A little help please

75 days old. Topped twice and tied down. 22 days of 12/12.
FF soil
GO bloom, CaMg, and GH ph up.
Temps 68 night 73 day.
Watering with 3/4 strength nutrients, ph'd at 6.5 - 7, and 750 ppm.
I recently started using the ph up. I was unaware I was feeding at 5 - 5.5 up until it's last feeding.

The leaves are yellowing. My problem is that some places it seems to start at the tips. Some at the base. And some both. There is also red/pink on leaf stems and some branches. Any ideas what I should do?

So you say ph'd to 6.5 but then say it's been at 5 up until last feeding. Which is it lol?

Up until is before the last. The 6.5 is the correction used at the last feeding. I didn't have a good ph tester until then.

Ok, have you tested your runoff ph?

What I gather is that FF runs a little low out of the gate, so it probably buffered up until now.

I have but for the life of me I'm not sure what it was. I'm wanting to say it was low... Maybe 5 or 6 but idk for sure.

Ulf said:

I have but for the life of me I'm not sure what it was. I'm wanting to say it was low... Maybe 5 or 6 but idk for sure.

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Well that could be the issue. Soil will only buffer so much until it doesn't anymore.

Just plain water for now. No ph'ing if your water is between 6.5 and 7.5.

You've likely overdone your nutrient. The waterings at ph5.5 wouldn't have helped at all either.

Next watering, drench the soil in plain water until good runoff.

Might have to ride it out for a little while.

Good luck.

They look nitrogen starved to me. I'd feed then some GO Grow to green them up.

Do you have the whole line-up? I bought one of those GO Box things years ago with small bottles of nutes. Got pathetic results in soilless so stopped using it.

I doubt your pH issues is causing your yellowing as N for sure is available across a wide range of pH and when it's overall yellowing like that it's N.

During the stretch period of flowering, (first 3 weeks), the plants feed more than at any other stage and demand a lot of N so if you switched to Bloom when you flipped it's no wonder they are N hungry.

I' give them a good dose of Grow and some bloom booster if you have it. Skip the Bloom food for one watering or give about half what you would normally if you don't have a bloom booster.

Otherwise they look good.

Personally, i find it quite unlikely it's a deficiency, given the ppms fed.

Plain water for a watering or two, won't harm a thing.

What kind of FF soil is it?

How often were you supplementing nutrient?

What's the NPK value on your Go bloom, and calmag?

How long ago did this issue start?

OldMedUser said:

They look nitrogen starved to me. I'd feed then some GO Grow to green them up.

Do you have the whole line-up? I bought one of those GO Box things years ago with small bottles of nutes. Got pathetic results in soilless so stopped using it.

I doubt your pH issues is causing your yellowing as N for sure is available across a wide range of pH and when it's overall yellowing like that it's N.

During the stretch period of flowering, (first 3 weeks), the plants feed more than at any other stage and demand a lot of N so if you switched to Bloom when you flipped it's no wonder they are N hungry.

I' give them a good dose of Grow and some bloom booster if you have it. Skip the Bloom food for one watering or give about half what you would normally if you don't have a bloom booster.

Otherwise they look good.

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Yeah I think he dropped his nitrogen too soon & he's only feeding Bloom

I've used general organics a lot and this is really normal imo. I commonly supplement a stronger nitrogen source when I use them. As already said, they want a little more nitrogen than they have gotten. But at this point dont do anything drastic

OldMedUser said:

They look nitrogen starved to me. I'd feed then some GO Grow to green them up.

Do you have the whole line-up? I bought one of those GO Box things years ago with small bottles of nutes. Got pathetic results in soilless so stopped using it.

I doubt your pH issues is causing your yellowing as N for sure is available across a wide range of pH and when it's overall yellowing like that it's N.

During the stretch period of flowering, (first 3 weeks), the plants feed more than at any other stage and demand a lot of N so if you switched to Bloom when you flipped it's no wonder they are N hungry.

I' give them a good dose of Grow and some bloom booster if you have it. Skip the Bloom food for one watering or give about half what you would normally if you don't have a bloom booster.

Otherwise they look good.

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I thought N at first too but it's mostly the newer growth and top of the plant. The bottom looks more green. That's why I suggested ph, but you may very well be right.

That's what makes me think it isn't a deficiency as well. The yellowing would likely start at the bottom of the plant.

