Plant problem please help

My plant is an outdoor plant, maybe about 5 weeks or so into flowering. I needed it to flower fast cause im in Canada and I started rather late and i dont want the first frost murking it so about 5 weeks ago i transplanted it from the ground into a pot and brought it into a much more sunny area, it flowered. About 2 weeks after that I started to see small white spots forming on the leaves of the lower part of the plant, I thought it was mites, but it was not. This then slowly spread upwards, killing first the botom pair of leaves and murdering as it went up. The leaves dry out and die, they look white/light brown and brittle. I tried many things to fix it and nothing seems to do the trick, it is still slowly moving up the stem. The buds though are still growing fine. This problem seems to only affect the bigger older leaves but many of the new smaller leaves tips near the bud are turning a diffrent colour. The stems used to be red but are not red anymore. I use an all purpose fertilizer, 20-20-20 and i also use miracle grow. I am not sure about the PH but if i were to guess i would say about 7 ( do pool test strips actully work )??. The soil in the pot is old soil from a huge pot i had in my front yard. Can somebody please tell me whats wrong before its to late?
 

Hobbes

Well-Known Member
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You have a lot of potential problems from your set up - soil, fertilziers, PH - ...

"The leaves dry out and die, they look white/light brown and brittle."

It could be fertilizer burn, we really need pictures.

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Mazar i Shariff

Active Member
Are you experiencing MILDEW??? Doesn't sound exactly like mold. But I know that mildew can be a fast spreading disease when it takes off and requires either a water/peroxide mixture sprayed on it daily til it is gone, or if the problem is really bad, something like OMRI certified Serenade is a good product. I've had light mildew on leaves once, and I used that product. Killed it right away and stopped from spreading, but it kinda burns what it touches, so I wouldn't spray down the whole plant with something like that. Just the affected areas.

As for fertilizer, 20-20-20 is NOT an ideal base nute for flowering. While you still need some Nitrogen, this is the least important of the three macros. They are going to want a high dose of Phosphorus all throughout, and I've noticed enjoy slightly more Potassium more towards the end. For this, I try to find something balanced as a good base nute to use all throughout, and if I ever need to add a little extra of something specific, I have seperate bottles of more specific blends that I can add to adjust accordingly. Some good bloom ratios that I have are 3-6-5, 0-10-10, 1-7-12 ... You'll notice all have low Nitrogen levels. The first is a good overall ratio from start of bloom til end, and then towards the end when I want to continue feeding good bits of Phosphorus, but now start to increase the Potassium levels a bit more while pretty much cutting off Nitrogen levels so they can focus on bud growth and then start to autumn off and eat their leaves for final energy, I lean more towards the 0-10-10 & 1-7-12.

As for Miracle Grow, know that they truely are meant more for houseplants, tomatoes, ... Cannabis is relatively high maintainence in comparison to any house plant or standard garden vegetable. Honestly, the only success I've had with Miracle Grow was their new organic line. They have some great blood meal (12-0-0) & bone meal (5-12-0) in small $5 bags, and then I have used their organic potting & lawn soils, although those created some huge bug problems for me, had lots of other unwanted things like moss & weeds, and overall just would not recommend using their products unless you are absolutely limited to it and cannot afford to purchase slightly more cannabis specific products.

As for soil PH, there is a chance it could be a little off, but if your PH test strips are showing 7.0 then it sounds like you're in an ideal range. Outdoor soil has many living organisms & natural enzymes that help act as soil buffers and are somewhat self regulating. While the nutes you are using are doubtfully PH balanced, as long as you aren't over feeding, it shouldn't really be throwing your levels off enough to create problems. Although, always keep an eye on this! If PH does become a factor, Garden Lime (also sold as hydrated lime or dolamite) can be spread into your topsoil layer and then water. This will act as a soil neutralizer and help bring soil PH back to 7.0, as well as contains some natural Calcium, Magnesium, ... that are also important micronutrients

As in everything, moderation is key! Make sure to save the last week of your grow cycle for a WATER ONLY flush. That way you can allow your plant to use up all the remaining nutrients in the soil, and then begin eating at it's own fan leaves for final nutrients & energy. This will extract some of those high chemical & chlorophyll levels and use it for energy to create bigger, more potent buds, and while those levels are decreased, this will greatly increase the final aroma & flavor of the bud. It's worth it and will make things much more enjoyable!

Hope this helps! +rep if you like! =)
 
I dont know if its mildew, the leaves are more of a yellow/brown colour than white, I checked the PH again today and when i first put the nutes in it measured 8.0 but that was just the top soil. The runoff water from the hole in pot measured 6.5 which is reasonably good.
still i dont know what could the problem be, probably the fertilizers but is it worth buying new nutes now when harvest is so near? Ill try and get a pic up. Can somebody pls tell me how i can upload a pic? sorry i am new to this site. Also if i am not giving enough info i could fill out one of those problem forms, is there any other info you guys need that could help identify problem?
 

Hobbes

Well-Known Member
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"is it worth buying new nutes now when harvest is so near? {at 5 weeks of flower}"

Yes, the last half of flower is when you'll build your buds

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"Can somebody pls tell me how i can upload a pic?"

I do mine through Tinypic, then copy and paste their link code.

www.tinypic.com

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Mazar i Shariff

Active Member
8.0 soil is def high ... The Garden Lime I buy is by Espoma Organics from Home Depot. Really cheap stuff. They also have a Soil Acidifier right next to it. I've never had problems where I needed to drop my PH, but it sounds like you have higher soil/water alkalinity levels than I do, so this could prob be very beneficial for you to get things in check. Double check that tho before doing anything, and make sure if you use a PH adjuster to read the directions very carefully, as it's very potent stuff that can also shoot your PH in the completely opposite direction if you use too much to correct a problem.

Pics would be great. If you hit 'go advanced' on your post, you should now see a toolbar above where you type. There's a lil 'attach pic' icon towards the middle that looks like a colored window frame. Click that, browse your computer to where the pic is saved (desktop, album, ...), then upload it, and post.
 

Hobbes

Well-Known Member
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"I use an all purpose fertilizer, 20-20-20 and i also use miracle grow. I am not sure about the PH but if i were to guess i would say about 7 ( do pool test strips actully work )??. The soil in the pot is old soil from a huge pot i had in my front yard. Can somebody please tell me whats wrong before its to late?"


It looks like nutrient burn, perhaps some deficiency from PH imbalance. Even though your water PH is close to 7 you don't know what the old soil was.

Is the soil Miracle Gro? Is it pre fertilized?

Flush the pot with 1x - 2x the volume of ph balanced clear water - no nutrients. Wash the nutrients out of the root ball, reset the ph of the root ball to 6.5. Get a PH pen, I like the Okron: cheap, quick and resilient. Get some vegetative fertilizer for marijuana.



If you are using pre fertilized soil do not add fertilizer until you think the pre mix is used up.

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