Reverend

Hey learned colleagues, I hope you can help me out on this. Ever since I moved from my apartment to my house I've had a terrible time growing. Every time I grow, the plants have this "problem" and only a few survive. Those that do end up becoming males typically (only one successful female in a year and a half). At my apartment I could do anything wrong and had great success. Here, no dice. The symptoms are:

Yellowing leaves, starting at the bottom with some brown spots. They start to turn brown and crispy and eventually die. This works its way up the plant. Also, growth gets really slowed down. These plants have grown really slowly (partially thanks to me dropping their containers when they were really small, but they've been babied since then)

At present, I also have leaves curling under themselves like claws. I've attached photos and have filled out the form.

Soil Growers:
1. Are you growing from seed or clones? - bagseed

2. How old are your plants? - probably a month

3. How tall are your plants? - a few inches at best

4. What size containers are they planted in? - transplanted into medium sized pots (trust me, big enough for the plants and they weren't rootbound when I did transplant them)

5. What is your soil mix? - in the new pots I went with a straight dark soil and some perilite. Previously I had some peaty soil (allegedly with lime for ph balance) but thought that this might have been burning the plants

6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? - about once a week, when the soil feels dry or the plants show that they need it. I was using tap water, let sit out for a few days and ph balanced with vinegar

7. What is the pH of your water? I try to get it to about 6.5

8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? fish emulsion or shultz 10-15-10. I started using it pretty early since the yellowing started when they were very young and presented like N deficiency. I used less than 1/2 dose to start

9. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights") - a wack of CFs

10. How close are your lights to the plants? 2 inches

11. What size is your grow space in square feet? about 25 sq ft cabinet inside a walk in closet

12. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? stays around 80 degrees. I don't have a humidity meter but I use moisture absorbing crystals which keep the humidity in check

13. What is the pH of the soil? Having used a ph test for soil last night, I estimate it to be about between 7 and 8. I know this is high

14. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? nope. I've also sprayed them with anti-fungal spray to be safe

15. How much experience do you have growing? a good amount at my apartment which was all successful

So that's my problem. I know the soil ph is high and that could be locking out magnesium and also not draining as well thanks to it's thickness.

I'm really at a loss to know what's different here at the house opposed to the apartment. I never used fancy soil mixtures (just some dark potting soil even without perilite) and I just used tap water without any care for ph. These plants all grew great. I know the soil ph is high, and my water clocks in at about 7.0, although I do ph it down. I decided to try new water so I bought some spring and some distilled. The distilled tested as really acidic and the spring as really basic.

As the problem got worse with my last watering with tap water I decided to flush. I find it easier to ph down than up, so I went with the spring water ph'd to about 6.0. I used some h202 to help with any water-logging and included a very weak dose of my shultz 10-15-10 at the end since there may be some nute deficiency and the h202 would wipe out any fish emulsion. I also sprayed the plants with a mixture of water (left out over night but not ph'd) and epsom salts. I wasn't sure how much to spray them so I spritzed them a few times, let them sit, and repeated twice. The mixture was 1/2 teaspoon per litre.

This morning I don't really notice that much of a difference. I think these plants may be a write-off and am prepared to try again in the new year. This time, though, I want it to go right so all help you can provide now will help me in the future. Thanks!

Attached Thumbnails

     

   

__________________
"Never a dude like this one. He's got a plan to stick it to the man" - Superfly

Current growing disaster
My old GJ thread WITH PIX All Fluoro, Soil, Bagseed Grow (The new Thread with Pictures)
agent86's sweet-arsed germination guide (read for success, ignore for failure)
How to Tell Males vs Females
Want more females? Here's How...
When to Harvest

buzzmobile

It appears that the only thing you have changed is the soil. I would suspect that to be your problem.

mlee1116

That sure looks like my magnesium defiency problem....change that dirt!

Look I am an expert now!

johnny-0

When starting a 3-4 month grow it is advisable to use the best soil available.It will turn an average grower into a expert in no time.Next time try a mixture of Fox Farms-Ocean Forrest with 40% perlite.I also add several tablespoons per gallon of Greensand.This mixture will get your plants off to a great start.During the grow a combination of fish emulsion,sea kelp extract,bat guano,wormcastings and teas will provide everything your girls could want.Let your plants dry out between watering and feeding and wa-La-You get big dank buds for your effort.

