeding them.


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## Slipon (Oct 20, 2012)

Ca/Mg is the fist thing that springs to mind .. 

Epsom salt from the local wellness shop or some Ca/MG + from the hydro store .. 
might want to grab some Dolomit Lime now your at it ..


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

Slipon said:


> Ca/Mg is the fist thing that springs to mind ..
> 
> Epsom salt from the local wellness shop or some Ca/MG + from the hydro store ..
> might want to grab some Dolomit Lime now your at it ..


I just repotted from 1 gal pots to 5 gal pots last week and I added 5 tablespoons of dolomite lime to each pot.


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

Actually, you can almost use any fertiliser, but the nitrogen content should be proportionately high, and there should be
some P and L also present. For example, a 20-20-20 would work fine, as would a 12-6-6 or a 3-4-3, but not a 2-10-10
or a 5-10-0.
How much fertiliser to use and how often to fertilise depend primarily on the fertility of the soil and the size of the
container relative to the size of the plant. Small plants in large pots usually do not need to be fertilised. Even in small
pots, most plants do not need to be fertilised for at least the first month.
As the plants grow, they take nutrients from the soil, and these must be replaced to maintain vigorous growth. During
the vegetative stage, even plants in large pots generally require some fertilising, particularly with N.
The rate of growth of indoor plants is usually limited by the amount of light and space, once adequate nutrients are
supplied. At this point, an increase in nutrients will not increase growth. Your goal is to supply the plants with their
nutritional needs without overfertilising and thus toxifying the soil.

(By M+E)


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## scragelynugz (Oct 20, 2012)

I would still check your overwatering dude. Those leaves look plump and heavy. Stick your finger all the way into the soil and wait to water until its almost dry. Whats your pH? this is more important than what nutes you have it on? Soil is 6.8 ideal

Oh, and you added lime but not Sulfur (epsom salt). This could make your pH very basic and lock out Sulfur. (again, check your pH)


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

scragelynugz said:


> I would still check your overwatering dude. Those leaves look plump and heavy. Stick your finger all the way into the soil and wait to water until its almost dry. Whats your pH? this is more important than what nutes you have it on? Soil is 6.8 ideal
> 
> Oh, and you added lime but not Sulfur (epsom salt). This could make your pH very basic and lock out Sulfur. (again, check your pH)


I cant say that's anything to do with watering and a PH of 6.5-6.6 is ideal.


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

My ph is 6.4 when I am watering. I'm not sure how to check soil ph. I tested the first bit of run off when I watered yesterday and it was 6.8. My soil was completely dry before I watered. 8 days between waterings. I see a lot of different ways to check soil ph. I was going to go get some distilled water and mix in some of my soil with it and check it with my ph pen tester. Is this a good method? Thanks


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

mikethegrower said:


> My ph is 6.4 when I am watering. I'm not sure how to check soil ph. I tested the first bit of run off when I watered yesterday and it was 6.8. My soil was completely dry before I watered. 8 days between waterings. I see a lot of different ways to check soil ph. I was going to go get some distilled water and mix in some of my soil with it and check it with my ph pen tester. Is this a good method? Thanks


The run off should always be lower than the soils actual ph. How are you testing it at the moment. ?


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

LUDA said:


> The run off should always be lower than the soils actual ph. How are you testing it at the moment. ?


I took the first bit of run off when I watered last night and used my ph pen tester


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

Measuring the pH of soil is just as important as with hydro applications, but few people know how to test soil pH to see if it is within the optimum range for growing robust healthy plants. Here I will try to explain my method of testing any soil / soilless mix, enabling me to spot any problems and correct them if necessary. 

Firstly, wait till your soil has dried out and is due for its next watering schedule. Then take some plain water that you usually water your garden with, and adjust the pH to 7.0. You must make sure that you know the exact pH of the water going into your soil, and the neutral 7.0 is best, but anywhere from 6.5 &#8211; 7.0 will suffice. 

Then place your pot into a bowl of some sort to catch the runoff water, and then start to water your soil slowly (with your pH- corrected plain water) till the water starts to drip from the bottom. 
It&#8217;s the first drops of water that will give you the best reading of your soil, so make sure to water slowly till you see the first droplets. Then remove the pot from the bowl to eliminate excess water entering the bowl. Then perform the pH test on the runoff and compare it too your initial test. 
The results of the runoff test will likely be lower than your starting value of 7.0. If this is the case, a small drop of 0.5 pH to 6.5 pH (example) would be ok and your soil needs no further alterations at the moment. But that&#8217;s not to say that it won&#8217;t need any future tests at all, just not at this time. 

