Plants are stalling during flowering, check my pix

So any new leaf growth on my girls is puny and droopy. The lower fan leaves are turning yellow from the tips inwards and have some brown splotches. They've been flowering for 5 weeks. They are in 100% perlite hempy buckets and being fed FF grow big/tiger bloom in RO water and then adjusted to 5.8 pH. I thought it was a Phosphorus deficiency so I bumped that; no effect. I just gave them two tsp/gal cal-mag plus thinking the RO water might be causing that problem but I'm in the dark here. Help me out O mighty RIU'ers. I'm down to my last mason jar!!!!!

P.S. I'm not getting anywhere uploading pix from my comp or from an URL. What's up with that? RIU server too busy?

Hmm, welll one pic uploaded anyway. Definitely enough for you guys to see my problem. Oh, yea, I flushed heavily a week ago and then lightly fed them too, but they still look locked out on the Nitrogen.

Here's a couple more.

and a couple more . . . .

Hmmmm, since they're hempy buckets i don't think it can be overwatering... But that's what it looks like to me. How often do you water them?

Also, what's the humidity level?

MrHowardMarks said:

Hmmmm, since they're hempy buckets i don't think it can be overwatering... But that's what it looks like to me. How often do you water them?

Also, what's the humidity level?

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I water them when they get light, probably every 4 days, nutes every other watering. You are right that hempy buckets cannot be overwatered, and that is not the problem here; I've grown hempy before and never had this problem. The underside of fan leaves are purple/red, the petioles are red, indicating N and P deficiencies, so it's not uptaking those. I'm kind of hoping the cal-mag will make a difference but meanwhile, I'm getting no closer to harvesting since these guys are basically just idling until I get this figured out. Thanks for looking.

Fifty Views and one response in three hours? c'mon people! Help me put the kind back in my bud!

I just re-read, I thought you were using the CalMag throughout your feedings.

With RO water CalMag is pretty much essential, because the RO takes all the minerals and calcium etc out of the water.

With the addition of CalMag, I think you've answered your own question.

Oh, and all the views with no responses is probably because it's a hard question to answer... Nobody but you really knows whats going on to them, you're god to the plants. Without you they're compost

MrHowardMarks said:

I just re-read, I thought you were using the CalMag throughout your feedings.

With RO water CalMag is pretty much essential, because the RO takes all the minerals and calcium etc out of the water.

With the addition of CalMag, I think you've answered your own question.

Oh, and all the views with no responses is probably because it's a hard question to answer... Nobody but you really knows whats going on to them, you're god to the plants. Without you they're compost

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I sooo hope you are right. As for the view/response ratio, around here you expect to get five or six ignorant answers right away, of course the time of day might make a difference . . . . naaaah!!!

Do you have any idea how long it might take to see some change? I guess I could just wait and find out

I have leaves that are looking like that and on closer examination I discovered spider mites, damn things. I hope that is not what you have going on, but you might want to check for critters.

misshestermoffitt said:

I have leaves that are looking like that and on closer examination I discovered spider mites, damn things. I hope that is not what you have going on, but you might want to check for critters.

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I think I'm staying with Cal=mag deficiency! I'm pretty sure it's not a critter problem, but I'm going to check with my trusty magnifier to be sure. Thanks for checking in though.

If you were right about the CalMag, and you already did a flush, I'd say they'll be back on track within a week, the shock will delay the harvest by probably a week.

MrHowardMarks said:

If you were right about the CalMag, and you already did a flush, I'd say they'll be back on track within a week, the shock will delay the harvest by probably a week.

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Your 1600th post since September! This might be my 300th in a year! Thanks for the help. You are definitely on my list of wise and worthy growers!kiss-ass

hummm i see taco shell leaves its cold and you might want to check you temps at night it might just dip just below 75 or i have no idea what a hempy bucket is but the soil medium or water is to cold slowdown of growth is surely stress so now determined the stress

Reiffizzle said:

hummm i see taco shell leaves its cold and you might want to check you temps at night it might just dip just below 75 or i have no idea what a hempy bucket is but the soil medium or water is to cold slowdown of growth is surely stress so now determined the stress

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A hempy bucket is a passive hydroponic system. It's a bucket filled with, in my case, perlite, with a drainage hole a couple inches up the side. This creates a reservoir beneath the roots from which they drink.

Below 75 is not too cold for MJ at night. I doubt my grow space gets below 70 and when I pH my water it's usually around 66. I'm pretty sure it's a nutrient problem. Thanks for looking.

shnkrmn said:

Your 1600th post since September! This might be my 300th in a year! Thanks for the help. You are definitely on my list of wise and worthy growers!kiss-ass

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Yeah, I'm not new to forums, I was a long time member of another forum, and it went under, and I didn't use the internet for a few years... Patriot Act and all...

There's at least 600 posts from me in Toke n Talk so I'm not all factual all the time I commend you on your diagnosis, most people wouldn't have a clue, hence no replies. Until you mentioned the red purple stems and that you haven't been using CalMag w/ the RO, i think that's the problem. Hell, most people i see don't even check their pH and they use Miracle Grow... Whatever works for them I guess. I use the whole Advanced lineup, have tried all the different feeding lines, and really can't decide between the 2part and the Organics...

What I'm saying is you're more advanced than you think... +rep for ya.

What I'm saying is you're more advanced than you think... +rep for ya.[/quote]

Thanks for the compliment. I've never made the same mistakes twice over 4 smallish grows. I consider myself as 'getting close to competent'. I credit RIU for much of my progress. I cloned successfully from this crop for the first time in 3 attempts (I just needed to pay more attention to what I was doing) so I have quite a few other plants ready to go when these are done, assuming they recover. I'll post some pictures of my plants in a week or so if there's been any change. Thanks again.

I think you are having the same problem I have.

My pH was way too high.

I have started adjusting the pH to 5.6 before I feed
and the plants are doing better.

The flowering plants are not being helped much.

You cannot repair damaged leaves
and the plant is so stressed,
that it cannot get enough nutes
without using the nutes stored in the leaves.
basically eating itself.

You need to collect a sample of run-off from each bucket,
and check the run off pH and TDS if you have a meter for that

Get the run-off down to 5.8

Set them in the bath tub if you need to.
Do one at a time.

I have four plants still in veg,
and they have responded very well
to the lower pH.

It is very hard to check the pH of RO
without ruining your pH orobe.

So mix up some 200ppm nutes first,
and then check and lower the pH to 5.6

Then flush your plants with 5.6
until the pH drops to 5.8.

In a few days you can feed again with 5.8 pH nutes at 50% load.
Check the run-off again for pH

Don't take a sick girl to the steak house.

.

But not because you think.

There is a typo in my first post. I pH my solution to 5.8 not 6.8.
Stupid fat fingers.

I have a Hanna combo meter. I don't test my RO with it but if I did, how would I know the probe was ruined? Really curious about that. I calibrate my meter fairly regularly.

I've read your hempy thread and was surprised to read you weren't monitoring pH before. As a hydro guy, I would have thought you'd just do that regardless of what method you were using.

Thanks for looking at my problem. You don't think it could stem from my not using calmag supplement with RO this whole grow?

Earl said:

I think you are having the same problem I have.

My pH was way too high.

I have started adjusting the pH to 5.6 before I feed
and the plants are doing better.

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Yeah, you did post 5.8, not 6.8... I just checked.

Good point though earl, check the runoff, maybe there are built up salts that are fucking with your pH...