Fading in the leaves - light burn, nutrients?

Hey there,

This is my first grow and here’s what I am running:

soil: coots recipe, all ingredients sourced from build a soil

lighting: Scynce raging kush 2

Temp: 71-78 (night - day)

Humidity: 60-70%

VPD: 0.9 - 1.1; avg of 1

All plants were grown from seed in a 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 container. So initially I had my light about 5 ft above the plants at 60% and I burned 6/7 of them within 2 days. I turned down the light to 20% and ran them for a few weeks, with all recovering slowly. For the last 2 weeks, I’ve been cranking up the lighting and moving the plants closer to the light; they’re currently about 3 ft from the light. I started to notice some yellowing in the leaves and was curious if this is a nutrient deficiency or if this is light burn? I’ve only fed them once with organic gem fish emulsion at about 1/3 strength. I’ve watered them a few times making a light worm casting extract. I did transplant into 5 gallon containers last night and they got some rootwise and some big 6 micro from build a soil.

I measured the light using the photobio par meter and am currently around 200 PPFD.

I think all my plants are pretty small given their age (32 days since germination) but I think this is due to the initial light burn. Any insight into whether I’m running the lights too high, nutrient issue or even I’m being too worried would be appreciated!

Imo, some look over watered to me. What's your watering practice?

Hollatchaboy said:

Imo, some look over watered to me. What's your watering practice?

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I’ve been letting them dry out pretty good between waterings. When they were in the small containers I give them a few ounces of water and let them dry a few days (3-4 days). Tbh, I even used a scale to weigh them so I had a sense of what dry was like vs after watering. I really tried to be cautious on overwatering and wanted to lean towards the underwatering side

Learnt the hard way till5 coots fails on most due to sodium levels
Kelp and crab have alot of sodium and other bits
Drop crab double gypsum
Drop neem if ya want for alfalfa
If your concerns about aza
Lime?? Oyster? Damn check ph fist ffs I needed apparently 22 cups and testing I needed only 3

kelp if it says add 1/2cup per cube ft and you have 10 cube add 2 cups max MAX

instead add bran and malt barley at 1/2 cup each
And fuck the water recipie over kelp ever week be fucked

just do a microbeorganics.com tea
Alfalfa tea 2 week
Fish tea every 2 week

flower tea week 4 sop at 150ppm if ca was pushed with gypsum

2cent said:

Learnt the hard way till5 coots fails on most due to sodium levels
Kelp and crab have alot of sodium and other bits
Drop crab double gypsum
Drop neem if ya want for alfalfa
If your concerns about aza
Lime?? Oyster? Damn check ph fist ffs I needed apparently 22 cups and testing I needed only 3

kelp if it says add 1/2cup per cube ft and you have 10 cube add 2 cups max MAX

instead add bran and malt barley at 1/2 cup each
And fuck the water recipie over kelp ever week be fucked

just do a microbeorganics.com tea
Alfalfa tea 2 week
Fish tea every 2 week

flower tea week 4 sop at 150ppm if ca was pushed with gypsum

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How would one measure the salt content in the soil? Would an EC meter do the trick? I'm seeing this in some of my pots and have recently associated it as a nutrient lockout. The build up of salt (sheez, organic inputs can add salt!?) in the soil equates the same as synthetic nutes..crazy crazy crazy

What are you watering them with? Tap water? Rain water? Looks like ph to me high end she looks like she’s showing early signs of mag def

Wozza129 said:

What are you watering them with? Tap water? Rain water? Looks like ph to me high end she looks like she’s showing early signs of mag def

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I’m not 100% of the water PH, get it from my local water store, but when I asked he said it runs about 7. I’ve added BaS micronutrients during the transplant and I added it 2 weeks later, but perhaps if the PH is too high some micros are getting locked out?

bsl333 said:

I’m not 100% of the water PH, get it from my local water store, but when I asked he said it runs about 7. I’ve added BaS micronutrients during the transplant and I added it 2 weeks later, but perhaps if the PH is too high some micros are getting locked out?

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Your first post looked like the beginning of Mg deficiency. My first thought was too much Ca. And from what it sounds like that would make sense. The Big 6 micronutrients don't have Mg in case you were trying to use that to fix the Mg deficiency. Do you have any recent pics?