What it "looks" to be, isn't necessarily the case.

Up until leaf tips start to go brown, potassium deficiency can look just like this too. Potassium in excess can lock itself out as well.
There is what looks like the very start of tip burn too imo. On top of bloom nutrient at 750ppms.

I'd be hesitant to feed anymore nutrient, until one or two more waterings.

Aussieaceae said:

That's what makes me think it isn't a deficiency as well. The yellowing would likely start at the bottom of the plant.

What it "looks" to be, isn't necessarily the case.

Up until leaf tips start to go brown, potassium deficiency can look just like this too. Potassium in excess can lock itself out as well.
There is what looks like the very start of tip burn too imo. On top of bloom nutrient at 750ppms.

I'd be hesitant to feed anymore nutrient, until one or two more waterings.

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I was leaning more toward iron specifically, but I suppose you could be right.

Thank you all for responding.

The problem started about 2 weeks ago. The soil is a blend of ocean forest and the original potting mix. I have the grow also, but I had taken someone's advice and just used the bloom (2-4-4) & CaMg (1-0-0) for the entire grow. That may have been bad advice, but at the time it made sense. This is the first time I've tried using bottled nutrients, and I've been feeding 3 times then plain water the next. I do believe I started too early, but I also started at 1/4 strength. I was using 1/2 strength up until the last time when I used 3/4 strength. That may be too much (I've read 1/2 strength max for GO but I was concerned with deficiency).

This poor plant has had it rough. I messed it up at every bend lol. The low ph went unattended up until last feeding. That led me to believe it was a ph issue, but I also thought it could be nitrogen, iron, or sulfur.

Edit* I watered it this morning with no additives. My water is ph 7 and 180ppm. Runoff was ph 6 and 480 ppm.

Blindfold, dart, spin, throw!......damn, I missed.

You're in the most demanding moment of this plant's life...it needs feed. You're short on N, but at this point it should be added sparingly as you're in the process of passing up the moment when it needed it the most. Don't try and fix this too much now...just chalk it up to experience and the future. You'll send these things spinning if you dump too much N on them at this point. You're also short on Mg. I would either add a 'micro' to your mix that has Mg in it or I would add it via Epsom salt. Avoid the tag team of CalMag if it's not necessary. You're not that far off...feed a little N and some Epsom and see if they don't green up...slow and steady...you're going to have a nice harvest. Good luck.

I wasn't thinking about how much CaMg my tap water may have in it. I might be doing more harm than good. Y'all have been so helpful, but I got a couple more questions if it's ok.

Do I need to raise my ph going in to get the runoff higher, or keep it between 6.5 & 7 going in? and..

Is testing runoff ppm gonna tell me anything, or just stick to ph?

Ulf said:

I wasn't thinking about how much CaMg my tap water may have in it. I might be doing more harm than good. Y'all have been so helpful, but I got a couple more questions if it's ok.

Do I need to raise my ph going in to get the runoff higher, or keep it between 6.5 & 7 going in? and..

Is testing runoff ppm gonna tell me anything, or just stick to ph?

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I like 6.0-6.5 in soil, unless the plant doesn't. 6.5-7 will likely be fine, but you can test your swing of you are worried about it.

I like to test ppm and ph going in and coming out but apparently science disagrees and says ppm in soil runoff doesn't matter all that much. Do what you feel comfortable with. It's not going to make or break you.

Ulf said:

I wasn't thinking about how much CaMg my tap water may have in it. I might be doing more harm than good. Y'all have been so helpful, but I got a couple more questions if it's ok.

Do I need to raise my ph going in to get the runoff higher, or keep it between 6.5 & 7 going in? and..

Is testing runoff ppm gonna tell me anything, or just stick to ph?

Click to expand...

I believe unless the waste's ph is drastically low, it'll be unreliable. Ppms may be more reliable than the ph, but i still wouldn't consider it as accurate.
To read your ph, i suggest a soil probe, or a slurry test kit.

How's it responded to plain water? Any better / worse?

That's why I was asking about the ppm. I've been reading and a lot say it's pointless, but it seems you could still get ball park of buildup and over/under feeding.

I have a cheap soil probe that I don't trust. I may invest in a decent one. I think the low ph from the first few times f'd it up and it will bounce back.

It's doing better I think. I can smell her again. The lights come on in 30 and I'll be able to see how it looks.