Anyone willing to take a look at these? Cannot Determine Cause / Nutrient Imbalances

Hoping someone has some ideas outside of what I have thought so far.

For some background, I am growing outdoors in the north east. I am using a super soil and watering with rain water I collect... If the additives included in my soil are necessary, I can list them all out. But from what I have gathered, and from what I have used in previous seasons, the Ph is balanced well enough. I do include gypsum and lime to help with Ph.

I consistently feed the plant a compost tea mixture once a week.

I'm at the start of flower, but this issue has been progressing since veg state.

First impression of these leaves was Nitrogen, but I find it hard to believe considering my compost tea uses Peruvian bird guano at a 12-12-2.5. Additionally, I was feeding fish emulsion every other week in-between compost tea feedings during veg state.

I also mix in feedings of liquid kelp, humic acid, and liquid lobster/crab shell.

After nitrogen, I was thinking maybe magnesium or calcium?

I recently added some Epsom salt to a watering in hopes it might support a magnesium deficiency if that is the case.

I also top dressed one of them with Kelp meal thinking it might help provide support longer term for either/both.

I am thinking using some liquid lime if it is indeed calcium, but I have not moved on that hypothesis yet.


Something that stood out to me only 2 of my 6 plants are seeing this issue, and they are the same strain. Not sure what/if that means, but it stood out to me.



Either way, I was hoping that someone might have some thoughts on this situation, as I am fairly green. This is my 3rd season growing outdoors.


Any thoughts help and are appreciated!

Any pics of the whole plant(s)?

To me, adding guano to a compost tea every week seems a bit excessive. It sounds like you're feeding a lot of things, might be too much?

Also what are your watering habits like? Maybe letting them get too dry in between waterings...?

weedstoner420 said:

Any pics of the whole plant(s)?

To me, adding guano to a compost tea every week seems a bit excessive. It sounds like you're feeding a lot of things, might be too much?

Also what are your watering habits like? Maybe letting them get too dry in between waterings...?

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Below are pics of the full plants.

Maybe excessive? At least for these 2? The other 3 aren't having any of these issues and are being fed on the same schedule and volume....

As far as watering goes, if I'm being honest. they have gotten too dry 2 or 3 times in the last 2.5 months. But its definitely nothing habitual.

Do you think thats still enough to create long term problems like this?

More of frequency and volume of water given on a daily basis.
And you can clean up bottoms. See up their skirt so to speak

green_machine_two9er said:

More of frequency and volume of water given on a daily basis.
And you can clean up bottoms. See up their skirt so to speak

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They get a decent amount of direct sunlight. I am giving the 27 gal fabric pots about 1 gallon a day and 1/2 gallon, sometimes a little less to the 5 gal fabrics. Sometimes I'll stretch it to every other day if the sun isn't as strong/overcast.

We have had a fair amount of rain in recent, and I will skip 1-2 days depending on how heavy the rainfall.

I typically wait a little longer to trim them up... but haven't been clear on that from reading TBH. I have read you want as many leaves as possible until flowering really kicks into high gear.

The last few seasons, I have waited a little into flower before trimming their bottoms up.

Open to any input on that as well!

mbrowne1620 said:

Below are pics of the full plants.

Maybe excessive? At least for these 2? The other 3 aren't having any of these issues....

As far as watering goes, if I'm being honest. they have gotten too dry 2 or 3 times in the last 2.5 months. But its definitely nothing habitual.

Do you think thats still enough to create long term problems like this?

View attachment 5317338View attachment 5317337

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Eh, they don't look so bad on the whole.

I'm still gonna go with keep the soil evenly moist, don't let it dry out, and back off on the guano.

They look fine. Those lower leafs are old and light deprived. Reading all your additional ingredients I thought they would look locked up and burnt.

ProPheT 216 said:

They look fine. Those lower leafs are old and light deprived. Reading all your additional ingredients I thought they would look locked up and burnt.

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The one plant doesn't look fine to me... and its progressing upward. I am going to start watering more, but just wanted to zoom in on the plant that is having a harder time...

weedstoner420 said:

Eh, they don't look so bad on the whole.

I'm still gonna go with keep the soil evenly moist, don't let it dry out, and back off on the guano.

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Gonna take this advice, since more than one person is saying water more... Thank you!

@weedstoner420 @ProPheT 216 @green_machine_two9er

wondering if anyone would be interested in taking a look at progress, and hearing out what I have done since hearing from y'all...

- I started watering more often and in larger volumes
- I stopped feeding wit guano teas
- I lightly top dressed with some dolomite lime and kelp meal (i thought calcium and/or potassium)
- I recently just trimmed the bottoms of the plants (took off what I though was a lot, but pictures make it look less)

All was done back when this was a conversation, so roughly 2 weeks ago... With the exception of the trim happening 4 days ago.

All of the plants except for one seem to be back on track, except for one.

The largest of the group seems to be continuing to decline and has me worried at this point.

