Please Help! Potassium deficiency or nute burn??? PICS

Hello,

This is from my journal. I hope it all makes sense. I think I may be on the verge of losing one of my two plants.

My set up...

Grow medium = Soil
PH = 6.0-6.5
Light = 400w MH conversion bulb on 20-4 18-20" above tops of plants.
Nutes = 4-1-1 @ 840 ppm.
Water/Nutes schedule = water every 2 days, nutes ever 4 days.
CO2 = Yeast and Sugar water shaken daily
Temp = 70-85 F
Hummidity = ?

The bad news. Whatever my leaf problem is, well, it's progressively getting worse on my taller plant. The bushier, shorter one seems to still be hanging in there. But this is the pile of fallen soldiers shed in the last three days (and I can see that there are more to come.)



So the plant is in a bit of a state of crisis. From looking at this...
GROWFAQ
it looks to me like either a potassium deficiency, either caused by not enough potassium (duh) or to much Sodium. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the edges and tips of the leaves tend to curl upward. (The leaves are not normrally wet like in the following pics. I had just flushed.)









I suppose that it could also be nute burn. I have some tools now that I didn't have before. I tested the PH of my soil and it looks pretty good (not great) at 6.0-6.5. I also tested the PH of my water and it looks fine at 6.0-6.5. So far so good. I also to my TDS/PPM meter in the mail from China finally. I tested distilled water from the store and got a reading of 2 ppm. I tested my tap water and got a reading of 119 ppm. Once I add the dechlorinator, then I got a reading of 142 ppm. Then with the 4-1-1 nutes (the non-foxfarm one) it was at 845. Now I know finally what I've been giving my plants all along.

So that's..

PH = 6.0-6.5
Nutes mix = 845 ppm

So what to do? I'm going to assume that it's a potassium deficiency at this point. It seems to fit the description the most.

The first thing I did today was flush both of the plants with 7 gallons of water each (3 gals of soil.) I want to make sure that it isn't an abundance of sodium. I figure, let's reset back to square one on the nutes front and go from there.

I got the set of FoxFarm nutes and I'm going to start flowering this weekend. Hopefully the bloom nutes with their higher potassium levels will help end this deficiency. I hate to start flowering with one of my plants in such a weakened state, but I'm not sure what else to do other than feed the plant straight potassium at this point.

The questions that I have right now are these...

1. Do you agree that it's most likely a Potassium deficiency?

2. After flushing a plant, how long should I wait to give it more nutes? Do I wait a few days until the soil dries a little (with the plant having very little to no nutes in that time) or do I give the plant nutes almost immediately after?

3. Do you think the regular FoxFarm nutes Big Bloom plus Tiger Bloom should resolve my potassium deficiency or should I still be supplementing it at this point in order to help the plant 'recover'?

4. What's a ballpark on how long will it take the plant to recover?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Bump.

I re-read the plant abuse chart and realize that it could also be a mg deficiency. MG, K, and nute burn all kinda sound like they fit what I'm describing.

Any help from anyone? Please?

845ppm?? That was way too high... your using soil which consists of nutrients already. Wait two to three days to see if it gets better. Looking at those pictures I would say it could be a million things. If it doesn't clear up (which it probably will if its not burnt or fried) than you know it was a nutrient problem.

GROWFAQ

I think the first plant is done just look after her she may come around

I would flush all ur plants tho then check that chart i posed
And if u notice somthing from the chart when fix it, but realy i think it may be nute burn because ur ppms are high as hell

just flush for now and lets see what happens.

Thanks for the help SilverRabbit and HazyEyes.

Just to clarify, that first pic isn't a plant. It's a pile of dead leaves that I've pulled off. Both plants are still making it ok.

845 is too high? Now I'm confused. I was using Widow Makers how-to-grow marijuana as my guide for what I was doing. On his guide he says that at day 40-50, he's giving his plants 600-1000 ppm. Since my water is already at 145, the 845 reading was like 700 ppm of nutes. I thought I was on the conservative side!

So I'm taking it that there are opinions that that guide is off? What should have been my target ppm?

Now I'm on the foxfarm system with big grow, tiger bloom and big bloom. Should I stick with the soil systems feeding chart on their site or should I hold off and just give them water for a week or so?

Thanks again.

GrowBigOrGrowHome said:

Thanks for the help SilverRabbit and HazyEyes.

Just to clarify, that first pic isn't a plant. It's a pile of dead leaves that I've pulled off. Both plants are still making it ok.

845 is too high? Now I'm confused. I was using Widow Makers how-to-grow marijuana as my guide for what I was doing. On his guide he says that at day 40-50, he's giving his plants 600-1000 ppm. Since my water is already at 145, the 845 reading was like 700 ppm of nutes. I thought I was on the conservative side!

