Two plants, two problems.

Hi, so I am having some issues with two of my plans at the moment. I will try to be as descriptive of my situation as possible for both of them. Thanks in advance for your helpful replies RIU!

These are bagseeds.
I'm using Promix organic soil, and no nutes (but have some available if needed to remedy these issues).
Using Cfl for lights.
Temps at a steady 75-80f.
Tap water, ph 6.5. (have not checked soil ph, but have a tester)



Plant 1 (26 Days veg, 1 Day 12/12)

Brown spots developing since about one week ago. Plant is otherwise healthy and still growing. Brown spots are only on the oldest leaves.







you can (hopefully) see the issue starting to develop on a newer leaf here


Plant 2 (23 days veg, 1 Day 12/12)

Very Dark green, bottom leaves yellowing, curling, dying. (hard to compare from the pic to the first plant, but its VERY dark green.)

I don't think you're having nutrient issues at this time.
The first plant's blemishes are some sort of lesion ... local burns or bug bites.
The second plant looks a bit overwatered but otherwise fine. The small leaves are probably dying from lack of light ... the leaves above are providing a lot of shade. cn

Thanks for the quick reply, it's my first grow and am kinda nervous for my girls, but yeah, I'm sure the first one is over watered, but as for the second, we'll have to see. I haven't seen bugs on the bottom of the leaves, but that doesn't mean it's not the problem I guess. The issue of the brown spots are also developing on the newer leaves (but not the newest though).

One possibility (and I hesitate because this is a long shot) is your tap water. If it's hard, and especially if it contains appreciable sodium, it could be causing mild lockout.
Are you by any chance using a water softener? cn

No water softener, but I wouldn't be surprised if my water was hard.

I work about 5 miles away (in a different small town, but its still really close) and the water there is classified as 'Jesus water' meaning that you can walk on it its so hard.

I have no way to test this though.

Absent a TDS meter, you can probably find a municipal water report online.
But the hard water could be causing you trouble. Young, smallish plants like that are more vulnerable ...
... if you do find a water analysis, please post the data. cn

Ok, so I'm reading a report from 2011, here's a chart from the report.

The sodium is gratifyingly low. But there really should be values somewhere in that report for TDS or total hardness, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, sulfate, all in ppm. cn

The only other thing that I found in the report was this:



Its all pretty detailed, but lacks those parts.... its only 3 pages, one is the explanation of where the water comes from, the other is the chart and the second picture, the last is a paragraph about people with immune problems and contact info.

Dang. I'm surprised. I'd have thought that to be a sure part of the analysis. I'm wondering if they're only reporting what the law requires. In any case, a TDS meter is a nice thing to have around. I've diagnosed a salt buildup in my soil grow using it. cn

Yeah, its a small town, I'm sure they're just providing the info required by law.

Thanks for the replies, I wouldn't mind spending a few bucks on something like

this or this.

Which do you think?

If nothing can be bought for that cheap, I'm not sure its worth the effort.. is it?

If you're having trouble diagnosing something ion-related, i would say it is worth the effort (pronounced money, I'm guessing).
I received one of those cheap TDS pens as a bennie when i bought an RO filter. I tried it against my good one, and it was completely useless ... it read about 1/3 real, and not linearly or in proportion.
I would sooner recommend something like this ... Oakton is my go-to brand for pH and TDS. It's pricier, but a good value in terms of getting what you pay for.
I wouldn't use the indicator paper. It's cheap ... and just about worth it. Jmo ... cn

use different water.. i thought my water was 6.8 cause thats what it is in so cal. but its not lol.

No bubbles here lol

But maybe if I just ask at city hall for more info on the hardness (its a small house with like 2 people running the show). Maybe they can point me to someone who knows more.

I got a ph tester for soil, but its a cheapo one, not sure how accurate (the directions say to make a slurry out of the soil). I could try it though.

Ok, a couple of major issues seen today. I added about 4 43 w lights and I believe this has caused some major issues. It didn't seem like too much, but now that I add it up, I have 900 watts for 3 plants. What does everyone think?

*The 1st girl got really stressed, the heat really hit some highs today at about 85-95 near the plants, and at about 105 near the exhaust at the top. This was for the six hours or so before I came to check on them. Only the first plant showed this stress. Maybe its not heat? I watered her on Saturday or Sunday, but she was dry to about 3-4 inches down, and she perked up when I watered so I'm sure that was needed. Like I said before, I've been watering with very low strength nutes, but maybe this one just doesn't like it.

She didn't look like this last night...




*The 2nd girl had a light fall on her and cleanly snapped one of the top main branches off right where it joins the stem. Duct tape is supporting that branch now.

(The right side is snapped)


Any further advice for either? I've pretty much gotten the temps down to tolerable (79-89f).