My new growth has the claw.

Weedog420

Active Member
Hey there. First off here’s some background- I have 3x 420 fast bud autos growing in a 2x2x5 tent under a spider farmer sf1000. I have an exhaust, intake, and a fan for good air circulation and keeping a breeze on the plants. I use a mini heater that’s set to keep the tent between 73-78°F and a humidifier to keep it around 50rh. I’m using 5 gal fabric pots with the top 1/3 of the soil foxfarm happy frog potting soil. The middle 1/3 is FF ocean forest and the bottom 1/3 is a blend of FFOF and nature’s living concentrated autoflower mix. This mix is all the plants should need as reviewed by many with maybe a light organic top feeding or compost tea towards beginning of flower. I’m watering with just distilled water ph’d at 6.5. I had noticed some flys in the tent early on and ordered doctor zymes eliminator. I followed the bottles recommended application and soaked the top inch of soil of each plant for 3 days. The soil wasn’t wet from the day before each time I applied, so I know the water wasn’t building up too much. I still noticed some flys after the applications last week. Bummed out a little but its not an alarming rate of them , only spot 1 or 2 when I’m looking for them and I don’t think they’re doing the plants any harm.

I last watered them with just ph’d distilled water almost 3 days ago. The Girl Scout cookie (back left) and Orange Sherbet (front) are just reaching their 22nd day out of the soil, and the Wedding cheesecake (back right) it’s 19th day. The lights set about 18” above the canopy. The orange sherbet has been maturing the largest and fastest so far with an amazing tangie scent already. It just started showing sex a couple days ago, along with the Girl Scout cookie. The GSC is growing at a slower and smaller rate. The WCC showed signs of stress from the beginning but has recently started showing improvements. The issue I’m noticing on the GSC and OS is the new growth is coming in thin and curvy and I can see the tips clawing a bit. I can also see very slightly which looks like some lighter burnt tips. I haven’t fed anything though. Anyone have any suggestions or advice they could share? Much appreciated.
 

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Southernontariogrower

Well-Known Member
Cover top two inches in sand or hydracorn, those little bastards don't like it for some reason, maggots die before they can fly. Good luck. I've got a plant of unknown origins, sort of, its been clawing since veg and never stopped, figure its in the genetics or nitrogen was too high for her. It could be anything almost.
 

Mrs. Weedstein

Well-Known Member
I get some clawing in young plants as a result of them getting a bit overwhelmed by the nitrogen in the soil. Not a big deal, as they seem to get used to it.

I’d say the narrowness and curling of the newest leaves is more of a concern. Perhaps this is what you meant by clawing, but I don’t associate that with excess nitrogen.

I’ve seen this with rootbound plants but I don’t think that’s your problem here given the plant to container ratio.

Did your older leaves look like this when they were little? If so, maybe it’s genetic...
 

Weedog420

Active Member
Yes the narrowness and curling is what’s concerning me. The older leaves didn’t look like this, I can tell it’s not a genetic issue. I recently noticed this curling and narrowness with the newer growth. I’m not feeding the plants anything, so I wouldn’t think it’s an excess nitrogen issue. They’re definitely not root bound at only 3 weeks old in 5 gallon pots. I’ll have to wait it out and see
 

Weedog420

Active Member
I get some clawing in young plants as a result of them getting a bit overwhelmed by the nitrogen in the soil. Not a big deal, as they seem to get used to it.

I’d say the narrowness and curling of the newest leaves is more of a concern. Perhaps this is what you meant by clawing, but I don’t associate that with excess nitrogen.

I’ve seen this with rootbound plants but I don’t think that’s your problem here given the plant to container ratio.