We are a few weeks deep into flower, but this is a faster fade from the leaves then I have witnessed in previous seasons, and it is far out pacing the other 4 plants I have with it.

I have attached updated shots. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Still the same problem. I don't think you realize how big that plant is. How much water does it take to get the pot wet? How often do you water?

ProPheT 216 said:

Still the same problem. I don't think you realize how big that plant is. How much water does it take to get the pot wet? How often do you water?

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You might be right, I have never felt confident in my watering protocols.

The plant is 5-6 feet tall in a 25 gal fabric pot.

I have been watering it 5 times a week. 1 - 1.5 gallons each watering. I typically see water run from the pot at that point.

Thanks for your thoughts.

mbrowne1620 said:

You might be right, I have never felt confident in my watering protocols.

The plant is 5-6 feet tall in a 25 gal fabric pot.

I have been watering it 5 times a week. 1 - 1.5 gallons each watering. I typically see water run from the pot at that point.

Thanks for your thoughts.

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She's is left hungry everyday. All your plants should get a morning and evening watering at minimum. My plants drink a gal of water everyday out their dwc containers at least. So 1 gal every day and a half is not much food. Likely all food is gone 8 hrs after water and now it has just water.

Try feeling the weight of the pot before and after you water. It's a good idea to know what a fully saturated pot weighs.

How fast are you applying that 1.5 gallons?

ProPheT 216 said:

She's is left hungry everyday. All your plants should get a morning and evening watering at minimum. My plants drink a gal of water everyday out their dwc containers at least. So 1 gal every day and a half is not much food. Likely all food is gone 8 hrs after water and now it has just water.

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Thanks! saw this yesterday afternoon, and initiated increasing watering this morning!

I appreciate you taking the time to give more input

BongChoi said:

Try feeling the weight of the pot before and after you water. It's a good idea to know what a fully saturated pot weighs.

How fast are you applying that 1.5 gallons?

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I use an old school shower head watering can. Probably takes 1-2 minutes to put that amount on the plant. I move it around and try to evenly water the entire base of the plant.

My only advice is to allow for some soak time as you water and break it into several smaller waterings if you can. Half gallon, wait 15 mins, half gallon, 15 mins. There may possibly be dry pockets in the root zone that the water flows past if the weight of the water is too much too soon.

The surface tension of water and soils ability to go hydrophobic when it becomes drier can require more time to rehydrate evenly.

If you know the weight of the pot when it's evenly and fully saturated, it's very easy to tell if your run off is a true or false indicator.

Hope you get it dialed in.

I think you got some solid advice from these guys already, but maybe look into a surfactant to try to help get your pots back to the proper saturation levels. I have a bottle of yucca extract that I like to use from time to time. It helps make water "wetter" and rehydrate things a little more evenly from what I understand. I'm pretty sure people use soap, not up to date on brands or available products as I have plenty of yucca on hand for my needs, but you could look into Dr Bronners or just surfactants in general if interested.

Also, I would suggest mulching the top of your containers now and in the future. I think that would be your first defense in avoiding hydrophobic conditions in your top layer of soil. It'll keep things from drying out as quickly, better water distribution and also give your microbes a barrier from the elements/food to munch on on. I like to use rice hulls at the moment as they are relatively cheap and are a good aeration addition to building soil as well. As they break down, they release a good amount of silica I believe as well as helping build a better soil structure.

No expert here, just thought I'd try to chime in with my past experiences of poor watering habits and what helped me. Best of luck to the rest of your grow though. Also, just pulled this stuff out of memory and didn't check my facts, so take it all with a grain of salt..

"Super" soil should have what your plants need. So if your feeding habitually somethings bound to be off.

I run a gallon of water though 7gal fabric pots and my soil is >50% perlite.

2 plants of the same strain don't like the regime that works for your others and has for previous grows. Sounds like that strain dose not like the climate for one reason or another or has a specific intolerance/demand. What strain is it? What are the others?

ProPheT 216 said:

Still the same problem. I don't think you realize how big that plant is. How much water does it take to get the pot wet? How often do you water?

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It looks like it is feeding off itself to me.
I don’t think it’s a deficiency. Maybe nitrogen because it goes dry??
Like ProPhet said it’s a big plant and it’s more likely a water issue.
Sounds like you go crazy with the food if already in supersoil? But I guess whatever works for you..
It looks like it’s had a shock and is scavenging from the old leaves.
maybe you could try sitting the grow bag in a tray and giving it wet feet if it’s a drinker?
See what response it has to that?

How do you collect the rainwater? Have you ph'ed it?

Your plants just completed the preflower stretch. They use a lot of n during this stage. Your plant is using the nutrients stored in the lower leaves to support the top development. Giving it more nitrogen now will slow the yellowing some, just don't over do it or Your buds will come out whispy and fluffy.
Next season, top dress heavy with a good 4-4-4 in mid to late July so the amendments have time to break down before the stretch.