Deficiency?

laddyd

Well-Known Member
Perlite is an aeration material. It creates voids in the soil layer for air pockets. It also doesn't hold much water as compared to soil. I'm not sure how much you added but if it was staying wet for a long time I'm guessing it's a combination of the Happy Frog soil, the environment and unhappy plants. If you're going to stick with Fox Farms soil I'd recommend using the Ocean Forrest blend once you transplant it up from the Happy Frog. Ocean Forrest is a hotter soil with lots of food available in it and can be a little much for seedlings. It also drains better as it has more perlite in the bag. Starting in the Happy Frog helps give them time to develop enough to handle the hotter mix. If your environment isn't in a good VPD range the plant won't drink as much as it will when the temp and humidity is on point.
Perhaps he was confusing perlite with vermiculite.
While we're posting root-ball pics here are a couple from a 5 gallon SIP pot after harvest. Grown in Pro-mix with added perlite. Fertilizer was jacks 20-10-20 citrus feed with some cal-mag added occasionaly.
IMG20230323164239.jpgIMG20230323164228.jpg
 
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Jsnbaxter

Well-Known Member
Here's some pics of a plants rootball, before transplant, in happy frog.
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thanks. Guess my roots are starved for oxygen. I’ll try the perlite again. Maybe with more perlite I need to be more aggressive with feeding so I don’t get deficiencies. I think I was following this channels advice where they say not to add perlite after I was having so many deficiencies with it.
So there is no possibility my problem was light burn?
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
thanks. Guess my roots are starved for oxygen. I’ll try the perlite again. Maybe with more perlite I need to be more aggressive with feeding so I don’t get deficiencies. I think I was following this channels advice where they say not to add perlite after I was having so many deficiencies with it.
So there is no possibility my problem was light burn?
I don't think you're experiencing light stress. You normally only see that on the top leaves and there's usually some tacoing of the leaves where they get canoe shaped and crispy.
 

Jsnbaxter

Well-Known Member
I don't think you're experiencing light stress. You normally only see that on the top leaves and there's usually some tacoing of the leaves where they get canoe shaped and crispy.
After going through my notes. I think it was underfed. The picture I took was on March 13. You can see I only did 3 1/2 tablespoons March 4th. I copied the wrong plant schedule here initially. I think from now on I need do to a 2 week feeding after moving to flower at 1 tablespoon per gallon. Then at the next two week feeding do almost 2 tablespoons per gallon. Then not touch it for 3 weeks to a month. I don’t think there anyway that 4 tablespoons on 2/17 and the 3/4 3 1/2 tablespoons was enough food to prevent the deficiency on March 13. What are your thoughts?

2/4 moved to flower
2/11 water
2/17 water 4 tablespoons
2/22 water
2/27 water
3/4 31/2 tablespoons and topped
3/8 watered
3/11 1 tablespoon water deficiency noticed
3/13 1 tablespoon Gaia green 3 tablespoons
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
After going through my notes. I think it was underfed. The picture I took was on March 13. You can see I only did 3 1/2 tablespoons March 4th. I copied the wrong plant schedule here initially. I think from now on I need do to a 2 week feeding after moving to flower at 1 tablespoon per gallon. Then at the next two week feeding do almost 2 tablespoons per gallon. Then not touch it for 3 weeks to a month. I don’t think there anyway that 4 tablespoons on 2/17 and the 3/4 3 1/2 tablespoons was enough food to prevent the deficiency on March 13. What are your thoughts?

2/4 moved to flower
2/11 water
2/17 water 4 tablespoons
2/22 water
2/27 water
3/4 31/2 tablespoons and topped
3/8 watered
3/11 1 tablespoon water deficiency noticed
3/13 1 tablespoon Gaia green 3 tablespoons
Gaia has a different way of doing things than Dr Earth and Down to Earth as far as I know, I've never used that brand before. Have you seen the Gaia Green thread here on RIU. Here's a link:
Since it's all Gaia stuff they would be better to ask about feeding schedule. I think that Gaia has a more aggressive schedule than Dr Earth and DTE. Learning to read your plants is one of the most important things when doing organic grows because they take time to correct issues. Media like Coco or hydro can be changed quickly and feed is instantly available unlike the dry amendments that have to be broken down by the soil microbes and then fed to the plant. Because it takes awhile to correct deficiency problems, I tend to do more than the Dr Earth recommends. I have seen very few, if any, issues with feeding at double the recommended rate of Dr Earth.
 

Jsnbaxter

Well-Known Member
Gaia has a different way of doing things than Dr Earth and Down to Earth as far as I know, I've never used that brand before. Have you seen the Gaia Green thread here on RIU. Here's a link:
Since it's all Gaia stuff they would be better to ask about feeding schedule. I think that Gaia has a more aggressive schedule than Dr Earth and DTE. Learning to read your plants is one of the most important things when doing organic grows because they take time to correct issues. Media like Coco or hydro can be changed quickly and feed is instantly available unlike the dry amendments that have to be broken down by the soil microbes and then fed to the plant. Because it takes awhile to correct deficiency problems, I tend to do more than the Dr Earth recommends. I have seen very few, if any, issues with feeding at double the recommended rate of Dr Earth.
I was following the down to earth schedule then added that 1 tablespoon of Gaia. Down to earth is 1-2 tablespoons every two weeks per gallon and I only do one per gallon. I think when it’s peak bud it starts drawing all these nutrients from the leaves. It happened with my last grow.
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
Fabric pots air prune the roots so you don't get the thick white roots circling the pot. They tend to have denser root masses of fiber roots in my experience.
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
I was following the down to earth schedule then added that 1 tablespoon of Gaia. Down to earth is 1-2 tablespoons every two weeks per gallon and I only do one per gallon. I think when it’s peak bud it starts drawing all these nutrients from the leaves. It happened with my last grow.
You want a healthy amount of Nitrogen on board when you flip. During the first two weeks of flower you get incredible growth called stretching. It's common for plants to show Nitrogen deficiencies right after the stretch by having lower leaves start to yellow. Thats the plant stealing nitrogen from the leaves to use for the newer growth. I usually use the veg formula into bloom until they stop stretching and then switch to flower girl or a blend of veg and flower girl depending on how the plant looks. Dry amendments are great once you get used to them. I'm sure you'll have it dialed in soon.
 

Jsnbaxter

Well-Known Member
You want a healthy amount of Nitrogen on board when you flip. During the first two weeks of flower you get incredible growth called stretching. It's common for plants to show Nitrogen deficiencies right after the stretch by having lower leaves start to yellow. Thats the plant stealing nitrogen from the leaves to use for the newer growth. I usually use the veg formula into bloom until they stop stretching and then switch to flower girl or a blend of veg and flower girl depending on how the plant looks. Dry amendments are great once you get used to them. I'm sure you'll have it dialed in soon.
Thank you. Yeah I was doing bloom two weeks into flower but didn’t notice nitrogen deficiency. I just think when it hit that fourth week it was really craving more nutrients. I’m really bummed because it was such a nice plant and went down in a week. Also it’s from regular seeds so I was lucky to get a female. Alien hands but smells so good. The clones aren’t growing the same as the seeded plant.
 
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