First time grower - need a little help - pics and troubleshooting guide included!

[whonotme]

Greetings, all. I have three plants growing (I think the strain is blueberry), and I'm running into a bit of a problem with them. I have answered to best of my ability the troubleshooting guide. Please help!

My plants are about 40 days old, and approximately 10 days ago, I started getting the syptoms. Prior to that, they were looking great!

H=Answer if you grow hydro or aero
C=Answer if you grow coco
S=Answer if you grow traditional soil
L=Answer if you grow soilless other than coco (Promix, Hyponex, SunshineMix)
R=Answer if you grow in RockWool
T=Answer if you grow in HydroTon
D=Answer if you run any type of automatic drip system, including into soil or soilless
E= EVERYONE needs to answer lol!


E-indoor or outdoor - Indoor
E-soil, soilless, coco, aero, or hydroponic - Soil
E-specific medium - Sta-Green potting mix with fertilizer (.14-.11-.08)
CSL-Soil type/brand - See above
SCL-Anything you have added to the soil -
SCLR-Soil or slab runoff pH - around 6.0
E-Water source - Brita filtered tap water
E-Source water pH - approx. 6.7
HRT-Source water EC (if hydro)
E-Age of plant - 40 days
E-Type of fertilizer - Not recently, but I have fertilized with MG Tomato Plant food (18-18-21), which was probably a mistake, especially since the soil has fert in it.
E-Rate of application (if hydro, this is your PPM number, preferably after each component is added)
E-Lighting source and distance from plant - 6x26 watt 65K CFLs in a Rubbermaid tub, approximately 2 inches from top of plant
E-Air temperature (both day and night if you are running a dark period) - Consistantly around 68-72 degrees
E-Air % Relative humidity - 40-50%
E-Lighting schedule - 24 hours light
E-Type of ventilation your room has - Room has no significant ventilation, other than an AC duct, but there is an exhaust fan at the top of the box.
TR-Did you pre-soak your media in pH corrected solution? - no

Some other info - I recently adjusted the lights to about 4 inches from the plant, and I also flushed the soil with the Brita water a couple of days ago.

Pic attached (before I flushed them with water, but they still look the same):

[Weedhound]

transplant into quality soil....like, yesterday.

Sounds like EVERYTHING is off.....from your ph to using Britta water to your old soil. Transplant into a good soil (like Fox Farms Oceans Forest....)

It's your only chance. Use straight up tap water and make sure it's ph'd correctly.

Good luck.

[whonotme]

After further research, my best guess is that I am dealing with nutrient burn. If someone could confirm that for me, what is the best course of action? Should I just replant in a nuetral soil and hope the new growth is okay?

Edit: Thanks!

[Dyranty]

If you decide to use the same soil i would def start to flush sometime soon. Try to rid the soil of all that crap.

[whonotme]

Thanks, everyone. I have transplanted to Foxfarms Ocean Forest and used regular tap water, pH around 6.8. I also moved them to bigger pots because they were getting root bound. Now I just hope they survive!

[whonotme]

One other question. Since I am changing the soil, should I rinse off all the existing soil from the roots, and then re-plant into the new soil?

[Twentyinches]

One other question. Since I am changing the soil, should I rinse off all the existing soil from the roots, and then re-plant into the new soil?

I would not do this, the less you disturb those roots, the better.
once in a bigger pot it will do it's thing.

[anbesol]

get the water between 6.0 and 6.5. I like 6.0

[blink_inc]

my god...

rootbound no doubt after forty days in a cup...
as for nute burn, more than likely. What strength was the nute mix?

do your new pots have adequate drainage?
Do you test runoff PH every time you water?

[whonotme]

I know, I know. I really didn't think the plants were rootbound because they are so small. But then, that's probably what has kept them so small, eh?

The new pots have perfectly adequate drainage, and no, I had never tested runoff pH, but I will start doing that now.

I feel fairly sure these plants are ruined, so I am starting a couple of new ones. My first problem was that I didn't do any research prior to starting the first ones, and I made a bunch of mistakes.

The nute mix was 1/4 strength 18-18-21.

[Weedhound]

Don't give up on them quite yet.....you'd be surprised.....they call it a weed for a reason ;)

Blink, lol. :D

Don't use Britta water....use regular tap water and make sure it's ph'd between 6.2-6.8. Then pray. The Britta filters take out the GOOD minerals etc that you WANT for your plants amongst besides adding too much sodium as well.

Did I mention pray? :D ;)

[phatsesh101]

im going to second weed hounds first post good soil number one stop the britta and there is no reason to ph down tap unless its over 7.5 i let mine sit out for a day or two to evape some chloros man other than that

its not nute burn 40 days in a cup any nutes are probly long gone i flower in cups and have to nute every 6 days.

and to back up my theory the light green is from n def.and the leaves are curling in like theyre praying youll give them some sort of Mg. and ther are other syptoms of def. but im tired of typing not to mention u dont seem like the type to take advice anyway

[stinkyattic]

Seeing symptoms like that, you are locked out by overfert and poor soil sonditions (pH and rootbound).
You'd have wanted to flush those plants well with plain tap water, then transplant them to better soil after the flush, and then feed immediately with 1/4 strength grow fertilizer with micronutes in it and work up to full strength fert gradually.

[whonotme]

Seeing symptoms like that, you are locked out by overfert and poor soil sonditions (pH and rootbound).
You'd have wanted to flush those plants well with plain tap water, then transplant them to better soil after the flush, and then feed immediately with 1/4 strength grow fertilizer with micronutes in it and work up to full strength fert gradually.

Great! I did flush them thoroughly (with bottled water) a few days ago, and I repotted them in quality soil (Ocean Forest). Just doing those two steps, I am already seeing some improvement on the new growth, which is rapidly ocurring now that there is room to grow.

So I'm not quite ready to give up! :thumbsup: My feed is 18-18-21 with some Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn. I will start with 1/4 strength and build up from there immediately.


I have learned a ton so far from reading on this site, and thanks to everyone who has responded.

[blink_inc]

For veg stage I don't think you have the proper nutrients.

You will want something with the first number higher than the rest. If you read in the plant problems section, there anre numerous "yellowing" plants. Although not all for a deficency, a nitrogen deficiency is quite common and can result from not using the right nutrients.

For flowering you will want the second number higher.

You will be amazed at how they can bounce back...