Gorilla Glue #4 New Growth Deformed

They are GG#4 clones that I transplanted to 2-qt square pots filled with E.B. Stone's Recipe 420 soil and 20% Grow Stones. Initial watering was de-chlorinated water with 1/4 tsp per gallon Superthrive. They have been vegging quickly in a tent in my air-conditioned room and are now teen size (except for one runt). Up until a week ago all leaves were lush green and healthy, and I noticed after a feeding the new growth was coming out really bubbly looking - is this what is referred to as "leaf margin rolling"?



I read this strain is a heavy nitrogen feeder so I fed them a week ago with some Nectar For The Gods (Medusa's Magic, Gaia Mania, Herculean Harvest and Zeus Juice at lower recommended ranges) plus 1/2 strength Mission Grow liquid fertilizer and Microbe Life Nourish-C. pH'd to 6.2 w/ a Blue Lab pH pen that has been cleaned/calibrated a little more than 1 month ago. Their roots had reached the bottom of the pots so I figured a light organic feed was very unlikely to burn since they have been in their soil for about 2 weeks now and it typically will feed for about a month.

I had been slowly lowering my Onyx Bloom LED about 2" per day, and it got as low as ~22" off the canopy. Only new growth is affected so I doubt the problem is too much light, heat stress, or any mobile nutrient deficiency. The runt is affected too so I doubt it is the fact that the larger ones need to be transplanted.

3 days ago I noticed fungus gnats so I mixed up some Monterey B.t. at 1 Tablespoon/Gal. , Azamax at 1 Tablespoon/Gal, and EZ-wet at 1/4 teaspoon/Gal and did a root drench and a foliar spray with the same mix. Hit them again with the same mix 2 days later.

I'm considering doing a flush with just Herculean Harvest and maybe some compost tea but I thought I would post on here to see if anyone has encountered this before. I'm thinking I may have doubled up on the humic/fulvic acid (Zeus and Nourish) and I know too much of that can cause imbalance. Or maybe there is just too much available Phosphorous in everything I fed and combined with the nutrition left in the soil it is causing Calcium deficiency?

I'd be grateful for any advice on this!

Nitrogen toxicity for sure...what size
Pots are you using? Seems a ill early to be growing through bottoms? Could be root bound as well?

They are in 2-quart square pots about 5" wide. Do you think any permanent damage is being done letting them get this root-bound?



In the future I will definitely leave more space for them to grow at the bottom since I see roots concentrated there and seem to be drying it out unevenly. I buried the stems a little to keep them sturdier.

As far as your diagnosis, it all adds up; I did not take into account the 2700-3000K "Warm White" Onyx Bloom LED is making them look more yellow to me, which coupled with what I heard about them being heavy N feeders is why I was trying to feed them more nitrogen... I can see when I color balance the photos that they are much darker green than I thought. Compared to photos I've seen, they don't look as dark green as I would expect for N toxicity, is that because they are new leaves? I couldn't find anything about N toxicity being linked to the bubbly look of the new growth - not sure what the term for this is but it seems like if it was too much N then it's possible it has more than just N toxicity?

Even though it was organic, the Nectar is already digested and available, and with those humics/fulvics too much of the Mission was available also, plus all the carbs for the microbes to help them further break down the 2 weeks of nutrition left in the soil... looks like I got a little overzealous with these still-rather-small plants.

Thanks for your input!

Full groupshots w/ 10" x 20" tray in background:

N toxicity can make new growth look deformed and twisted....with my plants I usually also see the claw they call it...where the point or points of the leaves almost make a 90deg angle downwards...

I can't quite remember but I also recently read that zinc I believe will look like a N def and cause yellowing which in your case would make more since...may be worth looking into?

CocoTwisty said:

They are in 2-quart square pots about 5" wide. Do you think any permanent damage is being done letting them get this root-bound?

View attachment 3442632

In the future I will definitely leave more space for them to grow at the bottom since I see roots concentrated there and seem to be drying it out unevenly. I buried the stems a little to keep them sturdier.

As far as your diagnosis, it all adds up; I did not take into account the 2700-3000K "Warm White" Onyx Bloom LED is making them look more yellow to me, which coupled with what I heard about them being heavy N feeders is why I was trying to feed them more nitrogen... I can see when I color balance the photos that they are much darker green than I thought. Compared to photos I've seen, they don't look as dark green as I would expect for N toxicity, is that because they are new leaves? I couldn't find anything about N toxicity being linked to the bubbly look of the new growth - not sure what the term for this is but it seems like if it was too much N then it's possible it has more than just N toxicity?

Even though it was organic, the Nectar is already digested and available, and with those humics/fulvics too much of the Mission was available also, plus all the carbs for the microbes to help them further break down the 2 weeks of nutrition left in the soil... looks like I got a little overzealous with these still-rather-small plants.

Thanks for your input!

Full groupshots w/ 10" x 20" tray in background:

View attachment 3442634 View attachment 3442635

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As far as the root bound goes...
Doesn't look too bad but if you aren't trying to restrict the height or size I would pot up immediately! Nurseries pot up their plants as soon as the roots come through the bottom and always 3x pot size...so 6qt in your case...I have been told that this will keep your plants from being stunted and makes best use of your nutrients.

On Friday they were transplanted into 3 gallon fabric pots, today they the tips were curling downward (the dreaded claw) so I flushed about 2 gallons of de-chlorinated water through each one and then afterwards an additional 1 gallon w/ 1 Tablespoon/5 gallons EZ-Wet and 1 Tablespoon/Gallon Herculean Harvest pH'd to 6.3.

HH will hopefully restore balance, I will post an update if they start to turn around. Here's where they're at now:

stop drilling them w soo much additives and nutes..focus on ph and watering times...ur petioles are red and ur plant is lanky...but theirs still hope gl

james murphy said:

stop drilling them w soo much additives and nutes..focus on ph and watering times...ur petioles are red and ur plant is lanky...but theirs still hope gl

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What James said. Back off the N.

"more is better, more is better, more is better" YUP - to kill them faster!

Use your regular nutrient as directed.
pH everything ingoing to 6.5-6.7 and forget about pH in soil!

Use a Ca/Mg product
Add silica

Transplant / up pot regularly