Seems to be a bad Phosphorus deficiency mid-flower.

My Northern Lights plants seem stuck on a .7 point pH drop. 7.0 in. 6.3 out. 6.8 in 6.2 out. 6.9 in 6.2 out. THis has happened three times in a row...I'm following your winter sched and getting a few ounces of runoff whether it's the 1qt water+1qt ferts or just the 2qt water. So, I measure the run-off. I am seeing the darkening older fan leaves. 'Pillowing' starts at the tips which is what I call it when the leaf surface starts to look a bit shiney and lumpy, then the margins start to turn up a bit. Travels down the fingers of the leaf :( Seems like the same old same old.

I'm still mixing my lime into my potting soil 'dry'. I'm thinking about mixing the soil+lime in a pot with drain holes, add some water to make it more of a slurry...then stir the crap out of it before all the extra moisture runs out the drain holes leaving me with soil I can put into another pot when transplanting.

Strange thing, my Laughing Buddha plants are smaller in the same size pot and show the same runoff pH as input pH. I don't know if that means anythign.

sound s like theyre doing good maybe a lil hot not sure didnt read everything again but no pics

and there should be a drop on the runoff

and u confused me with the mixin stuff dry wet

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatSean

My Northern Lights plants seem stuck on a .7 point pH drop. 7.0 in. 6.3 out. 6.8 in 6.2 out. 6.9 in 6.2 out. THis has happened three times in a row...I'm following your winter sched and getting a few ounces of runoff whether it's the 1qt water+1qt ferts or just the 2qt water. So, I measure the run-off. I am seeing the darkening older fan leaves. 'Pillowing' starts at the tips which is what I call it when the leaf surface starts to look a bit shiney and lumpy, then the margins start to turn up a bit. Travels down the fingers of the leaf :( Seems like the same old same old.

---

Might be that Fafard soil is buffered to a lower ph, needing a tad more lime to compensate. Did you ph runoff from the Fafard without the lime?
Do you let the soil dry between waterings, or are you trying to adjust ph every day?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatSean

I'm still mixing my lime into my potting soil 'dry'. I'm thinking about mixing the soil+lime in a pot with drain holes, add some water to make it more of a slurry...then stir the crap out of it before all the extra moisture runs out the drain holes leaving me with soil I can put into another pot when transplanting.

---

That's pretty much what I do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatSean

Strange thing, my Laughing Buddha plants are smaller in the same size pot and show the same runoff pH as input pH. I don't know if that means anythign.

---

My guess is that you got the right ammount of lime in the mix on that batch of soil. (don't tell me it's the same batch, lol)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome

Might be that Fafard soil is buffered to a lower ph, needing a tad more lime to compensate. Did you ph runoff from the Fafard without the lime?
Do you let the soil dry between waterings, or are you trying to adjust ph every day?

---

Been lazy/busy, so haven't done the runoff test yet. I will do so next week. I also think experimenting with different soils is some to try as well...the garden center has several different products w/o ferts added. Gonna email the soil company to find out what they buffer their stuff to.

Well, I'm not too sure of my ability to judge dryness of soil. It often feels moist to my finger when my cheap-o probe moisture meter says low-moist. Maybe I need a better meter. I'm basically following your winter schedule verbatim in my grow-box with the exhaust fan on constant and a relative humidity range of 50%-72%.

Quote:

---

That's pretty much what I do.

---

Sounds good, I'll start doing that.

Quote:

---

My guess is that you got the right ammount of lime in the mix on that batch of soil. (don't tell me it's the same batch, lol)

---

Nope different batch, same technique of mixing dry! Sounds like the wet mixing is the way to go...maybe I just got lucky with the Buddha's soil :D

What a hectic week! Haven't had time to test soil pH run-off but I've started using pH-adjusted tapwater whenever plain water is called for. My Northern Lights has entered the fourth week of 12/12 so I flushed it as I usually get the deficiency symptoms starting in weeks 4 and 5. The plant is looking great! Leaves are nice lightish-green like my friend's leaves and not that sad dark-green-purple color I'd been seeing.

I'm not going to jinx myself, but I am cautiously optimistic :)

Thanks Rusty and FatSean, this is textbook troubleshooting on both of your parts. Logic and gems galore along with a great read.

:<sigh> off to search for threads that discuss specifics of when would you NOT want to use local tap water:

You're welcome crabbyback. I was afraid I was getting too pedantic :)

So anyway, my NorthenLights plant is doing fairly well. I gave it a flush with some FloraKleen (1tsp/gallon, 2 gallons thru 3 gallons of medium) and then left for 2 days. Got back to see that a good number of mid-level large fans had gone yellow. Notyellowing from the bottom at all...seeming like a yellowing from the middle up. A few all yellow, a few still with green veins and areas of the leaf. I quickly gave it the 1qt tap and then FoxFarm ferts till a few ounces of drain. 6.6pH in 6.5 pH out. A few days later the leaf yellowing has not progressed much at all, so I'm thinking I over-did it with the flush...or the flush was not needed at all and actually took too many nutrients from the soil. This plant is at 30 days under 12/12 lighting. Buds have been filling out well despite the leaf issues.

The poor Laughing Buddha appears to be a victim of my past improper use of lime. I can feed it any pH (I've done 6.3 to 6.7) and it always comes out 7.0. The plant is clearly unhappy and I'll probably put it out of it's misery to make room for a new experiment.

Sorry to hear about the LB, but glad the NL is coming back.

Have you grown NL before?

I've been growing both of them half-assed for a while for some people who appreciated what I was able to give to them. I'm trying to dial in my technique exactly, so I can run the equpment less and get the same ammount of medicine. The lamp, fans, etc.. all consume a fair bit of electricity.

Well it is day 36 of 12/12 lighting. The fans are getting worse slowly but surely. Going yellow and getting brown spots...one has gone full shrivel. Fans at the bottom are showing yellowing margins with brown spots. If I feed 6.7pH, I get 6.6pH runoff. If I feed 6.5Ph, I get 6.4pH runoff.

Could Northen Lights just need alot of Phosphorus? It still shows signs of a Phosphorus deficiency...just different than the dark-green leaves w/ upturned margins and pillowing I used to get.

Should I feed it a stronger nutrient mix next time? Maybe 3/4 strength instead of 1/2?

Thanks!