Organic Earth Juice Nutrients - Plant Problems

[Weedvin]

Hi There, I tried posting this in the plant problems forum, but it was recommended that I try here because i'm using Earth Juice organic nutrients.


I keep having issues in flower. Every day my plants are looking worse and worse. I’m using Earth Juice Big 5 nutrients in a 2x4 tent. I have a HLG 260w 648 diablo light 24” above the plants. I originally thought this was light stress but I’ve dimmed my lights just below half way measuring around 22,000 lux and every morning the plants look worse and worse. Temps are between 77 and 80 during day and night, so it's not heat stress. I tried adding about a half gram of epsom salt per gallon to my last feeding and did an epsom foliar spray, but extra mag hasn’t worked.

I’m feeding the earth juice nutrients with every feeding per the instructions at a ph between 6.3 and 6.5. I’m entering my third week of flower and the plants will drink between 1.5 and 2L each, every 2nd or third day depending on how wet the soil is.

I'm following the instructions on the Earth Juice bottles i'm mixing about 4gals at a time using the combinations below;

All these amounts are the totals i put in about 4 gal of RO water.
2 Tablespoons Grow
2 Tablespoons Bloom
4 Teaspoons Mirco
4 Teaspoons Xatalyst
2 Teaspoons Meta-K
1 Tablespoon Cal/mag
1 Tablespoon Liquid Seaweed

I'm also aerating the nutrients at least over night to naturally bring the PH up.

Feeding every other day or every third day. I'll feed 500ml to each plant, wait 15 to 20 min then keep going until I see the plant saucers start to fill up. Usually it's been between 1L and 1.5L per plant.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m spending a lot of time on these ladies and they’re not showing any love back.

Flush ( 10 gal. water/5- gal container) either start over (organic ???) again, or add 3" earthworm castings/ bone meal @1.5 × more castings than none meal. No more diagnostics with nice buds. I can send you a pic of my grow, if you would like.

 

[Weedvin]

Hi There, I tried posting this in the plant problems forum, but it was recommended that I try here because i'm using Earth Juice organic nutrients.


I keep having issues in flower. Every day my plants are looking worse and worse. I’m using Earth Juice Big 5 nutrients in a 2x4 tent. I have a HLG 260w 648 diablo light 24” above the plants. I originally thought this was light stress but I’ve dimmed my lights just below half way measuring around 22,000 lux and every morning the plants look worse and worse. Temps are between 77 and 80 during day and night, so it's not heat stress. I tried adding about a half gram of epsom salt per gallon to my last feeding and did an epsom foliar spray, but extra mag hasn’t worked.

I’m feeding the earth juice nutrients with every feeding per the instructions at a ph between 6.3 and 6.5. I’m entering my third week of flower and the plants will drink between 1.5 and 2L each, every 2nd or third day depending on how wet the soil is.

I'm following the instructions on the Earth Juice bottles i'm mixing about 4gals at a time using the combinations below;

All these amounts are the totals i put in about 4 gal of RO water.
2 Tablespoons Grow
2 Tablespoons Bloom
4 Teaspoons Mirco
4 Teaspoons Xatalyst
2 Teaspoons Meta-K
1 Tablespoon Cal/mag
1 Tablespoon Liquid Seaweed

I'm also aerating the nutrients at least over night to naturally bring the PH up.

Feeding every other day or every third day. I'll feed 500ml to each plant, wait 15 to 20 min then keep going until I see the plant saucers start to fill up. Usually it's been between 1L and 1.5L per plant.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m spending a lot of time on these ladies and they’re not showing any love back.

I grow Organic, I don't believe those additives are on the Organics listings. I've never had molds,fungus,bugs, or deficiencies applying organics. Once I used another friends compost and the next morning I had 4 species of fing flies in my tent. His posting had serious control issues. Now LMFAO Brother

 

[Yadam]

I would ditch them both. My thoughts are if there’s not enough stuff in the grow,bloom and micro. Then use a different kind of fertilizer

thanks @myke that makes sense to me.

 

[Yadam]

The problem is your soil mix has become inactive. Microbial activity is what governs ph in organic soil which is why giving npk is not working. Adding worm castings as a top dress or even better brew it in a tea will help your mix begin to work again as it should. The alternative is synthetic nutes...

thank you. I have the worm castings so I’m going to brew a tea with some molasses. Would you recommend trying this after flushing or skip the flush?