PadawanWarrior said:

Your first post looked like the beginning of Mg deficiency. My first thought was too much Ca. And from what it sounds like that would make sense. The Big 6 micronutrients don't have Mg in case you were trying to use that to fix the Mg deficiency. Do you have any recent pics?

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Attached are a full tent shot, think new growth is coming along pretty well.
Next two shots are two different NL5 x GG4 and both have this “burn” in new growth. No other plants are exhibiting this burn but my NL5 and those happen to be the most vigorous growers (all tallest plants are NL5).
last shot is pic from my OG CHEM that had this issue and new growth isn’t showing it and this pic is from an old set of leaves and it appears to have faded someway.

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NL5


OGCHEM - this one had it but you can see in this older leaf the burn has faded somewhat, so this made me think it’s not light burn after observing this for a few weeks.

bsl333 said:

Attached are a full tent shot, think new growth is coming along pretty well.
Next two shots are two different NL5 x GG4 and both have this “burn” in new growth. No other plants are exhibiting this burn but my NL5 and those happen to be the most vigorous growers (all tallest plants are NL5).
last shot is pic from my OG CHEM that had this issue and new growth isn’t showing it and this pic is from an old set of leaves and it appears to have faded someway.

-View attachment 5275463

View attachment 5275464
NL5
View attachment 5275466

OGCHEM - this one had it but you can see in this older leaf the burn has faded somewhat, so this made me think it’s not light burn after observing this for a few weeks.
View attachment 5275465

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They look pretty damn good. Maybe just a hint of Mg deficiency, but I wouldn't worry about it. I don't see any light stress, but with more intense lighting they need more food. Those look great though so I'd just keep doing what you're doing.

The "Coots" formula is great but I'm sure it doesn't need kelp or crustation meal. I can imagine those inputs could add salt, so why use them? A good blend of vermicompost, worm castings, natural aeration and local soil (clay/sand/silt), is all I use now. I never have to feed auto flowers, (84 days) in a simple nutrient dense soil. I guess the Cal-mag is already in there with the microbes and fungi. I don't get that much involved anymore. I'd rather go fishing.

PadawanWarrior said:

They look pretty damn good. Maybe just a hint of Mg deficiency, but I wouldn't worry about it. I don't see any light stress, but with more intense lighting they need more food. Those look great though so I'd just keep doing what you're doing.

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Thanks! They exploded after the transplant. I gave them a worm casting extract tea (1 cup of vermicompost for 1 gallon of water and gently work it into the water for 10 mins) and they took right off. Yeah I think I’m gonna slowly ramp the lighting up since we all think it’s not due to the light. Thanks for the input!

Django66 said:

The "Coots" formula is great but I'm sure it doesn't need kelp or crustation meal. I can imagine those inputs could add salt, so why use them? A good blend of vermicompost, worm castings, natural aeration and local soil (clay/sand/silt), is all I use now. I never have to feed auto flowers, (84 days) in a simple nutrient dense soil. I guess the Cal-mag is already in there with the microbes and fungi. I don't get that much involved anymore. I'd rather go fishing.

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Im not an expert in each ingredient, but kelp is supposed to have many elements from the periodic table in it. But yes, would assume for both kelp and crustacean meal you need to monitor salt levels, even if sourced from a solid place. Fishing is fun - hope you land some lunkers this year!

bsl333 said:

I’m not 100% of the water PH, get it from my local water store, but when I asked he said it runs about 7. I’ve added BaS micronutrients during the transplant and I added it 2 weeks later, but perhaps if the PH is too high some micros are getting locked out?

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The water will have calcium in it which will buffer your oh over time imo I’d switch it out for rain water as you don’t really need the added calcium in soil.. I mean maybe you could still use the bottled water once a week but other than that I’d use rain water they will react to transplanting positively cause the medium you have transplanted them into will buffer the ph but your problems will come back later into flower due to the water buffering the ph high again after many waterings.

bsl333 said:

Im not an expert in each ingredient, but kelp is supposed to have many elements from the periodic table in it. But yes, would assume for both kelp and crustacean meal you need to monitor salt levels, even if sourced from a solid place. Fishing is fun - hope you land some lunkers this year!

