Please look at pictures. My babies not doing so well. Brown patches, wilting.

[Maximus_The_Green]

Hi Guys, Thank you in advance for the help.

I have put a lot of effort into this and i love my babies. So sad to see them not a shiny as i would like. The are wilting, brown marks, some yellow. I am lost for an answer.

Here are the details.

-Plants are exactly 5 weeks old. (Seeds placed in damp tissue on the 19th of Jan)
-Growing in Canna Coco pro plus
-Using Canna nutes. So far rhitzotonic, canna a, canna b, and cannazyn.
-Water is 0.6 before nutes
-I feed with water at 22c
-I feed plants with PH 5.8 and EC of 1.4
*** But for a week i didnt realise that my PH meter was off by 0.6 -_- so i was basically feeding at PH 6.4 so i think that might have caused the problem.
*** Also because it is so cold, water evaporated more slowly than previous grows so i believe there was some over watering happening because at 1 point every plant of the 6 i had horrible wilting.
-temps are a bit cold atm but are usually around 25c lights on and 16 lights off
-Before i switched to three lights temps were even lower lights on 23c
-Humidity at soil is usually around 65 and 30-40 at top of plant
-Good extraction and air flow. Sometimes i think its too much. I have a 10 inch rvk with 10 inch ducting lol. Kinda kills the humidity but is great for reducing heat.
-Lights are 600w hps.
-Plants are fed at lights on
-water is left out for 24 hrs before used to allow chlorine to evaporate

Many thanks

Here are the pics...

1 2 3 4 5

[Maximus_The_Green]

6 7 8 9 10

[Skunky n funky]

You never stated whether or not you are getting a run off when watering. To me this looks like it might be a salt build up, but also looks like it might be a cal/mag issue. A light Epsom salt feeding is probably in order for these also.

[Maximus_The_Green]

You never stated whether or not you are getting a run off when watering. To me this looks like it might be a salt build up, but also looks like it might be a cal/mag issue. A light Epsom salt feeding is probably in order for these also.

Yep i always get run off.

I aim for 20% but in the past 10 days its been a bit less.

Run off ec was 1.1 today.

I plan on getting cal/mag and epsom salts asap in case i do need any of them.

[Maximus_The_Green]

What causes a salt build up? When there is not enough run off right?

And what causes cal/mag issue? Is that just by having low base ec for e.g below 0.4? Or is that irrelevant? I read that the calcium in water can not be absorbed by plants?

[Jingo]

If you have good drainage, you can't over water and Coco. You can however, underwater. You must water with nutrients each day at least.

Salt buildup secure when he don't get good run off, or when your background easy is too high. Personally, I think your background ec is way too high. I growing cocoa with GH nutrients and I rarely get EC as high as your background ec.

As far as cal mag issues go. That usually has more to do with pH than anything else when you're growing and cocoa with a good line of nutrients. It would be a rare pH meter that would only be out one direction. And all you need to do to get Cal Mag deficiencies and Coco is get to lower pH.

I would be religious about your pH meter. I would also consider using a little distilled water in the mix to lower your EC. Otherwise you have a good Coco line and a good nutrient line you should be fine.

[Maximus_The_Green]

If you have good drainage, you can't over water and Coco. You can however, underwater. You must water with nutrients each day at least.

Salt buildup secure when he don't get good run off, or when your background easy is too high. Personally, I think your background ec is way too high. I growing cocoa with GH nutrients and I rarely get EC as high as your background ec.

As far as cal mag issues go. That usually has more to do with pH than anything else when you're growing and cocoa with a good line of nutrients. It would be a rare pH meter that would only be out one direction. And all you need to do to get Cal Mag deficiencies and Coco is get to lower pH.

I would be religious about your pH meter. I would also consider using a little distilled water in the mix to lower your EC. Otherwise you have a good Coco line and a good nutrient line you should be fine.

Well for about a week i watered them and they were just sitting in the run off which was about 5mm deep. This was before they were propped up onto a sieve.

I would disagree. If the room is cold i do not believe you have to water everyday in coco. My plants were weeping like fuc* when i watered everyday. When the room is so cold its not necessary.

I dont understand this mate "Salt buildup secure when he don't get good run off, or when your background easy is too high. Personally, I think your background ec is way too high. I growing cocoa with GH nutrients and I rarely get EC as high as your background ec." What does that mean? Dont make sense pal. Just to remind you i am feeding at 1.4 ec and base ec is 0.6.

