Please Confirm nitrogen deficiency, solutions.

I could be wrong about this, but believe I'm dealing with nitrogen deficiency. Can anyone offer their experience confirm this or suggest otherwise? My two plants that were the very fastest growers have in the last 2-3 weeks really seemed to slow down and have got progressively more yellow leaves starting with the lowest fan leaves and moving up. I understand lower leaves will slowly die through the growth process but this seems way more than that.

My 3rd plant has had a slight lime color to the leaves near the top, but hasn't had really any/many lower leaves drop.

The two plants with the yellow leaf issues are a trainwreck hybrid here in the Northwest. The plant with the lime green is True OG. For 2 waterings now I've given Neptune's fish and seaweed fertilizer but so far doesn't seem to have affected/stopped the leaf die off, but I wonder if it's maybe a slow process to uptake that low level of organic nitrogen?

Please, any feedback would be highly appreciated!

SOIL:
How long has this problem been going on? 2-3 weeks

What STRAIN are you growing? Romulan, Fuego (trainwreck hybrids), and true OG

What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) clone

What is the age of your plants? 11 weeks

How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now? 8-9 weeks

Were they in the same mixture when they were seedlings/smaller plant? No

What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Vegetative and early flower (true OG)

What Technique are you using? None

What size pots are you using? 15-20gal

What substrate/medium are you using? Soil

What brand of soil mixture are you using? EB stone 420 mix with added perlite, compost, and pumice stone. Put in a minimal amount of EB stone vegan dry fert.

What brand Nutrient's are you using? Neptune's harvest fish and seaweed

How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? Recommended amount per gallon

How often are you feeding? Have only fed twice, over the last 4-5 waterings.

How often are you watering? Every 2-3 days.
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? Last fed about 6 days ago.

Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? No, dries in a 2-3 day period

What water are you using? Tap

Have any pest chemicals been used? Used mosquito dunks as had some fungus gnats early. Hot days letting the soil dry helped a ton.

Are plant's infected with pest's? No

Are you using water from a water softener?No

Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? No

Looks like N to me. It's going to take a week or so to correct and the damaged leaves won't recover.

somebody1701 said:

Looks like N to me. It's going to take a week or so to correct and the damaged leaves won't recover.

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Thanks for the response! From all my research it seemed to be N. also makes sense those plants grew like insane weeds at the start so they used it all up. Is my Neptune's Harvest fish and seaweed fert the appropriate response at 2-3-1? Or do I need to hit it with something that's line a 6 or 8 or 10 on the nitrogen level?

I'd go with something that has mostly N as a supplement or alone for a week or two. The ratio is more important than the size of the numbers, IMO.

organic only?

AnimalMother1974 said:

organic only?

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yes organic only. Did one more fert watering since i posted. Can't say things detectably improved yet... Hoping in one more week things will look better. Got pH measurement going to check the water and what it is after excess drains off.

Please help! So my pH is naturally high (ground water). Thinking maybe I'm dealing with nutrient lockout. I've done one watering so far with corrected water with pH down.. plants still losing leaves!! Will it take a while to allow nutrients to start getting uptake again?

The N deficient leaves won't recover. Watch for new leaves turning yellow as a sign of whether you've corrected or not. Long-term, you might want to start collecting rain water.

Thanks! Appreciate the response. Does it sound like nutrient lock out based on looks/actions of previously giving N feedings, and finding my water is around 8 pH?

Yes I'm still getting yellow leaves after when I'm sure I've gotten them some N. That, and local hydroponic store guy who lives near me indicating high pH water (verified with drops shows clearly in the 8+ range).. Makes me think nutrient lock out. Will be watering tonight with another batch of water around 6-6.5. hoping this perks them up.

What's funny is last year I didn't get this issue at all with the same water. Thoughts on why? The two plants with the most significant issue are very similar stains to what i grew last year. That said, they grew like monsters very early in large pots, wonder if they used a lot of nutrients and that made them more susceptible to lockout vs a slower growing plant? Just musing about the differences.

I'm in Portland Oregon so there is no rain for at least another 6 weeks at the earliest.

GrowBrew said:

Please help! So my pH is naturally high (ground water). Thinking maybe I'm dealing with nutrient lockout. I've done one watering so far with corrected water with pH down.. plants still losing leaves!! Will it take a while to allow nutrients to start getting uptake again?
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Flush um man then let them dry out for 2 or 3 days before adding nutes

GrowBrew said:

Thanks! Appreciate the response. Does it sound like nutrient lock out based on looks/actions of previously giving N feedings, and finding my water is around 8 pH?

Yes I'm still getting yellow leaves after when I'm sure I've gotten them some N. That, and local hydroponic store guy who lives near me indicating high pH water (verified with drops shows clearly in the 8+ range).. Makes me think nutrient lock out. Will be watering tonight with another batch of water around 6-6.5. hoping this perks them up.

What's funny is last year I didn't get this issue at all with the same water. Thoughts on why? The two plants with the most significant issue are very similar stains to what i grew last year. That said, they grew like monsters very early in large pots, wonder if they used a lot of nutrients and that made them more susceptible to lockout vs a slower growing plant? Just musing about the differences.

I'm in Portland Oregon so there is no rain for at least another 6 weeks at the earliest.

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If you're growing in soil you shouldn't have ph problems. There are buffers in the soil itself. I haven't PH'd my water for a long time.

GrowBrew said:

Thanks for the response! From all my research it seemed to be N. also makes sense those plants grew like insane weeds at the start so they used it all up. Is my Neptune's Harvest fish and seaweed fert the appropriate response at 2-3-1? Or do I need to hit it with something that's line a 6 or 8 or 10 on the nitrogen level?

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That's fine. Those bigger numbers don't mean anything but concentration. Like a 20-20-20 would be 1-1-1, a 9-3-6 would be 3-1-2.

So yours is higher in N. I prefer a balanced feed all the way through.
That ratio is fine foe now.

No ph problem. Its hungry.

Well I thought I'd fed my plants plenty, I didn't want to burn them up. Do I just need to dump that much more nutes in them? I went easy/nute recommendations, not more. The two plants that i think I did give a little more N to are doing the best. But I don't want to give N now, right? But doesn't the plant still need leaves to get energy help power bud growth? They can't all die yet!

They're all budding now of course, though the buds look stunted on the plant in the smallest container. They've gotten just plain water the last 3 waterings.

The plant that is furthest along, maybe 1-3 more weeks left really looks like it's hurting. Buds are big though. Any recommendations on helping me get these babies across the finish line as healthy as possible? What to do now?

Thanks!!!

Bump--any help please? Super appreciate it!

There's no harm in supplying N at any time as long as you don't cause N toxicity. I would focus more on P and K at this point. They all look hungry but how far into flower are you?

I'll have to look at pictures but 3 of them are about 2-3 weeks in and that other one that looks hungry is at 4-5 weeks I think.

This may sound gross to some, but in a pinch fresh diluted urine 15:1 can work as a fast acting nitrogen boost.