what is toxic salt buildup cause by???

what is toxic salt buildup caused by???

It usually occurs when there is a problem with your ph. If your ph is off your plant can not readily absorb the nutrients you have been putting in your medium. Rather than being utilized by your plant it begins to collect in your medium. The collection forms a salting effect which then blocks absortion completely of your roots.

Basically it begins by giving too much fertilizer. Repeatedly.

calicat said:

It usually occurs when there is a problem with your ph. If your ph is off your plant can not readily absorb the nutrients you have been putting in your medium. Rather than being utilized by your plant it begins to collect in your medium. The collection forms a salting effect which then blocks absortion completely of your roots.

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how to fix? flush and the check ph of soil/water??

Straight water @ 7.0 and they will come back.I had a buddy who swore by Epson Salt said it was the best Calcium Nutrient in the World.His plants were dying so he called and I could thump the salt off of the roots.They died and he smoked what was there, tasted like salt.

hydrotech364 said:

Straight water @ 7.0 and they will come back.I had a buddy who swore by Epson Salt said it was the best Calcium Nutrient in the World.His plants were dying so he called and I could thump the salt off of the roots.They died and he smoked what was there, tasted like salt.

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ouch that sucks, I'm still in veg only about a 2 months in. Thay are going to be mothers but I noticed they were growing slow, and it does look like some salt may be in the bottom of my pots(grow with promix). I only fed them 3-4 times max. My promix must have a ph problum. My water has been 6.5 when feeding or jus tstraight watering. It can't be over fertilizing it i don't think. I have tried all the tricks to get the ph om my drit tring to avoid going to by the $250 soil ph reader.ahhhhhh

crazyj4life said:

ouch that sucks, I'm still in veg only about a 2 months in. Thay are going to be mothers but I noticed they were growing slow, and it does look like some salt may be in the bottom of my pots(grow with promix). I only fed them 3-4 times max. My promix must have a ph problum. My water has been 6.5 when feeding or jus tstraight watering. It can't be over fertilizing it i don't think. I have tried all the tricks to get the ph om my drit tring to avoid going to by the $250 soil ph reader.ahhhhhh

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Salt build up, to the best of my knowledge, is caused by over ferting and from not having proper run off. Always make sure you have plenty of run off water every feeding. I use pro mix and PH to 5.7 and that seems to keep them healthy.
Let the soil dry but not to the point of it pulling away from the sides of pot before watering.
If your leaves are healthy and green dont worry about salt build up for now...you havent been feeding that much so i doubt they are that bad.
But you can flush them out and start over if you are worried and it wont hurt.

hydrotech364 said:

Straight water @ 7.0 and they will come back.I had a buddy who swore by Epson Salt said it was the best Calcium Nutrient in the World.His plants were dying so he called and I could thump the salt off of the roots.They died and he smoked what was there, tasted like salt.

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Epsom salt is just magnesium sulfate, so he was definitely wrong about it being the best Ca nutrient, or even Ca at all.

OP, buildup is usually caused by over-ferting for extended periods of time, not just a couple times. If you've only fed a couple times and haven't burned your plants, I seriously doubt you have a buildup. What makes you think you have a pH problem? Tested runoff?

Make sure it's not a PH problem first.Then go from there.Good runoff, in between feedings, is a good thing also.It doesn't sound like you should be having problems with salt poisoning.

mike91sr said:

Epsom salt is just magnesium sulfate, so he was definitely wrong about it being the best Ca nutrient, or even Ca at all.

OP, buildup is usually caused by over-ferting for extended periods of time, not just a couple times. If you've only fed a couple times and haven't burned your plants, I seriously doubt you have a buildup. What makes you think you have a pH problem? Tested runoff?

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Lol at the calcium in Ep salt. This ^ he speaks the truth bro. It usually takes at several weeks of overferting to build up toxic salt.

