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PROBLEM SOLVER - GOT A PROBLEM WITH YOUR GROW and you want to
know how to sort it out
CHEMICAL BURNS
Plants suffer from chemical burns due to overfeeding. A plant with a chemical
burn can be likened to a half-smoked joint. At the tip of the joint you
have a shriveled gray ash. In the middle you see the burn creeping towards
new paper, leaving a burn pattern behind it. At the end, there is the
part you have not smoked yet. A plant chemical burn looks similar, and
the leaf will tend to curl down and inwards into a claw shape at the tips.
The plant has a vascular system that takes in water and food and distributes
these elements first to the bottom fan leaves, then upwards to the rest
of the plant. This process takes time, as you know from Chapter 5. You
will notice that the damage from chemical burns also starts on the tips
of the fan leaves, then slowly moves towards the center and up the plant,
leaving behind crispy matter that flakes away between your fingers. This
is a chemical burn.
The main cause of a chemical burn is overfeeding that can occur if you
use soil that contains high ratios of nutrients, if you use strong feeding
mixtures or if you feed your plants too often.
To rectify chemical burns consult Chapter 6. If you cannot find a solution
to what appears to be a chemical burn then check your medium's pH level.
pH problems can sometimes resemble chemical burns or even nutrient deficiencies.
NUTRIENT
DEFICIENCIES
A nutrient deficiency looks like a cell collapse (the natural appearance
of the firm leaves lose some or all of their stiffness), usually along
with some form of discoloration and or wilting.The affected part may wither
and die, but it should not look like chemical burn. That is the major
difference between a chemical burn and a nutrient problem. In time, you
should be able to easily tell the difference yourself. If you suspect
a nutrient deficiency be sure to check your pH. If your pH is not right,
then solve the pH problem before you attempt anything else. If you feel
that the problem is pH related then consult chapter 6 for solutions to
this problem.
10 Steps to Saving Your Grow
Here is a quick step-by-step approach to troubleshooting problems with
your
grow.
STEP 1: Examine your plant, looking first for the presence of insects
or disease. When you have completed this search, eliminate any pests or
disease using the advice in Chapter 12.
Also note the type of attack to make sure that your bug problem isn't
really a nutrient problem. The two can be confused. Are there any black
dots on them, which would indicate bugs? Do your leaves look discolored,
dry and limp as if something has been sucking their fluids from them?
This could be a nutrient disorder but pest attack can do this as well.
Nutrient problems damage the plant on a more consistent level than pest
attacks, meaning that the damaged areas are not as sporadic as a pest
attack. Nutrient disorders tend to be more linear — either affecting
the bottom leaves moving upwards, or the top leaves moving downwards.
The disorder should be somewhat regular unless the pest attack has managed
to occur over the entire plant. This is why it is important for you, the
grower, to check on your plants regularly so that you can identify problems
sooner rather than later. This is essential to do because a problem left
untreated is a problem that becomes increasingly more difficult to identify.
In short, pest damage is sporadic, random and often concentrated on a
single area of the plants before moving onto another. Nutrient disorders
are more regular and affect the plant in a linear movement running either
from bottom to top or top to bottom.
STEP
2: If your plant is in the vegetative growth stage and the leaves are
turning yellow at the base and this is moving slowly up the plant without
upwards leaf curl then you need more nitrogen (l\l). If your plant is
in the flowering stage and shows signs of stunted or slow growth, yellow
leaves and it looks to be dying then you also need more l\l. Nitrogen
problems also cause the stems to become soft and the leaves become a pale
green color. Normally nitrogen problems occur with older leaf growth first.
Severe nitrogen problems result in stunted growth and eventually plant
death.
If your plant is in the flowering stage and looks red or dark green/yellow
then you need to treat it with more phosphorus (P). Phosphorus deficiencies
also result in stunted root development. Stems can become either very
rigid or very weak depending on the strain.
If these measures do not help, proceed to Step 3.
STEP 3: If your plant's leaves are curling up, twisting and turning yellow
then check to see if your light is burning them or if the grow chamber
has enough air circulation. This is usually the result of heat stress.
Consult chapter 6 for information on how to solve heat stress related
problems.
If these are not the cause of the problem then you need to consider adding
more magnesium (Mg) to your medium. Epsom salts are good for this. Prepare
a mixture of 1/4 to 1/3 tablespoon of Epsom salts to three gallons of
water and water your plant with this mixture.
Magnesium problems generally start with old leaves first and show signs
of yellowing between the veins of the leaf moving outwards. The leaves
curl upwards, hence the term 'praying for magnesium'. Necrosis is the
eventual result of Mg problems. Although a plant can still grow to full
maturity with Mg deficiency it certainly results in below average results.
If you still experience problems, go to Step 4.
