Newbie Grow, Yellow Leaves. Nitrogen problem?

Hey all,

Long time reader first time poster.
So, to preface, this is my first, and a very low budget grow attempt. Not to say I am not investing a lot of time and some money, I am trying to succeed. However I don't have access to all the things I would like to have.

So some info first

I am growing two plants indoor with soil from bagseed in my closet in terra cotta pots that are 8 by 8 (I think 2 gallons).
I am using CFL's. I have 5 that I believe are all 100 watt equivalent.
I am in the veg cycle, they've been growing total for 4 weeks exactly. They're on a light cycle of 16 on, 6 off.
I water about every 3 days, roughly. I poke my clean finger in the soil and gauge from there.

I open the closet door for about 6 hours every day and have a fan to blow into the room (not right onto the plants) to keep the air circulating well. The temp is probably about 75 during the day and 65-69 at night.

I started small dose of 20 20 20 miracle grow soluble in water about two week ago. I would give this every 3 days or so. I wouldn't give a lot.

As of about a week and a half ago the very bottom tiny leaves started to yellow. Then the first big fan leaves that grew started to yellow. The petioles began turning a dark red. This was more pronounced on one then the other. Then the yellow leave started getting dried and shriveled on the edges. I read up and it seemed like a nitrogen deficiency so I kicked up the nutes a little bit. I have sprayed the soil and the leaves lightly with nutes for about four days straight now. I am confused though. On the bottom leaves they are turning yellow, but now on some upper leaves only the ridges are turning yellow. I don't know whether I have a nitrogen deficiency or if they are getting burned by too many nutrients.
On the very top growth it seems to be going fine. They've both slowed down a bit in terms of growing, but the top leaves seem fairly green. I noticed two days ago they were a little bit yellowish though but I might be just oversensitive.

I wonder if the ph of my soil is too low from the nutrients for proper uptake? But I have no way to test. Last watering cycle I put the tiniest amount of baking soda (like a quarter teaspoon) dissolved in the water.

Here are some pics. Sorry this is sort of long and rambly, I wanted to include all the info and I am anxious about my beautiful plants. I had my lights closer but a few days ago I noticed three or so brown spots on the upper leaves right by the lights. It seemed like they were getting burned (which I thought wouldn't happen with the low heat output of cfl?) but I moved them away a bit and no more spots have appeared on the upper leaves.

I guess I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I keep giving nutrients to try and fix the yellow leaves? Should I flush and go back to a regular nute cycle every couple of days? Should I get rid of the yellow leaves on the bottom? At the rate I'm growing I figure about 3 weeks more until flowering. Unless they keep growing slow, or if they start growing super fast again. (limited space. Going for about a foot before flowering).

Thanks
 

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kostasgr

Active Member
it's a nute burn man if your soil is allmix they dont need any nuts for 3 weeks and you should give about 1/4 of the recommendation on the bottle after 3 weeks.
water without any nuts also you have to take a ph luquid test the price is very cheap and they worth it.
do not add any other nuts only water with ph adjusted 6.5-7 maybe is your ph to up or to low you have to check it this is very basic you can't grow without some kind of ph test
 
well you have a nute problem for sure. i think you are giving them waaay too much. i dont even start nutes in mine till flowering. it looks like you have them in miracle grow soil as well. so there is plenty of stuff in there. dont be a scientist. just do a little at a time. more is not always better. and i think you were right as well when you said you were burning them. flush for a couple days and move the lights back and see what happens....
 
Thanks for the info.
Okay so nute burn, I am going to get ph test strips and flush with good ph water.
I have to go get the test strips today though. Should I flush as soon as I get the strips and the ph 6.5 or so water? It will be in the middle of the day and not during a time I usually water my plants. Or should I wait until tomorrow morning? Or does it not matter because I am in damage control right now?
Thanks for all the help.
 
Thanks for all the info everyone. I got ph test strips today. I was way off. The water I was using was too basic, not acidic. Like, ph of 8. Flushed today each plant with 1 gallon of ph 6.4 water. I will see how they are doing in the next couple of days.
 

MayoMaster

Active Member
Hey all,

Long time reader first time poster.
So, to preface, this is my first, and a very low budget grow attempt. Not to say I am not investing a lot of time and some money, I am trying to succeed. However I don't have access to all the things I would like to have.

So some info first

I am growing two plants indoor with soil from bagseed in my closet in terra cotta pots that are 8 by 8 (I think 2 gallons).
I am using CFL's. I have 5 that I believe are all 100 watt equivalent.
I am in the veg cycle, they've been growing total for 4 weeks exactly. They're on a light cycle of 16 on, 6 off.
I water about every 3 days, roughly. I poke my clean finger in the soil and gauge from there.

I open the closet door for about 6 hours every day and have a fan to blow into the room (not right onto the plants) to keep the air circulating well. The temp is probably about 75 during the day and 65-69 at night.

I started small dose of 20 20 20 miracle grow soluble in water about two week ago. I would give this every 3 days or so. I wouldn't give a lot.

As of about a week and a half ago the very bottom tiny leaves started to yellow. Then the first big fan leaves that grew started to yellow. The petioles began turning a dark red. This was more pronounced on one then the other. Then the yellow leave started getting dried and shriveled on the edges. I read up and it seemed like a nitrogen deficiency so I kicked up the nutes a little bit. I have sprayed the soil and the leaves lightly with nutes for about four days straight now. I am confused though. On the bottom leaves they are turning yellow, but now on some upper leaves only the ridges are turning yellow. I don't know whether I have a nitrogen deficiency or if they are getting burned by too many nutrients.
On the very top growth it seems to be going fine. They've both slowed down a bit in terms of growing, but the top leaves seem fairly green. I noticed two days ago they were a little bit yellowish though but I might be just oversensitive.

I wonder if the ph of my soil is too low from the nutrients for proper uptake? But I have no way to test. Last watering cycle I put the tiniest amount of baking soda (like a quarter teaspoon) dissolved in the water.

Here are some pics. Sorry this is sort of long and rambly, I wanted to include all the info and I am anxious about my beautiful plants. I had my lights closer but a few days ago I noticed three or so brown spots on the upper leaves right by the lights. It seemed like they were getting burned (which I thought wouldn't happen with the low heat output of cfl?) but I moved them away a bit and no more spots have appeared on the upper leaves.

I guess I'm just not sure how to proceed. Should I keep giving nutrients to try and fix the yellow leaves? Should I flush and go back to a regular nute cycle every couple of days? Should I get rid of the yellow leaves on the bottom? At the rate I'm growing I figure about 3 weeks more until flowering. Unless they keep growing slow, or if they start growing super fast again. (limited space. Going for about a foot before flowering).

Thanks
I'm pretty sure your PH is off causing it to do this. Check the PH and make your solutions 6.3 to 6.9 before going in the soil. Otherwise yo shits doomed sucka.
 
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