So I'm taking it that there are opinions that that guide is off? What should have been my target ppm?

Now I'm on the foxfarm system with big grow, tiger bloom and big bloom. Should I stick with the soil systems feeding chart on their site or should I hold off and just give them water for a week or so?

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Widow Makers hot to grow is a great thread, but u have to keep in ine he has been growing for 5+ years , and all plants are not the same just because his plants can take more does not mean that urs can aswell. i would drop it down to atlest 400 for next time. for now flush them

potassium... shove a banana in it!!!!

Hello,

I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little bit discouraged.

I flushed once on 4/25, but from a miscommunication, the plants got more nutrients (the foxfarm ones) the next day. I didn't realize what had happened until early on 4/29. So I flushed again on the 29th with plenty of water. On 5/1, I added a tiny bit of lime juice to their water to help with lockout if that is what's going on.

Now I'm having the hardest time waiting for that week to roll on by, especially because I don't see the health of my plants improving at all. If anything, they may appear to be getting worse. It's been 3 days since I flushed. Should I be seeing improvement by now? Do you think I should really wait until the 5/6 to start with nutrients again?

Here is a bunch of photos in their current state.















I have no idea what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.



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the spots are probably bugs... or herpes...

I had the same problem with the yellowing around edges once while i was in soil...

Turned out to be sodium deficiency... get some epsom salts from the drugstore... 1tsp per quart of ph'ed water... and hit up up with those salts... its the same treatment u use for MG deficiency...

Just lookin at the pics... its your lower branches that are curling??? looks like you need more light down there... but i dont know ur setup... on my mother plant.. i get shit at the bottom always curling up and dieing off (not in excess or anything drastic) which is just the lifecycle of the plant anyways...

If it was me... id flush the shit outta that soil with distilled and ph'ed water... then add 1tsp of epsom salts per quart of water and put a cup ... or two on each plant... then Dont water for the next few days.... let that soil dry up good!!! remember ... dry soil is just as important as wet soil... roots stretch and grow seeking moisture. then when you do water... hit it up with a basic general purpose fert.. like Schultz 10-15-10 its pretty mild and safe to use every watering (label says but i wouldnt).... Ive grown really good weed in just plain soil with NO nutrients and respectable harvest... so dont over do anything ... the simpler you keep it the better off you are... if your plants arent growing at the most simple level... dont start adding a bunch of shit... instead hit it once a week with MILD general purpose fert and have faith in the DNA of a weed that can grow just about anywhere.... remember humans are the ones who fuck up plants ...not the DNA!!

also the curled edges might be heat stress... that that sodium light up a bit more and add some small CFL kickers around the bottom if you need to or a couple T5 strips... and also daylight spectrum lights wont fuck up your flowering room in fact a little blue/daylight spectrum is really good in there!!

looks to me like potasium and magnesium or cal. i would flush get some epsom salts as suggestion and give it a good weak fertilizer with potasium calcium and magnesium included. she should be good after that.

Good call Lukecassette. Also GrowBig, you're in soil, but are on a hydroponic feeding system. Why? You don't need to over engineer this. You've got two growing disciplines mixed up.
If you are gonna use chemical nutes, I'd suggest getting a jar of either Peters, Schultz or MG, feeding at 1/4 to 1/2 strength every other water. Quit worrying about PPMs, they aren't applicable to a soil grow.
If you haven't burned them, and I don't think you have, thats a Cal/Mag issue, and possibly a Potassium as well.
Don't start out trying to be a Master Grower your first time. Keep it simple, concentrate on getting them over the finish line. Then start perfecting your growing skills as you learn about the plant. This is simple Biology, not a cake recipe.

I had a long post written out but my computer decided it wasn't fit to post. So in shorter terms. You're feeding too much. Switch to feeding every fourth watering instead of every second.

lukecassette said:

looks to me like potasium and magnesium or cal. i would flush get some epsom salts as suggestion and give it a good weak fertilizer with potasium calcium and magnesium included. she should be good after that.

Click to expand...

I agree with you on this diag. I found this thread while researching potassium and other deficiencies. The pic with his hand in it screams Mag def to me, there is also the other pic with very green leaf veins and chlorosis between them which leans towards Potassium def or lock-out. I would even have tried a little Phosphorous. I believe a flush and mild overall nute with some epsom salts would have fixed this. NOT TO BE A JERK TO ANOTHER POSTER ON HERE, BUT JUST TO CLARIFY FOR OTHERS STUMBLING UPON THIS THREAD... EPSOM SALTS DOES NOT CONTAIN SODIUM OR KITCHEN TYPE SALTS AKA SODIUM CHLORIDE. IT'S COMPRISED OF MAGNESIUM SULPHATE. So it's a sulphur based magnesium. Salts are usually not wanted and cause issues in soil.