Newbie in need of serious help!

Hello fellow growers and experts! I was recently given four girls. I am not sure of the strain, or how they were started. I’ve noticed that the leaves of one plant are turning yellow/brown and another has white spots on the leaves. I’ve attached pictures. They are being grown outside, so I’m afraid pests might be involved. Please help me.

1 Like

Use a jewelers loop to look under leaves for tiny tiny moving dots (spider mites).
If you dont see any dots moving or webbing then it may just be a bit of nutrient burn and or a deficiency of some sort.
If you fill out the support ticket…someone may be able to give you a more precise answer…I’m still learning myself, but wish you luck and welcome to ILGM.

3 Likes

I would go ahead and repot fabric pots 5 or 7 gallon. Overall plants look good. Other than the one plant @T0Y mentioned a little burn .

I don’t have a jewlers loop, is there anything else I can do? I did buy the beginner’s kit from ILGM with the bug protector and nutrients, can I use that at this point? How do I know what nutrients are lacking? I will try to get the service ticket in asap, thanks!

1 Like

Do you have a strong magnifying glass…say 100x or so ?
A friends strong glasses prescription…lol
Anything that will zoom up your view to see if there is any pests…most are very small and hard to see with human eye.
As far as nutrients…do you have any test pens for pH and ppm/ec reading ?
You may want to start checking your water going in and coming out before you add anything more that could end up harming them more. Cheap testing pens (like mine) go for about $20 or less and are a need for new growers like us to get things dialed in correctly.
The plants look normal really…the slight dead edges can be from the leaves touching the soil when its wet…aka “burn”…and the soil may have some nutrients/fertilizer in it. What brand/type of soil did you use ?
In the 3rd picture…not sure what the white color is down center of the leaf is…do you spray plants with water?
I would monitor the plants for a few more days to see if problems continue to go up the plant and effect more leaves or not…taking lots pictures helps you look back and compare.
As far a killing possible bugs you could give it a spray of 3% peroxide and water (mixed 1:9 parts) or iso alcohol instead of peroxide…spray when sun is down (or lights out if indoors) due to the sun can make water droplets turn into magnifying glasses and burn tiny holes or badly mark up leaves.
A lot of the questions I asked are in that support ticket…so quicker its done the quicker I believe others will join in helping out too…just so many possibilities to say for sure, but no worries your doing ok and the plants look very healthy still…good work thus far…keep up the good work. :wink:

PS Heres a good read @Jbum did up to help identify problems… Deficiencies with pics, descriptions and remedies

2 Likes

Try the camera on your phone?

If you are serious about growing some plants you really need to spend a little money on them. A loupe, a digital PH meter, TDS meter and some chemistry are really strongly advisable.

7 Likes

There’s always the sheet of notebook paper method. Grab a sheet of notebook paper have the paper under the leaves that has the white spots on it and tap on the top of leave. After you did that see if you can see any movement on paper. Also do you see any webbing on the plant? Hope this can help you

1 Like

You are have been wonderful and so informative. I was given these plants by my mom, who got the seeds from her brother. Lol family affair I suppose. My mom started the seeds and gave me these beauties about a week ago. I believe she started them in regular potting soil, something like miracle grow, which I know is a big no no because it can burn the plants. My pH meter and TDS meter should be here tomorrow, so I will have better answers as to that in a day or two.
In the third picture, that is water on the leaves. I had misted them with my hand sprayer to see if I could wipe off some of the spots (more investigative work). Maybe that is how they got the spots in the first place? (Microburns from the misted water/sun). These have been outside since my mom started them, so I also placed them outside, and then bring them in for a few more hours of light in the evening.
I used my Ophthalmoscope to evaluate the leaves. No webs found, very few small brown spots that I could not confirm or deny were spider mites. So I did the paper test also, and looked at that with both the naked eye as well as with my Ophthalmoscope. Again, nothing that was moving, and brown spots looked more like soil debris. I will keep an eye on them, but it appears as though two others may have their bottom leaves turning yellow. Sigh…

1 Like

When I transplant them into my 5 gallon fabric bags, do I use only my fox farm happy frog potting soil, or either of these other two products I’m afraid to hurt them anymore.

15641901728955305403723531903201|374x500

Thank you all for helping this noob.

2 Likes

Prefertilized grow media can be a problem situation. Depending on brand, strength, and the strain being grown. Would be safest to mix with non-fertilized grow media…say 1/3 fertilized, 2/3 non-fertilized. You can easily increase the nute strength as needed for max healthy growth.

2 Likes

That Happy Frog Potting mix is a great starter mix. Fairly light nutrients in there, compared to others. No need to feed for a couple weeks after transplanting, though you might need to add some supplemental Calcium, especially if those white spots aren’t from critters.

