Creeping Yellow Crud

Flash4211

Active Member
One of my ladies is showing this strange yellow discoloration (see picture). She is one of six, raised from seed and about a month old. She has different genetics from the other five, but came from a feminized seed from Barneys Farm. Does anyone know what this is? Is it a problem, or could it be normal? She seems healthy in all other ways.IMG_0005.jpgIMG_0004.jpg
 

Flash4211

Active Member
She's on a 1GPH dripper, 4X a day for 15 minutes. Nutes are GH gro/flora/micro seedling mix, and light is a 4-tube 2-foot T5 10"-12" above the canopy. I mix fresh nutes once a week (10 gallon res), and keep the Ph at about 5.8. Temp is around 70, rh about 60% Is it possible for the genetics to be responsible, ie this strain needs more K? Since all six are getting the exact same treatment, and only this one, which is clearly different in structure and appearance, just needs more (or less) of something? They're all in Grodan 4" cubes, set into a bed of Hydroton pellets, 100% soilless. All destined to be mothers, if their initial promise holds up.....
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Not a lot you can do about it if the others are healthy. I would say this plant either needs to adjust or suffer the consequences, lol. Why change what is working for the other 5? I've grown multiple strains in the same reservoir before, it's kind of a pita like that. Someone's always unhappy.

Oh, and I've never seen the problem that you are looking at. That says a lot as I've seen a lot of problems. Your plant looks trippy.
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Looking at it more closely, it looks like the plant in the right corner is starting to do the same thing. I would flush the reservoir, clean it out really good and start fresh again. What strength are you feeding?
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
is it a option to foliar spray with a nutrient mix? not really sure if this would work but it would let you give the 1 plant extra nutes without messing with the others regiment. just a thought
 

Flash4211

Active Member
The nutes are GH floragro, florabloom and floramicro, each at 1 tsp/gallon per the label instructions. The plant on the right is OK. The 5 healthy ones are G13 Haze. I'm pretty sure the yellow one ib Bubba Kush. The inside of the reservoir is kinda slimy - I checked it after reading your post - so I think I will dump the current batch, clean the res with bleach, and run a couple of plain distilled water feeds to flush the tubes. We'll see. Thanks for the advice! Oh, and here are a couple of better pics.IMG_0007.jpgIMG_0008.jpg
 

Flash4211

Active Member
That sounds like a great idea. For foliar, should I use the same nute mix as in the reservoir, lighter, heavier? Thanks!
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
That sounds like a great idea. For foliar, should I use the same nute mix as in the reservoir, lighter, heavier? Thanks!
as much as i would like to give advice i really dont want to. as i dont really know much on the matter.

*DISCLAIMER* what i would do it use a lighter dose than whats in the rezz, maybe a 1/8th strength and see if it helps any, if it dosent help or harm then increase. but like i said i really dont know, i dont even know if foilar feeding is a good idea, i have done it before in a outdoor soil grow and had no ill effects.

good luck ill check back, already subbed up
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Seems like an option, but I've tried it with poor results and really don't have a lot of experience with it either. When my leaves get wet, they burn. I know the strength needs to be greatly reduced, maybe 1/8th (as stated previously) or 1/10th strength of what's in the reservoir. What are you going to feed it though? I've never seen this problem specifically and I'm still convinced your going to see it on other plants. I see leaves in the picture that are not facing the same direction that are showing a milder version of the same thing in the leaf margins. It's obviously not as drastic, but it's definitely present. The edges on most of your leves don't look so hot.

I think your feeding too much. I am looking at the feeding schedule and it's way too hot. I haven't used GH nutrients in the past, but in my experience if your target PPM range is going to be 1400ppm in flower (that's full strength, some strains will find this too much, some too little, but it's a guideline), then you shouldn't be @ 1000ppm by week 2, lol.

Are you using a meter or just dumping in there using the measurements on the feeding schedule? From a couple of posts ago it sounds even worse....are you reading the label on the bottle? That's no bueno.
 

