2nd grow - potential nutrient uptake issues?

Hi guys, this is my first post on here but I need your help!

I'm currently just over half way through my second grow (the first one was pretty bumpy as I made a lot of balls-ups) but everything was going absolutely swimmingly second time around until last week when I started to notice signs of either nutrient burn / lock out ... but I'm not quite sure exactly what it is i'm looking at.

Seeing as you lot are the experts I thought I'd be better off asking you lot for your opinions on what you think the issue may be. Here's a full list of my set up:

- Northern lights (photoperiod) grown from seed
- Plagron light mix soil with approx 30% perlite
- 10 litre airpot
- 180w UFO led grow light and 2x23w supplementary cfl's (all about 10 inches from top of canopy)
- 1 x 4 inch ventilation fan with carbon filter attached
- 1 x 4inch circulatory fan
- Average temp's 19 - 23 degrees c.
- General hydroponics 3 part nutrient system (grow, flora & micro)
- Plant magic magne-cal
- Un-sulphered black strap molasses

I feed approx 2.5 litres every friday at around 1100-1200ppm and water approx 2.5 litres with just magne-cal & molasses added every tuesday at around 350-450ppm.

I ph my feedings and waterings at around 6.2 and run off reads at around 6.6.

I'm a bit stumped as I did so much god damn homework before starting this one and I can't figure out what it is?! Going by diagnosis photo's on google I presumed it was a calmag issue but I feed 1.5-2x the recommended amount on the bottle and also supplement with molasses... HELP ME PLEASE!

Hi mate, as no one has replied to your thread ill tell you my opinion, its hard to determine whether it is nutrient Burn/Cal deficiency as both seem to affect the leaves in the same way but in any instance i would cut out the nutes altogether for 3 to 5 days and use normal phd water, and you should see other leaves return to normal the leaves that are damaged now may not return so in my opinion i would also remove them to see if any more go a yellow colour if they do then its not a nutrient problem, but if you are only watering 2 days a week this could be an issue aswell you should be feeding at least 4 times a week until you get 15 to 20% run off, getting rid of all the salts and crap from your growing medium, having said this you seem to be quite close to the end by the looks of the buds so i wouldnt worry too much about it, when it gets near the end you find the lower leaves yellowing anyway this is not an issue as the plants sucks every bit of goodness from the bottom.

Any questions just ask

Steve

Also you need to get rid of them major fan leaves aswell, i would take everything off from the bottom 8 inches as all they will produce is popcorn buds and take away much needed nutrients from top, you still have a lot of major fan leaves which could be removed from the top aswell to let the light in to the middle part of the plant i would do this over the course of a week or so, that way you wont shock the plant, dont read to much into shocking plants as i have got to town on my plants before and they have been fine, but to be on the safe side id only take 10/15 leaves of each plant in 1 cutting session, you will find the plants will come back stronger once this is done, weed is exactly that a weed and you will know yourself killing weeds in the garden is not an easy task as they just bounce back weed does the same and is not as easy to kill as people make out, temps are slightly low for me aswell i like to get to 25-28 lights on and 18-21 lights off this will help the plant soak up more water creating more feeding oppertunities

Thanks
Steve

Hi Steven, thanks for your reply!

Since all those nasty brown patches started to show I have backed off the nutes completely, just feeding Ph'd cal-mag water at the mo. Interesting what you say about needing to feed 4 times a week though... I was always told that it was best to let the medium dry out before feeding again to allow oxygen to the roots, which for me was about 3-4 days.

I'll take your advice with the extra fan leaves and start taking out a few a day, see what happens!

Thanks mate,
Adam

Looks like a potassium overload,probably from all the molasses.Go organic or synth...not both.Drop the molasses if you are using bottled nutrients.Id hate to leach that in flower,but you have to get that K down.Leach the medium until runoff is clear and ppms are low.Then half strength feed,and work back up.The leaves wont recover.

All the k is probably locking out your magesium as well...

Get the K down...

Hi I am on my first grow so am learning myself. I am doing a lot of reading at the moment an not confident enough to give good enough advice but thanks to you and replys will come in handy for me in future thanks guy s

Hmmm i seem baffled as to not feeding 3 to 4 times a week as what happens in the wild with these things if it rains all day every day for 2 weeks and then there is a dry spell? I wouldnt always wait until the medium is completely dry maybe the first inch of soil then i would water, also depends on what size pots you use i used 5 gallon pots and feed 3 times a week but when im in veg i use 2 gallon pots and feed 4 to 5 times a week but as i mentioned if your running low temps then the soil will remain wet for longer but i would increase those temps a little bit that way your plants will become thirstier feeding more and your able to feed them more

Steve

Resinhound said:

Looks like a potassium overload,probably from all the molasses.Go organic or synth...not both.Drop the molasses if you are using bottled nutrients.Id hate to leach that in flower,but you have to get that K down.Leach the medium until runoff is clear and ppms are low.Then half strength feed,and work back up.The leaves wont recover.

All the k is probably locking out your magesium as well...

Get the K down...

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It was my understanding that the Potassium in molasses is not in a form usable by the plant directly, but the molasses sugars can be beneficial to soil's microbes.

bravedave said:

It was my understanding that the Potassium in molasses is not in a form usable by the plant directly, but the molasses sugars can be beneficial to soil's microbes.

