plant trouble

[slayah]

the leaves on the bottom are becoming yeallow and some areas are brown too, and that yeallowing goes to the top. I ferted it with 2/3 solution a few days ago, all the leaves became droopy too. so is it overwatering or underferting or overferting ? the plant is 1+ month old. oh yes the thing became even worse then I topped it, but I don't think that this is the problem.

[marimbas]

overwater, dont water until the uper layer of the soil is dry, that takes about 2 weeks but it depends on the pot oviously

[slayah]

well, for me it takes like 3 days to dry out, and the layer is allready dry but the leaves are still droppy.

[slayah]

and the leaves don't stop yellowing !

[D3STRUCT]

dude give us some more info...grow room size? what lights your using? strain? etc...then we might be able to come up with a better answer...

[slayah]

shiva shanti 2, growroom 2x3 feet, 3x 24W CF, damn it was great, and it sudenly started to die, I guess I'll waterit now and see how will it get, better or worse, because 3 days have past and it's getting worse and worse.

[marimbas]

check out my threads, there is a picture of one of my plants that seemed that had the same problem as yours...
that can be many things, like you have worms in the soil, whom are eating the roots, or that you over water too much that the roots got rotten.. but so far i cant tell you more...What kind of soil was it? did you get it in a sealed bag, sterilized? or somewhere else???

[marimbas]

One more thing! whats the temp in the room, the weed must be in a warm please, like 20°C to 30°C and does it has a lot of cold wind flow??

[slayah]

um I open a window a little bit in my living room at night, the growbox is in that room. it's snow here so i guess it got cold ?

[slayah]

soil is some universal with organic ferts or smth. well I don't water too much, like a cup every 4 days or so , then the soil gets dry about an inch.

[marimbas]

well thats your answer, your plant is freezing, thats why its going to a better life! without being smoked!!!!! dont open a window, and check the indoor temperature, if its under the 20°C its gonna die anyway... and ill give you a lit advice put a plate under the pot, or something, water only when that plate is absolutely dry for a couple days, i only water my plants every sunday...

Dont open the window at night... comeon!!!

[slayah]

ok, I didn't open it that night and she is getting better. thanks to putting my brains back =]]] by the way is freezing only the cause of droopy leaves or that browning and yellowing of bottom leaves as well ?

[marimbas]

yes maybe, when a plant freezes its said they are burning, so it must look like if it was exposed to a brutal amound of heat, and it all might look like yellowish, brownish and stuff....

remember that this plant, is a tropical plant, so if you expose it to cold it will not survive... she is gonna get fine if you keep it warm, and everything...

[slayah]

all the new growing tips(which grew while freezing) have yeallow/light green areas. is that because of freezing or it's a lack of some nutrients ? I fert it with 2/3 solution of NPK 3-1,2-2,4 with no other elements. is that enought ? I'm planning on buying some epsom salts. by the way lower leaves don't stop yellowing, but the older fan leaves show some nute burn so should I feed her or should I not ?
I think I should flush her. maybe someone could tell me how to do it properly ?

[marimbas]

feed her but, very very lightly... just a very little bit, and let it heal by herself without any cold air, how does it looks now? are new upper leafes looking fine? all the burning parts will stay like that, and the yellow leafes are gonna fall, those are insuficient for the plant, so dont worry.

[slayah]

damn, it was going great, now yesterday I came back home and found it all droopy againa nd lower leaves are almost dead. there was some people in my room yesterday and I guess they could open the window, and since it's snow here so it might be the cause. are there any other couses for doopy leaves ? it can't be overwatering because I ddn't water for a few days.

[BigBudDaddy08]

Hey man im haveing the same problem as but im using 4ft fluro's ..Mine will get better one day then droop another but i am haveing discolorration on the leaf and lil brown spots on the first set of leaves ..heres some pics of mine..But i put my fan on them and they started perkin up a lil.. It could be that its not getting enough good air..

[marimbas]

if once you closed the window, the plant start to get better, its because of the cold wether for sure, another thing, is that you must use fert, get a good fert and read the instruction of it, and use it in your plant, NEVER!!!!! spray fert directly to the plant, or never if you use (rock look) fert, never put it touching the plant, youll kill it...

close the window, keep her warm, use fert, and when water, dont use very cold water that dosnt help at all...

[marimbas]

Guys the fans are good, but if the fan is making the plant get cool air the fan isnt helping at all....

[slayah]

arrrrg problems again, now the leaf margins are curling up, and I almost didn't see any growth in past few days.

[marimbas]

i dont understand that well, but i think thats normal, you didnt see any growth because she was or maybe healing again, post a picture of your plant

[slayah]

I don't have a camera but I'lll do my best to get a picture somehow.
yes and lower leaves are allways droopy and the bottom leaves are turning yeallow/brown all the time since I started growing. I've lost about 7 sets of leaves already =/
after I found all leaves droopy the other day (It seems noone was opening the window actually, so I guess maybe ir was underwatered) I ferted it wiith some new fert I've got. I used a full solution of NPK 40-12-43, there is also writen that the fert has Mg, Fe, B, Cu, Mn, Zn, Mo. So I guess she shouldn't be lacking anything (or maybe P?). oh yeah, I ferted again with same solution a few days after.
maybe this explains the upper leaves curling up?

