First Grow (Vision Seeds NL Auto). Yellowing leaves! Please help my girl!

[86'ed]

Sup Y'all? This is my first (official) grow and first post here. Hella nice to meet you guys/ gals! Seems to be alotta love here... I like that!

Ok, first off heres a little info on my setup:

- Indoor cab grow (Passive intake/ active exhaust)
- 1 Vision Seeds NL Fem Auto
- 30% OF, 70% Perlite Mix in 2-3 (?) gal pot
- 104 actual watts cfl
- Didn't use any nutes during veg beside what was in the OF soil mix
- Lightly fed her Tiger Bloom nutes only once (couple days ago)
- Only use distilled water
- 6.7 PH before TB nutes feeding

Alright, so I'm about 2 weeks (give or take) into flowering and everything's been good until now. I LST'd my girl a few days ago and noticed pretty soon after some of her bottom/ middle leaves started yellowing with also some burnt tips... Actually, as I think about it, the yellowing started before the LST but it was minor. Before all that the first true set of leaves yellowed and died off but I kinda figured that was natural and wasn't too worried. Now the second set is sick and just about dead and the lower/ middle leaves aren't looking to hot. I've had some heat issues (I live in the desert) but she's seemingly thrived in the heat so far (she's been a nice healthy green the whole time). Average day temps in mid 90's, Humidity in mid 20's. I know that's hot and will prob affect yield and quality but its the best I can do right now. Just trying to get the basics down with this first grow.

I'm sure I've forgot something but that's the general gist of things. If you knowledgable growers could take a look at my girl I'd really appreciate it. I'm a little worried bout her cause the yellowing has gotten worse. Once the soil dries out a bit I was thinking of doing a good flush and then checking the PH again. I have a feeling it's a PH issue but I'm not sure.

Please, help save my girl! Thanks in advance!

 

[PotDaddy]

What day are you on?

 

[86'ed]

Today is day 30.

 

[namvet25]

If you havn't given the veg nutes this is whats causing the leaves to yellow.Start giveing them veg nutes with higher nitrogen content for a couple weeks than change to flower nutes.

 

[86'ed]

Ok great! Thanks for your quick reply! I almost bought veg nutes instead of TB but figured the nutes in the soil were enough to get me through veg... Dumb nube mistake that ill def learn from! The nearest nursery to me has Fox Farm and General Hydroponics nutes. To your knowledge is one brand better than the other? Grow Big vs General FloraMicro? Thanks!

 

[86'ed]

Ok, so my leaves are still continuing to get worse. What's weird is that the leaves closest to the main stem seem to be the ones yellowing & dying (leaves around outer flowers are ok... for the most part)! I've lightly fed her 2 Grow Big/ Big Bloom (about 1/4 doses each) doses since being advised to feed some veg nutes and it hasn't seemed to help any. Those nutes are ok for veg nutes correct? I think my PH is alright but am not positive if my cheap digital PH meter is accurate or just shit!?! I've checked my roots for root rot/ mold but they smell fine. I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do next. Should I mix all 3 nutes ( Trio) together and give her that? If anyone could chime in and help me out I'd really appreciate it!

Edit: Today's day 35.
Edit: I have had to remove quite a few dead leaves compared to pics in first post.

Check out pics of my sick girl! Thanks!

 

[A4]

Hey 86, if I read your post correct you said you were ph'ing the water before adding nutes? If that is the case, that is probably your problem. The nutes will generally drop your ph 1 - 1.5 so if you are at 6.7 before nutes you are probably at 5.5 - 6.0 after adding nutes.

Also, what is your runoff ph? Are you checking that as well?

 

[86'ed]

What's up a420er? Nice to meet ya!

I've been using carbon filtered distilled water from day 1. As far as testing PH, I have only really tried pushing the meter into the soil @ diff spots to check PH. In all honesty I'm prob not using the damn thing correctly! :| I'm thinking of getting some narrow range PH test strips to check my distilled water before watering and also for checking run off... Think that'd be a good idea? Any advice on best way to use a cheap $10 PH meter? I can't really afford a decent one right now!

 

[A4]

I couldn't tell you man, I have never used one of those before. You are probably better off with test strips but I have only used those in my swimming pool, don't know how accurate they are. I suspect you have a ph issue and the bad thing about it is, it is only going to get worse and quickly. You gotta find some way to reliably check your ph before she takes a crap on you. If you buy the test strips, check them against your tap water several times until you get used to them. Your local tap water should be ~ 7.0. You are only going to have a limited amount of runoff and you need every drop of it to be sure that your soil ph is correct. Don't waste the runoff with trial and error on the strips is what I am saying.

It is nearly impossible to make it through a grow without a good ph meter. That sounds like bunk but I swear by mine, the most important tool out of all of my equipment. I would rather loose my lights for a few days than go without my meter, seriously, it is that important. :key:

 

[86'ed]

Right on! Thanks for the advice bro! After dealing with this I'm gonna make getting a GOOD PH meter a top priority! Def before my second grow for sure. Maybe I'll try adding something (slow and careful) to the soil to up the PH a little bit and see if that helps. I know that's just growing blind but if I can salvage any bud from my girl for this first grow ill be happy! If nothing else this is a good learning experience! Thanks for the advice!... much appreciated!

Bytheway, what PH meter do you have?