Can't tell if deficient or toxic? Please help

Hi everyone I'm new to this site. I've been growing for about 3 years now off and on. I've used hps before with no problem but due to restrictions I had to go smaller. I'm growing a NASA og clone in ff happy frog soil with a half table spoon of marine bird guano under 218 watts (5 23w, 1 65w, 1 33w cfl. Lumens ranging around 16,000) temps generally stay at mid 80's and never exceed 90 degrees and humidity stays generally around 40 percent. Lights are exactly 4inchs from tops. Now to the problem. Just about 5 -7 days ago I started to see that the edges of my leaves were turning light yellow then into a brown color . Resulting in drie edges and crispy. The leaves were all reaching for the lights before and had curled edges facing up. Now the leaves droop down and only the new growth reaches up . The leaves don't stand up much like they used to. I was watering first with tap water that I left in an uncapped gallon jug for about 3 days. I think that's what started this but I'm not sure. I messed up and flushed with tap water to see if that'll fix it. I immediately realized I screwed up. My next waterings consisted of r.o bottled water only. I slowly then fed her a very low dose of nutes, less than half strength . I'm using dr. Earth nitro big for veg, and dr earth big bloom for flower . I also have super thrive and marine bird guano. For the first feeding I only mixed the nitro big veg , and a few drops of super thrive to try and de stress the plant. It looks like it maybe helped but I feel like I need more help. I apologize for the lengthy rant but she's my baby and she's sick. Since I'm growing in and 2x3 by 1 foot deep cab early flowering and keeping her short is a must but I don't want to stress her even more by switching to 12/12 from her 18/6 schedule . I forgot to mention I topped her about 4 times now and used a cable wire and bent it to lst her. I will build a scrog set up soon. Please guys give me some insight, if you need any more details lll be glad to go further in depth about it.what do you guys think it can be and what can I do?

Happy frog with guano... Fert burn my guess.
Tiny cab too much heat maybe.

That was one of my guesses to but I would check the can every 30 minutes or so and te temp only go over 85 and bump up to 90 for te last hour the lights are on. I followed the instructions on the bag and used a half table spoon per gallon of soil. I'm currently in a 1 gallon sorta "pot".

90 degrees is hot

Would it be too hot to continue growing? I've done just about my best with intake and exhaust for the size I have. I have a 5inch passive intake, and a 4inch round USB fan for exhaust . Moves quiet a bit of air for its size. I have some pc fans I can wire up as an extra exhaust .

Sorry I forgot to thank you guys for reading my lengthy rant and replying its very appreciated

I have no advice past get better lights ventilation and soil as i wouldn't entertain this problematic style of grow when i could be doing it easy.

I grow with CFL's. TOO MUCH HEAT! theres no room, your plants need a little more room to breathe. your lights need some way for the heat to escape. It alo looks like you have nute burn. The sides of the leaves curling in is heat stress. yellowing and intense green looks like something to do with nutes. I'd flush with ph'd distilled water. A few drops of superthrive? thats a drop a gal stuff. also your soil contains nutes. Let her grow without nutes for a little while. people forget that you dont always have to add nutes. Thats why you grow in soil. The nutes are already in the soil. I know happy frog i a light nute mix but let her grow with plain old water, and maybe a DROP PER GALLON of superthrive. Now a drop per gallon meaning when you water your plant... fill up a gallon jug, and put 1 drop of superthrive. you can do this every other feeding until your plant gets older. Hell you can do it every time, but let her destress, do it every other time, and let the soil feed your plant like its supposed to. You still need to water when shes damn near dried out, just hold off on the nutes. A good rule of thumb in soil (especially ones youve added MORE nutes to) is to not add nutrients/supplements UNLESS she shows deficiency signs. then you educate yourself; figure out what it is, and add it every other feeding.. usually for me it was always potash.

You arent doing a problematic grow. Youre doing the easiest CHEAPEST most convenient option you have. And i get that. You can grow with what you got, just need a bigger box. maybe another fan. Point a fan directly up at those CFLs and point another one ABOVE your plant. should just barely move it around.


I grow with CFL's, while I am buying an HPS, I will still veg with CFL. Theres nothing wrong with flowering with CFL's, I just want a stronger setup for a serious yild potential. You wont pull a pound from those CFL's, but you'll be able to learn a thing or two and reap the rewards of a little time and effort. If growing is for you; one day take your knowledge and get you a better setup. Dont listen to the guys bashing your system, I encourage you to have fun with it.

Better soil , and lights? After shopping aroun and reading numerous post i came to the conclusion that ff was the best option as for soil. An for lights, as far as cfls the isn't much of an option. Hps isn't an Option because I only have a 400w setup and 250 would be too much and 150 would be pointless. But thanks for your advice.

Thanks simply stoned for the insight, I'm considering moving it into a dresser that is about 3x4 , 1.5 feet deep. I've grown before with a way cheaper set up before and didnt have any problems .literally the cheapest I was able to do at that point (minimal cfls, miracle grow soil, tap water and that's it) I had 0 issues. Now that I'm trying to use the higher quality things like nutes, and soil and better cfls. I run Into problems. If much rather run my 400w hps but I no longer have my tent and needed to be a little more low key . Because of roommates. Next purchase will be a ppm and ph meter to see if maybe it can be a ph issue creating salt build up or lock out.

