Million Dollar question to save baby plants: Rust/Fungi, PH Issue, nutrient issue, or light issue? Thx in advance!

Hi - This is my 2nd grow, i’m in week 3 after germination, and I am encountering some issues on the first fan leaves that sprouted. Strain is OG Kush.

  • Light is vipraspectra 300W LED and two T12 flourescent tubes 6K lumens
  • Soil started as Fox Farms Happy Frog now a mix of FFHF and FF Ocean Forest
  • I transplanted at 2.5 weeks because I was worried about root boundness being the issue!

IMG_5835|375x500

Some clues as to what might be going on:

  • I started the LED light about 10" away (perhaps too close for LED?) Now its about 20"

  • My water PH has changed since last grow and I made the error of not testing it until week 2. Water PH was at about 5. I brought it up to 7 and now about 6.3 over the last week or so. Run off is testing around 6.5.

  • Humidity was unmonitored and reached 100% and very wet for a couple hours on different occasions. Error with an old timer it was hooked up to. I read that OG kush is susceptible to mold/rust fungus and I’m wondering if this is it. I have 2 Cali Kush plants in the same grow tent that look fine. I checked with a jewler’s loop and did not see any mold. Just brittle, brown rusted leaves

  • The growth has been pretty darn slow. 3 weeks old and only measuring about 5 inches tall and 3 - 5 inches wide.

I sprayed with Neem oil just in case and I also watered with Epsom salt to help with possible PH/nute lockout

So does anyone have a clue if this is nutes, fungus, pests, PH, or light burn? Thank you so much for any advice!

one more pic

This was mine at about 4 weeks.

I started mine on the same viparspecta but kept it at 24” until flower. That’s not light burn on your plant since the higher leaves aren’t affected. I think it the big ph swing that may have caused that. Sounds like you’ve remedied that. Those leaves wont recover but watch your new growth to make sure that’s coming out normal. Likely your plant has stalled out to grow it’s roots

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Thanks Bobby. I moved the light away after week 1, before much new growth had occurred because I was worried about the distance. So perhaps it only burned the 1st fan leaves?

Should I be flushing with 6.5 PH water or anything like that? I have not given any nutes because the FFOF is only 1 week old.

Welcome to the forum plenty of fantastic help around, I tend to agree with Bobby’s diagnosis sit back and watch new growth should be ok

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I’d keep watering where you’re at if your runoff is at 6.5.

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FFOF is pretty hot soil for seedlings, some strains like it better than others. I second the PH issues, no reason to flush at this point a small plant doesn`t need a lot of water and 20 to 24" is about right on light , VS 300W is only what 132W true draw?

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Thanks guys. Yes Holmes, true wattage is closer to that.

One other note, I recall some water droplets being left on those rusted fan leaves in week 1. Wondering if the close light with water drops hurt it maybe. Probably more likely the low PH though :frowning:

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It’s definetly ph and stalled growth is probably from nute lock out. Also those soil ph meters are not very accurate.

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New growth looks fine as best I can tell. White light pics are better to tell. I think youre fine.
Welcome to the forum!!

:v:

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I use it for the moisture probe. The light sensor is also helpful to find dead spots. I broke the ph probe off so I’m not punching two holes in the soil every time I want to check moisture

New growth looks healthy.

Probably a mix of those water drops and early pH issues.

In a few weeks, you won’t even remember these early leaf issues.

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Thank you all for your responses. Do you guys think I should start adding a small amount of Cal Mag to offset the possible nute lockout? The epsom may have inflated the mag content going forward as well

Stop just throwing things at it. :grinning: If it has nute lockout, adding more nutes won’t do anything. Keep your pH in check, your vpd in line, and do periodic flushes to keep your plants properly eating their nutes.

Also, adding calcium is a good thing to do when you feed/water.

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Absolutely! PH’d water only!

Have you checked the calibration on your PH meter? Very important to do so as they can (and do) drift. Your soil is fine for cannabis and has everything in it the plants need at least until flower.

We are all susceptible to adding all of these gucchi chemicals to our plants to make them grow faster but in reality it’s best to allow nature a hand in the grow too. If you want massive accelerated growth then go hydro.

You are doing the right thing to ask questions! All in all your plants look fine.

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Hi Guys - So great news, the plants have bounced back and have more than doubled in size in the past week. My only new concern is this tiny neon orange spot on the tip of one of the new leaves - any thoughts on what this could be, after such strong new growth?

The 2 front plants are the ones that had the bottom fan leaves basically destroyed last week. Great bounce back in general!

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