What's wrong with this plant? (1 week into flowering)

[jelloscooter]

Title says it all... this plant has been flowering for about a week, and has been giving me problems for a long time. I thought it was a N deficiency, but i seem to be giving it enough N fertilizer... My only guess could be PH imbalance, as there was a little peat put in during transplant (acidic).

Now, I see a leaf starting to get whitish. Note the leaves sitting in the pot, I removed them once they started yellowing out.

Any help?

(Picture of my other plant that has been flowering for about 4 days)
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/22885/2004347595306263593_rs.jpg

Edit: Will foliar feeding some 9-12-12 from a spray bottle help this guy out? I don't have access to PH up products, or a very accurate PH gauge at this time. I originally purchased a soil PH test kit that you mix with water and powder, but it's worthless- All I have right now are PH paper strips, which seem to give a slightly better reading.

[stinkyattic]

SOME peat? That soil looks like it IS peat!
Pic #3 is the most indicative of your problems. I see nitrogen, sulfur and potassium deficiencies.
You are officially LOCKED OUT. Don't worry, it's better than BANNED lol.

Shit. I know what I would do in that situation, but it's dicey.

I would run myself a big spaghetti pot full of water at 75-80 degrees F.
I would adjust the pH of that water to 7.0.
I'd unpot the plant and GENTLY slide the rootball into the water, leaving it there for about 5-10 minutes.

You must already have prepared a fresh pot with good VERY light potting soil, even lighter than you would normally use. Compost at pH 6.8 plus 50% perlite. If you can't get compost, just good potting soil with maybe a scant teaspoon of lime per gallon of soil, plus of course extra perlite.
Fill the pot up just over half-way with your soil mix, leaving a cone sticking up in the middle.

Now VERY gently reach both hands into the spaghetti pot and swish GENTLY to release the bulk of the soil clinging to the roots. They should not be CLEAN, just not a big blob of dirt. GENTLY, supporting the root ball as it is very fragile, lift it out and place it on the cone of soil in your pot, spreading the roots as best you can without breaking them. GENTLY, supporting the stem of the plant, backfill around the roots to where the level of the soil was before, NO deeper. You WILL have to support the main stem with a stake and string, because your root structure has just changed drastically. Also, keep the plant in slightly reduced light for a few days until it starts rooting properly again.

Water once with a solution of complete veg fertilizer at 1/2 strength. If the soil settles, fill up to the spot just below the node where the cotyledons originally grew.

Now make a foliar spray of GH Micro, Algoflash, or any other micronutrient supplement you have available. Add 1 drop dish soap to your sprayer so it sticks better. Foliar feed every day or so until you see improvement.

Allow the soil to get dry (top 2-3 inches of soil should be dry, the rest shoudl feel comforably cool and damp, not wet). Next time you water, check the runoff pH and adjust your fertilizer mix pH if necessary.

This is the scary way to fix it.

The less scary/extreme way is to check the runoff pH and try to bring your soil pH back up with pH UP, and follow the fertilizer directions given above. But you're in peat, and peat has the property of being soggy when flushed, making this a little on the tough side. It can be done though.

[Th3 sand m4n]

that poor plant let us know if you saved her haha

[jelloscooter]

I had a long reply written out, but the cannabis.com server crapped out during posting. In short:

Thanks very much stinkyattic. I'm going to try to fix the plant without unpotting it. I'm a first timer, and I had no idea about how bad peat was. The peat was added during repotting when i ran out of regular soil. I used a 50/50 mix, and it is around the original dirt ball about 4-6 inches deep.

I'm going to the hydroponics store soon, what exactly should I buy?

is 18-24-24 fert bad?
Do I need micronutrients?
PH up is only for the soil?

[jelloscooter]

After the most ridiculous ride up to the hydroponics store, I purchased:

"Pro pH UP" concentrate
"General Hydroponics FloraBloom 0 - 5 - 4"
"General Hydroponics FloraMicro 5 - 0 - 1"
"General Hydroponics FloraGro 2 - 1 - 6"

Im going to mix the first gallon up at 3/4 strength, with pH upper included. Is it alright to do a foliar feeding at 100%? and should I foliar feed with ph upper?

[stinkyattic]

Mix everything according to what it says on the bottle.
Don't ever use ferts at 100%! :eek: SOOOO strong!!!

If the repot was done really recently, the roots quite likely have not grown much into it, and if you let the soil dry out pretty well, you can shake it off. But you have got to get as much as possible outta there. Trust me, I killed a whole crop with that stuff when I was a nOOb!!! It was tragic.

You use the pH up to adjust your flushing water to 7.0 or just slightly over if your soil is too low. I've seen peeps go as high as 8.0 to bring up their soil pH, but that's as far as I would ever take it.

[jelloscooter]

I meant 100% strength as in what the bottle said to mix with a gallon. I'm just wondering if I should have started at a 50-75% strength to start out, or if my plants had a big enough deficiency that I couldnt even afford to do that.

In any case, I mixed up a gallon with the "blooming transition" ratios (but at around 75-80% intensity), and increased the PH of my tap water (that sat out) by just a tad over .5 since i fear my soil PH was about 6. I mixed up a spray bottle without the PH upper.

Is it OK to foliar feed nutrients multiple times a day to nurse the plant back? Or should I stick to once a day so I dont over fert?

[stinkyattic]

I think a couple times a day is just fine.
Yeah foliar use full strenght what the bottle says, soil feeding go a little weaker at first.
You are doing it right.

[jelloscooter]

Thanks again from me and my plants ^_^

I'll post pictures again in a few days so you can see how it turned out.