Am I right in thinking this is nitrogen deficiency?

[Frank56]

Hi guys.

So, I'm on about day 36 since sprout, and the plant really hasn't shown any signs of wanting more nutes until now. I even burnt her on 1/4 strength doseage earlier on! Due to the burnt tips I've been giving her 1/8th strength nutes with no problems until now. If it is N deficiency, I know I need to up the doseage, should I go back to a 1/4 or up it to 1/2 strength?

I'm growing in BBLM with 30% added perlite.
BioBizz Grow is the veg nute.
8L pot under MarsHydro TS1000 on 75% power at about 19" from top cola.

Today, I noticed that the lower leaves are turning a bit yellow (it's the very bottom leaves - upper growth is completely unaffected and looks perfect). I know that nitrogen is a mobile nutrient, so I presume because this is on the lower growth that it's start of N deficiency and I should up the grow nutes? Also purple stems!

Cheers!

 

[tronN00dles]

Take this with a grain of salt, as I only have 4 grows under my belt (with several more failed starts along the way), but...

I "think" you may be underfeeding them 'something'. From my understanding, those 'burnt' tips may be caused by a plethora of potential issues - not necessarily overfeeding, although typically we do associate burnt tips with nutrient burn. ..

Based on the general light green color of some leaves, and you saying you're feeding 1/4 or 1/2 strength, I 'think' underfeeding may be an issue. Or perhaps if you're feeding them appropriately, they may not be absorbing the nutrients efficiently, perhaps due to pH or watering problems.

Do you check your nutrient solution ppm? If not, I highly recommend you start doing so. On my first couple of failed attempts, I was so afraid of over-watering and over-feeding, I was essentially starving my plants. It wasn't until I started looking at recommended ppm levels until I gave up on this whole 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 strength nutrient business. From what I've read, autos like ~550 ppm nutrient solutions in late flowering for example. I use GH Flora Series nutrients, and that actually equates to FULL STRENGTH nutrients, as per their 'light feeding' / 'drain-to-waste' charts.

So in addition to your nutrient ppm solution, do you know the pH of that solution?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I think she is hungry. You should be feeding 50% of each of the items circled on (Bio or Fish not both) the chart on a schedule like Fertigate, water, water, water, repeat.

 

[THE BEAR]

Definitely N deficiency, I grow using the same as you, and I always had the problem your having now around the same days,

Firstly I ditched using the Grow as i always got burnt or got N tox, it's really strong stuff and stinks bad,.
Only use the Bio-Bloom now, cos I make up my own soil mix that takes me right through to flower without nutes,
Got pissed off with bblm and this always happening to me.

If I was you I'd give 2ml of Bio-Bloom per liter,
and as what @tronN00dles says take it with a grain of salt,
It's a nitemare, I'm only getting it now, after yonks off attempts,
always got my bud tho,
Keeper-lit mate

 

[THE BEAR]

I think she is hungry. You should be feeding 50% of each of the items circled on (Bio or Fish not both) the chart on a schedule like Fertigate, water, water, water, repeat.

View attachment 1328214

Interesting
You say it's...... feed/water/water/water
Ive always done it..... Feed/feed/water/feed, Water only every 3rd watering

 

[tronN00dles]

Interesting
You say it's...... feed/water/water/water
Ive always done it..... Feed/feed/water/feed, Water only every 3rd watering

This is something I've struggled with as well. I pretty much change it up every time to see if I can land on something that works best. Right now I'm doing plain water in between every nute feeding. We'll see how it goes. Again, I use GH Flora nutrients... on their label, their exact phrasing is something like "consider plain water applications in between every 1-3 feeds". So maybe when in doubt, go by your specific manufacturer's guidelines

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

It

Definitely N deficiency, I grow using the same as you, and I always had the problem your having now around the same days,

Firstly I ditched using the Grow as i always got burnt or got N tox, it's really strong stuff and stinks bad,.
Only use the Bio-Bloom now, cos I make up my own soil mix that takes me right through to flower without nutes,
Got pissed off with bblm and this always happening to me.

If I was you I'd give 2ml of Bio-Bloom per liter,
and as what @tronN00dles says take it with a grain of salt,
It's a nitemare, I'm only getting it now, after yonks off attempts,
always got my bud tho,
Keeper-lit mate

It is best to go less because you can always add more. IMHO.

 

[Frank56]

Take this with a grain of salt, as I only have 4 grows under my belt (with several more failed starts along the way), but...

I "think" you may be underfeeding them 'something'. From my understanding, those 'burnt' tips may be caused by a plethora of potential issues - not necessarily overfeeding, although typically we do associate burnt tips with nutrient burn. ..

Based on the general light green color of some leaves, and you saying you're feeding 1/4 or 1/2 strength, I 'think' underfeeding may be an issue. Or perhaps if you're feeding them appropriately, they may not be absorbing the nutrients efficiently, perhaps due to pH or watering problems.

Do you check your nutrient solution ppm? If not, I highly recommend you start doing so. On my first couple of failed attempts, I was so afraid of over-watering and over-feeding, I was essentially starving my plants. It wasn't until I started looking at recommended ppm levels until I gave up on this whole 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 strength nutrient business. From what I've read, autos like ~550 ppm nutrient solutions in late flowering for example. I use GH Flora Series nutrients, and that actually equates to FULL STRENGTH nutrients, as per their 'light feeding' / 'drain-to-waste' charts.

So in addition to your nutrient ppm solution, do you know the pH of that solution?

Cheers for the reply!

PPM is not an issue as I am not using synthetic nutes and instead using organic (so salt build-up isn't a variable in my grow). My water is extremely soft and sits at about 50 ppm for the record though.

PH isn't being checked because I'm growing in soil (buffers to correct PH as long as you're sensible). If it was a PH issue I'd expect to see issues on other areas of the plant, not just on the bottom few leaves, as the coloration of the upper leaves is absolutely perfect. I have got a BlueLab PH pen though, but haven't needed it yet, but it's on hand if I do

 

[Frank56]

I think she is hungry. You should be feeding 50% of each of the items circled on (Bio or Fish not both) the chart on a schedule like Fertigate, water, water, water, repeat.

View attachment 1328214

Thank you for the reply! Yeah, I was almost 100% sure I was underfeeding her, just wanted to be 100% by calling on more experience. I'm going to move up to 50% strength now as suggested, but make sure to feed roughly once a week with a few plain waterings in between, then add more if the fading starts moving up the plant.

 

[Frank56]

Definitely N deficiency, I grow using the same as you, and I always had the problem your having now around the same days,

Firstly I ditched using the Grow as i always got burnt or got N tox, it's really strong stuff and stinks bad,.
Only use the Bio-Bloom now, cos I make up my own soil mix that takes me right through to flower without nutes,
Got pissed off with bblm and this always happening to me.

If I was you I'd give 2ml of Bio-Bloom per liter,
and as what @tronN00dles says take it with a grain of salt,
It's a nitemare, I'm only getting it now, after yonks off attempts,
always got my bud tho,
Keeper-lit mate

Yeah I thought so, I've done a lot of research before plunging into this world, but it's always different when you're doing it for real... always second guessing, which I guess isn't a bad thing!

I'm definitely going to ditch the grow nute, and try fish mix next - it seems to be one extreme to another with it. You either burn, or underfeed. I'm going to up the feed as you suggest, but air on the side of caution and go with 50% strength and see if that stops the spread of discoloratio'n.

'Glad' to see others with similar issues using the same setup!