Please Help A Newbie

Hey guys and gals,

I have four bigbud x northern lights going and they were doing great up until a couple days ago. They are two weeks from seed as of yesterday. The soil is a sterilized mix that is made locally. The bag says it contains peat moss,sand,lime,soil conditioner and enough ferts to start plants into healthy growth. I am growing under cfl's for veg. My temps are in between 74 and 77. Humidity between 35 and 50. They are in three gallon pots. I water them every four to five days so far with water ph'd at about 6.5-6.6. No nutes yet. I have had bug problems so that is why I have all the sticky strips. They seem to be gone now though. Last week I sprayed the soil with fruit and veg bug spray. The kind you get at lowes that is made from plants. The bugs were hanging on the soil so I wanted to keep the spray off the plants so I rinsed what did get on there with a spray bottle of water. I had my lights at 2 inches and thought I might be burning them with water droplets left on the plant but my problem keeps spreading. I have narrowed it down to calcium, magnesium or pottasium. It looks exactly like nute burn from the pics in the faq but I have fed no nutes. Not all plants have equal problems. I started noticing tip burns on the tops of one plant. Then I noticed all the plants first set of serrated leaves were affected through the whole leaf. Felt dry with yellow and brown spots. The tip burn has gotten worse on the one plant and have noticed some tips getting it on other plants. They just started to get leaves coming out from between the main stem and other leaves a couple days ago and I noticed some of the new growth has burnt looking tips. I think it is a mobile nute since it is all over the plant which would leave mag and K. I need to water tomorrow so I hope I can get her figured out so I can give nutes if needed. Here are some pics of the problem and some of the ladies. It affects the leaf tips and edge points. Thanks in advance.

Here are the rest

They look fine... I wouldn't worry too much about it... but the temps are alittle low... try raising it up about 10 degrees... give or take a few...

tckfui said:

They look fine... I wouldn't worry too much about it... but the temps are alittle low... try raising it up about 10 degrees... give or take a few...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I think the pictures suck for conveying the problem. A couple days ago it was just a few leaf tips and now it has progressed to more leaf tips on 3 of 4 plants as well as moving down the edgess of the affected leafs. I wouldn't be so worried if it was later on and they were bigger but at their size and the progression of the problem I am worried.

I thought that 75 degrees was optimal for indoor growth? You really think I should raise it? Think it is still too early for nutes?

Plants will grow... and can do quite well at 75 degrees or even alittle lower... but optimal is 80 85... plants will usualy turn purple when kept in temps lower than 75... thats how they react to cold for some reason... I think its too early for nutes too...
It seems whenever I grow I always have a few plants that will have leaves with tipps like that... even at an early age... mine are only 2 times the size andf have some leaves like that...

keep your temps around 75; that is the ideal temp. THC content will be stronger if grown at lower temperatures. Warm temps will increase stretching. Night time drops in temp of 10 degrees are also ideal. 85f is the max temp you should work with. Higher temps won't necessarily kill your plants but will lead to increased water usage due to excess uptake and respiration. Your humidity is in the ideal range for flowering and could even stand a bit more humidity during the veg phase.

Check that bag again and see if those added nutes are time released. If so, you will probably experience some scorched plant tips due to over fertilizing, especially when you start supplementing nutes.

You shouldn't have to really worry about your water's pH as the soil will buffer it, unless your water pH is waaaaaaay out of whack to begin with.

Also, in the future, you may want to start your plants in much smaller containers and repot them as the root ball develops. This will allow your plants root structure to take advantage of their space. Starting in a 3 gallon container will encourage the roots to grow straight down, then out to the side. After you harvest and pull out the root ball and soil from the container, you'll notice a lot of loose soil at the sides and top of the pot.

good luck!

I noticed that you have those little sticky strips to catch those little gnat fly things on and i know that those buggers larvae always kill my seedlings root systems,after examining the soil and the seedling whilst it was dying i noticed little tiny white worms in the soil and in the root stem of the plant and i reckon that these fly/gnat larvae eat the roots of plants and kill seedlings right of as their root system is so small,i suspect that these larvae may have damaged your roots.

I currently have 4 fly papers hanging from a line in my room and actively kill any i see running around in the soil every day,i also noticed that if you flood the plant the little worms will try to come out the plant pot bottom drip holes to breathe so check for this and then just stab them with a pin.

I did save one small plant once by flooding the soil then clearing away the soil from the top inch of the stem and painting it with rooting hormone,this clumped it up real nice and it survived and made me a nice smoke.

So if you know you definitely had these little flying gits then chances are you have their worms in your soil to eating your roots,i have also recently read that molasses is really good for your plants roots and also that it can help to kill pests by creating some kind of organisms in the soil and at the same time making the pests skin susceptible to attacks by the enzymes/organisms in the soil or something along those lines,have a search for that thread for more info.