[marimbas]

yes, see the fert must not be over used, just as the water, u have to give it like once a week, or once every 2 weeks, now, if the lower leafs are always droppy it might mean that your plant dosnt have enough light...
if your top leafs look fine, it wont die, but you need to give it more light

[slayah]

damn, some leaves have purple veins and it seams that it is about to start dieing again, I guess she needs potasium, or maybe it is locked up ? so should I get some high P fert or should I flush or just water or what ?

[DojaDave]

Those ferts your using might be the wrong type. I use an all purpose type 18-18-18 for vegging. I would flush the plant and lay off the ferts till it starts looking better.

Avoid cold temps as much as possible but dont 86 the fan coz you need ventilation. How big are the pots? What type of lighting are u using and how much?

Try to post some pics if you can.

[marimbas]

slayah since it was only one plant, i would recomend you do the same thing DojaDave is telling you, the fan is ok, actually necessary and good for the plant to keep it strong, but if the wether is too cold and the fan is giving the plant a very chilly wind, it will get depressed.
Also im telling you, you should start to germinate a couple more seeds now, and start all over again, what u have learend so far!

good luck

[slayah]

well it's not getting cold air anymore, I am using 3x 24W CF bulbs(cool white(2x 6800' and 1x 5400')) is this enough for one plant ? yeah I guess I'll start to germinate other seeds coss I don't think that there will be something worth a smoke from this one, it's 1,5 month old ant looks like it would be only half of that time =/ still, I'll try to same this one, I'll flush it and try to get some fert which has more potassium. hey maybe there is some only potassium thing ? maybe there is some organic potassium feed which I could get at any store?

[Das]

slayah look at this link at Overgrow.com:

http://www.overgrow.com/growfaq/1111

See if anything there looks like the same condition :)

[slayah]

saying potassium I meant Phosphorus (P). sorry for confusion.

[slayah]

oh yeah, is it worth growing sativa at home ? couse it's the only seeds I've got now, the one I'm growing is a hibryd I guess.

[slayah]

I've just flushed her and she seems to respond preatty well, the leaves went from droopy to ok in an hour. but the bottom leaves are all droopy, they all have some yeallow margins and some has brown/red/yellow/green colors. almost like a rastafarian flag ya know ;)
how much time should now pass till the first fert ? and what solution should I use ? I don't want to screw up again.

[DojaDave]

Glad its looking better,

Now I would leave it alone as far as using ferts for a while. Let it recover coz it sounds like it has gone through quite a bit of stress. I actually only fertalized my plant once during its veg state. I believe that as long as the soil is at a well balanced PH level, theres really no need to fert, atleast not too much during vegging. Just use plain o'l water for a while and only use fert if your plants starts showing signs of nute defficiancy as discribed in the link Das provided above.

The flowering stage on the other hand, I have fertalized every 3rd watering with a bud and bloom mix, 10-52-8, high in phosphate coz they consume a lot of it during flowering.

Good luck!

[DojaDave]

Oh and if you dont have one already, get yourself a soil PH tester, they're not expensive and very useful if your in doubt of your PH. I bought mine at a local nusery for $20.

[DojaDave]

Use a 18/6 light schedule too if your not already.

[slayah]

i'm using 24/7 , is that bad ? the thing is that on the CF package there is writen that they are not compatible with timers for some reasons, and switching the light's avery night and morning at same time would be problematic.

[slayah]

what is nusery ? I didn't find ph tester in gardeners shop , I only have whose paper testers but they are very inaccurate, because you will only see the difrence in color if the ph is +-3

[slayah]

the leaves in lower section are yellow or brown so how will I see the N definecy if they are already yellow ? should I cut whose off ? because they won't recover anyway I guess, they are not dried already but droopy as dead ;]

[DojaDave]

24/7 is not bad if your starting out seedlings and clones, but once the plant gets established I would switch them to 18/6, only coz this is a more natural light cycle for plants and wont stress them out as much as a 24/7 cycle would. If using a timer is out of the question then I would just leave them on the 24/7 cycle then, kinda strange you cant use a timer on those lights..

What I meant to type is nursery, or garden shop, same thing. You can sometimes find ph testers at hardware stores such as LOWES, ACE hardware, etc.. I would call ahead and ask first, it'll save ya the trip. The basic ph testers have a metal rod probe, and a meter.

Keep an eye on the new growth of the plant for nute defficiancy. As far as the dead leaves, I would leave them there and let them fall off naturally only because cutting leaves can leave the plant exposed to deseases and fungus. If you do cut leaves though, leave about 1/2 inch of stem.

[marimbas]

Slayah the light, might not be enough, u should get a HPS 400 watts or more, other wise yourll be lucky if you get 1 bud for a whole plant... i recomend you like dave to put your plant in a 18/6 light cicle... otherwhise the plant can compleate its whole natural dayly cycle...
the kind of seeds indica or sativa, it dosnt mather in my experience, i just hope you have a good strain...