I would like to say that FF is a wonderful soil, I would not say the best. It runs pretty hot with nutes, and depending on your situation, you will have different needs. You chose good with the happy frog, I personally like to mix perlite in ALL of my soil. You cant put a price on drainability. Another good soil made of organics is pro-mix. Again. Some people are paid to buy and rep this shit. So, to each his own. I would like to add that it would be a good idea to do a 50/50 next time of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Happy Frog. MIX WELL. add about 30% of your overall mixture of perlite. And you wont have to give her nutes till WELL into flower. And shelll loooooooooove it.

Those stronger CFL's are another issue in that area. In my experience (ive completed 2 micro grows succesfully, bombed one), its better to have more lesser watt bulbs for environments like that. watch the temps they should stay below like 82 at the MOST. I guarantee shes well over 80 to suffer from that heat burn. Again, people love to make you think you need something more, however unless they started as small as you and I, they wont be able to pinpoint the issue. It's balance, and with lights of that size your looking at some serious heat in that little area. In that picture it looks like your thermometer is readin over 100.. thats no bueno. I noticed you say nothing about PH.

You are gonna need to PH your water reguardless of wether its distilled, tap or R/o (reverse osmosis)
You will also need to PH you immediate runoff. if you PH your water at 6.5, and your immediate runoff is 5.8 or something, you need to raise the PH of your water. You PH for an optimal ROOT ZONE. So the water going in is only going to slightly change your root zone, eventually, itll all dial in and youll have a set schedule. I'd get some smaller wattage bulbs for that little space. No more than say 3 or 4 23 w See if that puts your temps in a better range. Its all about that sweet spot baby!

Not knocking soil made by fox farms but you added guano plus morenutes after a flush hence go with just foxfarms and no guano 'a better soil...' Guano isnt easy to flush so i believe.
Cfls may grow but ive used a couple 300w and no where near a 600hps so the maths say you wont yeild much on 250w divided by 3 independant sources.

Simple tends to be better for weed yeilds.

I'mSimplyStoned said:

Those stronger CFL's are another issue in that area. In my experience (ive completed 2 micro grows succesfully, bombed one), its better to have more lesser watt bulbs for environments like that. watch the temps they should stay below like 82 at the MOST. I guarantee shes well over 80 to suffer from that heat burn. Again, people love to make you think you need something more, however unless they started as small as you and I, they wont be able to pinpoint the issue. It's balance, and with lights of that size your looking at some serious heat in that little area. In that picture it looks like your thermometer is readin over 100.. thats no bueno. I noticed you say nothing about PH.

You are gonna need to PH your water reguardless of wether its distilled, tap or R/o (reverse osmosis)
You will also need to PH you immediate runoff. if you PH your water at 6.5, and your immediate runoff is 5.8 or something, you need to raise the PH of your water. You PH for an optimal ROOT ZONE. So the water going in is only going to slightly change your root zone, eventually, itll all dial in and youll have a set schedule. I'd get some smaller wattage bulbs for that little space. No more than say 3 or 4 23 w See if that puts your temps in a better range. Its all about that sweet spot baby!

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May i suggest no cab just do it in a room low down where no one can see maybe. Less or no heat problem and everyone runs cfls in their houses these days so no way you gona attract attention...

In comparison, yeah HPS is IT if you have the space, the startup cost, the maintenence and the ability to not have to hide the shit.. CFL's and HPS are two different applications. They are both useful in their own ways, you couldnt run an hps in that kind of environment. youd cook the plant and bleach the box.

2Hearts said:

May i suggest no cab just do it in a room low down where no one can see maybe. Less or no heat problem and everyone runs cfls in their houses these days so no way you gona attract attention...

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Thats how my veg area is setup. Rubbermaid totes on either side, a piece of cardboard running two power strips containing the lights is my veg area. works great. Used to be a box like OP's. I urned and stunted my ladies whn they got too big and grew around the CFls

I'mSimplyStoned said:

In comparison, yeah HPS is IT if you have the space, the startup cost, the maintenence and the ability to not have to hide the shit.. CFL's and HPS are two different applications. They are both useful in their own ways, you couldnt run an hps in that kind of environment. youd cook the plant and bleach the box.

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Better than cfls are t8 flouros possibly t5 and sizes start at 30cm so easy for small cabs and i promise youll never look back at those cfls again

Yea ima probably move them over to a bigger space. I have to keep some sort of cab/box setup because I just don't have the privacy and wouldn't feel safe leaving it out .regarding ph, I haven't had use of an accurate ph meter I got one from lowes, complete crap. Does r.o bottled water run high in ph? Or generally around 7? I've been told to even add drops of lemon juice to lower ph but I haven't tried this since I still don't know what kind of levels I'm at currently. What kind of options do I have right now? I turned off 2 of the 26w 5000k cfls to see if that helps lower te temps a bit. I also lowered the plants to about 5 1/2 inches away from the lights. What can I do ph
Wise? Should I stop the 1/2 strength nutes and just stick with r.o water till I can get a proper ph meter?

I dont know why people dont just use soil and tap water. If tap water is unsafe for plants i wouldnt drink or wash in it either. Soil buffers ph just fine out of the bag.

I dont want to debate it but strange how everyone blames the soil and tap water. People at foxfarms and municipal water company probably dont like you much at the moment...!

I don't think I really have to debate why people don't use tap water for growing mmj. Numerous unknown chemicals , not the best choice for someone who wants to have as most of a controlled environment as I can get. Wouldn't starting from a clean base be a better choice in my position?