New Super Soil User - Yellowing 2 Weeks In

Hey guys, got my first super soil run in progress. Cooked for about 2 months and filled up 5 gallon smart pots halfway with Super Soil, with Roots Organic soil on top. I have 3 bushy plants that I vegged for a month in Roots. Two Platinum OG (platinum bubba x OG) and one KO Kush (pure OG kush variety from Progressive Options nursery). They are 2 1/2 weeks in flowering and the platinum OG's are healthy as can be, however the OG Kush is yellowing pretty noticeably from the bottom up. I need to address this ASAP but unsure of how to diagnose the problem in super soil. Has anyone had any similar experience and cures? Not sure if I should add some Botanicare Pure Blend Pro (grow) as a nitrogen substitute or brew up a nice compost tea. Please help thanks in advance.

foliar spray some CAL-MAG and also ad some veg nutes. compost tea always helps too.

BuCannabis said:

foliar spray some CAL-MAG and also ad some veg nutes. compost tea always helps too.

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Forgot to mention I use de chlorinated tap water. I still need to add cal mag? I have technaflora magi-cal laying around but was unsure if this affects the soil microbes. Should I brew a compost tea with both cal mag and botanicare veg nutes added and also foliar with that and kill 3 birds with one stone?

If you use the nutes or cal/mag, you won't need to put it in a compost tea kit - it's readily available for plant uptake. Find some worm castings and make a tea with that and some seaweed. Foliar spray and water with that alone. Hope it works out for ya!

Just top dress the plant with some supersoil and you should be set no need to spray a bunch of stuff on them. Top dress means your gonna put a layer of supersoil on top of your pot.

Mister Sister said:

If you use the nutes or cal/mag, you won't need to put it in a compost tea kit - it's readily available for plant uptake. Find some worm castings and make a tea with that and some seaweed. Foliar spray and water with that alone. Hope it works out for ya!

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so you're saying if I use compost tea, then I don't need to add nutes or cal mag? I'm familiar with making it. I have packs of simplici-tea kits and also make my own using work castings, humisoil, liquid kelp, hibrix molasses and Capulator's beneficials.

montanachadly said:

Just top dress the plant with some supersoil and you should be set no need to spray a bunch of stuff on them. Top dress means your gonna put a layer of supersoil on top of your pot.

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Thanks, but it is normal to have to top dress just 2 weeks into flower when using subcool's super soil recipe? I thought it was formulated to last through flowering.

If you vegged in your supersoil pot too long and used up the nutrients then that could be a reason for the early fading or the plant is just a heavy feeder. Put a good 3 inches or so of supersoil on top if you have the room in your pots. Supersoil is all a learning thing man. All plants take different amounts of supersoil so you figure each one out and give it what it needs. But def top dress your plant with the supersoil. Next time you run that plant if you decide too you will know more about what to use but you should be ok with the top dressing.

Thanks man. I'll top dress and make a batch of compost tea for good measure. I only vegged for 2 weeks in the super soil pots, but looks like you are correct about it being a high feeder, from the strain info that I looked up. I was going to pluck all those lower leaves this week anyway as I'm running a scrog. So far in my year of growing I've done a run with a combination of organic nutrients, a run using the full Heavy 16 line, and this super soil run, and this has produced the best results so far with the least maintenance. Here's the strain info I found:

K.O. Kush
Pedigree: OG Kush
Genetics: Sativa Hybrid
Feeding Level: High Feeder
Flowering Time: 9 weeks
Growth Structure: Vigorous OG Kush type growth, moderately lanky and a higher yielder than most OG strains.
Tips: Super-cropping or topping is recommended.

Its really pretty hard to say without a picture but that is what i would do If we had a picture we could help you alot more.

soil pH may be off. Many people on here don't ever pH their organic soil, but if it drifts to far out of range then the plants will go into nutrient lock out. This is true in organics just like traditional farming methods.

you are still early enough for a good dose of fish fertilizer ... I think that's what I would do but first what size container are you using? IMO, with supersoil, you are wasting your time if less than 5 gals. Cheers.

gott ya, the 5 gal smart pots ARE SUPER SMALL!!! mine are anyway... they appear to be more like 3 gallons. The few plants in 5 gals smart pots I have are small 12/12 fs and I had to give em some food.

So I am certain this is your problem, next time use 7 gallons smart pot, it seems to be the magic number for indoor.

And if you have enough room to topdress, it means you really didnt have enough food and top-dressing is mandatory!

AliCakes said:

soil pH may be off. Many people on here don't ever pH their organic soil, but if it drifts to far out of range then the plants will go into nutrient lock out. This is true in organics just like traditional farming methods.

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I don't ph my water either due to the organic soil, but my tap water ph is a bit high. From 7.5 - 8. My other two plants are doing superb but this other strain may be just a bit more finicky with ph?

GreenSanta said:

gott ya, the 5 gal smart pots ARE SUPER SMALL!!! mine are anyway... they appear to be more like 3 gallons. The few plants in 5 gals smart pots I have are small 12/12 fs and I had to give em some food.

So I am certain this is your problem, next time use 7 gallons smart pot, it seems to be the magic number for indoor.

And if you have enough room to topdress, it means you really didnt have enough food and top-dressing is mandatory!

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I don't have room for 7 gallons in my grow area unless I just use 2 instead of 3, but I do have quite a bit of room to top dress due to the soil settling.

Lots of good info here to consider, thanks everyone. I will post pictures later when the lights kick on.

Cool man, I was actually just saying if you decide to use cal/mag just give it to the soil.

Organic or not....pH matters. You can not expect a plant to pull nitrogen or any other nutrient from the soil if the pH is out at whack. This is basic plant biology.

If you weren't having problems, I wouldn't lecture about this, but it is crazy to say you are having problems and not make sure you are dialed in on one of the single most basic areas of your plant environment. I am not saying you must pH daily like you need to in hydro, but it needs to be kept in line. Sulfur and unfiltered apple cider vinegar work great to lower pH as do bacterial cultures, lime and fungi will raise pH.

Okay guys, I'll get off my soap box now.

Also, I don't use bottled products like cal/mag. They can kill soil biology. Calcium can be added through oyster shell meal and many other similar products, or Korean Natural Farming methods dissolve egg shells in vinegar. Magnesium is rarely an issue if you use homemade earthworm compost. The leftovers of your green leafy veggies make an incredibly magnesium rich product that cannot be matched by any bagged or bottled product on the market.

Well upon closer inspection I found thrips . I sprayed them all down with spinosad so things should improve soon. I added a top layer of super soil anyway and will be brewing some tea tomorrow with some fungal pesticide to foliar them with. Love Roots soil but hate the bugs.