 

[Yadam]

I know you're bubbling it first. But are you adding a pH up after you bubble it to get it around 6.5? If so, what are you using?

I’m using earth juice ph up crystals and microbe life ph down if needed. Unless I’m busy and didn’t plan to bubble a mixture, i don’t use very much of either. The soil should adjust for ph and the earth juice website says they give their plants the mixture at around 3.6 but i can’t bring myself to do that.

 

[Yadam]

Flush ( 10 gal. water/5- gal container) either start over (organic ???) again, or add 3" earthworm castings/ bone meal @1.5 × more castings than none meal. No more diagnostics with nice buds. I can send you a pic of my grow, if you would like.

I know I have castings and I think I have bone meal, so this is definitely doable. 10gals per 5 gal containers, 4 containers = 40gals x 5 gals per hour. So it would be 8 hours to get that much RO water. Do you really have to use that much water to flush?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I’m using earth juice ph up crystals and microbe life ph down if needed. Unless I’m busy and didn’t plan to bubble a mixture, i don’t use very much of either. The soil should adjust for ph and the earth juice website says they give their plants the mixture at around 3.6 but i can’t bring myself to do that.

You shouldn't need to use any pH up when using EJ. That shit is acidic. And Microbe Life pH down is basically phosphoric acid which isn't great for the microbes.

I did teas the first time I used it, but that was a lot of work. I've been mostly just top dressing lately. Much easier. I have given some EJ without bubbling, but I've kept the dosage low, so the pH isn't crazy when I use it. I'm talking like a TBLS total of whatever EJ per gal, and that will make my water around 6.5 or so, but my water comes out at like 7.8.

3.6 sounds scary for the microbes.

Here's a study on different nutes, including EJ. It's what I started with a few years ago.

A top nutrient study - Which is the best? Produces most?

Found this and thought it might be helpful. ******WARNING LONG READ BUT MUCH TO LEARN!********** FINDING MY NUTE PROGRAM : The following is a comprehensive, independent comparison of 8 various nutrient applications and my experiences with them. As I make a living growing medicinal...

www.420magazine.com

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I know I have castings and I think I have bone meal, so this is definitely doable. 10gals per 5 gal containers, 4 containers = 40gals x 5 gals per hour. So it would be 8 hours to get that much RO water. Do you really have to use that much water to flush?

Please don't listen to that advice to flush 10 gallons through your soil.

 

[Yadam]

I grow Organic, I don't believe those additives are on the Organics listings. I've never had molds,fungus,bugs, or deficiencies applying organics. Once I used another friends compost and the next morning I had 4 species of fing flies in my tent. His posting had serious control issues. Now LMFAO Brother

Haha not including your friends compost, what’s your organic soil formula? I tried two grows with amended soil and they didn’t go every well so I thought using earth juice would be close and easier. The pic looks nice, i definitely want that end result.

 

[Yadam]

You shouldn't need to use any pH up when using EJ. That shit is acidic. And Microbe Life pH down is basically phosphoric acid which isn't great for the microbes.

I did teas the first time I used it, but that was a lot of work. I've been mostly just top dressing lately. Much easier. I have given some EJ without bubbling, but I've kept the dosage low, so the pH isn't crazy when I use it. I'm talking like a TBLS total of whatever EJ per gal, and that will make my water around 6.5 or so, but my water comes out at like 7.8.

3.6 sounds scary for the microbes.

Here's a study on different nutes, including EJ. It's what I started with a few years ago.

A top nutrient study - Which is the best? Produces most?

Found this and thought it might be helpful. ******WARNING LONG READ BUT MUCH TO LEARN!********** FINDING MY NUTE PROGRAM : The following is a comprehensive, independent comparison of 8 various nutrient applications and my experiences with them. As I make a living growing medicinal...

www.420magazine.com

Thanks for forwarding I’ll give it a read here shortly.

 

[Yadam]

Please don't listen to that advice to flush 10 gallons through your soil.

yeah that seems like a lot of water. For the fix here, do you recommend flushing or just try using castings and lowering the amount of EJ I’m using?

 

[myke]

You gotta start some trial and error I guess,looks like you got a few plants.Youve ruled out light burn already.
Potassium deficiency is what it looks like,you dont see green veins though but whatever.Too high ph can cause K deficiency.Over watering can also do this.
Looking at EJ site didnt see anything about organics?Can you measure your feed with a ppm meter?Be nice to know where you stand strength wise.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

yeah that seems like a lot of water. For the fix here, do you recommend flushing or just try using castings and lowering the amount of EJ I’m using?