Hope this helps you out

TheConstantGardner said:

keep your temps around 75; that is the ideal temp. THC content will be stronger if grown at lower temperatures. Warm temps will increase stretching. Night time drops in temp of 10 degrees are also ideal. 85f is the max temp you should work with. Higher temps won't necessarily kill your plants but will lead to increased water usage due to excess uptake and respiration. Your humidity is in the ideal range for flowering and could even stand a bit more humidity during the veg phase.

Check that bag again and see if those added nutes are time released. If so, you will probably experience some scorched plant tips due to over fertilizing, especially when you start supplementing nutes.

You shouldn't have to really worry about your water's pH as the soil will buffer it, unless your water pH is waaaaaaay out of whack to begin with.

Also, in the future, you may want to start your plants in much smaller containers and repot them as the root ball develops. This will allow your plants root structure to take advantage of their space. Starting in a 3 gallon container will encourage the roots to grow straight down, then out to the side. After you harvest and pull out the root ball and soil from the container, you'll notice a lot of loose soil at the sides and top of the pot.

good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I think I will keep my temps where they are at for now. I will try to get some more humidity in there though.

It does not say they are time released ferts on the bag. It just says it includeds ferts to get the plants going and follows that by saying add liquid ferts as needed.

I have to ph my water because it is 8.25 out of the tap.

I did not want to start in 3 gallon pots but my last grow went real bad and when I went to transplant it was a bastard. That was because they were so stunted though. If they were this big then transplanting would not have been so hard. I am learning allot and have learned at least what works to this point. I will try smaller pots next time though. I have an hps they will be going under soon. So I guess I am still confused. It looks like I have minor nute burn but also a possible deficiency. I sure don't want to compound the problem by adding ferts when they don't need it. But something is not right for sure. There is brown just behind the yellow on the affected tips if that helps.

Heres the link to the molasses thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/organics/17980-molasses-part-2-a.html#post180745

natmoon said:

I noticed that you have those little sticky strips to catch those little gnat fly things on and i know that those buggers larvae always kill my seedlings root systems,after examining the soil and the seedling whilst it was dying i noticed little tiny white worms in the soil and in the root stem of the plant and i reckon that these fly/gnat larvae eat the roots of plants and kill seedlings right of as their root system is so small,i suspect that these larvae may have damaged your roots.

I currently have 4 fly papers hanging from a line in my room and actively kill any i see running around in the soil every day,i also noticed that if you flood the plant the little worms will try to come out the plant pot bottom drip holes to breathe so check for this and then just stab them with a pin.

I did save one small plant once by flooding the soil then clearing away the soil from the top inch of the stem and painting it with rooting hormone,this clumped it up real nice and it survived and made me a nice smoke.

So if you know you definitely had these little flying gits then chances are you have their worms in your soil to eating your roots,i have also recently read that molasses is really good for your plants roots and also that it can help to kill pests by creating some kind of organisms in the soil and at the same time making the pests skin susceptible to attacks by the enzymes/organisms in the soil or something along those lines,have a search for that thread for more info.

Hope this helps you out

Click to expand...

I thought about that. I do have gnats. I know that they feed on roots but I thought you had to have a pretty full blown infestation to have serious problems. I now have a no pest strip hanging as well. I also let my soil dry out pretty good at the top. I have yet to see any worm larvae hanging around. I have looked hard too. I hope that is not the case. If I get all the adults and the no pest strip kills the rest then hopefully it will be ok. It would make sense if the root system was being attacked the plant could not get all the nutes from the soil. I hate these dam things. I have only caught maybe 15 at best so I thought my problem was small. Unless anyone has any other ideas I think I will just let them go and see what happens.

akramtona said:

Thanks for the advice. I think I will keep my temps where they are at for now. I will try to get some more humidity in there though.

It does not say they are time released ferts on the bag. It just says it includeds ferts to get the plants going and follows that by saying add liquid ferts as needed.

I have to ph my water because it is 8.25 out of the tap.

I did not want to start in 3 gallon pots but my last grow went real bad and when I went to transplant it was a bastard. That was because they were so stunted though. If they were this big then transplanting would not have been so hard. I am learning allot and have learned at least what works to this point. I will try smaller pots next time though. I have an hps they will be going under soon. So I guess I am still confused. It looks like I have minor nute burn but also a possible deficiency. I sure don't want to compound the problem by adding ferts when they don't need it. But something is not right for sure. There is brown just behind the yellow on the affected tips if that helps.

Click to expand...

