Guide to Nutrient Deficiency or Toxicity

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
Hey, can you help me narrow down this issue. I believed at first it was nute burn, but now i believe that it is a P or K defeciency. It starts on the youngest leves while the older growth seems unaffected. I am.using roots organic soil nutes are Subcools super soil.mix. two 600w hps cooled with a 465cfm fan. Average temps 75-80°. Plants still.grow pretty buds but at slower rate and with less yield since the fan leaves endup dead. Sugar leavez around buds are affected after top fan leaves die out. With old growth affected last??? leaves start like thisView attachment 2228911 then start curling at the tips like thisView attachment 2228912 then keep getting worse View attachment 2228913View attachment 2228914View attachment 2228915
honestly, pic 1 looks fine, the other 4 look like heat issues. my digital thermometer (39 bucks) tells me the peaks of the temp, are you sure they arent passing 80 degrees? another possibility might be humidity, as long as thats close to 50%, and heats not over 80, then id add some micro nutes, just to see if it helps.

and yea add more P and K anyways for the discoloration
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
Need help bottom first set of true leaves r yellowing its 1 month and 5 days old since planted in soil after root has emerged from seed. Any tips for this first timer. This is hard!
have you tried nutrients? like adding nitrogen? pics help too.
 

Noximus

Well-Known Member
honestly, pic 1 looks fine, the other 4 look like heat issues. my digital thermometer (39 bucks) tells me the peaks of the temp, are you sure they arent passing 80 degrees? another possibility might be humidity, as long as thats close to 50%, and heats not over 80, then id add some micro nutes, just to see if it helps.

and yea add more P and K anyways for the discoloration
thanks but my temps and humidity are ok. my other plants weren't experiencing the problems that this one was. i fed with some light flowering nutes and it got even worse. so i believe it was what i believed at first, nute burn. its ok, i have cuttings of it ready to go for the next run. this must be a nutrient sensitive strain. its a chocolope x white widow that i created. and ooooh it smells like a fruity, floral juice. covered in resin by week 2 flowering. cant wait to taste it. but thanks for the response
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
Im posting this from another thread, I think its key on how to Create your own feeding plan, and start PREVENTING issues, instead of TREATING them.

i gotta be honest, and im guilty of this too, trying to find out exactly what nutes are showing their deficiencies, kinda pointless.
its not like we can easily add one nute and not any other. like if your short potassium or calcium for example, maybe ya can, but if your short on molybdenum or copper what do ya do?

after many grows im starting to think we should start looking at plant problems the say way we look at ourselves when treating injuries or wierd bumps or a rash or whatever. we dont try to find out exactly what strain of bacteria is growing on our finger, we simply apply neosporin (or some other ointment) and if it doesnt work after a week, then we seek professional help.

So, what to do? the first thing i do now, when treating a large number of plants, that have a variety of deficiencies at once (but none have overferting), is make a ´cure all´. After checking the pH and knowing they CAN absorb nutes, you mix up your nutrient solution like you did last time, and add in more of what your guessing your low on. really, its the big 3, or the micro nutes, (or sugars if in flower). either way, if you have a good variety of nutes (and therefore elements used as ingredients in the nutrients), then youll probably cure the plant of the deficiency. over time, youll get a hang of it, and by adjusting the nutrients on your own, every watering, youll come up with a ratio that works well for your grow, your plants, and your nutrient purchases.
 

xxvsrxx

Member
When can I buy all these nutrients. Because every picture with the problems looks like my plant. The leave are drying out and it won't grow it's only 2 weeks old :(
 

xxvsrxx

Member

  • When can I buy all these nutrients. Because every picture with the problems looks like my plant. The leave are drying out and it won't grow it's only 2 weeks old



 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
When can I buy all these nutrients. Because every picture with the problems looks like my plant. The leave are drying out and it won't grow it's only 2 weeks old :(
um.... now?

at 2 weeks, im already feeding nutes. either by adding them in when i water, or by providing good (nutrient rich) dirt.

