Nitrogen deficiency or nute burn?

Excuse the repetitive nature of the question.

I'm learning a lot along the way of my first grow. I asked around and some say nute burn, some say nitrogen deficiency. I started her off on 15ml (recommended on bottle) then I noticed discoloring and dropped down to 5ml. Roots are poking out the bottom and fairly white.

It's also worth noting that my other plant in the same tent looks fine, albeit smaller.


pH 5.6-5.8
PPM 400-430
Water temp 17-20°C
RH 45-55
Room temp 19-24°C
Light distance 24"
Water level just touching pot
1/3 the recommended nutes (5ml)

What does the problem look like? What can I do to help this thing look healthier?


1 wk ago for reference (looks better but not at 100%)



Thanks

Its just a seedling

Boatguy said:

Its just a seedling

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So it's okay if it looks a bit yellow? Should I up the nutes or keep rocking? Anything else I can do to help like up the humidity etc... ?

hermm said:

So it's okay if it looks a bit yellow? Should I up the nutes or keep rocking? Anything else I can do to help like up the humidity etc... ?

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Looks pretty young for anything more than a minimal amount of nutes.
Disclaimer.. I am not a hydro grower

What nutrient line are you running?

And do you have a cal/mag supplement in your mix?

BluntMoniker said:

What nutrient line are you running?

And do you have a cal/mag supplement in your mix?

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Using pH Perfect, they recommend 15ml but like I said above I'm only doing 5ml for now. I'm thinking it needs to be bumped up to 10ml. I'm using CalMag, they recommend 5-10ml for hydroponics, I'm using 2.5ml given the size of my plants. Might also up CalMag to 5mg. Any advice regarding to that? My plants do look better than a week ago so I don't want to change anything too drastically for now.

That plant is to young for nutes. It is recommended you use r/o water with ph perfect. You dont mention if you are or not. Ph perfect does not work well with tap water that has hi ppm above 150 they say. This is what AN says not me.

You should not need cal/mag either until maybe flowering. AN will tell you that their product used correctly does not require it.

I am using AN sensei ph perfect in a flood drain. I mucked up my first 2 hydro grows overthinking how to use ph perfect.

Seedlings no nutes until the cotyledon leaves are gone.

Failmore said:

That plant is to young for nutes. It is recommended you use r/o water with ph perfect. You dont mention if you are or not. Ph perfect does not work well with tap water that has hi ppm above 150 they say. This is what AN says not me.

You should not need cal/mag either until maybe flowering. AN will tell you that their product used correctly does not require it.

I am using AN sensei ph perfect in a flood drain. I mucked up my first 2 hydro grows overthinking how to use ph perfect.

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I don't have RO water the guy at the store just handed me it. What should I be using with tap water? I said above I plan on using rain water, will that work?

FlowerPower001 said:

Seedlings no nutes until the cotyledon leaves are gone.

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OK tomorrow I change res I won't add nute

Failmore said:

You should not need cal/mag either until maybe flowering.

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Finally! Someone who gets that cal/mag isn't the answer to everything. I'm pulling my hair out over here.

If the ppm is low enough it should work fine.

FlowerPower001 said:

Finally! Someone who gets that cal/mag isn't the answer to everything. I'm pulling my hair out over here.

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Haha. Took me a while to figure it out myself also. Lot of bad information out there that is for sure.

Failmore said:

Lot of bad information out there

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I just helped another guy who had some blemishes on older leaves, but healthy new growth. Everyone was pointing him to cal/mag. I pointed out that it is rarely an issue for soil growers, particularly those using tap water, and that older leaves will get blemishes and not heal. The only times I have ever seen cal or mag become an issue is with hydro, coco, or with soil once into flowering where a grower is really pouring on the light. The very next post someone said to throw some cal/mag at it. Arggg....

FlowerPower001 said:

I just helped another guy who had some blemishes on older leaves, but healthy new growth. Everyone was pointing him to cal/mag. I pointed out that it is rarely an issue for soil growers, particularly those using tap water, and that older leaves will get blemishes and not heal. The only times I have ever seen cal or mag become an issue is with hydro, coco, or with soil once into flowering where a grower is really pouring on the light. The very next post someone said to throw some cal/mag at it. Arggg....

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It's very unlikely to see cal/mag deficiency in soil.. usually only later in flower, and only under LED lights.

But like yousaid, every other medium does have issues with it. Calcium plays a big role in cell structure, while magnesium plays a big role in turning light to usable energy for the plant.. as well as mobilization.

If your using distilled or RO water, then even seedlings will need a bit of cal/mag, since pure water wont have any at all. Same with other nutrients. Perfectly reasonable to ask about cal/mag when a hydro grower is having early issues with discoloration.. it's usually either that, not enough N, or too much N/cal/mag/pH

The cotyledons will provide sustenance to the plant for an extremely short duration, but that isnt a reason to not feed the plant at all. In soil, the plant can sustain for weeks from seed without outside nutrients. In hydro, you get a few days max, if there are no outside nutrient sources.

OP has done everything correct. 300-600ppm (I'd stay on the lower end), 5.8pH (could maybe let it range up a bit higher for seedling.. 5.8-6.0, but not a big deal) which is why it is tough to say either way what is causing discoloration so early.