Deficiency in my oldschool subs super mix!

Hey guys,

I've posted this in a couple other sections with not much help thus far. I just would like some experienced advice on what might be going on. I am week 5 of flowering, I am using subs old school mix, watering with RO, and I had been only adding 1tsp cal n mag liquid additive to the water instead of the recommended 1.75/2 (which may have been the problem) until this past week. I also have seen a few gnats crawling on the tops of the soil despite a couple azamaxx treatments, just to let you know... No other nutrients are given, and my other, shorter, indica, in the same soil is NOT showing nearly as many signs of problems as this one.

This is the girl I'm worried about, Cinderella'99:

You can see the larger fan leaves starting to yellow on her. I trimmed off the worser-looking ones that were lower to mid height on the plant. What does it look like to you?

I am really starting to worry because I can see this at the very topmost leaves:



Please help! I really don't want to fail this far into my grow!

looks fine to me at 5 weeks into bud assuming it is an 8 week strain. Supersoil should begin to fade at 5 weeks on an 8 week strain imo. just feed it plain water no need to adjust ph unless it is comming out at like 8. Just chill and let it finish don't go pouring shit on it. Next time control the gnats in veg, you don't really want to be using azamax in flower. also using sticky traps helps to control gnats very well.

@Resinxtractor

Thank you for your input. In your opinion, would it be safe to topdress with some supersoil just in case? Or would you not do that for any reason?

it's too late to top dress. on 8 week strains i usually top dress day 7 if i have a large plant. Just let it fade out. Your plant should not still be green when day 56 comes around. I usually see purple, red, magenta, and black colors come out of the fan leaves and most of the lower fan leaves have yellowed and fallen off. Maybe just hit it with some sugars one last time to get the microbes going and let it fade. The buds smoke much better this way and you wont lose out much on yield.

looks a bit like minor nute burn to me, probably locking something else out a bit, like said above i'd just ride it out. Next time dilute slightly

Do you think it's possibly due to the addition of molasses for these past 3 waterings? Maybe there's so many bacteria that the added sugars make them go ape shit, in turn producing too many nutrients and causing the nute burn....? The whole nute burn thing just doesn't make sense to me otherwise.

if you fed 3 straight waterings of molasses you probably are experiencing lock out from the molasses clogging the root hairs. You defiantly want to alternate fresh water with what ever you may be feeding.

Did you use a good source of compost, and did you add liming agents to the soil when you made it? If so, Im curious as to why you feel the plant needs cal mag? The microbes in your soil (assuming you started with a good source of compost) along with the liming agents that were used (dolo lime, oyster shell flour, calcium carbonate, etc) would buffer your soils ph and keep it in optimal range. If I were you I'd consider brewing a compost tea or two and applying as a soil drench.

And no, your issue has nothing to do with the use of molasses unless you poured an obscene amount of it over your plants.

nute burn for sure man.

What I've been experiencing by doing my own soil and it is a reminder everytime for me now on:

Give ONLY water [rain if possible] and if you add something, do it only once per 3 or even 4 times.

with such organic soil, what you add will boost the life in the soil for quite a long time [2 to 3 weeks with water only].

Now when I see a deficiency I act with extreme caution. learning everytime.
If I have to add some nutrient, I use it by the quarter of the minimal advised amount and it is just enough for the girls.

Applying Azamax at any point of the game with a "just add water" type of soil is going to piss off the microherd... You can over do the molasses but nothing to do with clogging root hairs...

Molasses contains magnesium... #1

Then your adding cal mag on top of that and your over doing the mg which if I'm not mistaken is going to lock out P or K??? (Help me on that statement nerds)...

Water only from here on out... At week 5 I'd get atleast 2 waterings into it and if you aren't seeing progression, then apply a light compost tea (see below)... The reason I'm suggesting waiting a few waterings is because of the OD of mg...

(Progression does not mean those spots are going to go away, they should slow but they will not... But letting the plant fade out is a good thing and this is the part of learning your strains)...

How much molasses are you applying per gallon of water? And are you applying it with cal/mag also in the water?

Anytime I apply molasses in bloom or if it's with just water (no tea) its @ 1tsp per gallon... Also, never use ca/mg and molasses together, too much mg if I haven't made that clear, RO water or not...

Compost tea- per gallon of water

1/2 cup worm castings
1tsp blackstrap molasses

Brew for 24-48 hours and dilute 50/50 tea/water.... Apply...

And as was said... Handle gnats or any other issues in veg if possible, never flower a plant that has bugs or is not in 100% health and happy...

If you made the super soil properly you'd have lime in it, That's your cal mag source. I feel that your addition of calmag at the rate your using it(shouldn't need it at all) is probably causing a toxicity.

Looks like a magnesium toxicity which is causing a manganese lock out. Just my 2 cents

Beautiful representation of Cindy looks like the same as the cut I run.

Not trying to jack anything, as i think it also adds to the convo,
my afghan seemed to have a deficiency going on as the OP, lower leafs first, and its at 4 weeks so right at halfway (splotchy green and yellow)
I top dressed with SS and watered in
should i have just left it alone as it was naturally fading as you guys are saying?

I just feel like i read somewhere else, maybe it was sub himself, saying if you did it right there shouldn't be yellowing or anything through its life

I personally would not top dress anytime after day 14 into flower. organic nutrients take time to break down so you need to anticipate and use intuition on what a plant is going to need. If it is beging to fade on week 4 you missed the boat on the amount of SS you used in the bottom of the pot. Use a bit more next time and top dress with a 1gal pot full of ss on day 7. A better fix for your current situation would be to only feed sugar/carbs like humboldt honey or Roots organics trinity.

Also the plant should NOT stay green through its entire life. I like to see a good fade starting on day 40-45 on a 56-60 day strain. Remove dead fan leaves at this point and cut co2 completely at day 45.

Probably a bit late now, but you can top dress any time as long as you are top dressing with already "cooked" super soil, and not fresh soil amendments - which, as Resinxtractor says, would not break down in time.

What did you use as your base soil?

I have found that the choice of base soils I get over in the UK is so poor that I have to make my own mix by combining different types of commercial soil. Unfortunately, none of them has enough Magnesium to sustain the plants.

its the bugs.

any soil bug will chomp at your roots. this removes root hairs and causes your plant to not uptake nutrients properly.
you will then see under and over fert problems going on the same time. and if you keep giving it more nuts then the buds start to burn and be dificent (small and light weight)

take care of your bug problem ASAP, with either mighty wash root dunk or drench, or BTI or bennifical bugs like fungus gnat preditors
i would go with the MW then add the preditors in 2-3 days. frequency water will kill any bugs in the soil. but it might be pricy. its $75 for 2.5 gal and its made locally.

then add bennies and enzyme and kelp for root growth cut off the cal mag and just light molassas once a week

there should be plenty of nuts in the super soil. its just not being utilized correctly because of the root dammage

hope this helps.

just noticed this is prob way too late
but hopefully it will help others.

this is very typical root bug characteristics.
shows week 4-5
lower leaves yellow
leaf tips burnt (over fert)
cal mag def shows
P def shows

i have battled RA, Thrips, FG, spring tails and the dreaded bulb mite

im adding preditors every month nemitodes and FG preditors as preventitive along with MET 52 for aphids