Newbie grower getting a bit concerned

Greets people,

been browsing all over the place, here included, to try and get some advice but couldn't find anything appropriate yet. So here comes yet another "help! my plant is blah-di-blah" post...

Me and a mate started this little venture about a month ago and it's generally going quite well. Just lately some small issues have cropped up and if possible we would like to, to coin a phrase, nip them in the bud before these issues turn into major problems.

So I just got back from his place with some pics, set up me username and here goes:

Specifications:
LIGHT - currently 250w MH lamp, 250w HPS in reserve for when we go to flowering.

MEDIUM - 2 different kinds of soil from local gardening shops - one of them seemed high quality and full of nutrients, the other one a slightly lesser quality (cheaper) but contains some perlite so we decided to get both and mix them. Soil ph was around 5,6 on both soils so we added some dolomite lime to up the ph a bit and some sand for improved drainage. Small layer of sand also in the bottom of the pots.

GROWROOM - small tent 50x90x160cm, 1 small non-oscillating fan inside, 1 carbon filter up top linked to a fan with 160m³h

So the 6 plants have been in the tent for 2 weeks now on 18/6 light cycle. We have 5x NLxBigBud and 1 mystery which looks like a predominantly sativa strain. We are adding weak root complex nutrients and will be moving on to a growth fertiliser next week (alternating with nutrient-free waterings). We water once every 3-4 days or when the top 2-3 inches of the soil are dried out.

3 of the plants are in tip-top condition as far as we can tell (allhappy.jpg) - although one of these had a really slow start, i think due to waterlogged soil - it just grew 1 root and then stopped - we gave it a soil change a few days ago, watered with some root fertiliser and it now seems to be making up for lost time.

The other 3 plants have ISSUES (unhappy.jpg). Some leaves (generally newer ones) begin to feel a little papery, the flesh of the leaf is turning yellowish while the veins stay dark green and in the more extreme cases, the tips and edges of the leaves are curling UPwards and drying out completely. This is happening to 2 of the NLxBB and most of all to the mystery (see the 3 pics with "sick" at the start of the name). Pics didn't turn out as clear as I'd like but hopefully is enough.

Yellowing older, LOWER leaves is a very common problem but this is happening to the younger, NEWER leaves which confuses us. We don't think it's a heat problem because the lamp is always at least 30cm from the plants. Initially we thought there was too much air circulation inside the tent, stopping the leaves from breathing properly and drying them out, so we changed the angle of the fan to stop it blowing onto the plants so much. That seemed to help at first, but the issue is still present within some newer growth so now we're at a loss. It might be some nutrient issue after all.

Finally 1 plant has suffered from what we guess is a bug of some kind. Looks like 1 leaf has been half chomped up or something (chompedleaf.jpg).

So that's the lot - would really appreciate some feedback, advice, tips etc. from any experienced growers out there since we're newbs to this game.

Thanks, PeaCe
Dinky

its your soil you dont wnt to use soil with time released nute you never know how much is in there i did the same thing and my plant was able to ride through it just dont add any nutes at all and water just what it needs since flushing it will only make it worse because the nutes are released with water or get some good soil like Fox Farms i use thier ocean forest mix and it works great and trans plant them try to knock all the dirt out of the roots BE GENTLE rinse them off and put them in a hole twice as big as the root ball in a bigger pot at least 3 gallon and your good soil good luck

many thanks for the quick answer

just did some further reading on the matter and it sounds like you got it right. Low-grade Soil FTL *slap self. We're in Europe and don't think we can get FoxFarm here but there's a soil called BioBizz which countless european sites have recommended for growing, so we gonna get that and transplant asap.

One more thing - given the small dimensions of our tent, we don't want the plants to be any larger than 1meter at harvest time. Are you sure we need 3 gallon pots? Don't think 6 plants will fit in the tent in that size pot to be honest but we'll go with the biggest possible.