What are you growing in? got pics? whats your ph? temps? lights? no nutrients yet? please god tell me your in dirt, cuz no nutrients in hydro is NOT good.
 

dvs1038

Well-Known Member
Hey I'm gettin a lil worried about my larger plant here its about 23 days into flowering and a lot of the fan leaves r yellowing and dying, I'm growin in FFOF soil was usin grow big and big bloom, also tryin out that banana tea w/molasses. I don't have ph meter but I got a water report that said the ph average for this area was 7-8, temps don't usually get too hot since I have my lights come on around sunset. I've added dolomite lime to my soil b4 the grow and a lil as a top dressing, could my soil b too alkaline? But the rest of the plant is lookin good. Its just almost every day more fan leaves r yellowing and dying.

dvs1038-298829-albums-new-grow-picture2255055-worried-about-losing-so-many.jpgdvs1038-298829-albums-new-grow-picture2251744-2012-07-11-21-35.jpg
 

heresSMOKEY

Active Member
Hey I'm gettin a lil worried about my larger plant here its about 23 days into flowering and a lot of the fan leaves r yellowing and dying, I'm growin in FFOF soil was usin grow big and big bloom, also tryin out that banana tea w/molasses. I don't have ph meter but I got a water report that said the ph average for this area was 7-8, temps don't usually get too hot since I have my lights come on around sunset. I've added dolomite lime to my soil b4 the grow and a lil as a top dressing, could my soil b too alkaline? But the rest of the plant is lookin good. Its just almost every day more fan leaves r yellowing and dying.

View attachment 2255082View attachment 2255083
fan leafs die man its a natural thing when flowering old fan leafs die
 
hey i have to unknown strains(random bag of seeds) that are a bout 3-4 weeks into flowering. im using a 70 watt hps light about 18" from the tops of the plant. and an oscilating fan to help lower the heat IF thats part of the problem. ive been trying to diagnose it for a week or so now and cant figure it out. any help would be great! the leaves are slowly starting to feel crispy the tips or starting to go yellow/black as well as the edges of the leaves as you can see in the pictures. also the edges and tips are curling upwards.image (3).jpgimage (4).jpgimage (5).jpg
 

Joshue

Member
So we really need to balance everything regarding the proper handling of plants? I sometimes find it tormenting but seeing them healthy growing, it's then enough for me that to wash away that certain feeling.
 
So My ladies are in the 35th day of flowering. basic info: 600W HPS, 5x5 tent, soil, room temp is steady at 75F, humidity 50%. Its well ventilated, has plenty of fans going. I started to notice some spider mites a few weeks back and I used some mighty wash & habanero pepper spray to rid my plants of those guys. I thought that's what was causing the brown spots on my leaves. Bugs are now gone! but problem is getting worse with leaves...

Turns out from what i have been researching that its a possible deficiency?

I feed with tap water (out of tap water is PH of 7.8 or so, I get it down to 6.5 PH though every time). runoff is about 6.5-6.6ph so thats all good.. My water is around 400PPM+ TDS, I thought that hard water had a lot of Mg and Ca in it though.. So im confused as to why this would be the issue. Should I start using distilled water instead of tap water? I do feed with 1/2 strength nutes (florabloom), so im not just using plain water, these bad boys seem to have been growing fine except for the brown spots on the leaves, and then leaves turn yellow and are basically just falling off without wilting.

I have already fed the babies once with Epsom salt (1/2tsb per gallon x 2 gallons), should this start to help out? Do I feed them more Epsom salts until the problem is fixed or do i only feed once? I dont want to hurt the plants. I also thought about just trying some earth Juice and trying to fix it. or Cal n Mag.
guy at the grow shop sold me some Plant Success Mycorrhizae (http://www.4hydro.com/nutrients/mycorrhizae-granular.asp). He told me not to worry about the earthjuice or cal n mag yet.. What do you guys think? Im SURE the bugs are gone. The leaves are turning yellow also and are just easy as hell to pull off. not really wilting but just coming right off. Help a brother out!

View attachment 2262521View attachment 2262522View attachment 2262523View attachment 2262524IMG_4985.jpgIMG_4821.jpgIMG_4819.jpgIMG_4818.jpg
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
hey i have to unknown strains(random bag of seeds) that are a bout 3-4 weeks into flowering. im using a 70 watt hps light about 18" from the tops of the plant. and an oscilating fan to help lower the heat IF thats part of the problem. ive been trying to diagnose it for a week or so now and cant figure it out. any help would be great! the leaves are slowly starting to feel crispy the tips or starting to go yellow/black as well as the edges of the leaves as you can see in the pictures. also the edges and tips are curling upwards.View attachment 2261263View attachment 2261282View attachment 2261283
70w HPS? you mean 750w?

from what i can tell, heat stress! during veg, you can mist them. i try to not do that during flowering tho, crank up the ac, or cut back on the light schedule, an hour or so, or more fans
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
So we really need to balance everything regarding the proper handling of plants? I sometimes find it tormenting but seeing them healthy growing, it's then enough for me that to wash away that certain feeling.
its practice dude. theres no set amount of nutes a plant needs. if it grows faster, it needs more nutes. if its cold, it needs less water and more nutes. hot temps are more water, less nutes. big plants need more then small ones. you just gotta have some confidence and not freak out. i see a nute toxicity/deficiency on one of my plants and im like, ´eh, ok´ and fix it. its all about trying to stay 1 step ahead of issues, and being prepared, with plenty of nutes, ph testing supplies, extra bulbs, fans, wires, electric tape, whatever.