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The sugar in the molasses is good for microbes,but potassium is potassium.

Resinhound said:

The sugar in the molasses is good for microbes,but potassium is potassium.

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That's true, but ..

bravedave said:

That's true, but ..

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Yes..thats right theres potassium sulfate in molasses.The same potassium sulfate thats in bottled nutrients.

I'm no expert but are they not being burned to shit? Perhaps a bit over fed?

Budley Doright said:

I'm no expert but are they not being burned to shit? Perhaps a bit over fed?

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Ya they are...

Resinhound said:

Yes..thats right theres potassium sulfate in molasses.The same potassium sulfate thats in bottled nutrients.

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There are a boatload of "experts" here who poopoo its use for non-organic purposes. Not sure about the bottled nutes you are talking about but say...Jack's Classic 20/20/20 "K" component is K2O and Based on the forementioned "experts", I'm guessing the "K" sulfate you mention is not water soluble.

Grow4broke34 said:

Hi Steven, thanks for your reply!

Since all those nasty brown patches started to show I have backed off the nutes completely, just feeding Ph'd cal-mag water at the mo. Interesting what you say about needing to feed 4 times a week though... I was always told that it was best to let the medium dry out before feeding again to allow oxygen to the roots, which for me was about 3-4 days.

I'll take your advice with the extra fan leaves and start taking out a few a day, see what happens!

Thanks mate,
Adam

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I think you should leave the leaves alone, let the plant decide they're of no use.

KryptoBud said:

I think you should leave the leaves alone, let the plant decide they're of no use.

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Personally it has always worked in my favour to defoliate a little here and there to make room for buds coming through, especially on some of my grows if i didnt chop them back id find myself lost in an overgrown garden haha! Some strains can get really out of hand and it make the whole job alot easier if you give them a chop back every now and again, i dont know any grower that doesnt take some leaves off to boost the growth and let some light in, also if you have too many leaves overlapping each other you tend to find you have more chance of coming across problems like mildew etc in my opinion..

Steve

Steven85 said:

Personally it has always worked in my favour to defoliate a little here and there to make room for buds coming through, especially on some of my grows if i didnt chop them back id find myself lost in an overgrown garden haha! Some strains can get really out of hand and it make the whole job alot easier if you give them a chop back every now and again, i dont know any grower that doesnt take some leaves off to boost the growth and let some light in, also if you have too many leaves overlapping each other you tend to find you have more chance of coming across problems like mildew etc in my opinion..

Steve

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So when you have plants that are showing over/underfed cutting the leaves off helps that?
Stop feeding deficient plants and the leaves should return to normal?
Remove all major fan leaves to make room for buds
Feed 4 times a week (in soil because that what happens in the wild)
Defoliation has always worked for you in all your grows?

especially on some of my grows?? You started growing in September. How many grows have you gone threw to have a first hand knowledge or opinion on any of this. Maybe two? What do you have for comparison? You really have no baseline to say what techniques work and what don't. Leaves are fairly important, telling people to cut em all off is dumb and is gonna ruin someones crop. Im not tryin to be a dick, google the calvin cycle and see what leaves do before cutting them off randomly.

KryptoBud said:

So when you have plants that are showing over/underfed cutting the leaves off helps that?
Stop feeding deficient plants and the leaves should return to normal?
Remove all major fan leaves to make room for buds
Feed 4 times a week (in soil because that what happens in the wild)
Defoliation has always worked for you in all your grows?

especially on some of my grows?? You started growing in September. How many grows have you gone threw to have a first hand knowledge or opinion on any of this. Maybe two? What do you have for comparison? You really have no baseline to say what techniques work and what don't. Leaves are fairly important, telling people to cut em all off is dumb and is gonna ruin someones crop. Im not tryin to be a dick, google the calvin cycle and see what leaves do before cutting them off randomly.

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I dont remember saying cutting leaves off makes the plants better? I also cant remember saying much of anything you said to be honest, also how would you know how many grows i have done? All i was giving was the opinion of my own grows and my own plants, and how things work for me, that is what people do on here they dont give information from someone elses grow they give it from their own grow and i remember my first grow i yielded around 3zs a plant but since then i have used defoliation numerous times and have always hit 4zs/6zs per plant if that is not an improvement i may need to go back to do school to work on my Maths

I also have a good few people around me that do the same and have better results, and to be honest if this isnt the case i apologise but all the information i was given was actually off this site from some well known members so if they are wrong aswell then so be it

Read this and then tell me i am wrong, this guy has been growing years and years over 30 years to be precise

http://www.growweedeasy.com/marijuana-defoliation-tutorial

Peace
Steve

The plant is overfed. Pulling leaves at this point will fuck it up and cause further nute burn. Why pull the leaves? The leaves are the reason the plant is still hanging in there after burning.

SPLFreak808 said:

The plant is overfed. Pulling leaves at this point will fuck it up and cause further nute burn. Why pull the leaves? The leaves are the reason the plant is still hanging in there after burning.

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I am not saying pull the leaves of this actual plant, im just saying for future reference his plant looks over bushy, people have there own methods mine works and i have provided proof of that

Steve