EXTREMELY Yellow leaves......getting worse.

[acardozie]

I have three plants and this is the only one that's doing this. It's been yellow for about a week and a half. I was just wondering if you had any ideas. I have:
-Miracle Gro Organic soil 50/50 perlite
-7 26W cfl's about 6" away from the plants
-the temp stays between 72 and 82
-an intake and exhaust fan with a fan inside
I waited until the top 2" or so of soil was dry and then waited another day before I watered and I fed with 1/4 strength nutes. I fed it yesterday. It's just been slowly getting worse for over a week. I just don't know what to do. Any ideas??!

[allrollsin21]

what food are you feeding it?

[TheMetal1]

Yeah... you will need to fill out the troubleshooting form here:
http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/127058-troubleshooting-form-yay-you-know-you-wanted-one.html

I notice you didn't include any pH information. If you aren't adjusting your nutrient mix to an appropriate level, around 6.9... you are asking for problems. Also, testing your runoff is important. Mystery pH can result in a wide range of health issues due to nutrient lockout. Posting additional information will help get a better idea as to what is happening.

:rasta:

[stinkyattic]

HUUUUUUUNGREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Feed it a little stronger. Also try making a foliar spray of your 'grow' fert at 1.2 strength with one drop liquid soap and lightly misting the leaves a couple times, then wait a day or so... you should see them starting to green up almost immediately, in 'plant time', anyway.

[acardozie]

Well I use Miracle Grow plant food but it's really the only option I have right now. And on the box it says that they don't recommend foliar feeding. So can I just use water or is that just pointless? My best plant started to develop these spots on its leaves the day before yesterday. They're yellow and they just start at random parts of the leaves. They're all 3 1/2 weeks old and on their 7th node. I don't really want them to get that big. Maybe 3-4 feet max. Can I just switch them to 12/12 and start flowering or is it too early? I kind of want to fix these problems I have before going to flowering. I'm still trying to get something for my pH, I just know that the water going in is 6.5 but I don't know after nutes or anything.

[acardozie]

Okay, well I just bought a pH tester at a pet place. It's the liquid tester. I had tested my tap water like two weeks ago with a strip tester that I bought from Lowe's and it was 6.5. I tested it today with the liquid tester and it only goes to 7.6 and that's what it's at. So it's at least 7.6. I don't know which one to believe. I would think the liquid tester would be more accurate, but I don't know. And it says over 7.6 after I add my nutes too, so that makes me wonder. Do you think that it's over 7.6 and that's what's killing my plants?! I couldn't find any pH down today so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. But I'm guessing that's what's wrong here. I don't know.

[acardozie]

I tested a bottled water with the pH tester too and they all were at least 7.6. I think it's broken or something. It's from API (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals). It was only $7.00 So I don't know. I have to water one of them tomorrow, so I don't really know what to do. Maybe I should buy a different pH tester.

[allrollsin21]

There is a post above from a woman named Stinky. Her advice stinks...i mean really stinks, i'm talking about the skunkiest herbs you have ever puffed stinkyness.

So i would first not buy anymore pH meters then try your hardest to get some veg food for cannabis, and then follow her directions above.

People have helped me much on this site and she is certainly one of them. Let her help you. She stinks.:thumbsup:

and i still always have a few two three or more sickly looking plants that just "crawl across the finish line" stinky quote butchered a bit, but my point being you don't want grow advice from me, but take my advice here.

[veggii]

There is a post above from a woman named Stinky. Her advice stinks...i mean really stinks, i'm talking about the skunkiest herbs you have ever puffed stinkyness.

So i would first not buy anymore pH meters then try your hardest to get some veg food for cannabis, and then follow her directions above.

People have helped me much on this site and she is certainly one of them. Let her help you. She stinks.:thumbsup:

and i still always have a few two three or more sickly looking plants that just "crawl across the finish line" stinky quote butchered a bit, but my point being you don't want grow advice from me, but take my advice here.

is it stinky in this thread or just me smellin it:D

[Weedhound]

ha ha Stinky stinks! I love that! A true keeper!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[stinkyattic]

Oh man, I even showered this morning! :D But then I rumpused with Smelly-The-Dog and probably stink again.

