Source of a deficiency

[snowman4839]

How do you tell the source of a deficiency? I know that pH can lock out nutrients, too much of one nutrient can lock out other nutrients, and an actual lack of a nutrient can show deficiencies as well.

I know you can diagnose pH by testing runoff and the 6.6-6.8 means that it shouldn't be locking anything out (maybe a bit of iron and something else).

so my questions are...
1) How do you know if it's a deficiency or nutrient lock?
2) What do you guys do if your plants show deficiency? Water with plain water to flush or add the deficient nutrient (or something else)?
3) Not really a question related to it but will leaves that lose color or become necrotic come back and regain color if you fix the problem? Or do they just stay dead? Should you cut them off or leave em there?

 

[TaoWolf]

1. I think it comes down to having past experience with a strain and experience with the nutrients used. Start light on nutrients and increase them slowly and methodically if lacking guideline experience with either.
2. True deficiencies would be a rare and unlikely occurrence if you are using any complete nutrient line - so it usually comes down to preventing lockouts by maintaining a good pH and not overdoing it with the nutrient concentration (overfeeding).
3. No not usually. Old damaged foliage rarely corrects itself and instead the plant just concentrates on growing new foliage. Most people (self included) recommend giving a dead-looking leaf a slight tug. If it comes right off, it's all good. If it doesn't, leave it be.

 

[snowman4839]

2. True deficiencies would be a rare and unlikely occurrence if you are using any complete nutrient line - so it usually comes down to preventing lockouts by maintaining a good pH and not overdoing it with the nutrient concentration (overfeeding).

By "complete nutrient line", do you mean basically the pre-made mixtures that you add to soil that have labels like 10-10-10 or 5-3-3 or whatever?

 

[Pureblood89]

1. Normally when you have a nutrient lock you experience symptoms of multiple deficiency one after another. Nitrogen is usually the easiest to spot, followed by Magnesium and Calcium, Phosphorus and Potassium show later. Check your PH after every feeding or watering to be safe.

2. Flush the medium with mild nutrient solution, approximately 1/4 strength.

3. Deficiencies that cause necrosis do irreversible damage to the leaves, it's not recommended to trim and stress out the plant, yet rotting vegetation can attract unwanted pests. I'll leave this one up to you.

 

[snowman4839]

Well here's what happened on my last grow.

People told me that was Mg def. and that's also what I suspected. It died from overwatering and pH crazyness because I didn't have a pH meter during this grow (which is why I have one now). This was in the Miracle Blows Moisture Control so it also sucked with drainage too. I did a really retarded thing and poured a LOT of water with a LOT of epsom salt in it along with foliar feeding REALLY concentrated epsom salt solution. What would've been the best thing to do here? Water without nutrients and make sure the pH is correct and if it is and it doesn't show improvement, foliar feed epsom salt or add a little bit of epsom salt to the next watering?

 

[NightbirdX]

ALWAYS pH your nutrients and water before feeding. Personally I think it looks a bit like nutrient burn, but I don't have the greatest eye for diagnosis. If you are using good nutes or soil, you shouldn't have any deficiencies.

If you are flushing, I was told that you use 3x the amount of water than the size of the bucket. 1gal=3, 5gal=15, etc. If I flush I just give pH 6 water, some people use a low dosage of nutes with it. If you have a deficiency I would recommend using the low dosage of nutrients. If it is burn, I would recommend just using water.

I would not recommend Miracle Grow for anything you ingest. I have seen some great results with people who use it, but it isn't really supposed to be used on stuff you ingest or inhale. Go to a local nursery or grow shop and get a good soil. If you are looking for a simple but effective nutrient line, I started with Fox Farms and did everything by the guide and have had great results. We used Pro-Mix soilless medium and used Fox Farms Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, and Grow Big. pH the solution and add. When the pots get light and the soil dry, then you just mix another batch and feed. It works like a charm.

 

[snowman4839]

ALWAYS pH your nutrients and water before feeding. Personally I think it looks a bit like nutrient burn, but I don't have the greatest eye for diagnosis. If you are using good nutes or soil, you shouldn't have any deficiencies.

If you are flushing, I was told that you use 3x the amount of water than the size of the bucket. 1gal=3, 5gal=15, etc. If I flush I just give pH 6 water, some people use a low dosage of nutes with it. If you have a deficiency I would recommend using the low dosage of nutrients. If it is burn, I would recommend just using water.

I would not recommend Miracle Grow for anything you ingest. I have seen some great results with people who use it, but it isn't really supposed to be used on stuff you ingest or inhale. Go to a local nursery or grow shop and get a good soil. If you are looking for a simple but effective nutrient line, I started with Fox Farms and did everything by the guide and have had great results. We used Pro-Mix soilless medium and used Fox Farms Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, and Grow Big. pH the solution and add. When the pots get light and the soil dry, then you just mix another batch and feed. It works like a charm.

Well I was just using straight miracle blow so it should've had good nutes in it. I KNOW it was Mg def (for whatever reason) and not nute burn. Nute burn yellows around the edges. Mg def yellows and kills the outsides and middle and causes the tips to curl up (it fits all 3 symptoms).

I'm growing one in my own soil mix from my local store that has straight soil (no nutes) mixed with vemiculite-like rock, perlite, and 5-3-3 nutes. It drains very well too. Then I have the other one in the miracle grow moisture control. I'm going to grow them in the same conditions (except watering schedule because of their different abilities to retain water) like air temp, air, water pH (but will change as needed), nutes (as needed), light, and lighting schedule. Then I can compare the growth, color, taste, high, and basically everything. They were planted within a day of each other. The day younger is in my soil mix.

 

[NightbirdX]

I had nute burn on mine that looked just like that lol. But, my problems were completely different than your problems.

I would honestly just go with your soil mix and stay away from the Miracle grow.