Soil growers, I need your help - Pics

MrMarbles

Member
Okay, here's one. I've got some White Rhino and some Mint and an unknown Indica growing in soil. They are currently in the veg stage, 18 hours a day, under a 1k metal halide. Temp stays steady from about 74f lights off to about 78f when the lights are on. Humidity is about 40% with plenty of fresh air.
They start out looking good and growing like I would expect, but recently, the newer growth is all starting to turn lime green, the leaves are curling under, but not curling and cupping/canoeing like a typical nute burn. All of the new growth is remaining very small and the stems a somewhat purple, while the stalks are even more pronounced in their "purpleness" and are quiet woody. I've been feeding them with a good veg fert at about 800 ppm, but I have a feeling my problem, once again, is the Ph of the soil. Last time I checked the runoff it was only about 6.0-6.2 maybe a bit lower. I don't want to try and just throw more nutes at the problem, and when I first prepared the potting soil I added the recommended amount of dolomite lime to help bring up the soil Ph, but it doesn't really appear to be doing the job.
I also don't want to start throwing epsom salts at it if it's an Mg lockout problem caused by the low Ph (unless that’s the best solution). If you think it's the soil Ph that's causing this problem, do you have a suggestion on how to get the Ph up? If you think it's something else, I'm interested on your input about that as well. Could chlorine in the water be locking out something? For the soil I used a 50/50 mix of MG and Organic MG, for what that’s worth.
I went to soil over the summer so I wouldn’t have to fiddle with the nutes and water like in hydro, but I’m getting frustrated with the weird growth pattern. I really need to get these in the flower mode soon as they’re getting too big, but have been hesitant to do so until I figure out what’s wrong them. The one unknown plant, which is clearly more indica than the others, seems to be less effected by whatever is going on.

** A couple of more things, the leaves are really ridgy, kind of like a Ruffles potato chip, but obviously not as pronounced. They're not flat and smooth as they started out originally. They also appear to have lost they're luster and look (not feel) somewhat dull/dry, but not crispy. They just aren't nice and green and supple as a healthy plant would be.
*** As suggested by OregonMeds, I started more frequent feedings with fertilizer which has greened them up a bit, but the leaves are still small, curling under and ridgy.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

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Bubba Kushman

Well-Known Member
The ridges are usually caused by a ph problem and the curling is from a lack of disolved oxygen. How compact is your soil and do you let it dry real good before you re-water. I use tap water but I add chlorine remover from the pet store first then adjust the ph. The recomended ph is between 6.2 and 6.8 for soil. I like 6.4-6.5 myself. You should start adding a little CalMag or MagiCal to your nutes because they will need it soon. Definitely before flower. Otherwise you will be using the epsom salts for that deficency pretty soon. Plus I would not go any stronger with the nutes. I stay around 600-700ppm for veg then 800-1000 through flower. Depending on the strain. I like to feed twice then water only to leach out some of the old nutes. Check out a site called cannaversity.com They have a lot of info and pictures so you can figure out your problem. Good Luck!
 

mcone

Active Member
The ridges are usually caused by a ph problem and the curling is from a lack of disolved oxygen. How compact is your soil and do you let it dry real good before you re-water. I use tap water but I add chlorine remover from the pet store first then adjust the ph. The recomended ph is between 6.2 and 6.8 for soil. I like 6.4-6.5 myself. You should start adding a little CalMag or MagiCal to your nutes because they will need it soon. Definitely before flower. Otherwise you will be using the epsom salts for that deficency pretty soon. Plus I would not go any stronger with the nutes. I stay around 600-700ppm for veg then 800-1000 through flower. Depending on the strain. I like to feed twice then water only to leach out some of the old nutes. Check out a site called cannaversity.com They have a lot of info and pictures so you can figure out your problem. Good Luck!
Beat me to the punch with a much better written answer! Nice work! +rep

Also I would ask, what do you use for water? Tap, bottled, R/0 or distilled, and do you aerate it for 24 hours first? Even if your ph is good and your water sucks it can through things off too....
Wood ash will also raise the ph in soil, but hydrated lime is most common.

peace :bigjoint:
 

MrMarbles

Member
Beat me to the punch with a much better written answer! Nice work! +rep

Also I would ask, what do you use for water? Tap, bottled, R/0 or distilled, and do you aerate it for 24 hours first? Even if your ph is good and your water sucks it can through things off too....
Wood ash will also raise the ph in soil, but hydrated lime is most common.

peace :bigjoint:
Thanks, guys! Yeah, I'm just using tap water... I know, I know. I'll go get some chlorine remover for when I need water right away, otherwise I'll prep the water a day or two ahead of time to let the chlorine gas out, I'll probably airate the water with a pump and airstone to boost the oxygen. I'm also going to punch a few more holes in my containers as that's probably contributing to the oxygen problem, since all the current holes are on the bottom and are pretty much sealed against the floor.

I appreciate the constructive, well thought out advice.

If anyone else has some additional advice, I'm still interested.
 

Darkuser

Well-Known Member
I've grown quite a hatred for MG soil myself. I had problems with nute burn on young plants I hadn't added any nutes to. I had low PH problems. Root rot from the lack of drainage. My second set of plants in MG, I put in 50% perlite and it was still heavier then the Pro-Mix I'm using now right with nothing added.

MG is great for house plants where you don't want to water them more then once a week, don't add nutes, and it's acidity balances out typical 7.5ph tap water well. It's just not ideal for MJ which likes to dry out before being watered again. I wish I had listened to all the people that said it was garbage, and didn't mess up a few of my plants.

I fill up a 5gal bucket of water and let it sit at least 24 hours before I use it to get rid of chlorine. After watering a couple days and it runs out, I fill it back up, and it's ready for the following day.

Your plants look over watered with not enough nutes. If your nutes are acidic you're going to be battling PH trying to feed more.

My 2c anyway.
 

MrMarbles

Member
I've grown quite a hatred for MG soil myself. I had problems with nute burn on young plants I hadn't added any nutes to. I had low PH problems. Root rot from the lack of drainage. My second set of plants in MG, I put in 50% perlite and it was still heavier then the Pro-Mix I'm using now right with nothing added.

MG is great for house plants where you don't want to water them more then once a week, don't add nutes, and it's acidity balances out typical 7.5ph tap water well. It's just not ideal for MJ which likes to dry out before being watered again. I wish I had listened to all the people that said it was garbage, and didn't mess up a few of my plants.

I fill up a 5gal bucket of water and let it sit at least 24 hours before I use it to get rid of chlorine. After watering a couple days and it runs out, I fill it back up, and it's ready for the following day.

Your plants look over watered with not enough nutes. If your nutes are acidic you're going to be battling PH trying to feed more.

My 2c anyway.
Thanks! I knew I was taking a risk with the MG. Damn!
 
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