Reverend

Thanks for the replies everyone. You're all right, really. I know the soil is a problem (now).

Buzz - The soil does seem obvious but I do believe the water may have been a problem too. The plants have perked up a bit today (see photos) so I'm hoping that the spring water ph'd to about 6 helped. I could swear that this exact soil is the same stuff I used with much success at my apartment.

I wont be transplanting these ones again because after all they've been through they're probably already stressed into males. I'll continue to grow them as is and if by some miracle one ends up a female then I'll transplant into better soil. I plan on germing again after the new year and hopefully the combo of new water and soil will go better.

Speaking of soil - I just ph tested a 50/50 mix of the dark (very basic) and peaty (quite acidic) soils. It seems to come out at about 6.0 which seems pretty good to me. I had done a 1/3 peaty and 2/3 dark mix before and had similar problems, but the water issue could have played into that, too. If that's the case, then perhaps the water was playing a bigger part than I thought. It's possible that the apartment had some type of treatment for the water that removed some garbage from it.

SO - hopefully in the new year the combo of new water and a better soil mix will yield better results.

Does anyone have a preference for spring or distilled water? I've searched it and found lots of differing opinions.

Thanks again.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
"Never a dude like this one. He's got a plan to stick it to the man" - Superfly

Current growing disaster
My old GJ thread WITH PIX All Fluoro, Soil, Bagseed Grow (The new Thread with Pictures)
agent86's sweet-arsed germination guide (read for success, ignore for failure)
How to Tell Males vs Females
Want more females? Here's How...
When to Harvest

aerogro

id say its ur water, if youve done everything else right thats always a big possibility and since they havent gotten very far before you see these symptoms id get that tested or just go right to bottled

Reverend

Thanks Aero.

I suspect as well that it's a problem. I think that even when the soil mixture was close to OK, the water was what was compounding the problem. Now, even with the soil mixture wrong, changing the water seems to have made a difference. I used spring water this last time, but also bought distilled.

What I'm looking for is people's opinions on which is better: distilled or spring? The spring is very basic and the distilled acidic. I pd'd the spring to about 6.0 using vinegar.

Thanks

__________________
"Never a dude like this one. He's got a plan to stick it to the man" - Superfly

Current growing disaster
My old GJ thread WITH PIX All Fluoro, Soil, Bagseed Grow (The new Thread with Pictures)
agent86's sweet-arsed germination guide (read for success, ignore for failure)
How to Tell Males vs Females
Want more females? Here's How...
When to Harvest

Reverend

I'm out of here for the weekend, so we'll see how they do in my absense. One looks almost salvagable, but the other two look kind of messed. Hopefully they get some size to them so at least they can become brownies. Other insights are appreciated.

__________________
"Never a dude like this one. He's got a plan to stick it to the man" - Superfly

Current growing disaster
My old GJ thread WITH PIX All Fluoro, Soil, Bagseed Grow (The new Thread with Pictures)
agent86's sweet-arsed germination guide (read for success, ignore for failure)
How to Tell Males vs Females
Want more females? Here's How...
When to Harvest

highonfire420

Hey rev,

What do the roots look like when you take them out of the cups once they perish?

Ozone treated waters such as Spring Water gave me problems before. Distilled water can leach out minerals and inorganic matters. I use R/O water and do not have problems with it.

It is hard to say what is the problem. Your ph and water plus soil good be the entire problem compounded. The trickle effect of one leading to disaster somewhere down the line.

Good luck,


Keep it green.

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everything posted here is from the inner mind of Herman Himplestink and therefore must be considered fake and ridiculous

HortProOrganics

I agree with the mag deficiency, yet I also suspect a boron and zinc deficiency as well. The poor little plant is suffering! Definitely get the nutrients under control, and be casreful not overloading the plant with heavy compounds. My advice, in addition to what I said before, is after you correct the deficiency and the plant is doing better, is to fertilize with someing soft and beneficial like Kelp. Kelp can correct the metabolism in a plant, and offer organic numbers in order for the plant to produce healthier roots and root hair, and help with the vascular system of the plant.

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