First ever clone put in flower, issues within 48 hours please help

Hello RIU, this is my first post as I'm more a lurker and try to rsolve any issues I have myself with research and similar threads but I'm drawing a bit of a blank with my current issue. I have just harvested my first grow in 5 years (only my 3rd ever grow) where I have managed to get 2oz from a Pure Kush plant I had donated to me and I took some cuttings from the flowering plant when it was about 3 weeks in flower. The mother had issues of her own but thats a different story and all was well when the cutting were taken. The cutting was left in a glass of water in the bathroom and 2 1/2 weeks later, there were roots.

This clone was then transplanted into a small container with the same cheap grow bag compost the mother had previously been potted up into. The clone was placed under 24/0 with a flouro tube (18w cool white) and it blossomed. After 3 weeks under the Flouro, it had enough shoots and was starting to grow normal leaves again after going through the deformaty stage, so I figured it was ready to put into flower (9" tall).

This week I repotted up into 3gl buckets, originally with a John Innes no 2 compost with 30% perlite which, after doing quite a bit of research, seems to work for a lot of people. I had concerns about the drainage of this stuff as it compacts but thought the perlite would help with this. It was then placed under my 250w hps about 12-15" away and it got its very first dark period as it was put straight into 12/12 from 24/0 which I've read is fine. My grow room is a closet, 2x2x7' with intake and outflow going into my loft.

The following day, I noticed some of the newer formed leaves on the top starting to get brown tinges to parts of the leaves, I thought it could have either been the roots being compacted or the John Innes was a little too rich for the clone. I also wanted to rule out heat stress so I moved the clone a little further away and monitored the heat a little closer (it did hit 90 on day 1), day 2 was 75-80. Day 3 of flower and the leaf crisping seemed to be spreading up the plant to newer leaves and also to the shoots so I've repotted again, got rid of most of the John Innes and instead have used a mix of 33% cheap grow bag it was originally potted in, 33% perlite, 33% John Innes. I am now on day 3 and am still concerned whether this is a nute burn, deficiancy, heat, stress or other issue so I can rectify it as quickly as I can and the newer leaves are now crisping and dying off from the looks of it.

Coule someone please offer some help and advice on this issue as I've always grown from seed and don't know if this issue is due to the fact its a clone, or something totally different. I have a few pics posted and have more available if required.

Pre Flowering period


Day 1




Day 2


Day 3 (today)

hard to say, but my first thought after reading this was that you maybe did not harden your clone before putting it under a bigger, hotter, light.

I dont really have a light that would fill such a wide gap from going flouro to hps, do you think switching to the new light intensity and heat could have been the issue? If you need more pics, they can be supplied as I really want to resolve this ASAP if possible.

Thanks for the reply as well

That's acute heat stress on top of nute burn.... flush the soil and raise your lights.... i would rather deal with stretch than her dying mate

When I first thought it was nute burn after the first transplant in the mainly John innes stuff, I tried to flush and with just 1/2gl, it took over 1/2 hour to drain, which is why I repotted again with the grow bag mix, it now drains a bit faster but along with the soak it got during the original transplant, if I flush again this would be 3 heavy drentchings in 4 days and I fear then over watering it?

mmm good point.... how dry is the soil now?

Still very wet, that John innes retains it a little too well, almost sets like sand which is why I removed so much of it and don't think I'll use it on my other up coming clones. I have one I those probe ph/moisture sticks, I know they aren't great and do have a proper digi ph pen as well, but the probe goes off the moisture scale and the ph fluctuates wildly at times, when i did manage to get some run off from the mini flush that failed, it read 6.8 but I had ph'd the water to 6.7 anyway

that holding onto the water is what might be causing your nute burn..... if it's not flushing properly, u may have a build up of salts in parts of your soil.

i would get them out ASAP and into a better substrate

No other soil available at the moment, just more innes and that's a no-no for me now, it would also make it 3 transplants in 4 days, talk about stressful, do you think it might just be heat stress as this innes is a proper potting on soil, or maybe even a lack of certain vegging nutes as it was taken from a flowering mother and received nothing in its 3 weeks of post-rooting veg apart from whatever is in the grow bag mix up?

yeah but what's in the mix could be far too harsh for the young plant.

the minimum i would do is get some perlite or something similar in there to increase drainage.

revegging, switch of lights and re-potting all adds to the stress factor like you say, but heavy nuted soil is only going to add to this.

