i'm lost

hello riu people. been lurking here for quite a while and have absorbed some good info. i have a sick plant and i can't figure it out. this is my third grow. not a noob anymore but far from experienced. could use a little direct help now. growing this one in a bubble bucket. strain: northern lights. using general hydroponics flora series at 75% strength. seems that growth has slowed down to a crawl. leaves seem extra droopy. the coloring in the leaves has been haunting me for a while. thought maybe a zinc deficiency? lowered the ph to 5.4 for a couple days. didn't help. growing under a 1,000 watt light in a 4x4 tent. light is cooled plus an additional fan venting the tent. temp, humidity, res temps, and ph have been at acceptable levels all the way through. any ideas?

more pics. hard to get the color to show.

Definitely a nutrient deficiency. A plant that size can take full nutes up to 1500 ppm. looks like nitrogen or sulfur deficiency. are you using the 3 part series? grow, bloom, and micro?

Possibilities~
Over watering
root bound
under fed~

What kind of medium are you useing? Or are you useing those Rubber Disc thingies? Have you checked the PH inside your bucket? Or just what you add to it?

yes distiller....general hrdro 3 part. net pot with hydroton dangly. ph has been perfect all along. i check the bucket ph regularly. the root mass is big but it doesn't appear to be bound. stil have some room in the bucket. going to up the nutes and hope for the best.

Plants do not look that bad. Do you have an air stone inside your bucket? And maybe a water pump with a T to keep the water circulating.
Have your grown this strain before? Some strains require freaky large amounts of nutrients, while other fry when shown the bottles of nutrients. But this is probably something you already know.

That is one nice bushy plant. Especially if it was a little perky'r and a little darker of green.

I was growing a strain about a year ago, that I kept boosting the amount I fed them to get to a point of where I would just start to notice burn on the tips of the leafs. I got to where I was feeding them 3 times what was recommended, and the dam plants loved it. But my wallet did not. Never used the nutrients you are. Are they mostly organic and mild? I would start at 1/4 strength, (at start) increase the amount you feed them by about 15% once ever three feedings. And watch really close for the tips to just start to burn. Then flush a little bit and back off that amount by 10%. This is how I figure out just what amount to feed a new strain I get. I see people all the time telling others to feed at 900 PPM or 1,200PPM. To me that is all a bunch of BULL SHIT. There is no way someone can tell another person how much PPM to feed at if they do not first know the strain and the type of nutrients. I broke my PPM meter over 2 years ago, and have no need to buy a new one. Unless I switch back to a hydro system with a recirculating rez.

those leaves are showing early stages of Magnesium deficiency. and your plant looks like it has salt build up too(leaf canoeing and semi wilted), so before you try and fix this you should flush or lower you nutrient level.

Magnesium (Mg) deficiency:
Magnesium deficiency will exhibit a yellowing (which may turn brown) and interveinal chlorosis beginning in the older leaves. The older leaves will be the first to develop interveinal chlorosis. Starting at leaf margin or tip and progressing inward between the veins. Notice how the veins remain somewhat green though. the leaves curl upwards like they're praying, The tips may also twist. This can be quickly resolved by watering with 1 tablespoon Epsom salts/gallon of water. Mg can get locked-up by too much Ca, Cl or ammonium nitrogen. Don't overdo Mg or you'll lock up other nutrients.

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not sure if it was the cause of my color problem or not....but i think my biggest problems stemmed from it being root bound. i took it out of the res bucket and had it suspended (roots hanging). normally i will only leave it like this a few minutes but today i got sidetracked for a bit. i was expecting to see more droop to the plant when i came back. nope. it was perked up and lively looking. i transferred it from a 5 gallon bucket to a 27 gallon tub (an ugly rig job). i swear this thing has grown in the past 4 hours. i bumped the nutes up to 100% strength. im hoping this is what was causing the deficiency. im feeling much better about things right now. i thought i was going to lose this plant for sure. thanks for the help everybody. i will post an update and pics in a couple days.

Off course it was root bound and that was the cause of all your probs. Should be ok now. Next time if u think the plants are going to get this big start in a much bigger bucket.

dilligaf said:

not sure if it was the cause of my color problem or not....but i think my biggest problems stemmed from it being root bound. i took it out of the res bucket and had it suspended (roots hanging). normally i will only leave it like this a few minutes but today i got sidetracked for a bit. i was expecting to see more droop to the plant when i came back. nope. it was perked up and lively looking. i transferred it from a 5 gallon bucket to a 27 gallon tub (an ugly rig job). i swear this thing has grown in the past 4 hours. i bumped the nutes up to 100% strength. im hoping this is what was causing the deficiency. im feeling much better about things right now. i thought i was going to lose this plant for sure. thanks for the help everybody. i will post an update and pics in a couple days.

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This root bound thing is way over looked~ It's the easiest thing to check/correct!
My girl isn't as big as your but they were root bound in 5 gallon pot that really what 3.85
or something I had to put'em in 7 gallons. Their in 100% rock wool! This little bit will restrict
them and slow'em down. And this was the first week of flowering I know it not fun transplanting
this far along~

Try some Epsom salts at a rate of 1tsp/gal water
You can get cal/mag too.

yep....lesson learned on the root bind. the ard way as usual. will the epsom salt help my current yellow situation or will it only benefit the new growth?

dwc....maybe not enough bubbles. can't do much of anything for it now. way too massive in size. just riding it out. was basically showing that the plant above is still alive.