Flash4211

Active Member
Seems like an option, but I've tried it with poor results and really don't have a lot of experience with it either. When my leaves get wet, they burn. I know the strength needs to be greatly reduced, maybe 1/8th (as stated previously) or 1/10th strength of what's in the reservoir. What are you going to feed it though? I've never seen this problem specifically and I'm still convinced your going to see it on other plants. I see leaves in the picture that are not facing the same direction that are showing a milder version of the same thing in the leaf margins. It's obviously not as drastic, but it's definitely present. The edges on most of your leves don't look so hot.

I think your feeding too much. I am looking at the feeding schedule and it's way too hot. I haven't used GH nutrients in the past, but in my experience if your target PPM range is going to be 1400ppm in flower (that's full strength, some strains will find this too much, some too little, but it's a guideline), then you shouldn't be @ 1000ppm by week 2, lol.

Are you using a meter or just dumping in there using the measurements on the feeding schedule? From a couple of posts ago it sounds even worse....are you reading the label on the bottle? That's no bueno.
Well, I'm a newbie, so all advice is humbly welcome. That said, it is definitely only happening on the one plant. Really, the other five show no trace of yellow. I am using a tds meter, and the mix is at about 650ppm. That's starting with distilled water and adding the nutes exactly according to the GH labels - 1 tsp/gallon of each grow/bloom/micro.

Is 650 a high number for these ladies? They're about three weeks old, grown from seed.

I'm using a meter for ph and tds, and mix a new 10-gallon batch using distilled water every week. They were on half-strength nutes until a few days ago, but the yellow was showing up even then. Except for the color, the plant in question seems healthy - the leaves aren't curling or crisping. I'm lost....no idea what kind of issue this is.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be doing a complete flush tonight & we'll see what happens.
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
Well, I'm a newbie, so all advice is humbly welcome. That said, it is definitely only happening on the one plant. Really, the other five show no trace of yellow. I am using a tds meter, and the mix is at about 650ppm. That's starting with distilled water and adding the nutes exactly according to the GH labels - 1 tsp/gallon of each grow/bloom/micro.

Is 650 a high number for these ladies? They're about three weeks old, grown from seed.

I'm using a meter for ph and tds, and mix a new 10-gallon batch using distilled water every week. They were on half-strength nutes until a few days ago, but the yellow was showing up even then. Except for the color, the plant in question seems healthy - the leaves aren't curling or crisping. I'm lost....no idea what kind of issue this is.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be doing a complete flush tonight & we'll see what happens.
im also a noob but the yellowing looks like some form of micro nutrient deficiency.

650ppm dosent seem that high to me. correct me if im wrong but you gradually want to work your way up to the 1500-2000ppm range right?

you saif PH was 5.8 right? did you consider bumping it up to 6.0 and see if that makes any difference. from what i have read ideal ranges are 5.8-6.2 so i dont think bumping it up to 6.0 would hurt much. may want to do a bit of reading for yourself before you try it. dam just trying to give some suggestions to help ya out. wish i knew more about hydro systems.

also you said the plant is healthy, maybe just leave it alone. obviously if it gets to a point where your risking the health of your plant you will want to do something but maybe it is just genetics i mean i have seen plants with all different color/texture leaves that seem absolutly healthy and you seem to be doing everything right.
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Don't use the labels on the bottle. They are completely worthless...

This is your feeding schedule...

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/gh/docs/feeding_sched/GH-FloraSeries-REC-Charts.pdf

You want to start your plants @ REALLY low dosages. @ 3 weeks I would be aiming for 200-250ppm. You would be surprised how little a small marijuana plant needs.

My suggestion(s) - Flush the reservoir and scrub it real good with a 30:1 bleach solution and rinse well (obviously). Pick up a product called AquaShield from Botanicare, it'll help keep your reservoir from slimey. I've tried many things (including h2o2) and AquaShield has been the most effective.

