Deficiency issues from incorrect PH right at the start of flowering (stardawg auto)

[supersecretusername]

Hey all,

So I have my first grow that has been growing great but it now looks like I may have entered disaster.

It started off as my plants approached flower i noticed one of them started to have brown spots. This looked like a calcium issue which confused me as I always include calmag in my feeds. Normally I fed once every 1-2days, and as I am using coco at a PH of 5.8.

Noticing this issue, i upped feeding to everyday and the PH to 6.2. However the problem seemed to worsen and I noticed my girls drinking more water. After a couple days it spread on another plant.

Baffled, I looked at everything and then decided to check my PH pen (which, I calibrated less than a month before this) and was shocked to find out it was reading about +1 higher than it should. So, I have been feeding my plants at a PH of 4.8 - 5.2 rather than 5.8 - 6.2 as I thought.

This was 4 days ago, and I have now been feeding at the correct PH everyday. However the condition worsens, and to be honest I don't think the buds are fattening up since the issues started happening.

My questions are:

1. Are my plants just doomed now?
2. Whats the best way to fix this and how long should I expect to take before I notice them improving again?
3. Should I remove the leaves that are pretty much crumbling and dead? I was planning on defoliating around the middle of flower anyway but holding off on any training until they are better.
4. How badly could this affect final yield / quality.

Thanks all

Here are some pictures:

[Jingo]

Hey all,

So I have my first grow that has been growing great but it now looks like I may have entered disaster.

It started off as my plants approached flower i noticed one of them started to have brown spots. This looked like a calcium issue which confused me as I always include calmag in my feeds. Normally I fed once every 1-2days, and as I am using coco at a PH of 5.8.

Noticing this issue, i upped feeding to everyday and the PH to 6.2. However the problem seemed to worsen and I noticed my girls drinking more water. After a couple days it spread on another plant.

Baffled, I looked at everything and then decided to check my PH pen (which, I calibrated less than a month before this) and was shocked to find out it was reading about +1 higher than it should. So, I have been feeding my plants at a PH of 4.8 - 5.2 rather than 5.8 - 6.2 as I thought.

This was 4 days ago, and I have now been feeding at the correct PH everyday. However the condition worsens, and to be honest I don't think the buds are fattening up since the issues started happening.

My questions are:

1. Are my plants just doomed now?
2. Whats the best way to fix this and how long should I expect to take before I notice them improving again?
3. Should I remove the leaves that are pretty much crumbling and dead? I was planning on defoliating around the middle of flower anyway but holding off on any training until they are better.
4. How badly could this affect final yield / quality.

Thanks all

Here are some pictures:

That was a good catch checking your pH pen and finding out it was off, it's about impossible to get calcium to a plant when you get down into those real low pH numbers.

How much runoff do you get when you feed your plants? I don't see any drip trays or anything like that that I can tell, If you're not getting at least 20% runoff then you're going to get some nutrient lockouts that will manifest as odd deficiencies. it's also a bad idea if there is runoff and then the plant drinks it back up again.

My 2020 outdoor grow autos and photos in pots

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[Mac]

Personally I would throw 2-3 times the pot volume of plain properly PH'd water thru them at about 5.7Ph to pull the Coco back into range. Let that drain thru then feed half strength nutrients at 5.8Ph to 20/30% runoff for a few days to see how they recover.

You aren't doomed and you will be able to get to a harvest

One way or another tho ya need to get your pen sorted so it doesn't happen again. Keeping PH in range is vital for coco imo.

[supersecretusername]

Hey guys,

thanks for the advice. I have done exactly that and its been about 7/8 days, as far as I can tell the browning is still happening but more slowly. I also had tip burn across all my plants as well. However growth on buds is definitely noticeable now. Should I wait a few more days to see how they improve before trying something else?

Just so you know I do have a drip trays and normally water till about 20-30% run off. I never leave the plants to soak the run off and always empty this as it causes more humidity in my tent.

Thank you

[fkmiller]

this may be a stupid question but my first and only grow has been in hydro.what do yo mean by "run off"? why is it so important and why should the plant not drink up the "run off"?

[Mac]

Hey guys,

thanks for the advice. I have done exactly that and its been about 7/8 days, as far as I can tell the browning is still happening but more slowly. I also had tip burn across all my plants as well. However growth on buds is definitely noticeable now. Should I wait a few more days to see how they improve before trying something else?

Just so you know I do have a drip trays and normally water till about 20-30% run off. I never leave the plants to soak the run off and always empty this as it causes more humidity in my tent.

Thank you

The browning will continue on the affected leaves as they die off, so long as its not spreading and the buds are growing then its good. If the leaves on the buds are dying off, pluck them at the base of the stem so they don't rot down inside the bud, perfect way to get mould if left.

this may be a stupid question but my first and only grow has been in hydro.what do yo mean by "run off"? why is it so important and why should the plant not drink up the "run off"?

run off is when you pour enough feed in the top to make it pour out the bottom of your container, it washes out built up salts and old stale water, it also pulls fresh oxygen into the root zone.

The plant shouldn't be allowed to sit in it and drink it up as it can/will be the wrong EC and can/will throw the PH of the root zone off leading to nutrient lockouts and uptake issues.