[Editor&#8217;s note: It may be beneficial to obtain an initial sample, as well as a &#8216;full flush&#8217; sample in seperate bowls. In addition, test several plants in the garden just to verify your results] 

*What if the pH is off?* 
If your results prove to have dropped considerably, say to around 5.5 (which can happen in late stages of flowering), you will need to add some lime into your soil to help buffer the pH back up again. 

Remove the first inch or so of soil, taking care not to damage any roots whilst performing this task. Then sprinkle the lime into the pot, nice and evenly at a rate of 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of lime per gallon of soil. Then replace the soil you removed earlier, and saturate the soil good to wash in the lime. 

Do the same test next time your plants need watering just to check that everything is fine, if more lime needs to be added then just repeat the process again till you reach close to 6.5 &#8211; 7.0 with the runoff. 

Ensuring that your pH is correct should be done throughout the life cycle; this will help eliminate any nutrient lockout that may occur. I recommend doing this once a month just to keep the PH in check, and you should never have a problem with deficiencies caused by pH lockout.​


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

I used 1 tablespoon of dolomite lime per gallon


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

mikethegrower said:


> I used 1 tablespoon of dolomite lime per gallon


Give it a few days and see what happens but i wouldent worry about it to much. Its not a major problem.


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## mikethegrower (Oct 20, 2012)

mikethegrower said:


> I used 1 tablespoon of dolomite lime per gallon


Ok, thanks for the tips


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## LUDA (Oct 20, 2012)

mikethegrower said:


> Ok, thanks for the tips


Anytime buddy.

Good luck.


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## mikethegrower (Oct 21, 2012)

Update. I was working in the garden this morning and noticed that the light above my really healthy plants looked a different color so I got out my light meter and did a check. Turns out that the the light hitting the canopy was way lower on that light than on the lights that were above the plants that were turning yellow. That explains why all the plants under some lights were doing great and all the plants under some other lights were turning yellow. Raised all my lights so I hope that has fixed the problem. Now I just have to find out if it is a faulty buld, ballast or fixture. Hope this helps anyone else with a similar problem. I had the lights about 10 in away and the temps were ok because of the air cooled hoods but I guess it was just too much light.


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## smillz (Oct 21, 2012)

It isn't nitrogen, because nitrogen works from the bottom of the plant upward, not from the top downward. The plant will consume the oldest leaves for nutrients before attacking the youngest growth. I believe Ca/Mg which was said earlier is the most likely case.


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## Hadley Lovebud (Nov 17, 2015)

Did your plants return to a darker green after raising the lights?


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## Budgrowguide (Sep 28, 2017)

Would love to know if raising the lights solved your issue.


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## Cletus clem (Sep 28, 2017)

I dont think there was ever anything wrong. As plants get bigger and rate of growth is faster, newer growth will start paler in color and darken up as it matures. You can see that happening. Multiple lights with different spectrums can exaggerate this effect. Just my opinion.


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## Bubba_T (Jan 29, 2018)

Hey guys I was wondering did anyone figure out why that happened? I am experiencing the same thing


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## Philip Burek (Jan 29, 2018)

You have one of a few problems...ph imbalance can block out ur nutes or slow uptake of certain ones depending on the imbalance of your ph, too high or too low, shoot for 6.5. Over fertilizing can shut down nutrient uptake altogether and cause curled over leaves as can over water. With out magnesium as said...your plants can not properly perform photosynthesis. It's not considered a macro nutrient but do not under estimate it's importance! Looks like ph or over water.


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## Bubba_T (Feb 22, 2018)

Philip Burek said:


> You have one of a few problems...ph imbalance can block out ur nutes or slow uptake of certain ones depending on the imbalance of your ph, too high or too low, shoot for 6.5. Over fertilizing can shut down nutrient uptake altogether and cause curled over leaves as can over water. With out magnesium as said...your plants can not properly perform photosynthesis. It's not considered a macro nutrient but do not under estimate it's importance! Looks like ph or over water.


Thank you so much for that help you were exactly on it they are all doing beautiful again !! You are a life saver!! Lol


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## Streetsports (Mar 4, 2018)

Bubba_T said:


> Thank you so much for that help you were exactly on it they are all doing beautiful again !! You are a life saver!! Lol


Which thing fixed it? Did you add more calmag?


