Pineappe Express Auto Grow Getting Derailed - Sick Plant

Ukulele Haze

Ukulele Haze

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,

I have a sick Pineapple Express Auto plant on my hands. It's been about 69 days since I planted the seed. The plant itself is pretty stunted (16 inches / 40.64 cm). I think the stunting was due to my over-watering during the seedling stage. It's been flowering for about 5 weeks now so I believe the stretch is over.

The symptoms: Brown spots form on fan leaves, then the leaves gradually yellow. I am now seeing leaf curling. The disease seems to have spread rapidly throughout the plant. My limited knowledge of deficiencies makes me think of Calcium deficiency. But, the plants get Cal-Mag every other watering.

Could the light intensity alone be causing this? I have had the brightness set to 100% for several weeks because I had another plant finishing up in the tent. The Pineapple Express plant is Mid-Flower now. So, it seems hard to justify turning the brightness down (isn't now the time to crank it up)?

I am a hobbyist grower of three years, on and off. I get to the finish line with my grows, but things usually go awry midway through Flower; this is no exception. I thought about powering through it without asking for help. But, figure if I ask, I might be able to prevent this from happening with future plants. Thank you for your time and any information you might be able to provide. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Light: Mars Hydro TSW 2000
LED Distance: 18 in / 45.72 cm
LED Brightness: 100%

Medium: Organic PROMIX (1 part perlite to 2 parts soil)
Container: 3 gal Vivosun fabric pots

Temperature: 70-80F
Humidity: 35-45%

Feeding Schedule:

I alternate between these two menus, and never use water only. I always pH adjust the mixture to 6.0 to 6.5. I try to wait until the pot is pretty light before watering. I've never caught leaves wilting on this plant due to under-watering. In honesty, there have been times where I watered a little too soon, though. Usually the reason I did it was because the other plants in the tent were ready.

First Menu:

3 Teaspoons Grandma's Molasses
2 Teaspoons FoxFarm Tiger Bloom

Second Menu:

6 Teaspoons FoxFarm Grow Big
1 Teaspoon Botanicare Cal-Mag

Here is the plant on Wednesday, 4-14-2021. You may need to zoom in to see the brown spots peppering the fan leaves throughout:

10.JPG

Here's the plant today 4-17-2021. Notice how rapidly the leaves are deteriorating:

P1040320.JPG

Here are some of the afflicted ones I removed from the plant several days ago:

P1040087.JPG
 
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T

The Real Medicine Man

Active Member
To many nutes good buddy. You're not giving her enough time to use them before you give more. It throws the medium ph out of line and it will create lockout. Do you have a ppm/tds meter?
 
Ukulele Haze

Ukulele Haze

Well-Known Member
The Real Medicine Man said:
To many nutes good buddy. You're not giving her enough time to use them before you give more. It throws the medium ph out of line and it will create lockout. Do you have a ppm/tds meter?
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I didn't consider I might be over-doing it some. Maybe I could add an additional Menu in the rotation where I use pH'ed water only.

I do have a ppm/tds pen but I think it's meant to be used for water instead of soil. Truthfully, I don't know how to use it yet.

The Real Medicine Man said:
I bet you a dollar to a doughnut those leaves are crispy to the touch even the ones that are more green then the others..
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The leaves affected by the brown spots feel scaly and toad-like. While, the leaves that are more consumed by the brown or yellow feel even more rough. Only the unaffected leaves seem supple and smooth.
 
Last edited:
T

The Real Medicine Man

Active Member
Ukulele Haze said:
I didn't consider I might be over-doing it some. Maybe I could add an additional Menu in the rotation where I use pH'ed water only.

I do have a ppm/tds pen but I think it's meant to be used for water instead of soil. Truthfully, I don't know how to use it yet.



The leaves affected by the brown spots feel scaly and toad-like. While, the leaves that are more consumed by the brown or yellow feel even more rough. Only the unaffected leaves seem supple and smooth.
Click to expand...
Yes I would definitely use just ph'd water in between feedings. They need to be flushed. The ppm will tell you how strong the feed is always do half to a quarter of recommended dosage until she tells you she can hand more. The EC will tell you the salt in said food. It will roughly be double of the ppm. But back to the soil ph. You can do what is called a slurry test of it. Get a good pinch of dirt put it in a cup and add distilled or r/o water fill about 1/4 of cup. Stir let set for 10min use coffee filter or paper towel put it over top of cup then pour into a 2nd cup and test the water in the 2nd cup. It's ok if its not perfectly clean water. I bet the ppm are crazy high.. let me know if I confused u.. sry..
 
T

The Real Medicine Man

Active Member
The Real Medicine Man said:
Yes I would definitely use just ph'd water in between feedings. They need to be flushed. The ppm will tell you how strong the feed is always do half to a quarter of recommended dosage until she tells you she can hand more. The EC will tell you the salt in said food. It will roughly be double of the ppm. But back to the soil ph. You can do what is called a slurry test of it. Get a good pinch of dirt put it in a cup and add distilled or r/o water fill about 1/4 of cup. Stir let set for 10min use coffee filter or paper towel put it over top of cup then pour into a 2nd cup and test the water in the 2nd cup. It's ok if its not perfectly clean water. I bet the ppm are crazy high.. let me know if I confused u.. sry..
Click to expand...
You can use tap water just check ppm and ph of b4 you add dirt. Then subtract it from your total to get a correct result..
 
Ukulele Haze

Ukulele Haze

Well-Known Member
The Real Medicine Man said:
Yes I would definitely use just ph'd water in between feedings. They need to be flushed. The ppm will tell you how strong the feed is always do half to a quarter of recommended dosage until she tells you she can hand more. The EC will tell you the salt in said food. It will roughly be double of the ppm.
Click to expand...
I know we have very hard water out here. It tastes delicious, but is loaded with minerals. From my understanding, because I am using tap water I actually have less headroom to add nutrients. I was not familar with EC or ppm but it was nice of you to explain that.
The Real Medicine Man said:
But back to the soil ph. You can do what is called a slurry test of it. Get a good pinch of dirt put it in a cup and add distilled or r/o water fill about 1/4 of cup. Stir let set for 10min use coffee filter or paper towel put it over top of cup then pour into a 2nd cup and test the water in the 2nd cup. It's ok if its not perfectly clean water. I bet the ppm are crazy high.. let me know if I confused u.. sry..
Click to expand...
I am now able to visualize the process you are describing here. I don't think it's as complicated as I thought it was last night (when I first read what you wrote). I think I'll give this a try before I water tonight. Thanks for the advice.
 
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