Got approx 12hrs to figure out whats going on b4 I go on holiday

Hey all & hope u are all well.

Ive found a few dark spots on the leafs on my GSK auto flower and I'm unsure myself as to what is going on or even if it is anything I should worry about?

1st things 1st - Basic dets

Growing GSK Autoflower in Bio-Bizz "light-mix" using a 2x4 tent & a 100w unbranded Q-board. For the past 3 weeks Ive only had 1 exhaust fan on the tent and also a oscillating fan within the tent blowing away from the plant but giving it a gentle breeze too. Ive only been feeding it water that Ive left out to de-chorinate for 48hrs+ which has also been treated with a few drops of lemon juice due to the PH being 8.5 out of tap in my area.

Due to (me most likely) killing my 1st grow due to over watering .. Ive have problably been underwatering this plant (I gave it between 200-300ml every other day if medium was dry). Ive only given it a 1/4 of a tsp of Epsom salts in the last 1-2 waterings and only gave it its 1st batch of Bio-bizz "grow" in the last 48 hrs, but aside from that its been just water.

This is what my plant looked like 1 week ago, a bit scraggly but ok imo ..

A few days later the 2nd set of leaves started to turn yellow - I wasnt to sure if this was normal or if it was a sign that it needed some nutes? I also noticed these dark spots that only seemed to appear on one side of the plant? I also noticed my plant wasnt "praying to the light" as much as it had been and looked kinda droopy but not in a underwatering kind of way? I couldnt notice anything obvious and hit the net to see what it said and it came up with "clawing" which could make sense.

Today I decided to chop off the 2 yellowing leaves as I noticed a few more dark spots and was worried that it could be a virus, but all the new growth looks good so Im praying that its not.


So the helpful internet has help me slim it down to a few options but as Im off on hols tomoz getting other eyes on it might net faster answers

So Far Ive read that it could be :

1 -A virus
2 - Up n down - PH Issues
3 - Heat stress / Light Burn
4 - Nute overdose (I dont think its this as Ive only been feeding v small amounts for the last 4-5 days only)
5 - Windburn ... This might be viable due to the way I have things setup (Blue=Intake/Red=Outake/Yellow=Q-board cooling/Purple=Ossilating internal)

Im wondering if I got "clawing" due to the constant gentle breeze the 2 bottom fans caused, but I cannot explain what the dark spots are .. I only know they appear on the same side that the main breeze was which is why Im hoping they are related?

This is how the plant looks today and apart from the clawing and the dark spots .. it looks ok imo, so Im not really sure if Ive got anything to worry about anymore?
Today Ive noticed that she has perked up a bit but am unsure if it because I moved the plant out of the "breeze" or if she was crying out for nutes of which she got her 1st feed 2 days ago

Yes .. I know .. My LST is a bit pap

But can u help save me from a load of stress .. advice please

Looks like moisture stress. Plants leaves can do that if the roots dry out.

300ml?! Is that a 12l pot? My seedlings get 250ml! You may need to brush up on your watering skills.

Also your light looks a little weak? No side branching is a telltale sign!

Next watering give it 750ml in a circle a few inches away from the base of the plant. The soil must be dusty at the edges of the pot!

Nutty sKunK said:

Looks like moisture stress. Plants leaves can do that if the roots dry out.

300ml?! Is that a 12l pot? My seedlings get 250ml! You may need to brush up on your watering skills.

Also your light looks a little weak? No side branching is a telltale sign!

Next watering give it 750ml in a circle a few inches away from the base of the plant. The soil must be dusty at the edges of the pot!

Click to expand...

Thx for answering back ... I got about 4 hrs before I shoot off.

The last grow I had droopy leaves too so moisture stress is not one of the things I thought about as I managed to kill my last plant with even less water than this .. Hence being a little worried about over watering & under watering.

I havnt got a 11L growing pot .. I have a 3L.

I was going to give her 400ml today (with nutes) before I left but going by ure advice - do you think I should feel her more water?

Also I can turn my light up more (its on about 60%) .. But do u know a general lux reading that I should have it at? ... (it currently either 14.5k r 23k, depending on which tool I use)

GCandy said:

Thx for answering back ... I got about 4 hrs before I shoot off.

