HELP! BEEN MONTHS TRYING TO DIAGNOSE!!

[Em powerz 201]

Calling the weeds gods on this one!!!I!!

So I been having these spots for around 2 months or so and I STILL can't seem to figure out what the hell it is.

I'm growing in soil, 3 gallon pots. I use Black&Gold organic with GH Flora Trio and CalMagic. I'm currently approaching week 4 of flowering. Humidity stays between 40-60 ,temp around mid 70's for the most part and im using a Bloomspect 600w LED. Plants have stretched a bit so the taller ones are about 6 inches away from the light, while the smaller plants is around 12-15 inches away.

As you can see in the picture, it has affected leaves in the middle of the plant but also towards the top of the plant. I don't spray on the leaves and definitely not with the lights on.

Also, it's not just this plant but ALL 4 of my plants are showing the same symptoms, 5 if you count the 1 that turned hermie I had to remove. All 4/5 plants are different strains, ages and sizes. I did about 2 - 3 months of veg and while I did see the spots during veg, it slowed down a bit so I flipped to flowering in hopes that it wouldn't worsen. I was wrong because it did get quite a bit worse.

I do have a bit of burnt tips, unsure if it's related or not. I always PH water under 7.0 and I use tap water with 1 or 2 bottled waters per gallon.

I usually spray feed soil or add a little water slowly so that there's no run off until about after the 3rd or 4th watering, at which time I feed plain water till 20-30% of the run off drains down.
I feed 2-3 feedings with nutes, followed by 1 feeding with just CalMagic and 1 feeding of plain water, then repeat. About a half teaspoon of each, sometimes 1/4. Run off water PH is between 6.0 - 7.0.

Plants are in a tight tent, so they're all touching each other. Plenty of ventilation and air tho. 1 small fan at the top and one at the bottom, fan and filter combo blowing out and 1 fan blowing air in.

I do smoke cigarettes and weed in the same room as the grow tent. Not sure if it has stunted growth but one of them definitely has less volume in the buds and seems to be growing slower but could be a noob mistake or my paranoia.

I was reading online there's ways to make homemade fungicide with baking soda but seeing that they're budding, Im unsure if that's really a good idea to spray it at this stage in the grow. Especially if idk if that's really the problem. I checked for bugs or insects but I haven't seen anything besides 1 or 2 little flying insects.

I'd highly appreciate ANY help from my fellow growers. How can I test it to be sure it is fungus? Anyone have similar issues? Can this affect my plants growth and yield? I read alot of ppl with similar symptoms but some diseases or fungus are so alike, it's hard to narrow it down to 1 thing.
I'll post all them in regular lighting asap, couldn't do it today but I did put up some pics from a week or 2 ago, including the plant I took out cause it hermied on me. It's the sick looking one with the badly clawing leaves.
Thanks guys!! Bless!!

 

[hotrodharley]

Your light is too close.

 

[Em powerz 201]

Your light is too close.

I thought about that, but the issue started when they were much smaller and it recently started affecting my runt and she's much further from the light. That may very well be one of my issues and possibly adding to the problem. If so tho, any ideas of what I can do to create more space without damaging the buds? I was using a trellis net but stopped cause I was worried it would damage the buds. I appreciate the fast response by the way!

 

[hotrodharley]

I thought about that, but the issue started when they were much smaller and it recently started affecting my runt and she's much further from the light. That may very well be one of my issues and possibly adding to the problem. If so tho, any ideas of what I can do to create more space without damaging the buds? I was using a trellis net but stopped cause I was worried it would damage the buds. I appreciate the fast response by the way!

Try raising that light to at least 20” away from the closest top.

 

[Em powerz 201]

Try raising that light to at least 20” away from the closest top.

Try raising that light to at least 20” away from the closest top.

My light is at the max because I got the fan/filter up in there. Maybe I should remove them and place them on the outside of the tent? That'll give me a few inches for sure. Pain in the freaking ass tho B))

 

[JonathanT]

take your pics in normal light please, like the first picture. not sure if i recall correctly but i think purple stems are p or k deficiency.

 

[TrippleDip]

Calling the weeds gods on this one!!!I!!

