First Grow, Platinum Bubba Kush Clones, 3x3 SCROG

Midway through week 4 and I have some type of deficiency going on. Not sure what this is, but it's starting to effect more and more leaves. I noticed it last week but it seemed like it was just a couple leaves, now it's getting bigger. If anyone has any idea what this is I would appreciate some knowledge.

Could it possibly be a ph issue? I do not adjust the Ph of my water, and it's probably going in around 8. But I tested the ph of my soil today and it was low, like around 5.5. I'm pretty confused here so all help is appreciated.

So I think I might have just figured something out. I decided to mix up the fox farm nutrients into a gallon of water and test the ph, and it came out around 5.5. Now the soil being at 5.5 makes sense. So I am assuming the problem I've been having is due to the soil ph being too low, and just fluctuating too much since I have been following the fox farm feeding schedule and feeding every other watering, basically my plants are getting a 5.5 ph feeding and an 8.0 watering back and forth. I ordered some PH up and down to start using. I will start adjusting the ph to 6.8 on every watering and hopefully that will help. Again all advice is welcome!

Buy a ph pen and make sure your water is between 5.8 and 6.5 that should help with your problems. After a week or so if the ph in your soil doesn't come up you will have to add a top dressing to your soil.

Also be careful spraying anything else directly on the buds this far into flower or you could end up with bud rot. I just lost my two biggest colas because humidity got two high one night while it was raining.

Well week 4 has come and gone and week 5 starts today. Thins are not looking so great. I have what appears to be a major Phosphorus deficiency. I am feeding plenty of phosphorus in my fox farm nutes, so the conclusion I have come to is a PH problem. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I think it is and I'll learn something either way and that's what this grow is about for me. I stopped using my tap water and started purchasing RO water from a local store. I'll just keep doing that for the rest of this run and possibly get a RO machine for the house in the future. I also got some PH up and down, I am going to water at 6.5 every time. I think the plants locked out Phosphorus due to the low PH of the nutrient solution, it was around 4.5 - 5. Also the regular tap water was up around 8.5, so the fluctuation in PH wasn't helping. I know a lot of people say that it doesn't matter what the PH of the water is in soil, but after reading the grow bible by Jorge Cervantes, I'm calling BS. Anyways, we'll see how things go. The buds are looking amazing, getting nice and fat and have TONS of frost. A lot of the leaves are starting to look like crap though from this deficiency. Also the PM has been popping up again here and there, and I have just been spot spraying for it. I can see it's been effecting the upper leaves that probably didn't get sprayed before when I hit the whole tent hard with mildew cure and silica. Hopefully all of this doesn't effect my yield too much. Time will tell. If I get a few ounces of smokable bud from this run I will be happy!

Weekly update time, week 6 starts today. Plants are burnt to shit. A large percentage of the fan leaves are dying, in basically done trying to figure out what is wrong. I've flushed, I've added cal mag, I can't figure it out. Oh well, life goes on. I'm just trying to limp across the finish line at this point. On the bright side the buds look amazing, they have not suffered at all yet *knock on wood*. I'm going to go the rest of this week as normal with maybe half strength nutes, and then come next week nothing but water. Once all the leaves yellow out I'm chopping these bad boys. Hopefully I can make it through with some good bud, but my focus has been on the next run mostly. Got some killer genetics from Ocean Grown Seeds, new nutrient lineup and is tried and true, and going to try growing in coco. Got high hopes for the next run. Hopefully this one turns out some good smoke as well.

I was just thinking about your problem and you could try running some sledgehammer/other salt disolving substance to see if you have lock out with too much build up in your soil. Other than trying that I'm stumped at this point. Because you stated that there was plenty of substance X in your nutes. Worth a try I think.

Bowtieguy77 said:

I was just thinking about your problem and you could try running some sledgehammer/other salt disolving substance to see if you have lock out with too much build up in your soil. Other than trying that I'm stumped at this point. Because you stated that there was plenty of substance X in your nutes. Worth a try I think.

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Worth a shot I suppose.

Cavsoulja said:

I know a lot of people say that it doesn't matter what the PH of the water is in soil, but after reading the grow bible by Jorge Cervantes, I'm calling BS.

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There generally isn't enough soil indoors to create a sufficient buffer and in-going ph should be checked for baselines to match your water ph/nutrients.

I've had city water supplies with very high alkalinity, whereas with my current water supply comes from a well. My ph is on the acidic side and has actually gotten more acidic over the last two months likely due to water levels dropping. My nutrient mixes drop me down into the low 5's and causes issues in 3 gallon pots if not adjusted.

Outdoors is much more forgiving due to the larger avail soil to act as a buffer for ph swings.

kurtdirt1 said:

There generally isn't enough soil indoors to create a sufficient buffer and in-going ph should be checked for baselines to match your water ph/nutrients.

I've had city water supplies with very high alkalinity, whereas with my current water supply comes from a well. My ph is on the acidic side and has actually gotten more acidic over the last two months likely due to water levels dropping. My nutrient mixes drop me down into the low 5's and causes issues in 3 gallon pots if not adjusted.

Outdoors is much more forgiving due to the larger avail soil to act as a buffer for ph swings.

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My thoughts exactly.

Time to start week 7. After all the problems I've had with this grow, things are actually looking up in here. I believe I've solved the problem I was having and I think it was a combination of problems, nute burn and cal mag deficiency. I flushed last week with RO water but I added cal mag, and the yellowing/brown spots have stopped. Still pretty ugly looking over all but no longer spreading. I have the PM in check as well. Buds are fattening up and packing on the frost, so looks like I'll have some good smoke after all. Started my flush today and will let them go for another week and a half - 2 weeks. We'll see how they react. So everything is good in the garden again and I am getting excited to chop these girls down. Thanks to everyone for the knowledge and tips. We're in the home stretch!

So I was checking the trichomes today and it looks to me like these girls are ready to harvest. All cloudy with a few amber. I am thinking about chopping them this weekend which would put me at 7 full weeks of flower. What do you guys think?

I'm also running Platinum Bubba (for the first time) and it does give the appearance to mature quickly.

My initial response would be/is to wait...

Any decision you make will be fine either way...you made it through a frustrating experience and will be better equiped for your next run!

kurtdirt1 said:

I'm also running Platinum Bubba (for the first time) and it does give the appearance to mature quickly.

My initial response would be/is to wait...

Any decision you make will be fine either way...you made it through a frustrating experience and will be better equiped for your next run!

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Yeah, not sure what I'll do yet, guess it will depend on how quickly they flush. I feel like they are ready to chop, but they still need a good flush. If I feel like they flushed good by this weekend I'm going to chop. I'm still fighting this PM and I'm just ready to reset and pop some seeds.

Cavsoulja said:

Yeah, not sure what I'll do yet, guess it will depend on how quickly they flush. I feel like they are ready to chop, but they still need a good flush. If I feel like they flushed good by this weekend I'm going to chop. I'm still fighting this PM and I'm just ready to reset and pop some seeds.

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I totally forgot about the PM you talked about...Chop it!


I've had PM before and it was difficult to control. I ended up chopping buds off repeatedly for a couple weeks before it stopped (or I didn't notice it anymore)

Chop chop. All of the plants were harvested on Friday. So they got just about 7 full weeks of flower. I know that's a little early and I could have let them go for another week or two, but with the PM situation, 8 didn't want to have to spray them again right before harvest. I had the PM under control and it was starting to come back so it was time to chop. Everything is looking nice, and hang drying in the tent. Will post final weights once it's all dried and cured. Thank you everyone for the help and knowledge!

Some nice kolas there man looking to get a platinum bubba kush on myself for my next one