Good luck man!

[slayah]

400 HPS for 1 plant ? hmm If I put 5 24W CF's on flowering, like 1500 lumens each, would it be enought ?

[slayah]

wow since yesterday she grown more than in whole past week , or even more.

[DojaDave]

Not sure about CF's, For my plant I'm using 4 4' shoplights with with 1 cool white and one warm white in each lamp totaling about 320 watts, not use about the lumens coz I threw away the packages the lights came in but I roughly remember each bulb being around 3000, give or take a few hundred lumens. Pretty much covers both spectrums of light blue and red, not as well as a 400 watt HPS would though, and would yield much more buds, But i'm on a budget so this was all I can afford and I am getting great results from this setup.

If your limited on space and cash, just do what you can, but be mindful of the light spectrum, watts, lumens, and heat.

Good Luck! glad shes doing better.

[slayah]

u use so much light for one plant ? is it neceserry to be that big ?

[DojaDave]

I could probably get away with 2 shop lights but i'm trying to get the most bud possible out of this plant and fluros dont emit as much light as a 400 watt HPS which is probably ideal. After this one plant is done, i'll be putting 5 clones under those 4 shoplights, probably add two more shoplights.

[slayah]

after flushing she grew well for 2 days , but now she looks like stoped again. I checked the soil and it's moist. I didn't do anything since flushing. can it be because of 24/0 cycle ?

[marimbas]

i dont think so, i think its in a normal stage, plants take its time to grow

[DojaDave]

Could be the temperature? whats the temp in the grow space?

[slayah]

about 77 at the bottom and 86 at top (by the lamps). I don't see any decent grow for 2 days, well atleast they are not becomeing droopy again, maybe it's a lack of N or something because I didn't feed them since flushing. maybe I should add some ferts then the soil dries out enough ? by the way I added about a half inch layer of small burnt clay balls, so I would not not disturb the roots then watering, was it a good idea ?

[slayah]

oh yeah and I don't really like the color of top leaves, some are half light green/ half dark green, some some are dark green with some purlpe shade if you look closely, some weins are little bit red or purple.

[IthoughtIknewitall]

I definetly would not giveit any more ferts until it is thriving. If it keeps acting sick flush it with pure PH balanced water. You can dry it by gently unpotting it and wrapping it in 2-3 layers of absorbent towels.

[DojaDave]

Well, the temps ok, I would definitely leave it alone, no ferts! Just be patient.

Clay balls? not sure what good those would do..

[slayah]

I don't know how it's called in english, it's whose little balls that are sold for drainage, they are put 1-2 inches in the bottom for better drainage, there is stated on the packed that it can be putten to the top too, so the soil would not be disturbed then watering, and to keep the soil moist for longer time. so was it a good idea to put them on the top ?

[DojaDave]

Not sure if those will make much differance, I've seen them used for hydro setups but not for soil grows. I dont see anything wrong with it, But I believe thats why theres pearlite (white pellets) in the soil to begin with as far as moisture retention goes.

As far as disturbing the soil, I dont think you have to worry about that unless your watering with a hose..

Anyone else care to comment?

[marimbas]

i think he must be patiente, plants wont grow like if they were magic beans, they live by cycles, sometimes it will grow fast, and sometimes it will stop... just let it be,
Ill recomend you to use yellowish light, you can get fluors that say warm light, those work to make the plant grow faster

[slayah]

but everyone says that cool white is better for vegetative, well maybe I'll try to change one of 6800K bulbs to 2400K bulb (not sure for numbers exactly). oh yeah, and lower leaves are still dieing, well atleast whose that were lil bit yellow before the flush, and the leaves were becoming droopy today again so I watered her and will see what happens.

[slayah]

the leaves are turning to non-droopy condition, but the weins have really turned red, are you sure I shouldn't fert her ? what's the cause of red weins then ?

[slayah]

oh, and there is no perlite in my soil, because there is no place to buy perlite here :( is this very bad ? I'm using some universal soil for home plants.

[marimbas]

its alright, dont feed it right now... in my experience yellow light made them grow much faster... remember HPS is a yellow light...

[DojaDave]

Slayah,
I would chill as far as using ferts for now coz your plant is recovering from stress. Here are some links though that may help.

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStri...6/nutrients.htm
http://users.lycaeum.org/~npkaye/chart.html

Stick with the cool whites for vegging, those should be ok.

Dont worry about the pearlite this time around, but in future grows make sure you get potting soil thats properly mixed.

[slayah]

yesterday I watered her and today I found the leaves droopy, and on younger leaves the tips are curled down. what would you suggest to do ?

[marimbas]

is the pot standed in water?

[slayah]

what's standed ? the lower fan leaves have turned yellow, and it seems that the upper one's are turning yellow too, the top leaves are yellowish too, the weins are red, all leaves are droopy, it seems it's sufering from a lot of definecies, I really think that it's time to nute, or not ? she's getting worse very fast.

[marimbas]

do it...