First Grow - My girl is sick :(

[Leefler]

Hey all,

First time grower here and wanted to ask if anyone could help me identify what nutrient deficiency my poor seedling has.

Setup/Medium
Tent: 2x2x6 AC Infinity setup
Medium: Coast of Maine Stonington Blend (note: it came extremely wet)
Temp: 75-79F range
Humidity: 60-70% humidity range
Seed: Fast Buds Purple Lemonade
5 Gal Fabric Pot

I didn't PH my water (I know I know, until I ran into issues, as I was told my soil would buffer). First yellowing occurred on day 11. On another forum, people said it could potentially be magnesium deficiency. I could have also possibly overwatered early on (did 1L in beginning of week 2). New grow starts healthy green, but as soon as it grows out I can see the tips are already yellowing.

I've tried adding epsom salt, and most recently added a big of calmag from another forums recommendation.

Trying to understand what I did incorrectly so I can avoid in the future // get advice on steps I can take to remedy for new growth.

 

[BII]

You don't mention any feeding other than Ca and Mg. Perhaps the plant is just hungry, not getting enough from the soil? It seems a lot of bag soil users add further amendments or otherwise don't use it pure as you are; and/or resort to feeding as needed. Or could it be the opposite - a lockout, an excess of something in the soil? Or maybe being 'too wet' resulted in loss/death of the soil's microbes. Or microbial fermentation, perhaps even anaerobic, affected the soil pH, added toxic levels of organic acids or other breakdown products, etc.

Hopefully, soil growing experts can help you.

 

[Badfinger]

Many of us got that yellowing between the leaf veins using the CoM soil. I too, believe it to be a magnesium issue, have had luck using Epsom salt. But in hind sight, I would have left that soil dry out before using it. It may have made it a hot soil for a seedling to handle.
I myself, would let it dry good before the next watering, then stay with the epsom salt treatments, once every 2 weeks. If your using tap water, be sure to let the chlorine bleed off for 1-2 days before using it.
I used 1/2 tsp epsom salt per gallon of water. You do not want to go overboard, mag can lockout your potassium, its all a balancing act. The combo of epsom plus cal-mag, may have given u a potassium lockout, which explains the leaf edges.

 

[Badfinger]

A 5 gallon bag is good for 30 days of nutrients, whats your feed plan after that?

 

[Leefler]

Thank you both for the insight - good to know other CoM growers are on here. I do think the dampness of the soil was my first mistake, not letting it properly dry out before using.

@Badfinger I have CoM's plant food & bloom amendmends and was going to do dry amendmends following their advised schedule for 5 gal pots.

Forgot to mention, I recently implemented the AC watering bases with some success, they seem to be drinking from base. I've been PH'ing water to 6.5 PH and letting it sit out for 24 hours minimum before using.

If I still intend to use the organic dry amendments, realistically I should be able to top dress, muddle it in with my hand 1-2 inch in soil, and maybe water 500ml-1L?

 

[Badfinger]

Thank you both for the insight - good to know other CoM growers are on here. I do think the dampness of the soil was my first mistake, not letting it properly dry out before using.

@Badfinger I have CoM's plant food & bloom amendmends and was going to do dry amendmends following their advised schedule for 5 gal pots.

Forgot to mention, I recently implemented the AC watering bases with some success, they seem to be drinking from base. I've been PH'ing water to 6.5 PH and letting it sit out for 24 hours minimum before using.

If I still intend to use the organic dry amendments, realistically I should be able to top dress, muddle it in with my hand 1-2 inch in soil, and maybe water 500ml-1L?

As a rule of thumb, if u top feed, u generally want to top water. Maybe someone else can chime in, and correct me if they know better. When your plants fully mature, scratching in dry feed is literally a joke, that soil is going to be solid roots. The normal routine is top dress, and cover it with a bit of fresh soil or worm castings.
I top water and still use the CoM Stonington food for veg cycle. For bloom, I use the Dr Earth Flower Girl, but that's just a personal choice. i use the same feed schedule, I just swapped out what flowering food I use.

 

[Leefler]

Good to know, so I can't realistically top feed with dry amendments if i'm using a SIP base right?

 

[BII]

Good to know, so I can't realistically top feed with dry amendments if i'm using a SIP base right?

Top and bottom feeding at the same time will result in salts building up in the central part of the pot vs. at either the top (with bottom feeding) or bottom (with top feeding), if not flushed out.

Like you, I'm using several AC Infinity wicking bases. You need to decide what you will be doing in terms of flushing salts out of the AC pots regularly; or not at all, making sure not to top feed or otherwise dissolve the salts at the top. I've done the later with very good results, but because it's riskier I don't recommend anyone else doing it. If not familiar, look over @Mañ'O'Green's recommendations for watering.

Also, besides trying to diagnose and fix, likely the 1st reaction of a new grower (and with most respondents trying help you do this) get recommendations whether you should simply abandon this plant or not - too much damage too young?

 

[Badfinger]

Good to know, so I can't realistically top feed with dry amendments if i'm using a SIP base right?

Not to my knowledge. I would still like to find a way to make it work, I would love to bottom water. But with your current issue, U dont want to be watering from both top and bottom. Top watering is going to help wash out whatever is causing your problem, and get your medium back in balance. And its going to help your dry food break down as fast as possible, which is still going to take 7-10 days on average.

 

[Leefler]

Top and bottom feeding at the same time will result in salts building up in the central part of the pot vs. at either the top (with bottom feeding) or bottom (with top feeding).

Like you, I'm using several AC Infinity wicking bases. You need to decide what you will (or won't) be doing in terms of drain-to-waste feeding, either doing it regularly, flushing out salts; or not at all, making sure not to top feed or otherwise not dissolve the salts concentrated at the top. I've done the later with very good results, but because it's riskier, I don't recommend any one else doing it.

Thanks for the context. Since I'm using organic amendments, should I still worry about salt build up? These are the Coast of Maine Plant Food & Bloom amendments.

I was under the assumption that salt build ups are typically related to liquid nutes, is that wrong? I think my choice of CoM living/supersoil wasn't the best for a first grow, but I want to see how far I can go with my current setup.