STEP 4: If the tips of the leaves turn brown and curl slightly then you
have a
potassium (K) problem. Solve this by adding more K to your plants.
Potassium problems also result in red/purple stems although this can be
a genetic trait in the plant or due to a cold growing environment. To
solve a cold growing environment problem turn to chapter 6 for advice. Potassium
problems normally affect new growth first, before moving on to the older
leaves. A potassium deficiency will also eventually affect the stems causing
them to become either soft or brittle depending on the strain. In severe
cases the plant will eventually die.
If this does not solve your problem, move onto Step 5.
STEP 5: Does your plant look wilted? Are the leaves drooping or curling
down? This could be root rot or a watering problem, which sometimes can
cause nutrient-like deficiencies to appear on the plant. For information
on how to solve root rot problems turn to chapter 12 for guidance.
If this doesn't work check your soil. If your soil is very damp or very
dry then turn to chapter 5 for information on soils and then turn to chapter
6 for watering information, related watering problems and solutions to
those problems.
If this does not solve you problem go to Step 6.
STEP 6: If the veins are green but the leaves are yellow, this indicates
an iron problem (Fe). Iron problems generally occur at new growth regions,
which eventually turn necrotic and die. Add more iron to solve this problem.
Although iron is not essential to plant growth you will certainly end
up with less than average results if it is lacking. Iron problems do not
tend to cause leaf curl at the start but as the necrosis spreads leaves
may curl.
If this does not solve your problem then move on to Step 7. STEP 7: If
the leaves are yellowing at the veins but the tips are fine and are not
curling or twisting, you have a manganese (Mn) problem. Manganese problems
can be solved by adding more Mn to your plants. If the problem persists,
necrosis will set in and the leaves may curl. Plants do not need manganese
to grow to full maturity but a lack of Mn will result in less than average
results.
Move on to Step 8 if your problem still persists.
STEP 8: If you still have not solved your problem then add a secondary
and micronutrient formula to your soil.This should help solve problems
like Ca, S, Cu, B, Zn, Mo deficiencies, which are hard to detect and their
respective symptoms are often different from strain to strain. By mixing
a secondary and micronutrient formula you should be able solve these problems.
If this still has not solved the problem then turn to Step 9.
STEP 9: Still haven't solved it? Then flush your soil using the information
provided in chapter 6 and find another type of plant food that has all
of these: N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S. Purchase Epsom salts and get a small
canister of micronutri-ents, such as iron, boron, chlorine, manganese,
copper, zinc, and molybdenum. Try using a nutrient mixture that we've
already mentioned in chapter 6.
If you don't want to flush your soil or transplant to another growing
environment then proceed to Step 10.
STEP 10: Your plant may be experiencing nutrient lockout. There are a
number of factors that can cause this problem. If you followed Step 9
properly then you shouldn't have this problem, but we'll explain it anyway.
Lockout occurs when the plant cannot access a nutrient or a group of nutrients.This
could be caused by the absence of nutrients (a deficiency) or by a chemical
reaction in the medium/solution, which either causes a toxic substance
to block the roots or a chemical reaction to take place, creating a new
substance that changes the chemical properties of the other nutrients.
As you can see this is a very broad subject matter. pH problems can lockout
nutrients. The wrong soil type can also cause nutrient lockout. Under
the right conditions, even water can lockout nutrients. But these lockout
causes occur rarely, and more than likely something other than what the
cannabis plant needs has been added to the solution to cause this reaction.
When in doubt, transplant into fresh soil or a fresh hydroponic solution.
Certain feeding products might contain active ingredients that do not
work well with cannabis. Lockout can only be solved by flushing or a transplant.
With hydroponics you will have to change your nutrients. Out of date liquid
feeding products can precipitate, causing nutrient lockout. Salt is another
compound that can cause nutrient lockout. Follow Step 9 to solve these
problems.
Your plant may be pot-bound or root-bound—it may simply have outgrown
its pot. When the entire root mass grows to its maximum capacity, this
can cause the plant stress and a variety of other problems that may resemble
a nutrient problem. The only cure for this is to transplant the plant
to a bigger pot. Follow the transplant method described in Chapter 9.
NO CURE FOR BAD GENETICS
When all else fails, you may have to face the fact that you are dealing
with "a bad seed." There is a lot of garbage in the market.
Problems associated with bad genetics include mutations, warping, flowering
problems and poor germination rates that will often cause nutrient symptoms
to appear even though your nutrient problem doesn't exist. The only viable
solution is to obtain new genetics — preferably from a different
breeder. Make sure that you let the originator of the seeds know about
your problem. Seed banks sometimes do pull a line from the market because
of consistent problems like germination rates or weak, unpredictable genetics.They
only way they can find out about such things is to get feedback from you
the client.
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