Soil Fox Farms Ocean Forest amended with 1/3 cup dolomite lime in 10 gallon smart pots
Advanced Nutrients Grow, Micro, Bloom, Voodoo Juice, Big Bud, Bud Factor X, Bud Candy, Big Foot Gold for myco.
Temps 70ish F during lights off, and 80-84 F lights on.
Light is about 2 feet away from plants, light is Spider Farmer SF 4000 at 75% on
dimmer. DLI at canopy top is about 35, tried 25 DLI but problem continued
Water when the pots feel light, might have over done once or twice.
Soil PH is reading 7.0, run-off water PH is reading 6.5ish
Strains are Skywalker OG and Tenzin Haze
Plants are 3 months old in week 4 of flower.
The problem started in week 4 of veg, thought it was the lights so I tried raising them and the problem persisted. Thought maybe magnesium so added about 1 tsp of epsom salt to waterings and bud factor X and problem persisted. Thought maybe too many nutrients so I gave just water for 3 weeks until the last watering a few days ago, problem still occurring.
Cannot for the life of me figure out what is going on here. Please help. Thanks in advance.
shooting from the hip here but you could probably raise those lights another foot, lower the PH of the water to around 5.8-6, and see about lowering those daytime temps
don’t worry tho, i’m sure a bunch more people will with a better idea will jump on this soon
I’m going to tag @Budbrother as I haven’t seen anything quite like it… lower yellowing would indicate nitrogen, mid-level leave with necrosis in between the veins could also be nitrogen or possibly potassium… clawing of leaf tips (both up and down, could be so many things.)… Soil ph is high, but runoff is ok…
You’d be surprised how little nutrients you can get away with. Those multi-part synthetics do a pretty good job having a full spectrum of balanced nutrition too. 10 gallons of ocean forest would feed for a while unless its been re-used.
@Budbrother
Makes sense to me. Lot of products being used. If there is salt accumulation the lime is probably hiding the usual drop in pH tied to lock out.
What’s the best way to go about a flush? Should I use just water, or is there a leeching product that I should be using like AN Final Flush? Thank you for this feedback.
I haven’t been using ppms since I have soft water and mix it with half RO to further reduce the mineral content. Been following the AN feed charts for how much to use, but that is a good point and should check the ppm. I will get myself a pen in the next day or so, check them, and report back. Thank you for that suggestion.
Don’t see ingredients on a precursory search. I’m assuming Yucca extract as the most common. That would help to encapsulate salts for removal. It would be beneficial to reset pots using less H2O
Soft water? What’s your source? And why the additional Lime to FFOF? The guys that already replied are some of the BEST.
Bummer about plants you have a lot of time in them but don’t give up there’s still hope follow directions
pH correct- use water like tap or any water source over 200 ppms pH adjusted to desired or lower than desired goal. Run water through until the medium hits target.
PPM correct- RO or distilled- run water through until you hit target. Typically less than 1,000 ppms. RO won’t change pH, only shifts in pH will be from removal of salts. Removing salts increases alkalinity and while using lime it might be a struggle to drop it back down, during flower it’s also common for pH to rise mixed with lime could become hard to manage. So if you are sitting at 6.5/7.0 and you need to flush for ppms you might end up having another battle with alkalinity. 7.0 is kind of the ceiling for flower stage in soil, and that’s most beneficial mid to end of flower.
After pH adjustment flushes and hitting targets your ppms should be low- to very low.
If at end of flush you are 500ppm or less, full feed. If you are around 800, I’d probably leave it alone until next time they get thirst and do a 50% feed strength and see what the run off looks like. Aim to maintain 800-1000 ppms in the medium. Until you get towards mid flower when you can cut back by 50% strength. A lot of people stop feeding altogether at this point for the “fade”
Continue to watch run off trend. This is important when using synthetic nutrients. Not having the ability to check ppms means you have no idea what strength you are feeding them. Rarely do dosing recommendations turn out the way it’s expected. All nutrients provide “estimates” and change batch to batch.
Using Yucca like @Budbrother suggested will cut water needed significantly during a flush.
Where I live in Florida we use well water that goes through a softener and sulfur removal treatment before it gets to the house. It actually makes the shower water feel slick and takes some getting used to lol. I then have an additional RO system that holds about 5 gallons that we use for drinking and cooking water, I change the membrane about once a year on it.
The dolomite lime I started adding after I had some plants suffer from lack of calcium in mid to late bloom a few grows ago. I did a few google searches and found a lot of forums where people talked about how the oyster content in FFOF isn’t enough to make it through the whole cycle so they amend with about 1/2 cup of dolomite lime per cubic foot I think the measurement was. In my last grow it seemed to prevent the rust spots in late bloom without needing cal/mag so I did it again this time. I will not add it in my next grow if you all think it is causing this. I appreciate the encouragement, been racking my brain and surfing the forums for the last 2 months trying to figure this out.
This is very true. It’s just that dolomite contains improper ratio. Other forms are preferred over this. Oyster flour (seeks neutrality of pH), gypsum (no change pH), or limestone (balanced Ca:Mg with long term release 6+ mos and increase pH). These wouldn’t mess with the Mg levels. Each has its place with proper use.
