Trying to figure out what's wrong with my babies!

Hello everyone! I recently planted my plants in a super soil, even though I didn't have all the ingedients for the super soil (I know I'm an idiot). Well, I have some type of problem now. The leaves on my plants are slowly losing their green, and in the past few days many of the bottom layers of the leaves have turned a yellow tanish brown. Ill post some pictures along with everything, I have some more recent ones from today that ill post later. Basically, my super soil consists of bat guano, blood meal, bone meal, earthworm castings, dolomite powder, and azomite. My ph ranges from 6.8 to 7.0 (I have a few different plants.) the three things I did not include in my super soil is epsom salt, rock phosphate, and powdered humic acid. I've looked at a pictorial on a forum of known deficiencies & pests, and I think I might have a phosphorus deficiency but I'm just not really sure. I used the super soil recipe found on high times, by subcool. The link is
HIGHTIMES.COM | Subcool’s Super Soil Step-by-Step
I found a revised version though, because I didn't need large amounts f the super soil.
I used the 1/8 revised version, minus what I previously said I didn't include in the super soil.
SuperSoil for smaller scale grow?

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Yes you are right that is a phosphorus deficience i wasnt shure at first so i had to look it up again
whenever i have plant problems i look it up in the second edition of the cannabis grow bible best 30 bucks i ever invested highly recomended PS i am not a sales man just saying its almost all you need to grow

Okay I will definitely look into that book! Thank you so much for your speedy response. I'm about to have a panic attack over these haha. I love my plants way too much. Do you think the problem would fix easily if I went and purchased the rock phosphate today? I already called my local hydro store and asked them to hold it for me.

Alright well after putting rock phosphate in the pot, my ph jumped up to AT LEAST eight. A friend advised me to bring down the ph any way possible. I didn't have access to my car yesterday so my friend told me to mix about 1 1/2 tsk of vinegar with water, and water my plants with it. I have not been able to check the ph yet because I had to leave very early this morning, but my beautiful purple plant is literally completely withered. My friend also advised me to go ahead and rip off any leaves that were discolored so I went ahead and did that also. My plant still has a few withered leaves, but it's mostly bald at the moment, except for the nugs it was beginning to produce. I will post a pic shortly after I get my boyfriend to send me one. I'm really just trying to figure out if my plant is a lost cause. Should I replant it in just plain soil and water it for a few days? Or should I go purchase humic acid and add the last needed nutrient to my pots and see if it will save the plant? Any help would be so so appreciated! I've out so much hard work into these, I'd hate to see my baby purple die :(


Super soil still consists of the link that I posted before. The only thing missing from it now is powdered humic acid. My plants went from a slight discoloration in the leaves to almost lime green (almost white honestly) leaves. A day later the leaves were beginning to spiral and curl up into eachother and wither. Today the leaves at the top are almost a dark greenish almost black looking color, and they are completely droopy


I'm not sure if this really matters or not but my super soil smells weird. Like, really weird. Given I've never made one or anything, but when water is added to the soil is smells like an awful wet dog. I was assuming that it was the earthworm castings that smelled but maybe I'm wrong? I have plates on the bottoms of my plants and I read recently that they cause root rot. I replanted my plants two days ago with the rock phosphate and I didn't see any signs of root rot. The roots themselves smelled earthy & healthy, like dirt, not decaying matter. The super soil on the other hand though, ugh!
Basically I don't know what to do. And losing my baby purple just makes me want to cry, lol . Someone please help!

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How it looks now

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Same plant just three days ago..

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An overhead picture and a close up. Sorry for bad quality, boyfriends camera sucks.

well that is a sad sight. i think you need to figure your ph issue out. if you used a couple tables spoons of vinegar to like a gallon? that is waaaay too much. i use about 4 or 5 drops in a gallon to get mine down from close to 8 to around 6.5. they dont like ph swings at all. i use wood ash(from like a fireplace and only the white ash) to make that water more alkaline if i over do it with the vinegar. wood ash works like vinegar it doesnt take much.

I used 1 1/2 teaspoon for a gallon, possibly a little less. I'm going to check my ph again when I get home. So you advise me to try the wood ash? Should I also get the humic acid nutrient today and ad it into my super soil also to see if it helps? I've also read about humic acid lowering the ph. Also, is there something besides wood ash I can possibly buy from a hydro store to also help my problem? Not sure if ill be able to find wood ash.

