Please help... My plants goin bald!

[Wobster]

Right, this is the first time I've successfuly grown a plant that is female. I grown two before but they both turned out male. The male ones were from the same seeds and are power plant. My plant was doing great, it's about 5 weeks into veg. I burnt it when it was about 2 weeks in veg but I flushed it and it recovered okay. The first thing I noticed were that the bottom fan leaves were yellowing until they became white and fell off. I thought it might be to do with light bieng blocked by the newer leaves. Anyhow, Some brown spots appeared. They didn't look spider mitey because they were too big. I misted the plant to check for those little buggers and I found no webs. The Brown patches looked almost as though wood stain had dripped onto the leaves. The brown patches spread quite fast and the leaves started yellowing and curling up.

Yesterday when I checked, three tiers of fan leaves were dead. I tried some epsom salts for mg. A clue may be that when I removed the dead leaves, they came away froim the plant very easily. How long after you water with a Mg solution do you see the effects? Please look at pics and please please help. Is the plant now doomed? Will it continue to grow without the fan leaves. The brown spots have appeared now on a couple of leaves on the shoot that comes from a fan leaf. Should I remove all leaves with brown spots on them?

If you need any more details, Just ask. BTW using Baby Bio fert... low dose.

[stinkyattic]

You're locked out by salt buildup in your medium.
First, the wetness of your soil. Is that one of those pots that has a built-in drip tray? Repot into a slightly larger pot with good fresh soil and NO drip tray, and FLUSH your soil really well to get all that fertilizer buildup out of there, and the Epsom salts- that wasn't a Mg def. Check the pH of the runoff water and be certain that it is about 6.7; adjust if you need to.
The flush should really help. When there is an excess of certain salts in the soil, they block the plant from uptaking the 'good' chemicals it needs to grow. That's why your plants are showing a multi-nutrient deficiency.
Feed with a complete fertilizer that has micro nutrients in it.

[Wobster]

Firstly, Thankyou very much for your prompt answer and for explaining your answer aswell. I've been dredging through the forums looking for similar cases to find the answer and one thing I've noticed is that you give great advice and you always explain your reasons to do things. Thanks Attic (well I can't call you stinky).

I will go and do what you recomend now.

Erm, after reading your reply, it jogged something in my memory and it all makes sense now. I said I had grown some other pp seeds and they turned out male. Well the last one I grew I added Epson salts to it as I thought it was Mg deficient. Shortly after I realised it was a male and got rid of it. The plant you see now was a seeding then and when it was ready for repotting I used the soil from that old plant that contained epsom salts. Let me just go and bang my head into the wall.... ah.

Thanks again and don't laugh at my newbeeness :D

Do you think the plant is salvagable due to the fan leaves dropping off?

[stinkyattic]

That's EXACTLY what happened! Damn quick catch.
Eeryone else calls me Stinky... haha

[klondike_bar]

i had that problem near start of my grow. one small leaf fully whitened and dropped and a few suffered slight fringe burns.

went away once i reduced the shultz dosage by 2 drops/litre

[Wobster]

Hello to you all again.
I followed the advice given and slowly but surely the plant is now flourishing again. Thanks!;)
A few questions though.

The leaves are looking tonnes better and the plant is growing at a good rate. Will the stems that are still red return to a green colour or will they stay red now?

I want to take a cutting from her but the shoot I'm planning to use as a cutting has a red stem, will it matter?

I've been looking at instructions for building a bubbler... how effective are bubblers and are they problematic?

Thankyou people... one day I'll manage a successful grow and smugly post the pics on here.

[stinkyattic]

I'd wait just a little before you take cuttings, because the plant will be larger, and it's best to be certain that she is in good health. Yes, the stems should regain a green color when your nute/soil situation is fully resolved.

I've had very mixed results with bubblers, although some people swear by them. You have to be familiar with testing your water pH. Personally, I love those rapidrooter bark plug things. Instructions on use are both in the link in my siggy and in a sticky on cloning that is in basic growing right at the top.

I anticipate your smugness with glee...