So I been having these spots for around 2 months or so and I STILL can't seem to figure out what the hell it is.

I'm growing in soil, 3 gallon pots. I use Black&Gold organic with GH Flora Trio and CalMagic. I'm currently approaching week 4 of flowering. Humidity stays between 40-60 ,temp around mid 70's for the most part and im using a Bloomspect 600w LED. Plants have stretched a bit so the taller ones are about 6 inches away from the light, while the smaller plants is around 12-15 inches away.

As you can see in the picture, it has affected leaves in the middle of the plant but also towards the top of the plant. I don't spray on the leaves and definitely not with the lights on.

Also, it's not just this plant but ALL 4 of my plants are showing the same symptoms, 5 if you count the 1 that turned hermie I had to remove. All 4/5 plants are different strains, ages and sizes. I did about 2 - 3 months of veg and while I did see the spots during veg, it slowed down a bit so I flipped to flowering in hopes that it wouldn't worsen. I was wrong because it did get quite a bit worse.

I do have a bit of burnt tips, unsure if it's related or not. I always PH water under 7.0 and I use tap water with 1 or 2 bottled waters per gallon.

I usually spray feed soil or add a little water slowly so that there's no run off until about after the 3rd or 4th watering, at which time I feed plain water till 20-30% of the run off drains down.
I feed 2-3 feedings with nutes, followed by 1 feeding with just CalMagic and 1 feeding of plain water, then repeat. About a half teaspoon of each, sometimes 1/4. Run off water PH is between 6.0 - 7.0.

Plants are in a tight tent, so they're all touching each other. Plenty of ventilation and air tho. 1 small fan at the top and one at the bottom, fan and filter combo blowing out and 1 fan blowing air in.

I do smoke cigarettes and weed in the same room as the grow tent. Not sure if it has stunted growth but one of them definitely has less volume in the buds and seems to be growing slower but could be a noob mistake or my paranoia.

I was reading online there's ways to make homemade fungicide with baking soda but seeing that they're budding, Im unsure if that's really a good idea to spray it at this stage in the grow. Especially if idk if that's really the problem. I checked for bugs or insects but I haven't seen anything besides 1 or 2 little flying insects.

I'd highly appreciate ANY help from my fellow growers. How can I test it to be sure it is fungus? Anyone have similar issues? Can this affect my plants growth and yield? I read alot of ppl with similar symptoms but some diseases or fungus are so alike, it's hard to narrow it down to 1 thing.
I'll post all them in regular lighting asap, couldn't do it today but I did put up some pics from a week or 2 ago, including the plant I took out cause it hermied on me. It's the sick looking one with the badly clawing leaves.
Thanks guys!! Bless!!

Hi, I've had similar on 3 of my last 7 plants with no real diagnosis. I disagree that it's too close to the light because led gets more diffuse as the plants grow into it. I have one now that is about 4" away and thought it was going to burn for sure but it's fine.

From what I can see this affects random (older) leaves in the middle of the canopy. If I had to guess deficiency it would be Ca because it's immobile. You have N tox I think because of so many clawed leaves. A picture under white light would help.

One thing that I want to ask though is if the plants were super dry when you fed them because this was the cause of my spots imo. burnt them with too hot a feed after they dryed to the point of drooping

 

[Aussieaceae]

I do have a bit of burnt tips, unsure if it's related or not. I always PH water under 7.0 and I use tap water with 1 or 2 bottled waters per gallon.

I usually spray feed soil or add a little water slowly so that there's no run off until about after the 3rd or 4th watering, at which time I feed plain water till 20-30% of the run off drains down.
I feed 2-3 feedings with nutes, followed by 1 feeding with just CalMagic and 1 feeding of plain water, then repeat. About a half teaspoon of each, sometimes 1/4. Run off water PH is between 6.0 - 7.0.

I think your problems lay somewhere here tbh, that's a very frequent watering / feeding schedule, and you're using soil.

"I feed 2-3 feedings with nutes, followed by 1 feeding with just CalMagic and 1 feeding of plain water" - what's the frequency with this cycle? How many days between each watering or feed? Is this all in the same day?

It seems excessive to me tbh. Imvho you should be watering more frequently than you feed with a soil. Water - water - feed, or similar.

Having the same issues across the board on all strains, suggests to me, you're over watering, over fertilising, your soil's ph is out of whack, or a combination.

I'd check your soil's ph too, using a soil sample. The runoff likely isn't very accurate at all.

 

[OldMedUser]

Holy freakin' out for nothing Batman!

If all those blurple plants look like the only decent picture you supplied then you're flippin' dude and all the pros that sounded off so far are full of what organic gardeners feed their plants. lol

Chillax as there's nothing to see here.

A couple of spots on a couple of leaves is nothing to worry about. Very dark green with a little tip burn tho so I would cut down on any nitrogen and use very low P but a nice boost of K, S and Mg would be in order for the rest of the flowering period if you're past the stretch. Epsom Salts for the extra S and Mg if you don't have anything particular to plants. Too much N and P in later flower will just stunt bud growth from the N and harsh your smoke from the P. They look like they have lots of those already and the plant can steal both from the lower leaves if it needs any more.

I used to chain smoke in my grow room and I spent a lot of time with my plants and got huge colas so don't worry about that. Too much N in later flower will stunt bud growth tho.

Looking like a good harvest on the way so don't over feed. They need less after the stretch.

 

[Aussieaceae]

Holy freakin' out for nothing Batman!

If all those blurple plants look like the only decent picture you supplied then you're flippin' dude and all the pros that sounded off so far are full of what organic gardeners feed their plants. lol

Chillax as there's nothing to see here.

A couple of spots on a couple of leaves is nothing to worry about. Very dark green with a little tip burn tho so I would cut down on any nitrogen and use very low P but a nice boost of K, S and Mg would be in order for the rest of the flowering period if you're past the stretch. Epsom Salts for the extra S and Mg if you don't have anything particular to plants. Too much N and P in later flower will just stunt bud growth from the N and harsh your smoke from the P. They look like they have lots of those already and the plant can steal both from the lower leaves if it needs any more.

I used to chain smoke in my grow room and I spent a lot of time with my plants and got huge colas so don't worry about that. Too much N in later flower will stunt bud growth tho.

Looking like a good harvest on the way so don't over feed. They need less after the stretch.

I'd agree there isn't much wrong, not to worry, and not to go around changing million things. I disagree on the proverbial.

You can insinuate whatever the hell you like, but those symptoms you see can happen when over watered. They can happen from ph issues, and they can happen from over fertilising. Sure excessive nitrogen can cause leaf tip burn, but so can excessive potassium, or ph issues.

A slurry sample is always more accurate than the waste in soil, that's a fact.

You're suggesting to add more magnesium when calmag is being used, and suggesting to add more potassium when you have absolutely no clue of the NPK in the fertiliser used.

What's wrong with checking your soil's ph using a soil sample? It takes 2 minutes.

Devil is in the details, and suggesting to add more stuff before we know them isn't right, and you know it.

My suggestion to the OP, was to do absolutely nothing yet, and give more detail. That way we all might be able to suggest some things for future grows.

 

[Em powerz 201]

Thank you fellow grow brothers and sisters!!

Ok, I like what I'm reading! Lol

Here's my feeding regimen and let me know what you guys think.

Since entering the flower stage, I've been feeding a bit differently than when I did during veg to accommodate their thirsty appetite. I also tried a different technique my cousin uses which is spraying the soil repeatedly instead my old, just water till 20-30% runs off.

So I'll feed them nutes, like I said before nothing more than 1/2 a teaspoon, which is far less than the recommended General Hydroponics Trio feeding suggests. Which always caught me off guard cause than why the buck do I have burnt tips if I'm not hot feeding?!

Anyways, so sprayed and sprayed for about 2, maybe 3 days straight, each one got about a quarter gallon of water each. I gave each about a cup or so of the same feeding in a cup instead of just spraying alone. So they got sprayed and a little reg feed in a cup of the same water. Follow?

Ok so I check the pots daily to ensure their not really heavy as to not over feed. 1 drinks more than the others but none were incredibly heavy at all. The one that felt the heaviest got a slightly less feeding but not far off at all.

After the 2-3 days of the spray on soil feed, I took them and dropped about a half gallon of water with a 1/2 teaspoon of Calmag. Following day, about a half gallon each of regular PH'd water. I PH everything below 7.0 but I try to keep it around 6.5. I skip a day to dry out and repeat the process.

Now my cousin ONLY spray fed and he's ONLY done 2 runs so he's no expert and has had some issues himself, however he claimed he had thrips.

It makes sense that I may be over watering. I've noticed their growth and nug production has slowed quite a bit, not sure if it's stunted. I don't think so tho. They're in week 4 now of flower.

Also, the one plant with the bad clawing isn't with us anymore so disregard that one. I think it had root problems and was severely stunted so I took her out cause she was suffocating the tent. She turned Herm cause i had to tie her down sideways and she was too close to the light due to limited space in my other tent.

It seemed to me that more spots appeared after the 3rd day of spray feeding. Obviously if I'm spraying, it's accumulating in the pot because there is no run off.

Initially I thought it may have been some sort of fungus due to the tight tent space from that other plant.

Also, I don't touch the soil. I just put in pot and water. No extra shit or add ons.

 

[Aussieaceae]

Thank you fellow grow brothers and sisters!!

Ok, I like what I'm reading! Lol

Here's my feeding regimen and let me know what you guys think.

Since entering the flower stage, I've been feeding a bit differently than when I did during veg to accommodate their thirsty appetite. I also tried a different technique my cousin uses which is spraying the soil repeatedly instead my old, just water till 20-30% runs off.

So I'll feed them nutes, like I said before nothing more than 1/2 a teaspoon, which is far less than the recommended General Hydroponics Trio feeding suggests. Which always caught me off guard cause than why the buck do I have burnt tips if I'm not hot feeding?!

Anyways, so sprayed and sprayed for about 2, maybe 3 days straight, each one got about a quarter gallon of water each. I gave each about a cup or so of the same feeding in a cup instead of just spraying alone. So they got sprayed and a little reg feed in a cup of the same water. Follow?

Ok so I check the pots daily to ensure their not really heavy as to not over feed. 1 drinks more than the others but none were incredibly heavy at all. The one that felt the heaviest got a slightly less feeding but not far off at all.

After the 2-3 days of the spray on soil feed, I took them and dropped about a half gallon of water with a 1/2 teaspoon of Calmag. Following day, about a half gallon each of regular PH'd water. I PH everything below 7.0 but I try to keep it around 6.5. I skip a day to dry out and repeat the process.

Now my cousin ONLY spray fed and he's ONLY done 2 runs so he's no expert and has had some issues himself, however he claimed he had thrips.

It makes sense that I may be over watering. I've noticed their growth and nug production has slowed quite a bit, not sure if it's stunted. I don't think so tho. They're in week 4 now of flower.

Also, the one plant with the bad clawing isn't with us anymore so disregard that one. I think it had root problems and was severely stunted so I took her out cause she was suffocating the tent. She turned Herm cause i had to tie her down sideways and she was too close to the light due to limited space in my other tent.

It seemed to me that more spots appeared after the 3rd day of spray feeding. Obviously if I'm spraying, it's accumulating in the pot because there is no run off.

Initially I thought it may have been some sort of fungus due to the tight tent space from that other plant.

Also, I don't touch the soil. I just put in pot and water. No extra shit or add ons.

I think it'd be worth giving them a drink of plain water next watering, with just a little runoff, just to be sure all the soil gets some water.

Is my interpretation correct, in saying you're feeding by mixing the nutrient in a spray bottle, then spraying the top soil? You're better off imo, treating it the same as you water until a little runoff, for the same reason. Also that way it's fairly safe to assume the nutrient is dispersed evenly through the pot.
Spraying the nutrient into the topsoil that way, very well could add up over time in the first few inches of soil.

The burnt tips are a hard thing to pin point imho, and you'll likely be chasing your tail trying to find it. In general too much nitrogen can do it, potassium deficiency can do it, excess phosphorus can do it. BUT antagonists can be at play too. Check out a Mulder's chart, there are a million ways it can happen. What "looks" like a deficiency of one nutrient, could well be a deficiency or excess of something else.
Imho it's nearly always better to take a little away first, than add more.

Like yourself, over fertilising, or over watering is what i'd assume. But i really would check the ph using a soil sample, and using the liquid + powder method. Or making a slurry with distilled water and testing with a pen.

High levels of iron "can" cause little bronze spotting on the leaves. Is there iron in your CalMag too? Excess nitrogen would be the likely cause of claw, but continuously wet soil can cause it too. Continuously wet soil can cause the ph to drop, it can also encourage high levels of NH4 which will cause claw. A low ph makes iron availability high, and things like calcium, magnesium, and potassium less available.
It's just a thought, but if your soil's ph has been a little low and you've been supplementing extra nitrogen, calcium, magnesium and iron with calmag on top of your base nutrient, plus over watering a little, i can see how those same symptoms could arise.

If it was myself i'd check the ph of a soil sample, and if the ph checks out, give them a big drink of water next watering. Then just observe things a little, and likely give one more drink before fertilising again. I think it's too far into flower, and in decent health not to make any drastic changes. Honestly they look pretty good.

Some suggestions for next time - add extra drainage to your soil if you don't already, test the ph of your soil before you plant, consider changing your nutrient %'s just a little.
I probably wouldn't bother with calmag myself. There would be ample iron in a decent soil already, plus ample iron and nitrogen in your base fertiliser. Calcium and magnesium are the two you "might" want to supplement, and they can be easily supplemented by other means.

Grow is looking nice!

 

[TrippleDip]

Here's my feeding regimen and let me know what you guys think.

Just chiming in because I'm also using the floratrio. I doubt you're overfeeding them at 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) I start my plants in veg at 2ml-2ml-2ml +3ml calimagic from the seedling stage, later 4.5ml-3ml-1.5ml(g-m-b), then 4ml-5ml-7.5ml +3ml calimagic and 3ml koolbloom in flower, every watering. Sometimes because of circumstances I can't take them out of the tent to water to runoff for up to two weeks and they don't seem to care. Have been using this feeding regimen for four different strains without any problems. I think mj is very very tolerant of what you can feed it.

But, I also think what Aussie has to say re:salts building up in the first few inches or over/underwatering different parts of the pot makes sense. I swear I only see these markings appear a day or two after feeding really dry soil. We could have totally different problems though.

 

[Aussieaceae]

Just chiming in because I'm also using the floratrio. I doubt you're overfeeding them at 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) I start my plants in veg at 2ml-2ml-2ml +3ml calimagic from the seedling stage, later 4.5ml-3ml-1.5ml(g-m-b), then 4ml-5ml-7.5ml +3ml calimagic and 3ml koolbloom in flower, every watering. Sometimes because of circumstances I can't take them out of the tent to water to runoff for up to two weeks and they don't seem to care. Have been using this feeding regimen for four different strains without any problems. I think mj is very very tolerant of what you can feed it.

But, I also think what Aussie has to say re:salts building up in the first few inches or over/underwatering different parts of the pot makes sense. I swear I only see these markings appear a day or two after feeding really dry soil. We could have totally different problems though.

I hear you there, and you may well be right about the nutrient. I haven't ever used GH, so I can't comment there. What you're suggesting makes a lot of sense, especially comparing your feeding schedule to the OP's.

In all honesty I was leaning more towards an over watering problem myself. Maybe watering too frequently, or not enough drainage in the soil. If i read correctly no perlite or similar is added to the soil at planting?

I suppose it just depends on each grower's style. I've found myself when i've grown soiless or hydro, that when I'm feeding heavy and I let it dry too much it does burn. I've always assumed because the salt levels in my media were higher without the water content there. Soil's always been a bit different for myself.

If Em Powerz was to do something, do you think it would be an appropriate course of action to give plain water next water / feed, with some runoff. Then the next watering, start a nutrient schedule that's closer to your own? Then see how they respond to it?

 

[Em powerz 201]

Alright you guys fucking rock!
I posted a few times on other websites n got terrible responses

Ok it all makes sense. I am a noob but I've been binge watching the shit out of YouTube grow videos lmao so I kinda understand somewhat.

Ok so I knew I wasn't over feeding with my nutes, but I been dying to hear someone else who uses it to tell me cause I'm not sure. My cousin doesn't use the trio but he be putting hella ml's in his feedings, but come to think about, is it possible I'm UNDER feeding?

Also, MY BAD I was a little high when I wrote "I add nothing", I meant like extra additives or anything, I did put some perlite. I put a different amount in each to kinda feel the difference. 1 has a handful, another 2 and so forth.

I did'nt do a great packing in the soil, I think that's why that plant had root issues. It wasn't straining straight down, instead coming out the side half way down. I think packed it in too much. I kinda packed each one differently as well lol only way u learn right?!

Anyways I'm attaching some pics, leaves are burnt and shit. Smh. Could it be from too much feeding? Idk if this can be from that. The spots maybe, but burnt leaves too u think? Think it's connected? It looks like Nute burn but how if I'm not feeding high?

I looked for bugs or insects and I don't see anything, just them 1 or 2 little flying Nat mosquitos things. However, I have seen some leaves look sort of cut and that's why I thought maybe it was eaten but I sometimes damage a leaf or 2 when taking out the tent, more so before because of the tightness of the other plant in there.

Check them, lmk what u think. Thanks Broski's!!!

 

[Em powerz 201]

Here's some more guys, thanks! Also, does the light look ok in distance? And those couple burnt leaves look pretty bad no? I feed them last on Thursday, tap water with a half teaspoon of CalMagic. Nothing at all yesterday. Pots feel pretty heavy still. I am planning to water them plain PH'd tap water tomorrow, but not with spray, just regular watering. I'm hoping to flush some of that accumulation.

 

[Aussieaceae]

If i had to guess, those tips look like a potassium deficiency to me.

Great you added perlite, and have good pots, so we can probably rule out drainage.

I wouldn't muck around man, not now. They look healthy, and if you bump up your fertiliser, do it a little at a time, instead of all in one go. So much easier to just add a little more, than add too much and have to take some away.
Only water tomorrow if it needs it. If your pot's still heavy it could likely wait another day or two, you'd be surprised. Just have a little runoff each time, no more spray bottle.
Imho test that soil sample's acidity to be certain it isn't ph related, before adding more nutrient.

 

[Em powerz 201]

If i had to guess, those tips look like a potassium deficiency to me.

Great you added perlite, and have good pots, so we can probably rule out drainage.

I wouldn't muck around man, not now. They look healthy, and if you bump up your fertiliser, do it a little at a time, instead of all in one go. So much easier to just add a little more, than add too much and have to take some away.
Only water tomorrow if it needs it. If your pot's still heavy it could likely wait another day or two, you'd be surprised. Just have a little runoff each time, no more spray bottle.
Imho test that soil sample's acidity to be certain it isn't ph related, before adding more nutrient.

How can I check the soils acidity? And when you say potassium deficiency, are you saying potassium is too low or too high?

Also, the spots and tips have not been this bad. This is by far the worse ive seen it get affected.

 

[Aussieaceae]

I use the liquid and powder version. You make a paste with the supplied liquid + soil, and sprinkle the powder on top.

You can also use a soil sample + distilled water and test with a digital meter.

How have you been measuring the ph of your runoff and water. By using drops?

Just take it easy with the fertiliser, they're healthy looking plants to me. Bump it up a little, but don't go crazy.

I'd bang heads with @TrippleDip to compare what you're each growing in etc.

Just get a bit of clarification first. Not having used GH myself, i don't personally feel comfortable telling you to bump up the dose. They don't immediately look that way to me.

 

[Em powerz 201]

I use the liquid and powder version. You make a paste with the supplied liquid + soil, and sprinkle the powder on top.

You can also use a soil sample + distilled water and test with a digital meter.

How have you been measuring the ph of your runoff and water. By using drops?

Just take it easy with the fertiliser, they're healthy looking plants to me. Bump it up a little, but don't go crazy.

I'd bang heads with @TrippleDip to compare what you're each growing in etc.

Just get a bit of clarification first. Not having used GH myself, i don't personally feel comfortable telling you to bump up the dose. They don't immediately look that way to me.

I use both a PH meter and the drops method. Im pretty on point there I'd say.