2more questions:

any idea what sort of growth we can expect with NLxBB once we switch to flowering?

what do you think the "chomped leaf" is? it's the last of the pics.

anybody got an answer to my last couple questions please?

thanks mates, Peace

Dinky73 said:

anybody got an answer to my last couple questions please?

thanks mates, Peace

Click to expand...

chomped leaf looks like overfertilization

ok, thanks kmo. yeah i feared thats the case.

Then all the issues are down to the pre-fertilised soil PLUS me adding ferts to the water. I'll know better next time and take some decent soil.

Hmpf well, looking on the bright side, at least it ain't bugs.

Dinky73 said:

many thanks for the quick answer



One more thing - given the small dimensions of our tent, we don't want the plants to be any larger than 1meter at harvest time. Are you sure we need 3 gallon pots? Don't think 6 plants will fit in the tent in that size pot to be honest but we'll go with the biggest possible.

2more questions:

any idea what sort of growth we can expect with NLxBB once we switch to flowering?

what do you think the "chomped leaf" is? it's the last of the pics.

Click to expand...

plants will grow 2-3 times the size they are when yyou start flower. search LST and that will help if they get to tall.

chomped leaf doesnt look like a problem to me. some leaves deteriorate like that.

most of your plants look pretty good. that one though, wow, major burn. i just went through that with one of my strains. 2 plants, same pot, same seed, one plant just started burning up. other plant doing great. shit happens

NLxBB with the leaf fringe standing up indicates that the plant is trying too hard to dissipate water, this could be heat related, and like the others were saying some of those could be the result of too much nutes and or toxic salt buildup. Using plain water is best.

hey jeff - dam right! it don't affect all the plants, only one of them got hit that hard, real bummer. And yeah good call, I must look into LST - is it difficult?. many thanks.

hey 2dog - can't be heat-related, temperatures aren't anywhere near being dangerously high, nor is the lamp too close - but possibly too much air being blown across the plants as I mentioned in first post - yeah i think all issues are down to too much nutes. Pre-fertilised soil plus me adding ferts to the water too early in plants life was a bad move. From now on only pure water (as little as possible) and grab some decent soil asap and transplant before flowering into the good soil. Hopefully will still make a nice crop.

just thought that i would chime in mate and say that the bio bizz soil would be an excellent choice... good luck, and happy growing..
and remember what dude said about plants doubling or tripling in size from the start of flower.. this should be a good guide for when you want to start flower..
lst is not hard.. just takes practice... you could check out doobieous grow journal, got twins.. she used lst for this grow and had some good tips on how to perform lst in it.. think it should get you pointed in the right direction..

so I done a lot more reading on the subject - turns out the soil i'm using is acceptable, however it contains all nutes needed for the first 5 or 6 weeks of growing, so MY BAD for adding nutes too early and over-doing it. Lesson learned, i will take decent soil in next crop. But the good news is - I can stick with this soil for the remainder of the crop - just need to go real careful with watering and adding nutes later on.

But now I'm wondering what to do with the burnt out leaves. Some were hit pretty bad, others not at all or minimally.

And some of the nute-burnt leaves still have some decent green in them along the middle, meaning they can still contribute to the general growth of the plant, right?

The plants themselves will survive I'm sure of that, since current new growth looks healthy and happy. I plan on about another 10 days of veg. before flipping the lights.

What would be the benefits and/or negative consequences of cutting off these nute-burnt leaves?
In those places where I DO cut off a leaf, does that mean no bud in that spot later on?
And if it would be wise to cut em off, should I make the snip right below the leaf or right next to the stem, and why?

would appreciate any advice, thanks mates,
peace,
dink

with the one i had do the same thing i would cut off just the burned part of the leaf and leave the rest not sure if it helped but the plant did survive all the way through was a little stunted but still turned out ok. at some point the nutes should get used up so it will quit burning eventually but i would switch to that biobizz soil next grow heard good things about it also if you can get fox farms nutes (on ebay) they work great big bloom, tiger bloom and grow big

also the more damaged leafs can help diesese or pest come into your plant.

ok growman just strerilising the scissors,
thanks a lot buddy