Nute Burn or Nitrogen Deficiency?

Hey guys, I went on vacation for a little over a week just recently and had someone else take care of the plants and this is what I come home to:



The plants were in their third or fourth week of vegging when I left and I left directions to alternate between water and the General Organics 'Grow" nutes (Light Feeding concentration). I went and looked around for what the problem could be automatically thinking the solution must have been too strong since the problem only started when I started adding nutes. But, I had given them some nutes with this concentration before I left and they seemed to take it fine... The symptoms are: Very yellow leaves (Seemingly starting from the roots up), small bumps on the bottom of the stem, and yellowing seemingly starting from the tips of the leaves inwards.Also, I recently tried my hand at FIMming this plant and I am wondering if this could be the cause for the 'cut' look on the ends of the leaves at the top of the plant in picture 4? I am growing them in 'Premier Pro-Mix Potting & Seeding Mix' and have had no problems with them until I started giving them nutes. So, my question is: Is this nitrogen deficiency (Which after doing some lurking looked like the most probable answer) or is the solution too strong for the plants at such a young age (Which would also seem likely as the problems only started once I started giving them nutes)? Thanks for the help guys, by doing some research this seems like the two most likely causes of the problems to me; if you think it is something else, please let me know too!

i go with nitrogen just try 1/20 strength of nutes

looks like nitrogen deficiency

flush you plants with ph-ed water that is around 6.3 use at least three times the volume of water per container's volume to be on safe side then fertilize with a good complete fertilizer at 1/4 strength that is at the correct ph.there are additives you can add to your water to help with flushing i use clearex with good results. there are a lot of factors that could cause this deficiency but first you always start with clean soil by flushing and making sure you ph runoff water is within range 5.8-6.5. now you know you soils ph and what you are feeding it and you go from here to get the plant back to a healthy form.

Alright thanks for the input, so it looks to be a nitrogen deficiency then. So, the best option would be to flush the plants and then to go with fertilizer again? Another plant that was a bit younger was also getting some ferts but she was taking some seaweed stuff that's much weaker than the stuff this one took. She is not showing any signs of nitrogen deficiency though, could this be because the plants are simply too young to be taking these ferts? I will flush both of the affected plants and then do you think I should go with straight water for a while to check to see if it's the ferts, or should I do what I did with the younger plant and alternate between giving them the weaker nutes and water? Also, the best I can get out of this situation is the problem stopping and not continuing right? The bottom leaves won't repair themselves but they would be covered by upper leaves anyways, correct? Thanks again, first real problem I've run into and don't have very much experience yet.

feedtheweed said:

flush you plants with ph-ed water that is around 6.3 use at least three times the volume of water per container's volume to be on safe side then fertilize with a good complete fertilizer at 1/4 strength that is at the correct ph.there are additives you can add to your water to help with flushing i use clearex with good results. there are a lot of factors that could cause this deficiency but first you always start with clean soil by flushing and making sure you ph runoff water is within range 5.8-6.5. now you know you soils ph and what you are feeding it and you go from here to get the plant back to a healthy form.

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Theey look stretched and hungry. Doubt one week under a friends care really had anything to do with how they look now. Feed them and get them more light. And Feedtheweed please share with us how he can obtain his mediums pH by reading runoff...

So, you advise me to just move them close to the light and then to just continue with the ferts? Should I still flush first?

EDIT: I have two others that I am growing in the same medium and one of them is much smaller than the one in the first post, same strain and started at the same time, but had a damaged stem very early on and they were the only ones that had these nutes so far. My third one is a different strain and was started about a week after the first two. I think that this third one is turning out well, it has been using only water and the weaker ferts for about a week. They are all growing in the same soil and are under a 430w HPS ballast (Using a Hortilux bulb that's supposed to give off some blue spectrum). So I think that since only the other two are having these yellow leaves, it could be too strong nutes for them, I will flush them and then start giving them some of the weaker ferts to see if the problem stops. The General Organics 'Grow' that these two plants are taking's N-P-K is 4-3-3 and the stuff the other one is taking is 0.2-0-0.3. Also, they are about 2.5 feet away from the light, should I still move them closer?



The first picture is of all 3 of them, you can see that the right one is stretched compared to the middles one (Same strain and age). The second shows only the smallest and youngest one, it has not received any of the 'Grow' ferts and I think looks fine (Please let me know if you see anything wrong with it). The third shows the middle plant which has the same problem as the one in the first post and is like a sibling I guess, except it does not seem to be stretching as much. Finally the fourth shows all 3 together again.

As far as the different sizes goes sounds like at least one experienced some physical damage a bit back. the others could just be pheno type differences. I to grow start to finish under HPS, mainly Hortilux, solid choice, just get it a bit closer. 18 inches is as close as I get them, more often than not keep the hovering at the 20-24 inch mark. They look more hungry than anything too me. Up their food a bit and dont worry about flushing. Just be sure to get some good runoff each time they need water and/or feeding. No harm in running a gallon of water through them and then feeding them as usuall. OVERWATERING is caused by watering too often when theyre not ready.

Out of curiosity, how are you guys diagnosing the difference between to much nitrogen and not enough? Are there symptoms that you see, or is it more of a gut feeling?

Alright thanks for the major help watchhowidoit, I will make sure I have adequate contact between the water and nutes with the roots each time I water (That's why I am watering so much when I do right? To make sure that all the roots get the food?). I will monitor them and see if they start to brighten up.

The run off also helps remove any unwanted mineral build up in the soil

Alright, makes sense.

ayenull said:

Out of curiosity, how are you guys diagnosing the difference between to much nitrogen and not enough? Are there symptoms that you see, or is it more of a gut feeling?

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The fact is they don't really know. They throw out random ideas with no hard data to back it up. After a while being here on RIU you will get to read between the lines and see all the bs for what it is. Kids who parrot what they hear. Soon someone will come in and say it prolly has something to do with his ph...lol...what I call ph police...they'll blame anything and everything on the ph.
The plant's new growth looks good. The internodal spacing is longer than it should be and the yellowing could be nute relocation or lack of enough water at about the time the plant was at the second and third nodes. But since the new growth is healthy OP has nothing to worry about

Usually the whole look of the plant is yellow when it needs more nitrogen esp when starting from below like these pics. Too much N it would be dark green and burnt tips and clawing.

dannyboy602 said:

The fact is they don't really know. They throw out random ideas with no hard data to back it up. After a while being here on RIU you will get to read between the lines and see all the bs for what it is. Kids who parrot what they hear. Soon someone will come in and say it prolly has something to do with his ph...lol...what I call ph police...they'll blame anything and everything on the ph.
The plant's new growth looks good. The internodal spacing is longer than it should be and the yellowing could be nute relocation or lack of enough water at about the time the plant was at the second and third nodes. But since the new growth is healthy OP has nothing to worry about

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No the fact they are yellowing from the bottom up based on the pics and info included in the first post......and DB is correct. Its just simple plant reading and the basics. Learn these things first and add the meters and all the numbers later if you still feel so inclined....