But didn't he already get it out of that john innes stuff into some soil that has better drainage already?

not good enough though is it if it's setting like sand in the pot ?

when I put it in flower 3 days ago, I also repotted that same day from John Innes no.1 seedling & cutting soil to John Innes no.2 with 30% perlite, I didn't like how they looked on day 2 as thats when I noticed the spotting / crisping so repotted with 33% grow bag mix (all that was left in the bag), 33% perlite and 33% Innes. I also moved them further away from the light. Day 1 it did hit a 90f high, day 2 & 3 (today) have been watched more closely and have been maintained 75-80f and I also added a circulating fan to help strengthen it up a bit as I only have out/in take fans running and the top does look stronger already, but the leaf's still aren't great. Maybe the repot might have worked as it hasn't spread today like it seemed to show yesterday as I know infected / problematic leaves cannot recover but new growth should be ok, I just didn't like how quickly some leafes have curled and crisped.

Also, lots of people say the John Innes range is an excellent range for growing in, I just don't know if I transplanted into no.2 a little too early but it isn't a blooming soil, thats no.3. The seedling / cutting no.1 is also as "sandy" as no.2, I think they all have the same consistancy which is why peopler recommended perlite, which I have used in both transplants, although a lot seems to raise to the surface during the "bedding in" watering.

Pics are from 10 minutes ago:

Any other thoughts / idea's, are those additional pics above of any use to try and define what the issue is?

ok, to better explain myself from my previous post. When I bring my girls from a indoors to outdoors I do it gradually. When I did more indoor, I would put it under the light check on it every couple hours or w/e then if it looked fine I would let it chill but overnight when I couldn't watch it I put it under floro. I did this for the first week or so, was paranoid my big light would fry the tender clones. Now this is drastic, and I only did it with the plants I intended on keeping for a long time.

I do have a further 2 pure kush clones readying themselves to go In Flower within the next week - 10 days so I could try that on the up coming clones, any thoughts on the patient above tho, anything that can remedy heat stress if that's what it was, other than the obvious of reducing the heat? The clone is currently 18" away from the hps where as I used to keep my plants 12-15" away, does it need to go further?

wow from day 2 to day 3 it is deteriorating fast

pick off all the burnt dead leaves, it is doing the plant no good, once it is removed
you will be able to see better whats is going on
you need to be able to see if it is making new shoots
or if the new growth is dying too, or weather it is the older growth only that's dying
it looks like it is heat damaged .. although
i have had a few cuttings kind of do this, they shed all their old growth, but are growing new healthy shoots at the same time in the early stages of being transferred from
the humidity dome to the grow area
being optimistic it maybe just still establishing itself in the new climate of the big lights and new environment
do not do anything drastic to it .. keep it in low heat lower light, do not feed it, or over water it
give it time to grow new shoots and recover hopefully

It is making new shoots and these seem to be in a better situation, although I'm sure I did see a little spot on one of them, I will get some close ups of the shoots when the lights come on in an hour of so and will also see how they have developed overnight. I wasn't planning on giving them any water at all for now due to the transplants they have had, no nutes eithe as that John innes (although now diluted) was supposed to contain enough to maintain it for up to 4 weeks, this will be less now due to removing a lot of it, but there will still be nutes in the soil for now. If it has stretched overnight, I'll also move it further away again, I'll get new pics up soo because as you say, it's deteriorating quickly in places

poor drainage..........compost should make up no more than 1/3 of mix. i don't know if this has been said

The current mix is 33% grow bag soil, 33% John innes, 33% perlite, I used the grow bag soil on the clones mother when that was repotted ready for flowering and flushed that medium many times without problems, I would have just used more grow bag soil but that 33% was the last of it, this mix did drain away the "bedding in" watering quicker than the prevouus mix of mainly just John innes so I think drainage has improved compared to how bad it could have been