Hate to say this but looks like you did everything wrong. The supersoils are missing a key ingredient which is the bacteria necessary to break the large fert molecules down to a level that the plants can absorb. The yellowing of the lower leaves is due to an inability to uptake nitrogen from the soil. I don't know why the upper leaves turned purple. It could be the plants genetics to do that, or could a nutrient problem. Never use supersoils without bacteria. They really should be mixed in with outdoor dirt which already has bacteria. For indoor grows you want to use a potting soil at your local grow shop like Foxfarm brand, Roots brand. Here's a video of someone using foxfarm's ocean forest soil mixed with happy frog soil. If you just use happy frog potting soil, you won't need to fertilize at all until late in the grow. Then add a little supplement for bloom/flowering, but not too much. Ask person at store for help if you need to. Unfortunately, it might be too late for your little plant. I'd transplant into a bigger pot and see if it survives. Keep posting on what happens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT9pCxjI7dc

pretty good vid almost two hours long, on growing. He says that using soil mix that is without fert is best because the grower can add fert later and it "removes the guesswork," but I disagree. You want the fert in the soil so you don't have to add anything. If you know for sure that your plant is showing a deficiency, find out what is needed and at it at that time. Otherwise fert in the soil is best. The rest of the video is pretty good.

Okay, thank you for your reply polishpollack! Just making sure, but you recommend I go buy the fox farms or the happy frog, or both? And when I do purchase those I only need to put those in a new & larger pot along with my plant? With no nutes what so ever? Thank you again, I've gone thru a lot of problems and it seems like each time I ask for help and try to fix the issue, something else even worse happens lol. Thank you again, and if you by any chance have kik, I'd love it if you messaged me! Kik- meloddawn

Also, I'm interested in figuring out what type of planters I need to invest in. Mine are currently the small Walmart ones with the planter pot & the plate for the bottom to catch the water. I've read in a few places how bad it is for the plants to be in a pot that has a plate underneath, because it causes root rot. So I'm really interested in finding some pots that are both better long term & will not give the plants root rot. Any help is really appreciated, thanks fellow Mary Jane enthusiasts. ❤


& for some info on my plants. Last night I flushed them with water and replanted them in plain soil. I'm planning on going to buy happy frog & fox farms tonight so hopefully I will have some success in the next few days..

Instead of buying both fox farm, which is the company name, the soil name is ocean forest, and happy frog, just get the ocean forest and a box of fox farm's fruit and flower box of fertilizer. you can get the frog soil if you want, but usually what I tell people to do is get the ocean forest and a box of fruit and flower fertilizer in the yellow box, and mix one full cup of fert into a 5 gallon bucket of ocean forest. Pour about two gallons of soil into the bucket and pour one half the fert cup in, then mix and wear a glove or plastic bag over your hand to prevent slivers. Then pour in the rest of the soil followed by the remaining cup of fert and mix that in. It's okay to use pot with a dish at the bottom, but you probably should dump any water that collects in it. You want the soil to dry out some before watering again. When you say you planted in plain soil, does that mean plain potting soil or dirt from outside?

Okay that sounds pretty easy! And I currently am using plain potting soil! I purchased it from my local nursery, it's all organic and they actually make the soil themselves. It contains cocofibers and a few other things. Thanks again for your speedy reply! My hydro shop isn't open on Sundays unfortunately, but ill be there first thing tomorrow to buy all my new supplies. My sativa plants are just now beginning to yellow at the bottoms like my purple kush indica plants were, so I'm hoping I can salvage them all with this new soil mixture. Ill definitely be watching the video tonight that you posted also. Thanks again, if my plants manage to survive this- it's all because of you & your advice!

If you're using potting soil already and don't need to buy any more, you could just get a box of the fertilizer and larger buckets. There are other options, like sticking with that soil you have and getting a small bottle of dynagro fert at the hydro shop. It has pretty much everything plants need to grow right. One half teaspoon in a gallon of water is all you need of the fert. If you can't find the pint sized bottle you'd have no choice but to get the bigger one, which is kind of expensive. Chances are good you won't used all of it because you need so little to get the job done. You don't need to spend much money, just enough to get things done. For alot of people getting the box of fert I mentioned earlier is better cuz then you just add water. Don't get talked into anything else cuz it's not necessary.

It's Friday now, do you have any update on your plants?

Too much fertilizer? thanks for the info polishpollack