2 Likes

I’m not sure about soil myself…I’m doing hydro setup…but looks like these great ppl have you covered…thanks for helping.
I did have a thought though…do the above soils have perlite in them ?
And watch which perlite you buy…some have fertilizers in it too I think I read awhile back…can someone verify ?

I used the Happy Frog potting soil in top pic for 1st time to get my seedlings out of Miracle Grow and I love it. For 1st 6 weeks all I had to add was filtered water I always used. I just kept track of ppm and was told by one of the experienced growers when ppm goes down you’ll need to add nutes. I dont know about the fertilizer one I try to stay away from them. I use fox farm trio and boomerang and follow their feeding schedule and use their flush when scheduled. I’m just on week 2 of nutes since Happy Frog potting soil was so good. Just my experience, I’m a beginner too everyone will have ways they do things and you will too. Happy growing I’ll tag you into my grow journal and you can see pics of them

Thank you all for the great advice. I will tansplant them in the morning into fox farm and 5 gallon buckets. For being 5 weeks old, do they look ok development wise? Or should I up their lighting?

Try out Sohum soil for traneplant its all organic you dont have to ph balance water or give them nutes at all 1 sohum soil bag will fill 2 5 gallon buckets thats what im using now for my plants and its alot cheaper. If you didnt see any mites moving nor webbs you shouldn’t worry too much juat keep an eye on them more.

Thank you GreenThumb101, I am definitely keeping a closer eye on them, and will likely be keeping them inside from now on to reduce the chance of pests. I will also look into that soil, thanks!

1 Like

No problem! The yellow leaf shouldnt be much to worry about since is 1 leaf as i can tell. I have some yellow leaves dying on mine too but its normal.

1st picture was from today the 2nd picture is from July 7th. You can see the yellow leaves in background which is normal. I would also recommend doing some sort of training for your plants too it would help with yeild and plant too

1 Like

I would absolutely worry about any discoloration, especially discoloration that is leading to leaf tissue dying. Some, you get to know, and you don’t worry as much. Some, you freak the heck out the moment you see it. Leaf Discoloration and Dying is indicative of a problem that needs to be addressed.

3 Likes

I think I may have fixed the problem(s)… Time will tell…

All ladies got repotted today back into their 1 gallon jugs. The soil was completely saturated, and the roots were bound in the cups that my mom originally started them in. I peeled back the cups as much as I could without messing with the roots. I also exchanged as much of the old soil as possible without disturbing the root system. All are now in fox farm potting soil. I didn’t add any water after the transplant, should I? I figured since the other soil was so saturated that I should let things dry some. Please advise if this is the wrong thing to do. I don’t want to stress the girls anymore than I have to. Here is what they look like now, and the soil/pots that I took them out of:

According to what I have read on Bergman’s grow journal, they appear to me like they are plants that should be about 24 days old, not 35. I believe it is because they were root bound and in the wrong potting soil. I have my 3 gallon fabric grow bags coming on Monday and will likely transplant them into those soon if all stays well. Thanks all, I will keep you posted.

4 Likes

They look great…terrific work !!
Yes, it probably is a good idea to let them dry out a little, but keep a good eye on them.
I’m home a lot so at the start I wait until I see mine starting to droop then I water…after a few days they will start to droop again…this gives me the amount of time I can go between watering them. Humidity and weather will alter this time slightly, so also check by lifting them up to check weight of the plant…if light and also droopy then I water…if 1 of the 2 isn’t right I usually wait 12-24 hours, but I check them every few hours to be sure…“new parent syndrome”…lol
Some growers go 3-4 days, some even more without needing to water, but I think growers should only add enough water for 2 days max because after 3-4 days being soaked/very wet the roots could start to rot or die…this is only my personal opinion though. So even though you can add 2 gallons, or more, of water to the plant and it takes a week before you water again MAY not be good for it and instead try 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon to start and work your way up from there. The amount needed will increase as the plant grows over time also.
Also water around the edges firstly and let it soak up to the center of the pot…this will cause the roots to spread out more in search of water…which will make it healthier and most times a larger plant.
Only other thing I can remember about soil watering is the amount to use can be figured out by watering until you get “run off”…where water exits bottom of the pot. If the soil on top is still showing water and you see it starting to come out the bottom holes in the pot…stop watering and see how much runs out…usually about 5-10% of what went in is good starting point.
Wow I like to yap a lot I think…lol
Best of luck…plants are looking great and I believe your on your way to a very nice harvest…keep at it and you’ll be just as addicted as the rest of us…lol

PS I’m not understanding this peeling off cups and putting back into the jugs thing…were they in cups that were then planted into the larger pots ?

1 Like