it gets pretty boring after a few years. non-eventful really. just second nature i guess, you just look at them and know one needs more N, the other needs less N, this one has some bug, that one needs to be rotated, tie this one down, top that one. whatever.

it gets easier. staying high helps too.
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
So My ladies are in the 35th day of flowering. basic info: 600W HPS, 5x5 tent, soil, room temp is steady at 75F, humidity 50%. Its well ventilated, has plenty of fans going. I started to notice some spider mites a few weeks back and I used some mighty wash & habanero pepper spray to rid my plants of those guys. I thought that's what was causing the brown spots on my leaves. Bugs are now gone! but problem is getting worse with leaves...

Turns out from what i have been researching that its a possible deficiency?

I feed with tap water (out of tap water is PH of 7.8 or so, I get it down to 6.5 PH though every time). runoff is about 6.5-6.6ph so thats all good.. My water is around 400PPM+ TDS, I thought that hard water had a lot of Mg and Ca in it though.. So im confused as to why this would be the issue. Should I start using distilled water instead of tap water? I do feed with 1/2 strength nutes (florabloom), so im not just using plain water, these bad boys seem to have been growing fine except for the brown spots on the leaves, and then leaves turn yellow and are basically just falling off without wilting.

I have already fed the babies once with Epsom salt (1/2tsb per gallon x 2 gallons), should this start to help out? Do I feed them more Epsom salts until the problem is fixed or do i only feed once? I dont want to hurt the plants. I also thought about just trying some earth Juice and trying to fix it. or Cal n Mag.
guy at the grow shop sold me some Plant Success Mycorrhizae (http://www.4hydro.com/nutrients/mycorrhizae-granular.asp). He told me not to worry about the earthjuice or cal n mag yet.. What do you guys think? Im SURE the bugs are gone. The leaves are turning yellow also and are just easy as hell to pull off. not really wilting but just coming right off. Help a brother out!

View attachment 2262521View attachment 2262522View attachment 2262523View attachment 2262524View attachment 2262525View attachment 2262526View attachment 2262527View attachment 2262528
well i cant say anything about mites, cuz i dont see them
but pic 1 looks high on N (look at the top right leaf, that shit is too dark), low on P, K.
pic 2 id bump up P and K, and micro nutes, but that ones doing.... ok...
pic 3, 4, 5, hard to tell cuz everythings yellow, but yea add P and K, and micro nutes.
pic 6, 7, 8, thats just sever deficiencies. add nutes.

if your in flower, you really dont need much of N, but the amount of P and K ya need is very very high. when the plant doesnt get it from the roots, it sucks it out of the fan leaves, to still be able to grow buds. the fan leaves then act, instead of solar panels, as batteries, and if your deficiency is high, your batteries get drained.

hard water?? sure, it has more crap in it, but who knows what! dont assume the reason its hard is becuase of a nute you want it to have. it could be hard due to salt, flouride, chlorine, chloramine, ammonia... and whatever else they put in it.

I remember seeing those commercials for truth.com or whatever that talked about the 100s of chemicals in cigarettes and the water in DC had the same shit in it. tap water sucks. i fill up huge containers, let them sit for 3 days, then add nutes.

if your really worried about the water, go to a pet store. i swear, fish and pot need the same damn things.
get a bottle of water additive, the chlorine/chloramine removal stuff.
get a bottle of 6.5 pH buffer
get a bottle of plant food for tropical plants, its 0-0-0 but has like 15 micro nutes in it.
get a pH kit.
those 4 things together might be 30 bucks?

if its safe for fish to swim in, its probably safe for us to smoke... granted i still stop everything (minus sugar) 2 weeks prior to harvest.

Overall tho, cut down on N, pump everything else up a bit, gradually, til ya see the dead spots not forming anymore.
 

nick17gar

Well-Known Member
Molybdenum Deficiency
it happened to one of my plants, so i took pics to show what its like, took 2 different pics of the same leaf, so you get an idea of the color of red... its almost burgundy... um, this leaf was older, towards the bottom, its in dirt that has been around for a while, and needs to be freshened up obviously.

this is the first time i´ve seen this in my grows over the past 5 years or so. i ran out of micro nutes about 2 weeks ago, and apparently the soil has no Molybdenum in it left, so the deficiency occured. This is really really not common, but when it does happen, this is what it will look like:

mo_def_1.jpgmo_def_2.jpg
 
Top