At Wits End.....

So this plant is about 4 weeks old. Noticed some spots about 2 days after I watered. Thought it might have been a little too much nutes, was gonna wait a day because it didnt seem like i completely fried, it just a couple of leaves. Well overnight the majority of the largest leaves got awful rust looking spots on them. Decided it was time to flush. Figured ph was a factor so I just did a mild watering to test the ph runoff from my soil. PH came back 5.0. WTF?!

So I start flushing with water thats ph'd at 6.7. Well Ive flush my 1.5 gal pot with 6 gals of water and the ph is only 5.5?!?! WTF is going on?! No idea why the PH just dropped so hard, and now I cant figure out wtf is going on with this flushing. Do I need to add baking soda to raise the ph of the water higher than 6.7 to get my soil to raise more?

BTW the nutes ph'd at 6.5 before I used them to feed this plant.

On a side note, a completely different plant, Ive been using molasses + water to feed during flowering in between nute feedings. It ph's at 3.9(which ive never tested) and the flowering plant takes it just fine. Havent check its runoff cause it never showed any signs of stress. Should I add baking soda to this molasses mixture to raise the ph? or just leave it alone since it hasnt had any isues?

The brown blotching on the leaves is due to salt build up not incorrect ph, flush as you have then continue on. If you think the ph is dropping then cut out the molassis as some organic nutes make the soil a bit sour.

if you overdosed them on nutes then you should of flushed instantly waiting was more than likely there downfall

i wouldnt worry about ph too much as long as you are using correct nutes and the water your using is sutible then there should be no dramas.

*BUDS said:

The brown blotching on the leaves is due to salt build up not incorrect ph, flush as you have then continue on. If you think the ph is dropping then cut out the molassis as some organic nutes make the soil a bit sour.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on salt build ups. The plant Im feeding molasses too, isnt the one with the issues. Just thought it was odd that the molasses was such a low ph and wasnt causing any issues with 1 plant, while my problem child had perfectly fine ph going in and it was all jacked up coming out.

peazbury said:

if you overdosed them on nutes then you should of flushed instantly waiting was more than likely there downfall

i wouldnt worry about ph too much as long as you are using correct nutes and the water your using is sutible then there should be no dramas.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reassurance. The main reason I didnt flush was this plant had and issue with P deficiency, so I thought the spoting was the plant still adjusting to that. I guess it was an issue with P in the since that it was locked out from salt build ups.

nutrient rich water can cause brown spots or burning on the leaves due to it is highly concentrated when it is sucked up by the leaves did u splash a bit or spill some .... pics?

sincl9759 said:

nutrient rich water can cause brown spots or burning on the leaves due to it is highly concentrated when it is sucked up by the leaves did u splash a bit or spill some .... pics?

Click to expand...

No i didnt splash any on the plants. Takes me a while to water just because of the fact that I try to avoid my leaves at all costs.

Heres some pics of what has transpired.
This is what the spots start as. I dont think these are new spots since I flushed.

This is how it usually ends up. This leaf was damaged a little worse than the top picture before I flushed.



This is definitely starting with my older leaves down the main trunk. As stated before, this is in dirt, and this plant JUST showed hairs overnight. Believe I have this under control after flushing 2 days ago. Believe it started out as a P def, that I turned into an over abundance/lockout.

Hmm this still seems to be spreading..... Is this a P def again?

Fertilizer is acidic and u over fed them so this acidic built up in the soil.

I would have flushed a few times with PH 7.5 ( to help neautralise) and then final flush on as high PH 6.8-7.0 and this shouyld have got it above PH 6.0

lahadaextranjera said:

Fertilizer is acidic and u over fed them so this acidic built up in the soil.

I would have flushed a few times with PH 7.5 ( to help neautralise) and then final flush on as high PH 6.8-7.0 and this shouyld have got it above PH 6.0

Click to expand...

So I have the ph at around 6.8-6.9. A few of the spots do look worse, but havent really noticed a major spreading. Should I feed this with about 1/4 nutes now? or just let it go a few days?

Now take off leaves that are 50% damaged as they are a waste of energy and will not recover. This will allow you to look at the plant and concentrate on the new growth rather than the damaged non-recovery foliage.

Anyone wanna second that ????

lahadaextranjera said:

Now take off leaves that are 50% damaged as they are a waste of energy and will not recover. This will allow you to look at the plant and concentrate on the new growth rather than the damaged non-recovery foliage.

Anyone wanna second that ????

Click to expand...

So its been a couple of days. The damaged leaves seem to be worse as I was expecting, but it still seems to be creeping. Its flowering now and I would really like to stop this insanity.

Starts like this.


Ending like this.

Ok, so now you've flushed and they are worse? This can only point to one thing - deficiency. Looks like Mg which is usually apparent in the 4/5th week. If you've used hard (Ca) water without adding Mg then it would have been locked out. This is why Ca & Mg are added together and in equal parts.

I would top dress the soil (you prob can't water right now after the flush) with Epsom Salts. Or if possible just wait and add a small teaspoon per 4 Litres and water.

Mg is absorbed at PH 6.5 and as we know it was way lower.

Did it start in the lower/middle of the plant and move upwards?

lahadaextranjera said:

Ok, so now you've flushed and they are worse? This can only point to one thing - deficiency. Looks like Mg which is usually apparent in the 4/5th week. If you've used hard (Ca) water without adding Mg then it would have been locked out. This is why Ca & Mg are added together and in equal parts.

I would top dress the soil (you prob can't water right now after the flush) with Epsom Salts. Or if possible just wait and add a small teaspoon per 4 Litres and water.

Mg is absorbed at PH 6.5 and as we know it was way lower.

Did it start in the lower/middle of the plant and move upwards?

Click to expand...

Yes its started lower/middle, and as its move upwards its attacking the larger/older leaves. I do have some cal/mag, thought I added it at 1/4 str, with my grow/bloom nutes after the flush. The soil is prob dry enough now that I dont think it would drown(I would prob wait till tomorrow night to water normally). Should I do just a 1/2 str dose of cal/mag nutes(which are 1-1-2)? or give it a full dosing.

I work on EC when I add Ca and Mg. I would add normal strength for one watering and then go down to half after that. It will take a few days to recover and the damaged leaves will not get better. Too much Mg locks out P & K plus others.

lahadaextranjera said:

I work on EC when I add Ca and Mg. I would add normal strength for one watering and then go down to half after that. It will take a few days to recover and the damaged leaves will not get better. Too much Mg locks out P & K plus others.

Click to expand...

Well its still spreading. Its made it up to the top leaves now. Not sure what to do at this point.