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## Terauparaha (Feb 21, 2020)

dont you hate it when theres no update lol


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## Ryan sentner (Jun 2, 2020)

Slipon said:


> Ca/Mg is the fist thing that springs to mind ..
> 
> Epsom salt from the local wellness shop or some Ca/MG + from the hydro store ..
> might want to grab some Dolomit Lime now your at it ..


How much Epsom salt should I put per plant


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## First time grower73 (Sep 18, 2020)

Did the lights fix the issue? I just read all that and didn't get an answer lol


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## polishpollack (Sep 18, 2020)

This thread is 8 years old. oops.


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## steve870 (Sep 18, 2020)

what happened to your plants


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## Terauparaha (Sep 22, 2020)

polishpollack said:


> This thread is 8 years old. oops.


lol


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## steve870 (Sep 22, 2020)

o sorry


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## First time grower73 (Sep 27, 2020)

Terauparaha said:


> lol


Lol holy crap. No wonder I didn't get a lot of replies


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## Sem521 (Oct 21, 2020)

mikethegrower said:


> My leaves are turning a light green color. This is mostly happening to the topmost leaves but on a couple plants it goes down further. It is only happening to a few of my plants and they are all in the same room with no difference in light, nutes, water.
> They are in pro mix,perlite, sand mix and are about 12-14 inches from my 600w mh with air cooled hoods. They are about 5 weeks old. I have ruled out overwatering(I let them dry right out) and too close to the lights. Temps are good, 75-80 day and 70-75 night. Hope this is enough info. Thanks
> They look quite a bit lighter than pics show. Also one pic is of healthy plants
> View attachment 2379888View attachment 2379889View attachment 2379890View attachment 2379892View attachment 2379893View attachment 2379894


Are they auto,s....they look to be pre-flowers...?


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## Grow4health.oninsta (Nov 29, 2020)

scragelynugz said:


> I would still check your overwatering dude. Those leaves look plump and heavy. Stick your finger all the way into the soil and wait to water until its almost dry. Whats your pH? this is more important than what nutes you have it on? Soil is 6.8 ideal
> 
> Oh, and you added lime but not Sulfur (epsom salt). This could make your pH very basic and lock out Sulfur. (again, check your pH)


 For living soil the salt will also kill most of what you've worked to create in the soil altogether


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## cody.young11 (Dec 11, 2020)

mikethegrower said:


> They look better in the pics. Here is what I am feeding them.View attachment 2379906


What nutes are those? And are you using coco?


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## Chaz101 (Jan 6, 2021)

Hi I was wondering if anyone could tell me why my plants are lime green thanks


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## WolfgangSabado (Jan 12, 2021)

How close are your lights? What are you feeding them? Soil Ph?


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## Chaz101 (Jan 14, 2021)

WolfgangSabado said:


> How close are your lights? What are you feeding them? Soil Ph?


I’ve manage to sort it I think it was a nitrogen dEficiency I’ve started using canna mono nut for the deficiency and they are look a lot more Normal now getting colour back. I’m just using bat guano and tap water I know it’s not ph perfect and the light are about a metre from the plants I’m not sure the ph of the soil but I’m using is called plant magic in a black bag


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2022)

Carbon copy same issue with one of my ladies .. gonna have to read this thread 3 or 4 times ...


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## BongerChonger (Nov 17, 2022)

I'd wager 9/10 times the problems in this thread, is due to a lack of aeration at the rootzone. (most often soil grown plants too)
Need to lighten the mixes up a bit. Perlite's a must.


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## Southernontariogrower (Nov 17, 2022)

Spray liberally with Epsom salts in tapwater. If is a calcium problem it should fix her up. Mag will allow cal to be used easier.


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## [email protected] (Nov 17, 2022)

Southernontariogrower said:


> Spray liberally with Epsom salts in tapwater. If is a calcium problem it should fix her up. Mag will allow cal to be used easier.


I'm spraying it with a lite mix of cal mag right now, didn't even think of the epsom salt, might just try that next spraying.


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## Southernontariogrower (Nov 17, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> I'm spraying it with a lite mix of cal mag right now, didn't even think of the epsom salt, might just try that next spraying.


The calcium might be the issue. Ph ok?


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## BongerChonger (Nov 17, 2022)

They look locked-out hardcore. How well are the pots draining? How often are they watered or fed?


