Need some help please.. (pics included)

Well I've did alot of searching trying to figure out what could be wrong with one of my plants. I came across so many different things that could be wrong, so I figured I'd ask here.

In the pics, you will see 2 plants. The left plant is a week or so older than the plant on the right. The right plant is the one I'm having the problem with. It seems that the lower leaves have some small brown spots. Now my camera won't zoom in close enough to get a clear pic, so I will try to describe the spots as best as I can. At first, they look a lot like dried up dirt on the leaves. They very small bumps and look brown and rusty. The leaves are very dry and crispy. I am only seeing this problem on the very bottom leaves. New growth is great, very green.

I just transplanted them into the 3 gallon pots about a week ago. I then fed the plant on the right, a half dose of Mexican bat guano and a couple drops of Superthrive per gallon of distilled water. It responded very well. Leaves perked up and new growth was fast. I have always used the same distilled water since they were babies. Once I noticed the spots on the bottom leaves, of the right plant, I decided to cut the nutes and just give her plain distilled water again, which I did last night. She responded very well.

I hope this is clear enough. In one of the pics, I made some arrows where the leaves are with the brown/rust spots.

Again, I'm sorry I cannot provide better pics. My camera is horrible.
Any suggestions would be great. I appreciate your help guys!

Are you over watering?

I like your OCTUPUS lighting...

Are your stems red...?

The good news is, that it looks like you are getting good solid continuous new growth.. it just seems a bit droopy...


love

Thanks Gnowm. No, I don't think I'm over watering. I only water her when the soil is dry (I have a meter), and the plants are a bit droopy. Last week she got watered on Tuesday, then again on Saturday. She looks a bit droopy in the pic because she just had her watering. She always perks up real good when I water her.

The bad news is that the problem seems to be getting worse :( I don't really know what I should do yet. I'm seeing more spots on the leaves. Some are more yellowish/browish now and are starting as spots in the middle of the leaves.

Anymore suggestions would be great.

Thanks guys.


edit: No red in the stems, They are strong and green. They seem to shed alot and get fatter.

I'm wondering if the nutrient you are using is to strong?!.
I once needed to kill a male so I added pure nutrients and it caused rusty brown spots and the foliage went hard.

if you are using nutes then maybe try plain water or a water/epsom salt combo next feed.

Good Luck

I went today and got a test to test my soil. Here's a couple pics of the results. It's the best pics I can get as my camera is a total POS. The blue looks a bit darker than it really is. According to the meter, it's between Sufficient and Adequate.

I hope this helps :( Anymore suggestions would be great. I'm thinking they have too much nutes as cloudsurfer mentioned :(

Okay, I finally did the best I could and got some close up's of the problem. It seems to be getting worse :(

It is very difficult to diagnose.

If these problems appeared AFTER your transplant, then you can assume, most likely, you injured some roots, or, roots are having problems taking new soil.

I always use hormone transplant powder in the soil.

If I were you what I would do is:

1. Stop using distilled water. Why do people do this? It is great if the water has be RO'd AFTER the distillation process, but if not, you shouldn't use it.

Distilled water means all over its electrons have been boiled off and the water molecules contain essentially dead hydrongen atoms. Dead Water.

Also, ignore your soil pH because you need a much more accurate device than what you have used. Instead make sure the water is right at neutral..or 6.8.


2. I would get some schultz rooting hormone powder and add a nice thimble sized chunk of it and mix it with your next watering.

3. All those leaves will be dead in a while anyhow so as long as it doesnt get worse, you'll be fine. Sometimes the lower leaves get harmed when the roots tap into different soil.

4. While you say not their age, I dont think they look anywhere near needing nutes at this stage.

Very pretty indica there...you might wanna LET THEM stretch just a bit more. It'll help later on when you flower your tomatos.

Thanks Hardon, I have a few questions...

After I transplanted her, she has almost doubled in size in the past week. She's growing VERY fast. If I damaged roots, would she still be growing so well?

I use distilled water because my tap water is horrible. So far, they have seemed to love it. Should I switch to bottled water instead?

To answer your question, the plants are around 5 weeks old.

Also, the problem is getting worse. It's beginning to spread to other leaves :( I don't really know what to do exactly. I don't know if she is needing more nutes, or if she has too many. I really don't want to lose her as I've put a TON of time into her.

I will try the rooting hormone like you suggested.

Thanks again for your help. Anymore suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting really worried here because it's spreading :(

If she has doubled in size, in a week, odds are she'll be just fine. You might wanna read my sticky on stress less transplanting and compare to how you did.

I assume, this started AFTER transplant...yes?

I would use RO water that is bottled over tap water but I would use chlorine free tap water over distilled water anyday.

Stop giving her nutes, use 6.8 -- 7.0 pH water and use some rooting hormone powder. In this case, the damage may already have been done and you are just now seeing the results.

As long as the top portions of the plant are fine, odds are this will pass.

Good luck.

Thanks again Hardon. I just checked on them, and am starting to see the spots on the upper leaves :( They are forming in the middle of the leaf and look yellowish/browish. Almost looks like a burn to me. I'm sure it's not the lights because I can put my hand between them and I feel no heat. Should I give her a flush? It's really scaring me because I'm seeing more spots on more leaves :(

The new spots look pretty much just like the pic I took earlier that's attached.

I'm sure I have to do something soon to stop the spots :( Any suggestions?