Ya, horrible advice if you've been using organic nutes like EJ and organic soil.

NO Flushing.

I'm guessing it's a pH issue. EWC top dressing should help. My guess is the EJ (and especially the phosphoric acid) might have brought the soil pH down a little low. A higher microbe content will help buffer the pH so that's why I'd suggest EWC. If you have the energy making an EWC tea is even better.

 

[myke]

Some other stuff thats probably useless,To much N and Ca can block K.Possibility?,Simple build up of food?
The easy one,add more K?

If these nutes need to be broken down to make available then as said already ,more ewc,teas etc.

Wish I could help more,A lot here use dry amendments including myself.Simple and not too expensive.

 

[Richard Drysift]

thank you. I have the worm castings so I’m going to brew a tea with some molasses. Would you recommend trying this after flushing or skip the flush?

Don’t flush...add nothing... just give them a tea and top dress w/ ewc. Water as normal. Your plants will green back up in a matter of weeks. It is most definitely an absorption issue but PH-ing stuff won’t fix it; you just need a boost of microbial activity to normalize ph. The only other thing I suggest doing is to begin using granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant; that will forgive a host of absorption issues but it may be a bit too late to do this for your currently blooming plants.

 

[Richard Drysift]

I’m using earth juice ph up crystals and microbe life ph down if needed. Unless I’m busy and didn’t plan to bubble a mixture, i don’t use very much of either. The soil should adjust for ph and the earth juice website says they give their plants the mixture at around 3.6 but i can’t bring myself to do that.

Stop ph adjusting stuff just water as needed for awhile

Don’t flush...add nothing... just give them a tea and top dress w/ ewc. Water as normal. Your plants will green back up in a matter of weeks. It is most definitely an absorption issue but PH-ing stuff won’t fix it; you just need a boost of microbial activity to normalize ph. The only other thing I suggest doing is to begin using granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant; that will forgive a host of absorption issues but it may be a bit too late to do this for your currently blooming plants.

Here’s the best tea recipe known to man:
2 cups ewc
3+ gal clean water
1 tbspln kelp meal
1 tsp molassess
Bubble vigorously for 24-36 hrs and serve immediately

 

[Yadam]

You gotta start some trial and error I guess,looks like you got a few plants.Youve ruled out light burn already.
Potassium deficiency is what it looks like,you dont see green veins though but whatever.Too high ph can cause K deficiency.Over watering can also do this.
Looking at EJ site didnt see anything about organics?Can you measure your feed with a ppm meter?Be nice to know where you stand strength wise.

thanks I’ll check tonight.

 

[Yadam]

Some other stuff thats probably useless,To much N and Ca can block K.Possibility?,Simple build up of food?
The easy one,add more K?

If these nutes need to be broken down to make available then as said already ,more ewc,teas etc.

Wish I could help more,A lot here use dry amendments including myself.Simple and not too expensive.

thanks for all the help. I’m going to make a tea today and try adding a little more meta-k when they’re ready a few days after the tea/ewc. I’ll follow up to share if it worked.

 

[ComfortCreator]

I also think the meta K looks like its causing problems.

I will also add I tried EJ a few times as an add to an organic grow and really didn't like it. I cat recall the ph but it was crazy low, 4 or 5, and f that sxxx if doing organic it shouldn't be that hard. It also stank bad.

Several other options for organic nutes I would switch. Something simple i.e. veg, bloom, maybe some calmag if needed or with you RO.

 

[Yadam]

Don’t flush...add nothing... just give them a tea and top dress w/ ewc. Water as normal. Your plants will green back up in a matter of weeks. It is most definitely an absorption issue but PH-ing stuff won’t fix it; you just need a boost of microbial activity to normalize ph. The only other thing I suggest doing is to begin using granular mycorrhizae in the hole at each transplant; that will forgive a host of absorption issues but it may be a bit too late to do this for your currently blooming plants.

hey thanks for the tips here. I’m definitely going to try your tea. I do actually sprinkle a teaspoon or two of mycorrhiza on the root ball and hole when transplanting from 2gal in veg to 5gal in flower. It was about 2 to 2.5 weeks after transplanting in flower when I started to see issues. The plants looked real good before that with their hair cut and larger containers.