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## [email protected] (Nov 17, 2022)

The one Kush of the two sure does look like a lockout, I'll double check the pH but the last time I checked it was about 6.5.. gonna go check real quick... (elevator music begins..)................................................... .................................... .................. and I'm back.. so yes, 6.6pH and the pots don't drain, (organic grow) I only water about 5% -10% of the pots volume at a time and have been checking the pots soil daily with a (moisture) soil meter, and really don't trust those things, for some reason when and if your using a mulch layer it throws the meter off a bit, just seems that way to me, anyways, I've been super careful not to overwater these ladies, 6 in a tent, (3 pairs of variants) and it's just the one Kush of the 2 that looks like it has a lockout. The others look like they're over fertilized.. (dam Ocean Forest) so I'm really baffled by the one that's a pale green, came quick when I flipped 2 weeks ago. I've recently top dressed with some compost, EWC, and a little Craft Blend dry amendments. And before that I fed it some Neptunes Harvest fish n Kelp liquid fertilizer about a week ago. The big difference between this pot from the others is that It's mostly recycled soil from pots I had outside for a year or so. I reamended it with EWC and the Craft Blend, mixed it up good before potting. I'm sure I did that for the two Kush pots, but the way things are looking, probably just the one that's got the potential lockout. Now if my water was, (and it is) high in calcium carbonate.. one would think that the calcium could be the one nutrient causing the lockout, (but the pH checks out and the one plant of the six is ailing, why not the other 5 being watered by the exact same water? So you see why and how I'm a little stumped here. She's top center.


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## [email protected] (Nov 17, 2022)

Maybe it is the calcium...


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## BongerChonger (Nov 17, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> 6.6pH and the pots don't drain, (organic grow) I only water about 5% -10% of the pots volume at a time and have been checking the pots soil daily with a (moisture) soil meter.


Honestly, despite what's often posted on mj forums, this is generally a frowned upon practice.
For more than one reason. One main reasons being accumulation of minerals and silts over long periods of time. Turns soils heavy as well.
Nothing wrong at all with a trickle out the bottom each time. It's sensible practice.


[email protected] said:


> The big difference between this pot from the others is that It's mostly recycled soil from pots I had outside for a year or so.


Bingo^


[email protected] said:


> The others look like they're over fertilized.. (dam Ocean Forest) so I'm really baffled by the one that's a pale green, came quick when I flipped 2 weeks ago. I've recently top dressed with some compost, EWC, and a little Craft Blend dry amendments. And before that I fed it some Neptunes Harvest fish n Kelp liquid fertilizer about a week ago.


You're right, it is just that 1 really.


[email protected] said:


> (and it is) high in calcium carbonate.. one would think that the calcium could be the one nutrient causing the lockout, (but the pH checks out and the one plant of the six is ailing, why not the other 5 being watered by the exact same water?


I think it can all be attributed to aeration, honestly.
It's not calcium carbonate, it's not pH, it's not your input. (other plants are mostly good)
It's the plant's environment and your watering practices.

I'd be adding perlite to the ocean forest or recycled soil every time. And if you have been, add a little more.
Start watering until the point you get just a small trickle out the bottom. And periodically allow for more.


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## [email protected] (Nov 17, 2022)

BongerChonger said:


> Honestly, despite what's often posted on mj forums, this is generally a frowned upon practice.
> For more than one reason. One main reasons being accumulation of minerals and silts over long periods of time. Turns soils heavy as well.
> Nothing wrong at all with a trickle out the bottom each time. It's sensible practice.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll make a note to add extra perlite next go around. And ..I didn't add any additional to that sad pot. Well, crap. now what, should I cull her or let the pot dry out some? Thanks again for the input.


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## BongerChonger (Nov 17, 2022)

[email protected] said:


> Thanks, I'll make a note to add extra perlite next go around. And ..I didn't add any additional to that sad pot. Well, crap. now what, should I cull her or let the pot dry out some? Thanks again for the input.


No problem. Nothing too drastic. Maybe, if you think it's been a bit soggy. But more so, start running to a trickle of drainage.

Your pics also...for future reference is most likely Iron. Given the interveinal chlorosis and general yellowing in the tops of the plants, working downward.
It's unlikely to be calcium, because of the pH. And it's not magnesium, because of pH + magnesium is mobile. Deficiency will start on the older bottom leaves first and progress upward.

It's likely just lockout being recycled soil, and for reasons stated in my comments above.

GL


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## polishpollack (Dec 5, 2022)

Bubba_T said:


> Thank you so much for that help you were exactly on it they are all doing beautiful again !! You are a life saver!! Lol


what was the solution to the problem?


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