Did your older leaves look like this when they were little? If so, maybe it’s genetic...
Yes the narrowness and curling is what’s concerning me. The older leaves didn’t look like this, I can tell it’s not a genetic issue. I recently noticed this curling and narrowness with the newer growth. I’m not feeding the plants anything, so I wouldn’t think it’s an excess nitrogen issue. They’re definitely not root bound at only 3 weeks old in 5 gallon pots. I’ll have to wait it out and see
 

JimmiP

Well-Known Member
Since you are using led, I would bump the temperature and humidity up some more. They would do better at around 82f with more humidity. I would start at 65% rh and adjust up from there until the leaves are straightened out. It should solve the issues you are seeing.
Later on, during flowering, you can bring the humidity down a bit. But you will need to keep the temps up in the 80s.
 

Weedog420

Active Member
Since you are using led, I would bump the temperature and humidity up some more. They would do better at around 82f with more humidity. I would start at 65% rh and adjust up from there until the leaves are straightened out. It should solve the issues you are seeing.
Later on, during flowering, you can bring the humidity down a bit. But you will need to keep the temps up in the 80s.
Hmm I didn’t even think of that. You think
This is happening because I have an rh of 50 and temp 73-78°?
 

JimmiP

Well-Known Member
Hmm I didn’t even think of that. You think
This is happening because I have an rh of 50 and temp 73-78°?
Yes. Led needs more warmth. I would also check the temperature in the root zone.
Low humidity can cause higher rates of transpiration. Low temps make it harder for the plant to absorbe and metabolize phosphorus and potassium especially with led, because they don't have as much IR radiation.
So, due to the low humidity, the plant is trying to take in moisture and nutrients from the root zone at an elevated rate. And it has more trouble processing P&K but not the nitrogen. So you have a little clawing show itself, not because there's too much nitrogen but because at lower temps the plant cannot get enough P or K to keep up.
It has been my experience that these are the reasons plants exhibit the issues you are having. If you can balance your environment out your problems will go away and your plants will grow much better, bigger and faster.
Actual nitrogen toxicity doesn't happen as often as people like to think and is blamed far too often. Leading people to do silly things to try and fix it, that usually makes things worse.
Good luck friend!
 

Weedog420

Active Member
Yes. Led needs more warmth. I would also check the temperature in the root zone.
Low humidity can cause higher rates of transpiration. Low temps make it harder for the plant to absorbe and metabolize phosphorus and potassium especially with led, because they don't have as much IR radiation.
So, due to the low humidity, the plant is trying to take in moisture and nutrients from the root zone at an elevated rate. And it has more trouble processing P&K but not the nitrogen. So you have a little clawing show itself, not because there's too much nitrogen but because at lower temps the plant cannot get enough P or K to keep up.
It has been my experience that these are the reasons plants exhibit the issues you are having. If you can balance your environment out your problems will go away and your plants will grow much better, bigger and faster.
Actual nitrogen toxicity doesn't happen as often as people like to think and is blamed far too often. Leading people to do silly things to try and fix it, that usually makes things worse.
Good luck friend!
I will try raising the temp and rh. Thank you for the advice and insight man. Whatwould you say is optimal for autoflower growth?
 

JimmiP

Well-Known Member
I will try raising the temp and rh. Thank you for the advice and insight man. Whatwould you say is optimal for autoflower growth?
Well, I don't grow auto's, just photos, you can't manipulate autos the same ways I like to.. But I have helped with a few friends growing them, (autos) when they had the same set of issues. The humidity, temperature were just too low.. especially at the root zone. And those factors are important no matter what type of plant it is.
So, optimal is just a stable environment that the given plant likes most. Sometimes with different strains you will have to find a compromise point between them. And that can be a little challenging to find. It gets easier to find the longer you grow.
Also with all the autos I've ever seen, the best thing to do was give them a lot of root space, a lot of light, good airflow/ ventilation and mess with them as little as possible (they don't get the advantage of receiving recovery time the way photos can).
There are a lot of auto growers around here that will be able to offer more auto-specific advice than me. But a stable environment is imperative to the success of any plant. This time of year, if I were to grow autos, I would run the lights 24/7 or really close to it.
 
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