The last grow I had droopy leaves too so moisture stress is not one of the things I thought about as I managed to kill my last plant with even less water than this .. Hence being a little worried about over watering & under watering.

I havnt got a 11L growing pot .. I have a 3L.

I was going to give her 400ml today (with nutes) before I left but going by ure advice - do you think I should feel her more water?

Also I can turn my light up more (its on about 60%) .. But do u know a general lux reading that I should have it at? ... (it currently either 14.5k r 23k, depending on which tool I use)

Click to expand...

Ah Kk, had blurry eyes so pot looked bigger. Stick your finger In the soil, is it dry or wet couple inches down? If it’s dry I’d give it 500ml and let it soak up the runoff, don’t worry about salts just yet. If it’s wet then you have been overwatering by frequency and might need to let it dry back some more

Second the moisture stress suggestion. In my experience, when soil is totally dry it can take about 1/4 of its total volume in water, so that would be more like 750 mL if it's totally dry. And if the soil has dried out to the point of being hydrophobic (water runs off easily instead of soaking in) it can take some effort to rehydrate it.

It does look better in the more recent pics though, so you might be on the road to recovery already. I wouldn't mess with the light intensity right before you go out of town, that's something I'd want to be around to monitor for the first 48 hours after changing...

Im gonna leave the lights as uve mentioned (as im going away), but I have added a bit more LST to it today to let more light in & will be feeding it the 500ml as recommended.

Il report back in a few days ....Thanks for the tips peeps & Fingers crossed

Lemon juice becomes alkaline when being broken down, opposite of what you're after. Use pH down containing phosphoric acid instead. If your not able to source it regular battery acid (sulfuric acid) works well.

To much light for the stage of growth IMO. Fixture looks way to close to the canopy. Excess light will cause all sorts of problems and is the most common issue starting out.

Feed at recommendations and keep feeding Epsom salt since Biobizz is pretty low in Mg. Like others mentioned you're feeding way to low water/nutrient solution. To properly cover and saturate a medium to not causing salt buildups you need to feed to runoff at every feeding/watering. Otherwise you will create hot and soft spots and not a homogenous medium.

It could well be the light, i'd move it to the top of the tent or turn it down abit more and just give it straight water when it dries, also try and get a feel for the weight of the pot when wet compared to when dry, you should be nowhere near needing nutes yet in a pot that big, that plant is way too small to have used it all yet, even with lightmix, i doubt some light nutes would harm it though, they might actually help with the ph .

Unfortunately when you get problems with autoflowers in the grow stage it will severely bring down overall size & yields.

Wastei said:

Lemon juice becomes alkaline when being broken down, opposite of what you're after. Use pH down containing phosphoric acid instead. If your not able to source it regular battery acid (sulfuric acid) works well.

To much light for the stage of growth IMO. Fixture looks way to close to the canopy. Excess light will cause all sorts of problems and is the most common issue starting out.

Feed at recommendations and keep feeding Epsom salt since Biobizz is pretty low in Mg. Like others mentioned you're feeding way to low water/nutrient solution. To properly cover and saturate a medium to not causing salt buildups you need to feed to runoff at every feeding/watering. Otherwise you will create hot and soft spots and not a homogenous medium.

Click to expand...

Wow .. That is a lot of info that is counter to the suggestions Ive read on other sites ... But Im dam glad u said it cos I did not know that lemon juice did that and it makes more sense now as I was still getting high run off readings - Thx!

Ive just got back from hols and shes still alive thank god she looks a bit weary but I fed her straight away with 700ml water + 1ml of bio-biz grow and gave her a bit more training to expose the colas ... I also think she has started to go into bloom which is a bugger as I was hoping it was gonna get a bit bigger.


.. But I turned my light to 100% without thinking that much cos she still very small (will fit into my hand atm) n as others have hinted it looked a little dim in there .. Do u think I should turn it back to 60%?? .. Im running a 100w (from the wall) unbranded q-board which didnt come with a distance guide so I used one that my friend has who has a similar powered board themselves and it currently sits at 14.5 inches away.

Would would be helpful is a reasonably priced lux meter that is accurate - if u know of any please say

Thx again for the comments

Water that thing until it's saturated.
Then wait a few days for it to dry back and water it again