What deficiencies does this look like?

PadawanWarrior said:

Thing is I've already got 13 15 gal pots with my no-till soil. All have been given different amounts of all the dry amendments I've used, which are a lot of different things. So they're all gonna have different nutrient levels. But this issue is pretty much showing up in all of my pots lately. I'm trying to be able to judge based on how the plants look, without having to test the soil or something.

I'm trying to figure out what peoples thoughts were on my deficiencies and if it looked like nutrient lockout. My guess was excess Ca causing lockout, but it could be something else too. Excess sodium, or something else. I'm not sure.

I know it's hard to judge what's going on when you don't know what's all gone in it, so I don't expect perfect answers. Just thoughts are good enough for me.

Thanks again guys.

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if anything, it should be good brainstorming , im still learning too

kovidkough said:

if anything, it should be good brainstorming , im still learning too

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Exactly. It's made me think for sure.

PadawanWarrior said:

I've been using the same soil for a couple years now and I'm having issues with nutrient deficiency. My water has Ca in it already I'm sure, and I was top dressing with Ca based amendments. So my thought was too much Ca is locking out Mg and K. I've cut out most of the Ca based stuff for now to see if it helps. What are all your guys thoughts? Gotta tag in @Renfro , @kratos015 , @Richard Drysift , but I welcome everyone's opinions.

I mostly just use plain 7.5 or so well water. It's like 160 PPM or something.

And I should clarify that I'm only using organics.

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Nice thread.
$30 soil savvy test would pay for itself IMO.
I have thoughts on your problem
I'm curious.
Have you ever taken a seed and grown it in ffof water only?
A lot can be learned doing that.

I have a lots of pages to catch up but dry amendments R my favorite

Kushash said:

Nice thread.
$30 soil savvy test would pay for itself IMO.
I have thoughts on your problem
I'm curious.
Have you ever taken a seed and grown it in ffof water only?
A lot can be learned doing that.

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Thanks.

I would have to test multiple pots, and I think I'd have to mix it up to get proper results since I've been to dressing only for over a year. I'm just trying to learn by how's the plants look. I know I'm diving straight in the deep end before I learn to swim, but I learn faster when I'm forced into it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on what you might think is going on. The more opinions, the better.

I actually started in straight FFOF. That's what I turned into this no-till (minus the cover crop) soil.

Hey padawan, you use any mixrobial innoculents. Was just thinking "recharge" by real growers might Be where you could start right away.

green_machine_two9er said:

Hey padawan, you use any mixrobial innoculents. Was just thinking "recharge" by real growers might Be where you could start right away.

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Ya, once in awhile I add some Biorighteous from Earth Juice along with EWC to whatever top dress I add. I actually started to add a little of that every time I mix dry amendments lately. Why not. I have it. I've started to add some Mykos WP too when I'm feeling ambitious, lol.

Thanks again Green Machine. You make me think of Mean Machine.

Another thought. I'm thinking it's a mobile nutrient issue since it always starts on the older leaves, but I'm not sure. Just seems like it's lacking something and pulling those nutes from the leaves. So I don't pull them off until they come off easy,

Maybe I'm just not keeping up with top dressing enough. I don't know.

I'd start from a proper mix before you go crazy chasing your tail

kovidkough said:

I'd start from a proper mix before you go crazy chasing your tail

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My mix isn't really a true no-till soil since I don't have a cover crop going, but it's close. I just use rice hulls as a mulch.

Here's the ratio I mixed I thought. Then I realized the 1 gal container I was using to measure was actually only 1/2 gal. So I have half the amount of Bio-char, lava rock, pumice, EWC, and vermicompost. The extra aeration would've probably been better.

Anyways this is what I thought I mixed:

30 gal used FFOF soil
4.5 gal pumice
4.5 gal lava rock
1 gal biochar
1.5-2 gal rice hulls
1 gal EWC
1 gal vermicompost
1 cup Build a Soil Craft Blend
1/2 cup Mykos
1/2 cup insect frass
1 tsp biorighteous (just because I have it, but I would probably use more next time since a tsp aint shit.)

PadawanWarrior said:

My mix isn't really a true no-till soil since I don't have a cover crop going, but it's close. I just use rice hulls as a mulch.

