Leaf discolouration and slow growth

CannaCountry

Well-Known Member
Just a few ideas for you:

The Epsom salt you got, which I generally use at 1 gram per gallon of water, will impart Magnesium and Sulfur...not calcium. Looking at your plant, it appears short on Ca, P and K, however, what it doesn't look overly short on is Mg, so tread lightly. Your leaves look awfully green; I would be sure you're managing your N inputs for the stage of growth you're in, and be sure you're not running too much that it's locking out other elements. Conversely, the slow growth, coupled with those tiny, curled down, single tip leaves in your cola pics, may be an indication that your N is too high or your plant is trying to reveg. I would be sure my timers were running correctly and I had no light leaks...and then double check them both again. Good luck
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
Just a few ideas for you:

The Epsom salt you got, which I generally use at 1 gram per gallon of water, will impart Magnesium and Sulfur...not calcium. Looking at your plant, it appears short on Ca, P and K, however, what it doesn't look overly short on is Mg, so tread lightly. Your leaves look awfully green; I would be sure you're managing your N inputs for the stage of growth you're in, and be sure you're not running too much that it's locking out other elements. Conversely, the slow growth, coupled with those tiny, curled down, single tip leaves in your cola pics, may be an indication that your N is too high or your plant is trying to reveg. I would be sure my timers were running correctly and I had no light leaks...and then double check them both again. Good luck
yup, i told him to get the cal and mag cause he wasn't running either.. just needs the cal now.. and more than the mag of course.
 

jerry-joe

Active Member
No idea how big your res is.. i just run 5gal buckets (sorry bout the non metric.. i actually love the metric system but can't be bothered to do the math) :) I would add some now as it won't hurt.. do like .75g/gal.. always start low when starting new nutes... too much hurts plants more than not enough in the short term. Shame you couldn't find calcium around.. but the mag should help a bit. Eventually you will drop calmag and just use mag and cal on their own. And i hope the plants get better... every grow you learn more.
Just curious. Are you suggesting to use calcium and magnesium separately? I use calmag. But your saying that eventually I should look into calcium nitrate (cheap on amazon you said) and magnesium which is essentially Epsom salt. Why go through all that? Isn't calmag sufficient?
 

jerry-joe

Active Member
Just a few ideas for you:

The Epsom salt you got, which I generally use at 1 gram per gallon of water, will impart Magnesium and Sulfur...not calcium. Looking at your plant, it appears short on Ca, P and K, however, what it doesn't look overly short on is Mg, so tread lightly. Your leaves look awfully green; I would be sure you're managing your N inputs for the stage of growth you're in, and be sure you're not running too much that it's locking out other elements. Conversely, the slow growth, coupled with those tiny, curled down, single tip leaves in your cola pics, may be an indication that your N is too high or your plant is trying to reveg. I would be sure my timers were running correctly and I had no light leaks...and then double check them both again. Good luck
I'm curious. I was having similar problems to the OP. But I use calmag, general hydro 3 part, which I follow the specs for each growing phase, and I use both the calmag and the nutes at 1/4 strength. Tap water, phd down a little but my tap is 7.0 and after adding calmag and nutes my ph is usually around 6.2 so I don't always ph down. I mix up the ph level cause I was taught different nutes get lockout at different ph levels so I keep changing it to allow for nute uniformity (between 5.8 and 6.4). I known there's no hard fast answer that woulda solved my problem but I'm curious what you think since most of the suggestions you had for the OP were things that I attempted to fix.
 

CannaCountry

Well-Known Member
I'm curious. I was having similar problems to the OP. But I use calmag, general hydro 3 part, which I follow the specs for each growing phase, and I use both the calmag and the nutes at 1/4 strength. Tap water, phd down a little but my tap is 7.0 and after adding calmag and nutes my ph is usually around 6.2 so I don't always ph down. I mix up the ph level cause I was taught different nutes get lockout at different ph levels so I keep changing it to allow for nute uniformity (between 5.8 and 6.4). I known there's no hard fast answer that woulda solved my problem but I'm curious what you think since most of the suggestions you had for the OP were things that I attempted to fix.
I don't like to give things to the plant, the plant doesn't want. So if I don't have to couple one element with another (CalMag), just so I can feed the latter element, I won't. Not knowing what you're growing in, makes it hard to know what pH you should be managing, but regardless of the growing style, I would say the smaller pH range you can manage, the better, but 5.8-6.4 may be a little too much. Conversely, if your plant was showing issues with your feeding schedule, rather than managing the 1/4 strength nutrients and calmag, up them to 50% and see what your plant tells you. While all of the things you'll read here and on various other sites, forums, books, magazines, etc, suggest certain baselines, at the end of the day, nature doesn't always follow suit and sometimes we have to venture outside the norm a little to find the sweet spot. Good luck
 

jerry-joe

Active Member
I don't like to give things to the plant, the plant doesn't want. So if I don't have to couple one element with another (CalMag), just so I can feed the latter element, I won't. Not knowing what you're growing in, makes it hard to know what pH you should be managing, but regardless of the growing style, I would say the smaller pH range you can manage, the better, but 5.8-6.4 may be a little too much. Conversely, if your plant was showing issues with your feeding schedule, rather than managing the 1/4 strength nutrients and calmag, up them to 50% and see what your plant tells you. While all of the things you'll read here and on various other sites, forums, books, magazines, etc, suggest certain baselines, at the end of the day, nature doesn't always follow suit and sometimes we have to venture outside the norm a little to find the sweet spot. Good luck
Thank you sir. my grow is more or less over. i stopped feeding them 2 weeks ago cause the breeder told me 75 days and done. since im a photo man and this was my first auto i went by that info. That was Wednesday. now who knows what i have left so im not gonna start then stop feeding again.
 

icetech

Well-Known Member

icetech

Well-Known Member
Just curious. Are you suggesting to use calcium and magnesium separately? I use calmag. But your saying that eventually I should look into calcium nitrate (cheap on amazon you said) and magnesium which is essentially Epsom salt. Why go through all that? Isn't calmag sufficient?
The reason is that eventually you will run into a plant that likes more mag but not as much cal (like white widow which is a mag pig) and when you have a pre-mixed cal/mag you can't adjust one without the other.. It's not a big thing, maybe i'm just a control freak :) Also.. buying them separate is cheaper 1 5lb bag will last years.
 

Hippieryan

Well-Known Member

is what i use... I am not sure about sulfate... i just use what i always have.
Because you are from the states it wants me to change countries, would you mind taking a snap shot of the page and posting it just so I can take a look friend
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
Because you are from the states it wants me to change countries, would you mind taking a snap shot of the page and posting it just so I can take a look friend
You can get a smaller bag if you want... 5lbs will last a very long time so i just buy bigger:)
 

Hippieryan

Well-Known Member
So I did get some Mag Xtra from Sensi grow by advanced nutrients, just because this is the product I’ve always used.
My question is it says to add for a week and repeat if needed. Do I add this with my other Nutes as I refresh my water supply daily?
 

SheeshM

Well-Known Member
Not sure if you used the Epsom Salts yet but the photo in Post # 7 shows Vanilla Scented Epsom Salts. You don't want that in your feed, IMO. Get the unscented if you're adding it to your plants.
 

Hippieryan

Well-Known Member
Not sure if you used the Epsom Salts yet but the photo in Post # 7 shows Vanilla Scented Epsom Salts. You don't want that in your feed, IMO. Get the unscented if you're adding it to your plants.
I am not using Epson salt now I used it twice, thanks though, I agree and didn’t even notice that
 
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