First Grow - Various Discolorations and Drooping - Deficiencies?

Greetings,

I seem to have made a misstep somewhere along the way with my first grow, and my month old plants are exhibiting some rough symptoms. I'm hoping I can get some help figuring out what I'm looking at and get started on a remedy.

Not sure if it's deficiency or nutrient burn. I thought my weird choice of soil (best I could find in my area =/ ) would be packed to the gills with slow-release nutes, but after examining the bag further, the NPK values seem super low (?).

Fear of nute burn (due to the initial "hot soil" idea) and over-watering had me going pretty light with everything. They've only had 2 main waterings, but partly because the soil holds on to moisture for a good long while.

I watered at week 3 w/ beneficial bacteria (0.5g of Athena Biosis) and a tiny bit of nutrients (my soil's bag implies that outside nutes can be used after a few weeks - so I added a cautious 0.1g of Megacrop) in tap water that had sat out and de-chlorinated. Had a lot of runoff and the medium stayed wet for about a week.

2nd watering at week 4 was water only. I gave them significantly less and had little runoff.

I didn't have a PH pen when I watered them so I wouldn't be surprised if some of what I'm seeing is related to that. I've got one now though, so everything will be properly PH'd going forward. Was silly of me to start doing things without one.

I'm thinking an up-potting is in order as well, since most of the plants have impressive roots that reach the outside and bottom of the containers.

Pictures are below. The lighting makes them look pretty green even in their sickly state, but to the eye they look like more of a pale lime color.

Most plants have a lot of yellowing going on, browning at the tips (and sometimes the leaf interiors as well) and one even seems to have some darker patches appearing. Some drooping and curling as well. #1 and #4 are especially thrashed, unfortunately.

The few white spots in the photos are the result of some BT dust, which I used (along with some neem oil) a while ago after spotting some gnats in the soil. They were few and far between and appear to be kept at bay now, thankfully.

Nonetheless, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

------------

Age of Plants - 1 month
Genetics - Grape Punch from Greenpoint
Lights - 16 Samsung LED strips, ran off of a 480W driver
Light Height - About 2.5'
Medium - Miracle Gro Performance Organics In-Ground Soil (0.13 - 0.02 - 0.02)
Containers - Solo cups w/ openings on the sides and a large hole on bottom for aeration
Temperature in Tent - 83 - 88
Humidity in Tent - 35% on average

Soil PH Runoff - 7.3 w/ a very fresh, straight of of the bag sample and Distilled Water. To get the reading I put some soil in cup w/drainage, added water, and tested what drained through the hole into a 2nd cup. Haven't tested runoff from the actual plant's containers yet, and the PH pen claims to be factory calibrated, so I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate.

youve been feeding them when they dont need food and it looks like you have various nute problems. how much food you been feeding them and how offten?

I gave them a very small amount of nutes with the first watering I did on 8/19. It was 0.1g (100mg) of Megacrop in a half-gallon of tap water, because I was attempting to be somewhat cautious. I didn't give them any nutrients after that point.

I'm perplexed as to whether this is a burn or a deficiency. They haven't received any additional nutes, but the symptoms have progressed regardless.

Thought for sure it had to be nute burn at first due to the yellowing, but I'm wondering if my soil is uncharacteristically weak and it's actually a deficiency. So weird.

Bumpin' this (if that's allowed on these boards )

I've begun to properly PH my water, but haven't watered significantly. This soil is bizarre - seems like there's a ton of runoff no matter how little I give the plants. The top layet dries out very quickly, and the rest of the medium doesn't get super wet, but seems to retain a low level of moisture for just a little too long (over a week). Such a weird grey area. Hoping to get that figured out better in the coming weeks.

Additionally, I've been able to increase the humidity in the tent a bit, and adjusted my fan setup for better airflow.

I'm thinking I need to ditch this weird soil entirely, though. My plants actually started off looking pretty solid, but the pre-loaded nutes are probably building up to cause these issues, and are likely always going to be a problem. It's also loaded with all sorts of stuff like bark pieces and sticks. I Initially thought that might help in a way, but ultimately it's not very "soil-y", which is probably a detriment.

I'm far from anything except big-box stores, and despite Miracle Gro clearly being the devil, it was the only stuff around, and I figured the "organic" designation made it at least somewhat acceptable. Seems obvious now that this isn't the case.

I'm sure switching mediums after a few weeks in would set me back a bit, but the bricks of coir that I do happen to have on hand are looking like a better prospect.

Will continue to update until I get this figured out.

Looks like the signs of over watering. I would let them dry out. I only water every 4-6 days depending on how much they drink. It’s very important to let soil dry out. You may need to apply more drain holes to your pots. Watering can be tricky but I have learned like most plants cannabis like the soil almost dry completely before watering. Happy growing.

Jdog666 said:

Bumpin' this (if that's allowed on these boards )

Click to expand...

If your struggling with this I wouldnt switch to cocco.
They are deficient in a number of areas. They do look over watered some. Your soil for this sucks.
What your doing is starving the plant because of the crappy soil and there probably isnt much for microbes in it to break down the stuff and make it available to the plant. They are small nothings established.

What you need to do is get a ppm meter and some water soluable veg nutes and microbes and feed it about 250 ppms with a pinch of microbes and feed those pots about 100ml of the stuff in a ring around the stem of the plant and edge of the pot in the middle there and let that just fall on the roots. Get some epsom salt and feed it the same amount at about 150 ppms and feed it in the same manner then leave it alone till the pots dry out some and do the same thing. probably week to ten days. ph water to 6.5

Im using clean water not city tap water, clean rain water, r/o water, distilled water, or water you buy out of a machine at the grocery store, water out of a dehumidifier. Water that has 50 ppms in it or less.

No ppm meter? ok. using clean water mix up 1 gal of the veg nute at 1/4 strength of the feeding chart dip out out 100ml in a measuring glass add a pinch of microbes water that in. epsom salt 1tbs in 1/2 gal water that in per above.

No microbes top dress some decent worm castings about a half inch and water in the nutes per above and let the castings filter down in when you water. then the same with the epsom salt. Then leave alone.

you need to feed it something and get some microbes in there. Research what microbes do.