Your plant will speak volumes to you if you listen to it the right way. Nutrient deficiencies will show up first on the lower leaves. If you over fertilize, it will show up on the upper leaves. Here's the reason. As the plant is growing it is concentrating it's energy on the new growth. It pulls water and nutrients through the roots and up to the top of the plant. When the nutrients are not available, it'll start using it's lower leaves as a nutrient source. Remember your seed leaves (cotyledons)? They were to your plant as a yolk is to a newly developing chick. Well, after you lose your coty's, your plant will use your lower fan leaves for nutrients with other sources aren't available. If the plant starts pulling in too much of a nutrient too quickly, the burn will show up on the newer vegetation.

Personally, I make adjustments very slowly. "A little bit better" vs. "A little bit worse". Which would you choose? This way, if you're wrong, you haven't severely compounded the problem and you can accurately judge the outcomes of your actions.

If you think about what is going on, you can reasonably figure out why it is going on. Then decide on the remedy and put it into action. Gauge your results, correct your errors, and then you'll be successful.

TheConstantGardner said:

Your plant will speak volumes to you if you listen to it the right way. Nutrient deficiencies will show up first on the lower leaves. If you over fertilize, it will show up on the upper leaves. Here's the reason. As the plant is growing it is concentrating it's energy on the new growth. It pulls water and nutrients through the roots and up to the top of the plant. When the nutrients are not available, it'll start using it's lower leaves as a nutrient source. Remember your seed leaves (cotyledons)? They were to your plant as a yolk is to a newly developing chick. Well, after you lose your coty's, your plant will use your lower fan leaves for nutrients with other sources aren't available. If the plant starts pulling in too much of a nutrient too quickly, the burn will show up on the newer vegetation.

Personally, I make adjustments very slowly. "A little bit better" vs. "A little bit worse". Which would you choose? This way, if you're wrong, you haven't severely compounded the problem and you can accurately judge the outcomes of your actions.

If you think about what is going on, you can reasonably figure out why it is going on. Then decide on the remedy and put it into action. Gauge your results, correct your errors, and then you'll be successful.

Click to expand...

That is what I am trying to do this grow. Be more at peace with it and reap my rewards later. I learned from the first time and am applying it here. I am thinking through a problem before just jumping at a solution because I read such and such on so and so's post. Less is more for sure.


Before I would have seen all this yellow and freaked and immediatly tried to remedy this but after lookin a few things over I got a better gameplan. The coty's are still looking lovely so between that and the soil having ferts I just don't believe it is a pottasium issue. The fact that it is at the top and bottom and middle still has me vexed. I am going to wait it out and see what happens before I do anything rash. I just placed the no pest strip yesterday and just looked and there were a bunch of dead bodies in my overlflow tray. I think those are the babies I missed with the spray. I might just have some root damage. In that case all I could do is take a cautious approach and let things work themselves out or let em die. Either way I WILL NOT CONCEDE. I WILL GROW SOME WEED.


PS. It was much easier to grow in high school when I knew nothing.Ignorance is bliss

akramtona said:

The fact that it is at the top and bottom and middle still has me vexed. I am going to wait it out and see what happens before I do anything rash. I just placed the no pest strip yesterday...

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I think you're onto the problem. If the problem started showing up throughout the whole plant it might be an environmental variable such as temp, airflow, light distance, etc.

Hey Guys ,


I have some new symptoms. Not only has the problem moved to an unaffected plant but it has gotten worse on the new growth in the badly affected plants. The top shute is still putting out even, uniform growth but the leaves that are growing out of the intersection of other leaves and the main stem are getting the problem bad and don't seem to be growing very strongly and they have deformed growth. As in some leaves have even finger counts and are just not close to uniform . I hope this helps narrow it down a little more. I am off to do some reading.

Im gonna say its the soil your using. It has a lot of crap that might just be to strong for new seedlings.I personally use miracle grow moisture control.Use only the moisture control bags though always great strong young ones.

Oh and switch from cfls to 4 foot shop lights the florescent ones.They work better for the veg

FilthyFletch said:

Im gonna say its the soil your using. It has a lot of crap that might just be to strong for new seedlings.I personally use miracle grow moisture control.Use only the moisture control bags though always great strong young ones.

Click to expand...

Yeah I think it could be that but if so and the problem doesn't get much worse then they should pull through fine. We will see. All the new growth at the top of the plant is still nice and healthy and uniform.

FilthyFletch said:

Oh and switch from cfls to 4 foot shop lights the florescent ones.They work better for the veg

Click to expand...

I'm pretty happy with the cfl's. They are growing at a very good rate. Nice and short and bushy with strong stems. They don't seem to be showing any symptoms that they need more light. I have them in custom built polished aluminum reflectors and they seem to love it. They will be going under a 400 watt hps when it is time to flower.