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I'm finding out that "less is more". On my second grow. (I got stoned and watched Youtube) I took my perfectly good soil and added a bunch of amendments and screwed everything up. So, I learned the hard way that you can't just put everything that sounds good into your soil without knowing what is in your soil to begin with. I came back to reality and use a simple mix of everyday stuff. My mother was a Master Gardener and member of many gardening clubs. I never saw her making teas or aerating water. She never used "dirt in a bag from a store" She would get me or my brothers to get a bucket of compost from the done side of the compost pile, a bucket of backyard dirt (clay silt and some compost) and a bucket of sand from where the pool used to be. She mixed it up in some ratio and would add vermiculite if she wanted to make the pots easier to lift. That's it. She had a jug of blue crap for keeping Easter and Mothers day plants alive long enough to transplant them. I should have listened to mom.

Django66 said:

I'm finding out that "less is more". On my second grow. (I got stoned and watched Youtube) I took my perfectly good soil and added a bunch of amendments and screwed everything up. So, I learned the hard way that you can't just put everything that sounds good into your soil without knowing what is in your soil to begin with. I came back to reality and use a simple mix of everyday stuff. My mother was a Master Gardener and member of many gardening clubs. I never saw her making teas or aerating water. She never used "dirt in a bag from a store" She would get me or my brothers to get a bucket of compost from the done side of the compost pile, a bucket of backyard dirt (clay silt and some compost) and a bucket of sand from where the pool used to be. She mixed it up in some ratio and would add vermiculite if she wanted to make the pots easier to lift. That's it. She had a jug of blue crap for keeping Easter and Mothers day plants alive long enough to transplant them. I should have listened to mom.

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this is awesome to hear. It’s funny you bring this up. My mom isn’t a master gardener or anything, but she’s very good with plants. I gave her a few feminized freebies, she’s never grown weed before, and I won’t be surprised if she does better than me. lol Always listen to mom!

Since we all think it’s an early stage of mg deficiency, I foliar sprayed last night with some epsom salts (1 tbs for 1 gallon of water). Today when I took a look in my tent, I see this one one leaf. My first thought is PM.
I didn’t think my light schedule thru when I got started, so my lights turn off around 11:30 at night and resume at 5:30 AM. Temps drop to 70 or maybe 69 and humidity can spike during this time to mid 70s, leaving VPD pretty low. 24/7 there’s a oscillating fan running, an in-line fan attached to a carbon filter, and when the VPD gets a high another in-line fan will push air out of tent, so I think my circulation is ok…. Well I guess before I ramble any more, does this look like PM or could it be residue from the foliar spray?

Doesn’t look like pm.. does it wipe off?

bsl333 said:

Since we all think it’s an early stage of mg deficiency, I foliar sprayed last night with some epsom salts (1 tbs for 1 gallon of water). Today when I took a look in my tent, I see this one one leaf. My first thought is PM.
I didn’t think my light schedule thru when I got started, so my lights turn off around 11:30 at night and resume at 5:30 AM. Temps drop to 70 or maybe 69 and humidity can spike during this time to mid 70s, leaving VPD pretty low. 24/7 there’s a oscillating fan running, an in-line fan attached to a carbon filter, and when the VPD gets a high another in-line fan will push air out of tent, so I think my circulation is ok…. Well I guess before I ramble any more, does this look like PM or could it be residue from the foliar spray?

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Kinda looks fungal. I noticed it on the leaves in the last pic in post 9. I'm sure it is more humid down there in the cover crop area. Maybe more airflow down there. I don't know.

Wozza129 said:

Doesn’t look like pm.. does it wipe off?

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I ended up cutting the leaf off. Not sure if wiped away or not. A few other folks thought fungal as well.

PadawanWarrior said:

Kinda looks fungal. I noticed it on the leaves in the last pic in post 9. I'm sure it is more humid down there in the cover crop area. Maybe more airflow down there. I don't know.

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Good Eye. Didn’t even notice that. I’m going to roll down the sleeves on the 5 gallon in the cover crop area to let more air movement get in there. I am going to chop and drop sometime this weekend.