"As far as cal mag issues go. That usually has more to do with pH than anything else when you're growing and cocoa with a good line of nutrients. It would be a rare pH meter that would only be out one direction. And all you need to do to get Cal Mag deficiencies and Coco is get to lower pH." This also does not make sense. I think you have typed this and spell check has worked its evil ways and you have not checked it.

What does this mean "I would be religious about your pH meter" Do you mean check it daily?

[Jingo]

Sorry I was so unclear. I use Google and dictate with my cell phone rather than type because I have bad carpal tunnel.

The reason you water every single day is to get air to your roots, that's what makes Coco so superior to other mediums. You can water 4-5 times a day and get the same results as hydro.

When you're having issues with your plants, never trust your pH meter. So calibrate daily for awhile and make sure to calibrate at two points like 4 & 7 or seven and 10.

Everything you feed your plants, is minerals and salts. Or another way to put it, your nutrients are salts. When you have too much salt in your medium it attracts water, and that actually makes your plant fight the medium trying to uptake water. That will also make your medium stay wet too long.

I never have any EC above .7. That means background EC and nutrients the whole works nothing above .7. There may be people in your part of the world that are doing things differently and with good results and I hope they weigh in. But from where I sit, you have way too much salt in your medium because you have too much salt in your water.

If I am correct, you will need to either reduce the EC of your background water. Or, back off your nutrient mix until your EC gets down to a better level like .8 or 1.0 max.

I tried to pronounce a little bit more clear for google, I hope I was successful.

[Maximus_The_Green]

Sorry I was so unclear. I use Google and dictate with my cell phone rather than type because I have bad carpal tunnel.

Hey its cool Yeah i thought that is was probably spell check or predictive text

The reason you water every single day is to get air to your roots, that's what makes Coco so superior to other mediums. You can water 4-5 times a day and get the same results as hydro.

But it you water too often the roots are always in wet medium and oxygen can not reach the roots right? I read that you have to let the medium dry out a bit before you water again so that oxygen reaches roots?

When you're having issues with your plants, never trust your pH meter. So calibrate daily for awhile and make sure to calibrate at two points like 4 & 7 or seven and 10.

Yeah thx man. Ever since i had the problem i calibrate daily at 4 and 7 ph

you feed your plants, is minerals and salts. Or another way to put it, your nutrients are salts. When you have too much salt in your medium it attracts water, and that actually makes your plant fight the medium trying to uptake water. That will also make your medium stay wet too long.

OK so are you saying that feeding at 1.4 is too high? Did i mention that my EC truncheon was off by 0.2 as well. It was reading 0.2 too low. I made the mistake of feeding at 1.6 so some days it was really 1.8

I never have any EC above .7. That means background EC and nutrients the whole works nothing above .7. There may be people in your part of the world that are doing things differently and with good results and I hope they weigh in. But from where I sit, you have way too much salt in your medium because you have too much salt in your water.

I have to be honest mate i have fed before at 1.8 and i achieved 1 gram per watt consistently without issues. I do agree that my EC was too high to begin with, because they were only small, but as they grow larger 1.4-1.8 is normal for me.

If I am correct, you will need to either reduce the EC of your background water. Or, back off your nutrient mix until your EC gets down to a better level like .8 or 1.0 max.

Hmmm i suppose i could reduce the feeding EC to 1.2 for a while and see what happens

I tried to pronounce a little bit more clear for google, I hope I was successful.

Yeah i understood it all thank you very much. You have given me lots to think about.

[Jingo]

So in Cocoa you never really want a let it dry out. Not even a little. The problem with that is the evaporation can actually cause the minerals the salts to build up on the small fibers of cocoa. That really isn't too much of a risk if you have pebbles on top and then something covering your drain holes below like pebbles or rocks. As long as you have the drainage Coco will always have enough oxygen holding capacity. I guess what I mean to say is that soaking wet Coco has plenty of oxygen in it. But if you got mature roots and I'm a mature plant and you don't water every day you'll be oxygen-depleted.

I know there's a lot of UK growers that grow with great success with high EC. I just know that I remove all the minerals for my water and put back only what I need and it's really surprising how very little the plant actually needs. I also have almost no problems since I started taking out all the minerals, and when I do have problems now it's me or my helper we kinda screwed things up.