Cal/mag issue? Help confirming

Hey guys, this is my first run with cyco nutrients, three out of my 7 plants are showing what i think is cal/mag issue. I use cal/mag as an additive to cyco nutrients and im wondering if this could possibly be a calmag burn or is this lack of cal/mag. All pots are in 5 gal 70% sun shine #4 30% oceAn forest. I am currently day 14 flower. Under two 600w ushio w/ vert hoods. I usually feed a ph of 6.1 - 6.2 in and get 5.7-5.9 out. Also i monitor the ppm in and out and keep a log. Last watering was with nutes was 10/22/14 11000ppm in 1300ppm out. Last wAtering was 10/25/14 135ppm tap water in and 750-900 out. 5.7-5.9 ph runoff.

Sounds like you're making it hard...K.I.S.S...without paying attention to anything you said...lol...it looks like you have a nute lock out, witch means 1) you are feeding too much 2) your temps are too low at night/dark cycle 3) not enough air flow 4) not enough light in the space you have 5) the containers you have them in are too small.......with it only happening to a few I would go with temps or not enough air flow...peace and "keep 'em green" ....another thing, I would recommend mylar on the walls, I have 2-1,000watters on 12 plants and it's almost not enough ....

I like how you've been keeping track of your runoff. 1300 sounds high. But, I would expect lower ph if you have salt buildup, lockout. As rink said, you might try water-only and reduce how much you feed. Can you take a photo of a leaf in natural light. Looks like calcium def, but hard to say.

If it is calcium def, I would feed water only with just calmag (large dose).

Do you use dolomite in your soil? You may want to increase next grow.

I just like to keep a log incase i have problems i can look back and have correct information. My temps during the day are 76-79 my night temps are 63-70. Ive never seen below 63 nore above 80 in my room. Ive only fed 3 or 4 times above 800 ppm (5 week of veg was about 600-750 ppm) i am only in second week of flower. I was wondering if its possible i am burning from cal/mag because ive never used cyco nutes before and i am using cal/mag in addition to there whole line. I will take a picture in natural light today. I am going to flush them, what should runoff b 6.0? And i want to resolve this so it doesnt happen again. Is it possible to burn from calmag or mainly nitrogen....? Hmmm thanks guys your input is great appreciated.

MrDank420 said:

I am going to flush them, what should runoff b 6.0? And i want to resolve this so it doesnt happen again.

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I never had salt buildup problems until my runoff was lower than 5.4 and the ppm was in the high 1200's. Without seeing the whole plant and more pictures in natural light, you might get by just feeding water only and reducing your nute strength from then on. If you flush, I don't believe there's a ph or ppm you're looking for. You just do a 3x flush. I've never flushed. Sometimes when I fed water only I watered with 2gals for 50-100% runoff. A moderate flush. But, never a 7.5-gal flush (for my 2.5gal containers).

Something to keep in mind about runoff ph: This isn't accurate except as a trend to watch (which you've been doing). How long it sits in the container before being displaced into runoff, and how much water is added to displace runoff (potentially diluting the water which sat in the container) affects the ph of the runoff. Like I said, as a trend of your watering style, I think it's valuable information to have when changing nutes or medium. But, when you flush, it's obviously going to be a different style than what you normally do. (And, you can't compare your individual runoff values to mine. All we can do is compare trends such as the velocity toward acidification.).

Google for NCSU Pour-Thru Method to see the most comparable runoff ph. Few people have the time to wait an hour. So, the best we can hope for is fairly repeatable watering style and a sense of how each watering was different (how today's 5.5 might reflect differently than last week's because we were in a hurry this time, or got more runoff, etc.).

You said you want to avoid this in the future. If it's not salt buildup from overfeeding, you'll want to amend (more?) dolomite lime into the soil. Maybe also begin dissolving egg shells in vinegar (<<link). That will give you a source of ca to treat a deficiency without adding unnecessary mg (via a calmag product).

Here is a few natural light pics of leaves. Sorry its so hard for me to come when lights off... I have to wait until weekend. Pretty much im flushing tonight. Hope the pictures help

But besides the small problem they are doing great. 5 blue cheese 2 trainwreck under two 600w vert hoods

MrDank420 said:

Here is a few natural light pics of leaves.

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The speckling could be ca def. But, it looks a little purple. Not orange enough. Some leaves it looks like purple blotches, like p def. But, some looks like n def. Multiple defs could be lockout, or you're not feeding enough. You have a fairly high ppm. But, your runoff ph isn't too low. But, as I said, that depends on your style of watering. You've been monitoring runoff ph. How has it trended?

Are you watering high enough ph? You're doing a 70/30 blend of peat and soil(?). Watering soil should be ph 6.5. Soilless should be 5.8 veg to 6.2 in flower. I've never understood where soil begins and soilless ends even though I've done the same thing. I did 6.1 in veg and 6.3 in flower when I ran 20% soil. I'm doing 25% now and trying 6.3 to 6.5.

I've got a feeling you need to be higher. I'd feed at 6.4-6.5 to see if that makes a difference. You can also foliar feed to get nutrients to the plant if it's a lockout. You'll need to protect the plants from strong light or the water drops will burn. Also dry with a fan if you're into blooming and worried about bud rot.

first of all id like to thank you for you time and quick responses. Ok so i def think your right about the ph too low! i just added some flushing solution to about 25 gallons of water and phd it to 6.2 and my run off was 5.7-6.0 depending on the plant. 250ppm in and 1000ppm out. im not done flushing that was just round one. i have a scrog set up and its hard to clear the water from the run pan. so i do it about 2 sessions. im going to ph the next set of water to 6.4 and check the new run off.