Because you are using distilled water, you will need to add Cal Mag Plus (or equivalent) as well. Nutrient MFG's leave these out because tap water usually contains more than enough of them, but if you used distilled you don't get any.

Mix the reservoir following the proportions on the feeding schedule, not the bottle, mix to 250ppm, THEN add 2.5ml/gallon of Cal Mag Plus (1/4 strength). After about a week, bump the Cal Mag to 5ml/gallon. I always mix my reservoir to the strength of my base nutrients FIRST, then add Cal Mag. I do it that way because it's like adding back the ppm of tap water. If you used tap water you would add your nutrient strength to the ppm of your water to determine how much you've added. I feel the same with Cal Mag. It's not part of the PPM equation for the nutrient schedule.

Good luck, you're setup looks nice and clean and the plants overall look happy. Remember that the plants must adjust when you make increases. So don't jump from 1/4 strength to 1/2 strength, to full strength, that will certainly lead to burns and problems. Bump it up by a sound # each week. So if 1400ppm is the goal, you won't be there until ~ 1/2 way through flower, that's the peak. The easiest way is to take the final PPM and just divide it by the # of weeks you are going to be growing to get there. It's not exact, but it gives you an idea of how it should be going. If along the way the plants look hungry or overfed, adjust accordingly. So from seed to 1/2 way through flower is about 12 weeks. I don't start feeding until the seedlings are 2 weeks old, so call it 10 weeks. I usually aim well below the feeding schedule for something around 1000ppm. 10 weeks, 1000ppm, 100ppm/wk avg should do the plants very nicely.

Remember, nutrients don't make your plants grow faster. When they have adequate access to what they need, they grow optimally, when they have too much, or too little they start showing you signs. If you want the plants to grow faster, buy a bigger light or find different genetics, force feeding doesn't work.
 

Enzogrowspot

Active Member
I had some issues with the Flora series, had a few burn issues(kinda like yours)on 1 or 2 plants out of 8. I switched to the Flora Nova series, all in one mix for my first grow. It was pretty foolproof....:weed:
 

Flash4211

Active Member
Thank you a LOT for the guidance, Laserbrn. About 12 hours ago, I did do a system flush with distilled water, and cleaned the res with diluted bleach. But I've never added Cal-mag, and never knew about AquaShield for fighting the slime. Also, as you said, the charts on the GH website are not the same as on the bottle labels. Per your suggestion, I'm going to re-mix the nutes at a lower ppm, add the CalMag, and get some AquaShield. Then I'll ramp up ppm's on a gentler slope. What a wealth of advice! I'll keep a photo journal and post results. Thanks again......
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Thank you a LOT for the guidance, Laserbrn. About 12 hours ago, I did do a system flush with distilled water, and cleaned the res with diluted bleach. But I've never added Cal-mag, and never knew about AquaShield for fighting the slime. Also, as you said, the charts on the GH website are not the same as on the bottle labels. Per your suggestion, I'm going to re-mix the nutes at a lower ppm, add the CalMag, and get some AquaShield. Then I'll ramp up ppm's on a gentler slope. What a wealth of advice! I'll keep a photo journal and post results. Thanks again......
You got the idea. Please link to your journal if you start a seperate one.
 

Flash4211

Active Member
So, Floranova is all-in-one? You use just the Grow during veg, and switch to Bloom for bloom? Sounds a lot simpler, which is good for a noob. How does the floranova series compare to the three-part Flora in terms of results? Usually there's a trade-off in performance for the sake of simplicity.....?
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
You already have everything you need for the 3 part setup. I'd just see it through with that and follow the feeding schedule. Why buy nutrients all over again? They have a decent looking feeding schedule and it seems pretty standard. People have been using it for years and I've seen plenty of success' with it. I'm no expert on it however as I haven't used the GH nutrients.
 
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