Deficiency starting to show. Do I need calcium?

Ok, so two of my Black Jack ladies are starting to show a deficiency and I am a bit perplexed as to what exactly it is. I went out today and purchased a ph meter as that was the first suspect, but upon arrival I realized that the ph was right at 7 so that eliminates the possibility of nute lockout. The temps are very consistent and stay between 70-79 everyday. Room humidity sways between 50-62% depending on the time of day or when they were last fed. I am using RO water to feed along with the FF trio at 5/8 the recommended dosage. I water two or three times a week depending on how dry the FFOF is. I also noticed that the lower leaves are the ones being affected most. I understand that the leaves at the very bottom may com into contact with nutes and may cause the leaves to turn yellow and die, but the deficiency seems to be moving upward especially noticeable on the smallest experimental plant that I put in flower very early. Also, some leave appear to have a light green color at the tips. I researched the plant deficiency threads, but I find myself getting confused due to the saturated amount of educated guesses towards other grows and this is why I am reaching out because we all know that all plants and grows are different. Please take a look at my plants and let me know whatcha think.
Thanks to all who read this long post and +reps to all who help out. Thanks again.
SMOOTH.

I think that those plants are overfertilized..so just back off the N for the next watering and give them only pH'ed water and see if they look any better..usually anytime your new growth is really light green and your other leaves are starting to have burned tips it is the culprit...

Thanks missnu for the advice. I must spread some rep before giving it to you again lol. I have never givin the plants more than 5/8 the recommended nutes. Should I gives nutes less often or lower the dosage?

what kind of lighting are you using?can you check run off ph?Is that meter the only ph metering device you have?Is it just for soil testing?Do you let soil go thru dry periods before feeding or flushing?
I am not a soil grower but curious.

first things first, calm down, dont do anything irrational. No serious issues that I see, those bottom leaves just die off sometimes.
give me a minute and ill give more input.

1. that rapitest meter probably is useless. Price often tells you how much ph meters and such are worth as far as results go. Could be wrong....

2. If the ph is slightly off, tips can be burnt looking like that. Do you ph the water with nutrients that you water them with?
When I frist started i didnt, big mistake.

3. Soil could be slightly too hot, some strains are testy with exact needs.

All in all looks good, if your really worried or it gets worse, use RO water with cal mag thats ph'd to 7 and flush a couple gallons through each. The last gallon have 1 tsp grow big and 2 tsp big bloom (or some nutes to give the soil back something).
whole plant pics would help

oh and 79 could be too hot depending on light height and air flow (without co2 that is).

Dalek Supreme: I am using a mixture of 2700 and 6500 Cfl's..mostly 2700k for this plant. The meter I just picked up for 20 bucks at my local ACE and it seems to chane ph when I insert it in the soil outside and in water as well, but I guess that doesnt really mean its accurate lol. As far as allowing the plant to dry out YES it has occured a few times, but nothing extreme. Three days max. I dont measure the PPMs when adding nutes, but I do have a PPM meter as I condition water for a living. Is there some sort of equation for the PPM's going in the pot and coming out?
Oh and +rep for the concern.

rocknratm said:

1. that rapitest meter probably is useless. Price often tells you how much ph meters and such are worth as far as results go. Could be wrong....

2. If the ph is slightly off, tips can be burnt looking like that. Do you ph the water with nutrients that you water them with?
When I frist started i didnt, big mistake.

3. Soil could be slightly too hot, some strains are testy with exact needs.

All in all looks good, if your really worried or it gets worse, use RO water with cal mag thats ph'd to 7 and flush a couple gallons through each. The last gallon have 1 tsp grow big and 2 tsp big bloom (or some nutes to give the soil back something).
whole plant pics would help

oh and 79 could be too hot depending on light height and air flow (without co2 that is).

Click to expand...

1. Yeah I guess the meter could be faulty.
2. I just bought the meter today so no I have not ph'ed the water when adding nutes.
3.I'm using FFOF, but the ladies have been fine until now. I think there would have been signs on the front end if the medium was too hot.

Oh and Full plant pics will have to wait till morning as its lights out right now.

I really appreciate the concern and thoughts regarding my ladies. Thanks to all. and+reps.

Thks for rep.Rock has some solid ideas.A drying out (not bone dry) is good for aeration.Better off with a General Hydroponics ph kit for the same price as that meter.Some soil growers check run off ph/ppm to fine tune things but not realy needed when paying attention to the plant.You are using cfl's so 1/2-3/4 strength nutes should be good like you are doing.Soil growers do a feed,ph'ed water,feed schedule with a drying inbetween.I do Hempy and it is easy as pie.

Smooth, I got 5 years of farming under my belt, your plants are showing signs of over fertilization. OF is a hot soil mix to begin with and doesnt have the proper nutrient profiles to be used all alone (IMO)
Try cutting it with some other soil-less mixtures next time. I personally like to cut it with mushroom compost, lime, and pearlite, or wormcastings and a bag of Roots with a cup of lime.
Anywho, your plant are frying from the base up because your using too much fertilizer.
Heres what you need to do:
1. Use a fish bubbler and bubble tap water for 24 hours prior to using to eliminate the chlorine.
I personally would avoid using RO water as RO water is nothing but H20 and your plants need minerals such as Calcium with H20.
The only time I use RO water is the last 2 weeks before harvest to help clear out any accumulated nutrients and salts.
So from now on use bubbled tap water, BUT tap water can have too much calcium in it which can lock out magnesium, so Its always good to add 1 to 1.5tbsp of epsom salt per gallon of tap water. If you insist on using RO water, add Cal/Mag to it.
2. Use a ph meter and prepare a solution of bubbled tap water and epsom salt thats adjusted to PH 6.5 and water your plants tell maybe 10% of what you put in, leaks out the bottom. (giggity)
3. Feed with only water for the next 7-10 days then resume fertilizing with 1/2 strength, slowly working your way back up over the next few weeks.
I would avoid flushing unless conditions persist. Flushing temporarily drowns roots and stalls growth.

Do this and hit us up in a week to give an update

Thanks alot Green Chile. Hopefully I didnt burn them too bad. I searched around for calmag yesterday but I couldnt find any at Lwers, Walmart, or Ace, so I guess I may just have to let the water bubble as you mentioned. ( good thing I have airstones and an aquarium pump laying around). Ill keep you guys posted. Thanks for the concern.

Bump it...............

All good comments. One thing I would add is that when you give nutes, anything splashed on the leaves seems to burn them, so keep your nute water away from the leaves. Trim any lower leaves which are touching the soil.

If you lower the PH to 6.5 I think you'll be surprised how quick they recover. Mg is locked out at PH 7.0 but not at 6.5 for eg. Not sure whats in ur trio to buffer the water but too much Ca blocks out Mg unless given in equal parts. Too much Ca also blocks out other nutes too. I also use RO.

ill be honest, when I started growing I had healthy plants in veg (with plain water) until I flowered, and started using nutes, because I didnt ph the nute water. It will throw the ph in the soil off alot. That was my huge newb mistake.


If you can afford it you can buy spring water in gallon jugs, ph is usually at 6.5 (on the chippewa and buhl it was) and they have calcium and magnesium in them. You still need to add the other nutes and ph the water afterwards tho.

lahadaextranjera said:

If you lower the PH to 6.5 I think you'll be surprised how quick they recover. Mg is locked out at PH 7.0 but not at 6.5 for eg. Not sure whats in ur trio to buffer the water but too much Ca blocks out Mg unless given in equal parts. Too much Ca also blocks out other nutes too. I also use RO.

Click to expand...

Do you mean manganese? Because magnesium does not get locked out at 7.