Well, soil and water pH are both important but when you have a peat based soil it is okay if your water is a little too high because peat is a little too low and you end up with balance.

The very best thing you could do for your plants is to go try to find a bottle of Pure Blend Pro Grow. I recommend this because it has ingredients that also make up for lousy pH of soil or water- these are called 'buffers' in chemistry terms. But if all you have is that MG junk... ehhhh well use it, and use it a little stronger than you are, but be sure to water to RUNOFF every so often to avoid salt build up that you get from low-grade ferts.

[wayward]

hey acardozie,
there's a way to grow where you won't experience this kind of problem. there's a way you can prevent this kind of thing from happening and you'll take all the guesswork out of growing. the method is this - don't try to do anything special. just get some Foxfarm Fruit and Flower powdered fert at your grow store and put two cups of it in a five gallon container of potting soil and mix well, then put your plants in that and just water them when their thirsty. That will solve 99% percent of your feeding issues.

[edub325]

please show me the way

[wayward]

Certainly. It's alot easier than you might think. Just treat the plants you were given as if they are any other plant, by that I mean don't try to do anything special. Don't give fertilizer using a method where you're just guessing how much to give. That's how people end up in trouble. Don't use a foliar feeding (spraying leaves) method at all. You won't need to and there's a huge likelihood you will hurt the leaves. Here's what you do:
You get one five gallon container like a bucket, for each plant. You fill the bucket halfway with decent potting soil, and it needs to be potting soil, not Light Warrior, which is too light. But use good potting soil you can get at your grow store or decent hardware store. I would suggest you avoid Miracle Grow products because they seem to be real hot with fertilizer. After filling the bucket halfway, you put in one cup or healthy handfull of Foxfarm Fruit and Flower fertilizer, also available at your grow store. There are other ferts you could use, like Whitney Farms 5-5-5 Organic (which is good stuff), however the Foxfarm powder fert is loaded with bacteria. It's this bacteria that does the trick. It breaks powder fert down to a molecular level where it can be taken up by the plant roots easily. Most potting soils are sterlized, meaning they don't have much bacteria to them. The sterilizing is done to protect your plants, however, it leaves no bacteria to break down ferts. Thus you must add the bacteria, but you don't have to worry about this cuz it's in the Foxfarm Farm fertilizer already. Read the label and you'll see alot of different bacteria and fungi on the label.

Ok, so you have a bucket half full with the soil and fert mix. Now you do the exact same thing with the empty space of the bucket. You fill it with soil and mix in a cup or handful of FF fert again. Then transplant into the bucket. Repeat this method with every plant. You shouldn't need to do anything else for the life of the plant. People have problems because they throw in fert here and there, not really knowing what they are doing, just hoping it will work. It won't. The plant has a life all its own. It doesn't need to be told what to do. Just give it the right environment and it will grow fine.

[irydyum]

Certainly. It's alot easier than you might think. Just treat the plants you were given as if they are any other plant, by that I mean don't try to do anything special. Don't give fertilizer using a method where you're just guessing how much to give. That's how people end up in trouble. Don't use a foliar feeding (spraying leaves) method at all. You won't need to and there's a huge likelihood you will hurt the leaves. Here's what you do:
You get one five gallon container like a bucket, for each plant. You fill the bucket halfway with decent potting soil, and it needs to be potting soil, not Light Warrior, which is too light. But use good potting soil you can get at your grow store or decent hardware store. I would suggest you avoid Miracle Grow products because they seem to be real hot with fertilizer. After filling the bucket halfway, you put in one cup or healthy handfull of Foxfarm Fruit and Flower fertilizer, also available at your grow store. There are other ferts you could use, like Whitney Farms 5-5-5 Organic (which is good stuff), however the Foxfarm powder fert is loaded with bacteria. It's this bacteria that does the trick. It breaks powder fert down to a molecular level where it can be taken up by the plant roots easily. Most potting soils are sterlized, meaning they don't have much bacteria to them. The sterilizing is done to protect your plants, however, it leaves no bacteria to break down ferts. Thus you must add the bacteria, but you don't have to worry about this cuz it's in the Foxfarm Farm fertilizer already. Read the label and you'll see alot of different bacteria and fungi on the label.

