K deficient? Red stems, necrosis on leaves, but no yellowing

I have read through the FAQs here and I think that I may have a K deficiency. Mg sounds possible but less likely.

I think this is what necrosis is, but there isn't really much yellowing. The necrotic leaves are slightly paler than the others though. So I have 2 out of 3 K deficiency symptoms. Here are photos to help my descriptions out. The middle finger has some spots near the tip. The second photo from the bottom of the leaf shows it more clearly.

We have been feeding with 5-30-5 bloom nutes from Home Depot. Now that I've done more reading I will be buying some better stuff more in the 1-3-2 area. Yesterday we flushed the plants because of the red stems and droopy leaf tips. I noticed the necrosis but only today looked under the leaf where it's much more clear that there is a problem.

Any thoughts? I think I will have things under control once I get them some better nutes. I will most likely be getting organic stuff since we were going to switch to organics soon anyway.

Well, you asked for "any thoughts" so I'll put my 2cents in.
Those look good enough to put right into a salad bowl! I sure wish my problems were as slight as yours.

I really dont see any *red* stems. There's some slight pinkish maybe in pic #3 on that fan leaf stem, but your plant(s) look really healthy to me. The center of the leaf is nice green and so are the leaf veins.

Maybe others with more experience can chime in, but man those look nice to me.

I know they're pretty healthy, but I want to keep it that way. ;)

It looks better after the flush so perhaps it was nute lock and she's recovering now. That with the spots is a little worrying, but I'm not freaking out.

give them a mineral tea , that will stop you from getting necrosis . Many folks do not realize the importance of micronutrients (minerals) until their plants leaves start to curl, cup, warp, discolor etc... by then, even though you can fix the problem, some of the damage is permanent. It is best to prevent these problems by making sure the ferts you use contain micronutrients, or by giving your plants a "mineral tonic" every 2-3 weeks as a preventative.

I have posted some good links to sites that show images to help diagnose nute problems...

and here is the "recipe" for a good all-around Tonic for your plants... This is NOT meant for Hydro- as those nutes should allready provide these and this would plug the system...

As with any fert- more is NOT better, so use as directed please!

MJ Mineral Tonic:

1-gallon jug of room temp or warm water
1 each of the following Suppliment tablets (yes-- for people) that are NOT coated:
Zinc
Magnesium
Potassium
Calcium
Silica
You may also add 1/2 an Iron tablet IF your plants are showing a deficiency

Let the tablets dissolve in the gallon of water for at least 1 hour... shake well to dissolve completely...
use 1 cup per plant every 2 weeks as a preventative, or 2x the 1st week when signs of a deficiency arise- then every 2 weeks

This is a very dilute soulution that will not "lock up" your plants, but should provide enough minerals to avoid some common problems.


http://www.geocities.com/nutrientpro...cy images here

http://www.fastergrowing.com/cannabi...Mineral Tables

Good Luck-- and Happy Growing! got this off a different site ,hope it helps ............props to L.Z.

Hi downunder, thanks for the advice on micronutrients. The nutes we are using now probably do not have micronutrients since I can't see it mentioned on the label. I will fix that asap.

That seems like a pretty good recipe. If used preventively when would you start feeding that to your plants? For now I will stick to ferts w/ micros but I might give this a try next time around.

The links you posted are both dead, but I think what you posted was helpful enough for me. Thanks again! :)

-canuck :jointsmile: