Help!! Plants dying!

[Raspberrykiwi]

Hello! I am fairly new to growing, I’ve successfully harvested 2 plants with miracle grow potting soil and some cfls... I recently got a 150w HPS and am trying an all organic grow. I’m using 70% peat moss, 30% perlite and I have dr earth 4-4-4 all purpose nutes. I ph all of my water to 6.2-6.8 and water when dry. All of my leaves have browned and crunched off. I have removed the dying lower leaves but the top ones keep browning and crunching off. I haven’t used any buffering in my soil like Lime or CalMag. Could this be my problem??

 

[Bobby Long Buds]

Did you use a low strength feed with proper runoff each time?

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

Did you use a low strength feed with proper runoff each time?

So when I first started I was giving maybe 1-2 shots of water every 2 days. I thought ok maybe I’m over watering these plants because of the slow growth. I water with regular tap water, dechlorinated and ph. Now I am watering when I notice the plants wilting over and I do notice some run off but not a lot.

 

[An1m0ssity]

Hello! I am fairly new to growing, I’ve successfully harvested 2 plants with miracle grow potting soil and some cfls... I recently got a 150w HPS and am trying an all organic grow. I’m using 70% peat moss, 30% perlite and I have dr earth 4-4-4 all purpose nutes. I ph all of my water to 6.2-6.8 and water when dry. All of my leaves have browned and crunched off. I have removed the dying lower leaves but the top ones keep browning and crunching off. I haven’t used any buffering in my soil like Lime or CalMag. Could this be my problem??

I'm a newb here so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but it looks like either a nutrient problem or those puppies are cooking. How far away do you have your lights? Sry to see them in such bad shape and I hope you get them back in order.

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

The plants were also germinated and planted 10/23/19

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

I'm a newb here so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but it looks like either a nutrient problem or those puppies are cooking. How far away do you have your lights? Sry to see them in such bad shape and I hope you get them back in order.

My 150w HPS is about 8-10in away from the top of the plants. I followed the directions on the nutrient bag with 2 tablespoons per gallon of medium

 

[An1m0ssity]

My 150w HPS is about 8-10in away from the top of the plants. I followed the directions on the nutrient bag with 2 tablespoons per gallon of medium

Honestly, I'd make a more diluted nute blend. The manufacturer's recommendations tend to be a bit on the high side. I'm new to all this but I do hours of research every week to stay on point as possible. Maybe try the furthest recommended distance with hps lights and do 12 inches from the top. I'd try the more diluted nutes first though tbh. Also, what is the humidity in your grow area if I might ask?

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

Honestly, I'd make a more diluted nute blend. Like I said, I'm new to all this but I do hours of research every week to stay on point as possible. Maybe try the furthest recommended distance with hps lights and do 12 inches from the top. I'd try the more diluted nutes first though tbh. Also, what is the humidity in your grow area if I might ask?

My temps are about 78-82 and my humidity fluctuates 55-65%. Now with dry amendments do I just let the nutes wear off naturally? I’ve heard a lot about adding lime to peat moss to help bring the ph of the soil up, but I have also heard that if you’re using a soilless medium you don’t need to worry about ph of your medium?

 

[Bobby Long Buds]

So when I first started I was giving maybe 1-2 shots of water every 2 days. I thought ok maybe I’m over watering these plants because of the slow growth. I water with regular tap water, dechlorinated and ph. Now I am watering when I notice the plants wilting over and I do notice some run off but not a lot.

I’m a bit confused. Are you just top dressing with fertilizer or adding it to your water. The plants are over fed I think. If your adding it to your water ensure you have lots of run off. If using a top dress fertilizer you must have experience reading a plants needs.

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

I’m a bit confused. Are you just top dressing with fertilizer or adding it to your water. The plants are over fed I think. If your adding it to your water ensure you have lots of run off. If using a top dress fertilizer you must have experience reading a plants needs.

Ok so then that must be my problem... when I first started the seeds I planted them with no fertilizer. Just peat moss and perlite. About 6 days in I believe I added the fertilizer as a top dress and mixed it in. I have 0 experience with Organics and am learning. At this point idk what to do. I tested the ph of my runoff and it’s 6.5. I’ve let the medium become bone dry before watering and still having a problem.

 

[SnidleyBluntash]

I say 1) light too close 2) over fertilized 3) water more often 4) the temp is kind of high.

In a proper dirt soil the pH is not something to worry about with every watering. It is easy to mess up and put a few extra drops of acid.

Try flushing a couple gallons of tap water through, to clear out any built up nutrients, then with the final flush water you could pH it. Not paying the first flush water will save you $

I want to say the light is too close, but at the same time the plant is so long and spindly, if you hold your hand where the top of the plant is, is it hot?

 

[mangerton]

my 2cents someone allot more plant intelligent should comment hopefully

well peat moss has no nutrients in it. its an inert growing medium. i would not be running any organic nutrients when using 70% peat moss, 30% perlite

i would be using a synthetic hydroponic nutrients water soluble veg A+B you would then be mixing up your nutrients to a set ec or ppm adjusting the pH then watering them plants until you get decent run off

them plants have had the roots burnt from too concentrated powder nutrients being slowly washed in to the pot over time cousin the plant to not be able to uptake any nutrients regardless of what you add

 

[mangerton]

something to add is when growing organicly . you are feeding the soil. not the plant. being an inert growing medium. you have no soil to feed

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

I say 1) light too close 2) over fertilized 3) water more often 4) the temp is kind of high.

In a proper dirt soil the pH is not something to worry about with every watering. It is easy to mess up and put a few extra drops of acid.

Try flushing a couple gallons of tap water through, to clear out any built up nutrients, then with the final flush water you could pH it. Not paying the first flush water will save you $

I want to say the light is too close, but at the same time the plant is so long and spindly, if you hold your hand where the top of the plant is, is it hot?

So when I hold my hand it is not too hot. I did raise the light up higher though. I am growing in a closet so it’s kind of hard to keep the temps where I want them right now. The only thing I’m afraid of about flushing is my medium becoming over saturated and killing them. I’m using peat moss and it holds water for a long time

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

my 2cents someone allot more plant intelligent should comment hopefully

well peat moss has no nutrients in it. its an inert growing medium. i would not be running any organic nutrients when using 70% peat moss, 30% perlite

i would be using a synthetic hydroponic nutrients water soluble veg A+B you would then be mixing up your nutrients to a set ec or ppm adjusting the pH then watering them plants until you get decent run off

them plants have had the roots burnt from too concentrated powder nutrients being slowly washed in to the pot over time cousin the plant to not be able to uptake any nutrients regardless of what you add

I’ve heard of people using coco with dry amendments, which is similar to me using peat moss and the same dry amendments. I’m not sure if coco is just a whole lot better to use or what.

 

[DustyDuke]

My temps are about 78-82 and my humidity fluctuates 55-65%. Now with dry amendments do I just let the nutes wear off naturally? I’ve heard a lot about adding lime to peat moss to help bring the ph of the soil up, but I have also heard that if you’re using a soilless medium you don’t need to worry about ph of your medium?

From what I can tell your feeding is all messed up. If your going organic buy a decent organic single part nute there generally ph perfect so no need to check ph. I use professor nutrients organics 1 bottle for veg 1 for 1 for flower easy.
Also you will need an organic calmag I wouldn’t recommend top dressing with Dolomite or something like that.
That 4-4-4 is no good you want more like 8-1-1 for veg and like 1-2-4 for flower. That’s my suggestion for organic’s, you can alter those numbers but not to much.

 

[mangerton]

I’ve heard of people using coco with dry amendments, which is similar to me using peat moss and the same dry amendments. I’m not sure if coco is just a whole lot better to use or what.

you could defiantly use coca or peat along side a good compost and amendments . i do that with my outdoors to help retain some moisture and keep it nice and fluffy so the roots don't get to constricted but then i feed compost tea and top dress when transplanting to a bigger pot

 

[mangerton]

From what I can tell your feeding is all messed up. If your going organic buy a decent organic single part nute there generally ph perfect so no need to check ph. I use professor nutrients organics 1 bottle for veg 1 for 1 for flower easy.
Also you will need an organic calmag I wouldn’t recommend top dressing with Dolomite or something like that.
That 4-4-4 is no good you want more like 8-1-1 for veg and like 1-2-4 for flower. That’s my suggestion for organic’s, you can alter those numbers but not to much.

do this although i stand by my comment wen it comes to how you feed organically because its still a synthetic plant food that by passed feeding the soil and it feeds direct to the plant. unless i am miss understanding the nutrients here. quiet possible

 

[Raspberrykiwi]

From what I can tell your feeding is all messed up. If your going organic buy a decent organic single part nute there generally ph perfect so no need to check ph. I use professor nutrients organics 1 bottle for veg 1 for 1 for flower easy.
Also you will need an organic calmag I wouldn’t recommend top dressing with Dolomite or something like that.
That 4-4-4 is no good you want more like 8-1-1 for veg and like 1-2-4 for flower. That’s my suggestion for organic’s, you can alter those numbers but not to much.

I’ve seen growers have amazing results with 4-4-4 all purpose for veg and 2-8-4 for bloom. But that’s beside the point. My goal with Organics was no bottled nutes, just having a living growing medium. Something full of microbes. But at this point I’m nervous to flush some of the nutes out. I feel like I will drown my plants

 

[DustyDuke]

you could defiantly use coca or peat along side a good compost and amendments . i do that with my outdoors to help retain some moisture and keep it nice and fluffy so the roots don't get to constricted but then i feed compost tea and top dress when transplanting to a bigger pot

Compost is they key to my grows I get mine from the zoo got hippo shit, seal shit, giraffe shit, plus heaps more. Basically whatever they have that eats grass and fish plus bird shit lol. Then they add all the fruit and veg scraps and the straw the animals sleep in. The stuff is gold, I do break it down longer they sell it a bit on the hot side.