Nute abuse !! lmao

Dr Gruber said:

Salt build up, to the best of my knowledge, is caused by over ferting and from not having proper run off. Always make sure you have plenty of run off water every feeding. I use pro mix and PH to 5.7 and that seems to keep them healthy.
Let the soil dry but not to the point of it pulling away from the sides of pot before watering.
If your leaves are healthy and green dont worry about salt build up for now...you havent been feeding that much so i doubt they are that bad.
But you can flush them out and start over if you are worried and it wont hurt.

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Yep, caused by over feeding and poor watering habits. Feed,water,water,feed,water,water getting at least 10% runoff each time you water and it will never be an issue. If you get to the point of toxic buildup crystals will begin to form on the surface of your medium in most cases.

mike91sr said:

Epsom salt is just magnesium sulfate, so he was definitely wrong about it being the best Ca nutrient, or even Ca at all.

OP, buildup is usually caused by over-ferting for extended periods of time, not just a couple times. If you've only fed a couple times and haven't burned your plants, I seriously doubt you have a buildup. What makes you think you have a pH problem? Tested runoff?

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I have not tested my run off yet I herd it's inaccurate, and I really don't wanna buy an expensive soil meter. My leaves are nice n green but my plants seem to have slowed down growth a lot. The cheese and fruity cronic juice look good but my grape fruit diesel has lower leaves that look wilted and are a bit darker green plus that are slowed to a crawl. All of the seem to look I don't know just not rite. The seem to have cracks on the leaves n the tips of all the lil jagged edges look shinny and sometimes like they are turnning white. That's the best description I can give. Any thought?

Dr Gruber said:

Salt build up, to the best of my knowledge, is caused by over ferting and from not having proper run off. Always make sure you have plenty of run off water every feeding. I use pro mix and PH to 5.7 and that seems to keep them healthy.
Let the soil dry but not to the point of it pulling away from the sides of pot before watering.
If your leaves are healthy and green dont worry about salt build up for now...you havent been feeding that much so i doubt they are that bad.
But you can flush them out and start over if you are worried and it wont hurt.

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Water at 5.7 or your soil???

crazyj4life said:

I have not tested my run off yet I herd it's inaccurate, and I really don't wanna buy an expensive soil meter. My leaves are nice n green but my plants seem to have slowed down growth a lot. The cheese and fruity cronic juice look good but my grape fruit diesel has lower leaves that look wilted and are a bit darker green plus that are slowed to a crawl. All of the seem to look I don't know just not rite. The seem to have cracks on the leaves n the tips of all the lil jagged edges look shinny and sometimes like they are turning white. That's the best description I can give. Any thought?

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If they are a dark green like pine needles then you are over ferting with nitrogen should be a light/bright green kinda like an oak trees leaf. Are all the leaves turning white? or just the ones on the bottom. If it is just the bottoms then I wouldn't worry about that its normal once the plant starts growing taller and the lower leaves aren't receiving light then the plant starts removing nutrients from them to send to new growth. If I were you I'd give it a good flush with ph adjusted water and then wait a couple daays and give it light dose of nutes.

crazyj4life said:

Water at 5.7 or your soil???

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This was passed on to me from people that have been using Pro mix for a long time. Pro mix is not "true soil" it should be thought of as "passive hydro" and you are doing a "drain to waste" style grow. Google drain to waste....
Start by watering at 5.7 check run off with a PH meter($25 and up). Lets say it comes out at 6.4. That would be 7points higher then the target number...adjust PH to 5.0 (7 points below target) and water again. Check PH of run off water not soil...it may not come out at 5.7 but trust that the adjustment worked and move on to the next plant. If the plants are the same strain and age it should be the same as the other plant so feed with PH adjusted water to 5.0 and check run off of that plant....it should be close. After a while of doing this the PH will get close if not right on target. But...during different cycles of the plant the PH will rise and fall...dont be worried just keep doing the drill. And with this method you are always giving nutes with the water unless you start to see nute burn or other signs of problems...if so flush and start over.


Not sure what type of nutes you use and the N-P-K ratios but it is important.
PM me if i didnt explain it clearly or if you have questions....any time.