Leaves closest to top "taco-ing"?

Hello there! This is my second grow. I am looking to document and track my grow weekly and hopefully learn a thing or two on the way.

Let us start off with my setup.

1 6500K 60W CFL
1 2700K 60W CFL
3 6500K 25W CFL
2 2700K 25W CFL

Mounted to a "hood" with two pc fans installed pulling hot air up and out of environment.

Have a 20" fan blowing into the grow space.
3'x5'x5'
WxLxH

I am using African Violet Miracle Gro soil amended as follows:

1 Part Soil
1 Part Perlite
1 Part Vermiculite

Bottoms of pots have 1/2" of perlite to help with drainage.




Nutrients.

Hardly any, and happy about that. 4 feedings to date.

Fox Farms Trio.

Very light feedings.

While I PH my water every feeding, I do not monitor PPMs. I use Food Lion Brand Distilled Water. In those 4 feedings, I also used Botanicare Cal-Mag+ in ONLY those 4 feedings. 2 weeks after I switched to 12/12 (she was far mature enough. Pistils everywhere in veg.) i gave her her most recent feeding. 8/16/2014 *today*







These plants BOTH had the problem at first, only on the tops. they were in a cardboard box. I gave them PLENTY of room to breathe and plenty of fresh air. lots of air circulation.

I broke my thermometer. I couldnt give you a temp.


I know that I need one, and come tuesday ill have a humidity reader as well. Any one know off hand? Also; Im new here.




Thanks for all the info! You guys have collectively taught me more than I could articulate!






*White background photos were in grow box. (cardboard)
**New space is larger one.





Today marks her 2nd week end in 12/12

The "Tacoing" is the issue.

Do you check for pests with a scope? do you spray regularly? Even tho you dont have a therm to check humidity and temps, does it feel too hot or humid? Is new growth tacoing?

I check for pests with loupe, looks all good. I spray the underside of ALL the leaves when the lights go out and plan to stop in another week. Im hoping to have this corrected by then. It feels comfortable in the box, and i originally thought it was a lack of humidity. I have a half gallon container sitting at the bottom i keep water in to keep the humidity decent. I live in a basement and if im not mistaken, ill prolly be able to do away with the water here soon since im flowering. The newest growth TIPS seem "damaged" but i havent had it in the new environment for 72 hours yet.

If the temps are under control then I would try to stop over watering and spraying the leaves.

I water when the soil is dry as a bone. I read tht its better to let them wilt a hair before you water. The other plant had poblems similar to this, misting at night seemed to have corrected it.

With that being said, it's pretty safe to assume I am NOT over-watering. Any other thoughts on this?

Nice plants. real bushy looks like you have some nute burn spotting on the leaves that fine i'm sure you have remedied that already or if you haven't it shouldn't be to big of a deal

is that fan blowing on them constantly?

ultimately theyre drinking collectively a gallon of distilled water every 5 to 6 days.

chuck: It is now, yes. originally I had a small computer fan, it wasnt circulating quite enough (hence this curling occured), so I gave it the bigger fan. Now, BOTH plants had this issue. One has cleared up wonderfully. Ill post a few more pics really getting up on those leaves. I do not see these "spots" you are referring to? I'll admit I have an untrained eye. Care to elaborate?


Thank you jswett, I tried to get a good idea before I begin a project but there are some things you just have to learn on the way.



*I went to take some pitures, and I noticed new growth is doing this too, all over that plant. the plant DIRECTLY next to it (identical clones) is doing grade A FINE.

By the way, LOVE how quick I am to get help on here.

Yes, #2. Heat Stress. That sounds like what I thought it was. And his descriptiion hits it on the head. GREAT find.

However, I have assumed this the case already, and googled for remedies with no avail. the obvious remedy I have done, Bigger environment, moved lights a lil ways away, and increased circulation. The leaves feel neither frail nor crispy. Maybe the amount of time that plant spent too close caused permanent damage?

iNuGro said:

Yes, #2. Heat Stress. That sounds like what I thought it was. And his descriptiion hits it on the head. GREAT find.

However, I have assumed this the case already, and googled for remedies with no avail. the obvious remedy I have done, Bigger environment, moved lights a lil ways away, and increased circulation. The leaves feel neither frail nor crispy. Maybe the amount of time that plant spent too close caused permanent damage?

Click to expand...

once problem is fixed, new growth should resume normal. It is also not good to let soil completely dry to where plants wilt. you want to water when soil is almost dry, but still has some moisture to it.

Noted! Thanks Chuck. I looked closely at newest growth on bud sites and only the tips seem damaged. My next question is; will these damaged foliage cause any issues? Should I prune the tips off the larger leaves that are effected severely? Remove them entirely or just let it go? These plants have had lots of training to be as bushy as they are. topped, monster cropped, scrogged temporarily and here we are. Occasionally I defoliate the plant to provide better light penetration, as you can see; not to much.

What do you guys think?

I would start feeding them and start them on 12/12 lighting.

New growth tacoing =broad mites. they hang out at the base of the leaf and start sucking the nutes out of the plant. Can be seen at 60x zoom, but they do their business and die ( ithink their lifespan is 3 days) or jump to the next leaf while laying eggs everywhere. A good miticide for 2 days straight kills them or pyrethrin bug bomb. link shows pics of extreme broad mites
edit: http://pogenetics.com/?page_id=389

Diabolical666 said:

New growth tacoing =broad mites. they hang out at the base of the leaf and start sucking the nutes out of the plant. Can be seen at 60x zoom, but they do their business and die ( ithink their lifespan is 3 days) or jump to the next leaf while laying eggs everywhere. A good miticide for 2 days straight kills them or pyrethrin bug bomb. link shows pics of extreme broad mites
edit: http://pogenetics.com/?page_id=389

Click to expand...

dude, Is that your only diagnosis? I have had a nasty infestation of broadmites. Not everything that tacos is from broadmites, especially when the obvious is heat/moisture stress.

the obvious?...op says he doesnt overwater and the temps are fine. No, this isnt my only diagnoses, if you would like to follow me , you could see cheers

Diabolical666 said:

the obvious?...op says he doesnt overwater and the temps are fine. No, this isnt my only diagnoses, if you would like to follow me , you could see cheers

Click to expand...

yeah, he said he let's it dry until it wilts, that is stress. he also said he had too small a fan and got a bigger one and that fixed one plant, unless the fan just blew the mites away????