Sudden problem, idk if it's potassium def, or nute burn or cold o what?

I looked at some stuff here and that's my closest three guesses, but I need more experienced opinions so, here's pics and other details...
First pic is the whole thing, looked fine a few days ago, when I posted pics in my journal, but I take a look down in pic 2 and start to see problems, from 3 on are more detailed shots of it at other angles and such. But I don't think they came out very well,they are less yellow than that. but they are changing fast, like I said this just started happening. They feel smoother than I'd expect those wrinkled parts to be, not crunchy yet. I'm hoping that I can do something to stop the spread of whatever this is, even if I can't reverse it. Any Dr. House like people want to tell me what's going on? Feel free to be long winded.
Oh, and also here's more details about stuff, the soil is a mix of foxfarm ocean forest, and two different bags of potting soil from stop and shop, more on those later, hating using them but needed to balance out the lack of fox and possible cool it down nute wise. The temperature is usually mid to high 70's inside there. sometimes it'll hit 70 if the door is open, but she had a colder start than that, It was a bad winter. Moving on, I try not to over water, the bucket has no drainage yet, but there may be a small pool of it hanging below where roots have reached yet. I transplanted into that bucket not too long ago, I forget exactly, I'd have to check my journal. Let's see, what else...Idk, ask away. Oh, right, I read some of the "diagnosing plant problems" threads and of what I read, lack of potassium could be one thing causeing this, but it just seemed too sudden for a simple defficeincy thing, but it could have been going on for a while I suppose. Does FFOF have potassium in it? Could have run out it I guess. Or if there's too much water sitting in the bucket it might be nute burn is my guess. I wait about 3 days or so, I'll wait longer in case that's it. Of course I could be completely wrong, so, what do you reccommend, doc?

(tapping on the mic) Is this thing on? Take your time, but hurry up. I don't think anyone read it but me. Should I have shouted help?This is just like a real hospital, gotta sit in the waiting room forever. I'll hold.

Way OTT just for waiting 16 minutes imo...

If the bottom leaves yellow first, starting at the tips and working inward, you are probably over- watering. It is difficult to tell from the pics but the soil looks wet. Make sure you let the soil dry out in between waterings especially with a bucket that size. Give it a nice soaking then wait a few days or more until the soil drys out. Only feed 1/4 to 1/2 stregnth nutes once every 2 or 3 waterings until the foliage starts taking off good. The rest of the time use plain ph'ed water. Good luck.

I will wait much longer between waterings then, that pretty much describes it. I haven't added anything to the water yet, nutes or otherwise. One other thing, how do I Ph water? Does that mean just testing the PH and adjusting if neccisary? I need to buy some ph testing device if so. Also whatever is used to balance it.

Oh and If that hospital comment was a bit much I apologise, I too have had to wait in "emergency rooms" with large open wounds, I could see my leg bone, but they make everone wait needlessly, that's all I was commenting on, plus I wasn't sure how serious the problem was. i thought it was an apt analogy for a plant hospital. One time I had a chipped tooth and they sent me right up to see them, I was like, "really?" so I know well of thier hypocrisy with wait times. Still, sorry if I struck a nerve.

Things just went from bad to worse. I looked a minute ago and the leaves were worse than a few hours ago, and as I was taking pics, it got worse in front of my eyes. The whole branch just drops without me ever touching it. Not even wind. Something is definately wrong. i don't think just waiting it out without watering it will solve this. Could it be something else? This is progressing really fast, those leaves were very healthy a day or two ago. What can I do to stop this from killing my plant?

Its probably a condition know as "damping off" (think i spelled that wrong) but basically the roots are dead and probably not going to recover. I suppose you could take both hands and scoop upwards under the plant soil that the roots at the very base arent much disturbed and transplant it. You will break some roots off that are towards the bottom of the bucket if there are any, no worries. Maybe transplant into a smaller container for now so the water you did give to the plant is absorbed and doesn't just sit at the bottom. It will take some time but the plant should bounce back. Or just don't water for a while and let the soil dry out. You won't see results within the first week most likely. Good luck.

That sounds horrible, I hope it's not that. Not to mention I just got this bucket, before that it was sitting in the same little plastic pot I first transferred into after the party cup. I think possibly too much time in that same smaller container followed by suddenly being in the bucket may have stressed it out a bit or something too. I don't have an in-between sized pot to transfer into yet. I'm a little bit low budget. If I simply wanted to try the let it dry approach, which I probably will, would the plant be alright after that? It won't keep dropping branches? I'm thinking of popping a hole in the bottom of the bucket to help drain it and solve this quicker, if it's just a water thing, that is.

Drainage is a necessity and that is mst likely your problem. With no drainage your roots are suffocating

Edit- also a bucket will be fine long as there is enough drainage. No sucj thing as too big of a pot.

Try putting 4, 1/2 or 3/4 inch holes in the very bottom corners of the bucket( I know circles don't have corners but you kno what I mean)

your plant's roots are suffocating. by not having drainage you are allowing the bucket to fill with water leading to anaerobic conditions which breed bacteria that feed on the dead and dying roots. water flowing through the medium draws air in behind it exchanging the gases in the soil. i would recommend tipping that baby out of its pot and removing any soggy soil and dead roots. wash your bucket out with 10% bleach solution, put some holes in it replant into fresh soil and give her a little superthrive. at the very least put holes in the bucket and let her dry out a little.