Here's the ratio I mixed I thought. Then I realized the 1 gal container I was using to measure was actually only 1/2 gal. So I have half the amount of Bio-char, lava rock, pumice, EWC, and vermicompost. The extra aeration would've probably been better.

Anyways this is what I thought I mixed:

30 gal used FFOF soil
4.5 gal pumice
4.5 gal lava rock
1 gal biochar
1.5-2 gal rice hulls
1 gal EWC
1 gal vermicompost
1 cup Build a Soil Craft Blend
1/2 cup Mykos
1/2 cup insect frass
1 tsp biorighteous (just because I have it, but I would probably use more next time since a tsp aint shit.)

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Has this mix always caused u troubles or just recently?

Nutty sKunK said:

Has this mix always caused u troubles or just recently?

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Not always. It's kinda been getting progressively worse over time. But I might not be giving them enough nutrients either. I've been top dressing less and less lately.

So I'm not really sure what's going on.

You know, you can always start leaf-feeding individual plants, with different stuff, to see what helps... without mucking up the soil...

Defs displayed at bottom leaves is most common with either N P K Mg, but neither N P K would display an interveinal chlorosis...

Just why are all the leaves of that plant so dark? What is "too much"?

PadawanWarrior said:

Not always. It's kinda been getting progressively worse over time. But I might not be giving them enough nutrients either. I've been top dressing less and less lately.

So I'm not really sure what's going on.

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Hmm, salt buildup?

Maybe send some of to get tested? Only way to know for sure. Since this is your passion I’d do whatever to find out the issues.

PadawanWarrior said:

Not always. It's kinda been getting progressively worse over time. But I might not be giving them enough nutrients either. I've been top dressing less and less lately.

So I'm not really sure what's going on.

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Nutty sKunK may be on to something.

In my own experience after re amending a soil for several runs at some point the soil needs to be leached.

Someone asked for info on your runoff. We often here runoff is useless. It is a tool that can be used if you are familiar enough with your soil. The ppms of the runoff of my soil will usually be about 1700 give or take when things are running good. If the runoff is tested at 2500+ it could be a buildup. Runoff comes out clear or light yellow/orange when things are going good for me. If the runoff comes out dark orange it could also be a sign of build up.

I'm running a soil now that I have amended for 5 or 6 years. I've run into a salt build up issue which caused issues including brown roots vs white and slow root growth. I've also run into a low PH issue and it was corrected with lime. I had a soil test done 6 months ago after dealing with the low PH situation for a while.

The soil test came back super high in sulfur, calcium and magnesium. PH was 6.5 I believe the sulfur buildup is from the constant addition of Peat Moss when re amending. It has also become a very heavy soil compared to ffof.

At the end of each grow I test my soil for ppm runoff and color. If the color is bad or ppms are to high I'll leach the soil until they look good.

Kassiopeija said:

You know, you can always start leaf-feeding individual plants, with different stuff, to see what helps... without mucking up the soil...

Defs displayed at bottom leaves is most common with either N P K Mg, but neither N P K would display an interveinal chlorosis...

Just why are all the leaves of that plant so dark? What is "too much"?

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Foliar feeding is definitely a good idea to help determine the deficiencies. I usually don't foliar feed, but I really should to narrow it down.

Good thinking.

PadawanWarrior said:

Foliar feeding is definitely a good idea to help determine the deficiencies. I usually don't foliar feed, but I really should to narrow it down.

Good thinking.

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The only other thing it looks like that I can think of, that could be a factor with the issue you're having, is iron deficiency caused by a high soil ph. Sorry don't hate me, I don't mean to add to the mountain of stuff that's been said, just wanted to throw the idea out there for you to consider.

I know it doesn't look like classic iron def, which would usually start at the base of the leaf on new growth, so I'm probably way off here.

On the other hand, the more I see the pictures and go over everything, it really makes me think this may be a molybdenum deficiency. Probably cause by ph lockout. I think this could be one of the main issues, especially because its so hard to diagnose, as it looks kinda like N, Ca and Mg def.

Really hope this helps, not sure if anyone already said this, if so I apologize.