Ok, so you have a bucket half full with the soil and fert mix. Now you do the exact same thing with the empty space of the bucket. You fill it with soil and mix in a cup or handful of FF fert again. Then transplant into the bucket. Repeat this method with every plant. You shouldn't need to do anything else for the life of the plant. People have problems because they throw in fert here and there, not really knowing what they are doing, just hoping it will work. It won't. The plant has a life all its own. It doesn't need to be told what to do. Just give it the right environment and it will grow fine.

I'm not even going to touch on how ridiculous this is. We are all fans of FF products, but do you really think they are the solution to every problem on these boards? I see you feeding the same crap to everyone. "Just use some FoxFarm"

How are you going to tell someone that all they need to grow is a bucket and some dirt. Dont feel like mentioning that you need drainage in that bucket, or that ventilation is necessary, or that quantifiable things Co2 levels, light levels, and ph are huge factors?

Any idiot with some dirt and a seed can grow a plant, the equation for growth isn't hard. Add air, light, water and watch. But to grow conniseur cannabis, you are going to need many more tools and much more knowledge. Most of us out on these threads are looking for something a little better than your redneck neighbors garden buds.

Please stop selling people on the idea that your method is the best. There are as many methods as there are growers, and yours certainly may work for you and your needs. However, there are growers out here with infinite wisdom and experience, and proven results that are trying to help others out, and I'm sick and tired of seeing people like you follow them around and try to make them look bad. Find another board to go pollute.

BTW, where are the pics of your "amazing" plants? Havent seen anything from you yet.

[Weedhound]

I certainly have to agree with irydium here......the "one solution cures all" approach to growing not only isn't accurate, it makes one wonder if the solution being preached is because it happens to be the only piece of knowledge said grower has in their knowledge bank. Which tends to make their knowledge bank a bit seem a bit...well......threadbare..... if you will. ;)

[wayward]

I don't understand why people here think their grow will be better if they make things more complex. Chances are you're just going to screw it up. Fine, whatever, have it your way. But you're going to spend years on these boards, never getting quite right. Besides, the only issue I was addressing is fertilizer. That's it, nothing more. I know about light and air and water and drainage, etc. To confuse what I write shows that you folks need to lay off the weed. Have a nice life, everyone, and good luck too as you're going to need it.

[irydyum]

Thank you for the kind parting words. Fortunately for me, cannabis doesn't recognize luck. But it does recognize my hard work and dilligence, it's what I would call a nice symbiotic relationship. Can we get back on subject here? Do you still need some info acardozie?

[edub325]

thank you for your time and advice although i am having a time finding ff brand in my area

[stinkyattic]

Wayward, you have told HYDRO growers to mix powdered FF in their shit, and that is simply ridiculous.

Your parting words of 'you guys need to lay off the weed' really are pretty silly, and VERY insulting to a community of people who are told to use cannabis for various illnesses and complications from past injuries that they have suffered- it shows a profound lack of respect for the people and culture of this community, and I think it is time for you to say goodbye.

There are many different 'complete' soil systems; if I wanted to be a salesman like Wayward there, I'd be all about the Canna Bio, which is living compost + a liquid organic fert system. But that is just one way to skin a cat. There are many. Edub, if you are having trouble, and really want to do a solid soil amendment, you can start with any unfertilized and LIGHt soilless mix, and add low levels of the various organic fertilizers available at the local garden center, and even at walmart- blood meal for nitrogen, bone meal for phosphorous, kelp compost for valuable micronutrients, perlite to make the whole thing light and fluffy, etc! There are as many organic soils as there are organic gardeners; look in the 'organic' section for recipes. Or stick with LIQUD nutes, which are the absolute easiest for a first time grower, because you can make each feeding stronger or weaker, or not feed at all, depending upon how your plants are reacting.