I just finished putting some holes in the bucket, but I ran into an unexpected suprise, I was still dry. That bucket was hard as hell to cut into, but I managed to get some triangle shaped holes in it. Not one drop of water fell out though, and that suprised me. Unless the plant managed to drink that excess water up off the bottom of the bucket already, if it wasn't full of water, then, what else could do this? The soil itself down there seemed just like the rest of the soil, not dry, but not dripping wet either, just kinda moist. My finger seemed dry after touching it. Could I have been misdiagnosed? I'm glad I put holes in it anyway, but what if that wasn't the problem?

the plant may have used excess water but not having holes prevented gas exchange in the soil which is what actually causes the damage. over all your plant looks fairly healthy, but a bit stretched and slightly over watered. the plant may be dropping the leaves because they aren't getting enough light. next time you water be sure you water until there is run off. keep an eye on her but if you don see any more sick leaves you should be fine. if you were having deficiency issues more of the plant would be effected. you didn't happen to get nutrient water on those leaves did you? what ferts are you using and what is you pH at?

DRAINAGE..... its a must

I hope the new holes in the bucket will prevent this from happening again, that and I'll let her dry out before I get her soaking wet again. To your other questions, no, I couldn't have gotten nutrient water on those leaves, I'm using plain water. The FFOF soil is still providing the nutes so far, nothing else has been added. As far as PH goes, I'm clueless. I know, I need some kind of PH tester. After the 1st I can pick one up, But I'm not actually sure what to look for, any suggestions/links to what kind I can/should use? I don't want to get te wrong thing, and there's apparently alot of wrong things out there.

get a simple pH kit from General Hydroponics. usually less than $20, it comes with a test vial, indicator drops, and pH up and down. you are going to want some nutes soon too. FFOF doesn't feed much more than 4 weeks. Grow Big is a great option since you are already using OF, depending on your water you may want to get some cal mag. also consider topping that puppy at the 3rd or 4th node and bushing it out a bit, it will make better use of your light.

dunno if this help but ask yourself if you....

have u got a dehumidifier?

can u get some Oxygen to the roots?

can u get some Co2 to the leaves?

i know this sounds silly, and i am a noob 4 real, but something i done before i got my ph tester for the water was; If you live in a populated area, you should be able to google ph levels in your area as most city councils make this public. If not as was the case for me, i rang up my city council and asked for a local min-max ph range, claiming to be a student studying water quality. Took about 15 minutes to get through to the right person and find out what i need. Now i know that ph levels can be different from door to door, and most likely are. But for me the council said that in my area i should be getting tap water at around 6.7 - 7.4. After getting my tester the level on the first day was 7.2, higest i have had so far was 7.5, lowest was 7. Just a thought. I wish someone had told me to do it earlier, but its not the kind of thing you think of all the time.

after finding my Ph was a bit high i found that using ordinary vinegar you can bump it more acidic and by adding baking soda you can go more alkaline. i read that you dont spray the leaves with it when you add baking soda or vingar as this clogs up some type of pore on the surface of the leaf, or with vingar it strips it or sumfin.

So the mix for me was about 8 teaspoon (flat) into 1.5ltr container.

***REMEMBER IM A NOOB SO THIS IS NOOB STORYTELLING BASED ON THE LAST FEW WEEKS OF GROWING AND READING ON HERE****....

Now okay, my plants look real healthy but i am having problems too, i am 27 days with auto lowryder#1 and havent seen sex @ 15inches tall.

Also; as for the Co2 maybe get some schweppes carbonated water, i misted mine for a while when they were young and they didnt not like it. I also had an oil lamp burning in there till the oil was all gone (about .5ltr over two weeks burning here and there).

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WARNING: do not follow any of this advice...

Carbo water is a myth, and if you don't think so then explain to me how it works? But don't just listen to me, research it yourself.

sputniknz said:

dunno if this help but ask yourself if you....

have u got a dehumidifier?

can u get some Oxygen to the roots?

can u get some Co2 to the leaves?

i know this sounds silly, and i am a noob 4 real, but something i done before i got my ph tester for the water was; If you live in a populated area, you should be able to google ph levels in your area as most city councils make this public. If not as was the case for me, i rang up my city council and asked for a local min-max ph range, claiming to be a student studying water quality. Took about 15 minutes to get through to the right person and find out what i need. Now i know that ph levels can be different from door to door, and most likely are. But for me the council said that in my area i should be getting tap water at around 6.7 - 7.4. After getting my tester the level on the first day was 7.2, higest i have had so far was 7.5, lowest was 7. Just a thought. I wish someone had told me to do it earlier, but its not the kind of thing you think of all the time.

Click to expand...

TheLastWood said:

WARNING: do not follow any of this advice...

Carbo water is a myth, and if you don't think so then explain to me how it works? But don't just listen to me, research it yourself.

Click to expand...

Hey, dont shoot the noob, i said it was noob advice. Im saying i used it, and they didnt NOT like it. I also had a candle burning, it seemed like they liked it.

As for reading about it, just what i read on here, like i said noob. And most of what i read suggested the jury was still out. I never expected it to work wonders, i figured more of a "it cant hurt" attitude. The candle was what i was hoping would show, but alas it wasnt what it was cracked up to be. Did you disagree with everything or just the carbo water?