Plants not looking happy, please help!

Hi,
I am a first time grower and have three plants all living under the same outdoor conditions, i am worried about them cause thier leaves are showing signs of some problems but i cant work it out.
I have had and got rid of spidermites already and a few weeks later am now faced with this problem, i have included some pics so if anyon has any ideas please feel free to commment.

lack of nitrogen. the plants are pulling nutes from lower levels to feed the growing top. Do you use any nutes at all?

i had same problem atleast looked the same r u using tap water i was switch ro water tap water cause overdose of calcium causing mag def and a whole lot of other micro nute def

I'm gonna have to disagree with reno, this looks like a nute/ph issue to me. Very noticeable by the browning of edges on leafs. Your other pics don't look that bad though so I'm not sure if you really have a huge problem or not. Maybe try water for one watering and then back to nutes but at a reduced level.

Thanks for your tips I use slow release nite so would they be the problem? And also I have been using tap water but have started using water I leave out for a couple of days, does this sound like it could help?

What type of nutes are you using? What is the PH/EC level of the nutes when you do feed? How often do you feed with nutes, and with plain water?

I think all of you are wrong. Look at the unaffected leaves.... brilliant and lovely greens. If you look closely at the affected leaves, they are being eaten by pests in my opinion. Pic 1 shows insect damage with a nearly unaffected center leaf. Look at pic #2. There are som spots on the leave at the bottom that indicate active pests. I'm guessing two types of insects here, edge eaters and suckers, probably mites underneath some of the leaves that have spots.

I could be wrong, I'm told that daily by the life partner, however inspect this plant good for pests. If you find any, neem oil is your answer. I'd be VERY shocked if it was a problem with NPK.

that 4th photo is rather curious. Could you get a better pic of it right side up and close and in focus? That is definitely a nute issue.

yep leaving water in a plastic bottle WITH NO LID ON! over 24 hours or so gets rid of excess shit you don't need or want
keep doing it it does def help
northside.

northsidenovis said:

yep leaving water in a plastic bottle WITH NO LID ON! over 24 hours or so gets rid of excess shit you don't need or want
keep doing it it does def help
northside.

Click to expand...

This really only needs to be done if you're using city water, or otherwise chlorinated/treated water. Leaving it out lets the chlorine evaporate off.

To the OP, that looks like magnesium, or maybe phosphorus def, the first pic anyway.

I tested the ph the other day and it was like 10 I have added some sulfer to bring it down. So between the ph and the water I am hoping that it's getting better. I have had a spider mite problem and gave it a few good weeks of that, should I start that again? The nutes I use are 8:8:12 I have only just changed from a all purpose npk after I flushed the plants, the all purpose one was 15:5:13. The nute package says to fertilize every two to three months is this right? I came to the assumption that the high ph level was the main cause of the nute deficiency. Both nute products have trace minerals

From now on, you need to start getting your supplies from a hydroponics shop instead of home depot. The fertilizer you currently have is designed for purposes other than what you're doing. You should be using something from General Hydroponics, Canna, Fox Farm and the like. Do a google search, or just search for some hydro shops online and see what they carry. A PH of 10 is through the roof. We need to get that down to around 7 to make the plants happy. The first thing you need to do is get a new set of nutes, and go from there. Once you've done that, you can start giving the plants what they need. Until your new nutes arrive, I would just give the plants a good watering with plain water that has a PH somewhere between 6 and 7.

So what nute ratio am I looking for, and what about trace minerals what minerals should it contain and how much of each is good? Since the nutes I have been using are slow release will there be further problems if I add new nutes?

A really simple way to start would be something like General Hydroponics FloraNova Series, every hydro shop will carry it. It's basically two bottles, one for veg and one for bloom. Both bottles contain everything that your plants will need from start to finish. All you need to have with that is a good PH/TDS meter to make sure that your nute mix has the right strength of nutrients, and the proper PH level for your plants (around 7.0). If you're growing outdoors, you don't need to worry about much else except for insects, so keep a watchful eye. If it starts to look like little specs are missing from your leaves, that's a good indication that you have an insect problem, and that will need to get handled immediately. But until then, I would start using plain water at a PH of 7.0, and once you get your nutes, start with a very low concentration (around 1.2 EC or about 800 PPM) and go from there.

Ok so I finally got ph test kit for my water and it is still too high even after I leave it out. So what do I do what water do I use?

You may want to use distilled water from the store until you get some good nutes. If your PH is above 8, your plants will have a hard time utilizing the nitrogen, phosphorous, iron, etc. in the soil. Once you get your nutrients and add them to the water, it will lower the PH, so that'll be a help. If you plan to grow for a long time, the best long-term solution would be a reverse osmosis system, PH up and PH down (bottled), and a good set of nutrients. Along with those items, purchase a good digital meter to read the PH level and the TDS level (EC/PPM) and you'll be in really good shape.