# Leaves turning pale yellow



## SweetSoca (Nov 14, 2008)

i have 2 plants i've been vegging for almost 5 weeks now. the older, lower leaves are turning a pale yellow, basically dying because the edges are turning brown and crispy. top growth looks pretty healthy except for the tips which are starting to yellow.

from what i've read it sounds like a nitrogen or magnesium deficiency but i'm not certain. i'd like a diagnosis so i know if i should flush my plants with some pH-balanced water or just feed them more nutes. i am using the foxfarm stuff wih ocean forest soil.


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## HippyInEngland (Nov 14, 2008)

Hello sweet 

Do you know the NPK strength of the feed your giving the plant?

How often is it being fed?

Do you know your PH of the water your using?

What lighting are you using? because you have stretch.

I notice you have your pot sitting on a plate or something, does the water collect on that and the bottom of the pot sits in water?


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## SweetSoca (Nov 14, 2008)

The Growbig is labeled 6-4-4, BigBloom is 0.01-0.3-0.7.. I mixed a teaspoon of each of these into 1 gallon.

I feed this every other watering, once every four days with plain water, then with the nutes. The pH of my tap water according to my liquid tester was on high side last time I checked (7.2ish).

The 3 gallon pots I use have nice big holes in the bottom but I never see water collect in the dish when I feed (i only feed about 200 mL of liquid). I believe stretch was caused by my 400w hps being too far away.. I switched to t5's recently because the temps were stressing my plants. The t5's are now 3 inches above my plants, and they put out about 8,000 total lumens.


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## godspeedsuckah (Nov 14, 2008)

SweetSoca said:
			
		

> The Growbig is labeled 6-4-4, BigBloom is 0.01-0.3-0.7.. I mixed a teaspoon of each of these into 1 gallon.
> 
> I feed this every other watering, once every four days with plain water, then with the nutes. The pH of my tap water according to my liquid tester was on high side last time I checked (7.2ish).
> 
> The 3 gallon pots I use have nice big holes in the bottom but I never see water collect in the dish when I feed (i only feed about 200 mL of liquid). I believe stretch was caused by my 400w hps being too far away.. I switched to t5's recently because the temps were stressing my plants. The t5's are now 3 inches above my plants, and they put out about 8,000 total lumens.



The ph in your tap is too high, the plant cant properly take in some of the needed nutrients. When watering every or every other watering with foxfarm you should use 1/4tsp grow big and 1 tablespoon of big bloom. (That is for 1/4 strength feedings) Your ph is the same as mine 7.2. I use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice per gallon of tap water which should bring your ph down to 5.8 - 6.0 before feeding.

I am growing in coco you are in soil there could be a difference there. Try 1/4 tablespoon per gallon first in your water and see what the ph is. Try to get your soil ph to around 6.2 - 6.5


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## DomsChron (Nov 14, 2008)

*Seems like nute burn...That fox farms is HOT soil! It makes your first like 5 sets of leaves NICE and DARK green even before adding a drop of nutes...

..And also, that seems like a heavy dose for such a small plant!

Also, looks like the pot is always wet/slightly moist. Honestly, the soil does need to dry up before next watering. Read the wet/dry cycle in my sig to clear it up buddy.*


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## Muddy Paws (Nov 14, 2008)

As said above, double check your *runoff* PH. That will tell you what the PH is that the roots are getting.

 Most commercial soils with nutes added will lower your PH, you'll need to add some Dolomite lime (gardening lime) in the soil or PH up the water a bit to compensate.


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## SweetSoca (Nov 14, 2008)

my runoff was at over 7.0, i managed to get it down, but now its at 6.0 

is there a simple way to raise pH ?


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## godspeedsuckah (Nov 14, 2008)

Run water through your pot that is ph'd at 6.8 and you will be fine.


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## SweetSoca (Nov 15, 2008)

is it ok to add nutes after flushing or do you have to wait a while??


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## BuddyLuv (Nov 15, 2008)

Give it time to recover before adding any nutes.


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## DomsChron (Nov 15, 2008)

*I'm starting to think your one of those nute happy fellows 

Listen here man. That fox farms you have is DANK! It does alot of the feeding for you man. I have a plant right now I have in some ocean forest and I haven't added nutes yet! She is healthier WITHOUT them!

Feed when she tells you. She will tell you when your leaves are SLIGHTLY lightening but not yellowing. I add a little nitrogen boost and I'm good for a while. The next few weeks I have dark, healthy bushing leaves.*


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## SweetSoca (Nov 19, 2008)

hmm, well my problem got progressively worse. i haven't added any nutes or water since my last flush but the leaves that were already yellow-white got worse until they basically shriveled up and died. the next set of leaves are losing their color except for the veins which are still green, i'm afraid they're going to be the next ones to die off... i noticed the little leaves at the very bottom (the younger ones) are also getting yellow at the tips, so its no longer just the oldest leaves being affected

i'm really worried hopefully i'll get some new pics up tomorrow so i someone can take another look


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## IRISH (Nov 19, 2008)

man, if you've been vegging that plant for 5 weeks?, some thing is deffinately wrong here. it looks like you only have about 1 gallon of soil in that 3 gallon pot? IMO, your gonna need to transplant it into a 3 gallon pot with 3 gallons of soil. with the nutes you've added already, and the root ball prolly being bound up, it has over-grown what its in. try a transplant, and leave off the nuting til it recovers...bb...


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