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9 responses to “Something is wrong 😑 please help”

1. 

   J Mystro

   05/02/2024

   There seems to be a bit of an issue with potassium availability which causes the leaf blade edges to discolor. We know Grow Dots should have plenty of potassium so it can only be three possible reasons. Either the coco’s pH buffer is out of range (it’s hard to believe potassium would be insoluble with such a wide pH range), there is too high of a concentration of magnesium antagonizing potassium, locking some out or the plant is really really potash hungry. Cannabis is a heavy potash consumer so any lockout can start to yellow the outside edges. If you’re supplementing cal-mag or Epsom salts (mag-sulfate), stop. I believe you may be supplementing excess mag causing potash lockout.

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   1. 

      Terpking

      05/02/2024

      Ok that makes sense. Seeing this is my first time using coco I went and washed and buffered it with cal mag. Like I was told, however No one told me canna coco didn’t need to be buffered So I would say that’s the problem. Now how can I try to fix this? The ph is always between 5.8-6.2. I check the reservoir every day and adjust as needed.

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      1. 

         J Mystro

         05/02/2024

         The reservoir’s pH and the coco’s pH buffer are two different things. Don’t think because the res is in range that the coco is as well without checking. You ideally want the pH buffer of the coco to be around what you’re watering in at. Check the run off when feeding to get an idea. The issue with soaking the coco in cal-mag is now they’ve taken up most of the space on the coco particles that potassium wants to be, along with all the other cations. Calcium and magnesium have a positive charge of +2 while potassium only has a charge of +1. There is no way for potassium to dislodge ions with stronger charges from a media. If all the space is taken, the potassium being released by the Grow Dots has nothing to attach to and can be washed out when watering. The only thing you can use to ‘clean up’ cations from the media is with something like fulvic acid that can break ionic bonds. Medias lock up cations for future exchange while the water in the media carries available ions to the roots for uptake. Anions are not talked about enough and are ions with a negative charge like nitrate, phosphorus and sulfur. These are easily washed out of a media and is why I wouldn’t try to flush the coco too heavily.

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         1. 

            New Leaf

            05/03/2024

            This is super interesting, and very informative. I have a question for them. So how would they go about using the fulvic acids. Like what’s a good brand and how much per watering? Just follow the bottles instructions? Should they water normally, or with a certain amount of runoff? I have zero experience with the dots or any kind of runoff with my style of grow. Just curious for them. I would assume too much flushing or runoff with dots would be counter-productive.

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            1. 

               Terpking

               05/03/2024

               Yeah I want to know all that stuff. It’s fascinating how it all works. I also think my ph meter is part of the problem. I ordered a new one. I hope Apera is a good choice. It’s got to be better than the cheap one I have.

            2. 

               J Mystro

               05/06/2024

               NEVER trust a digital pH meter. They will lie at some point. pH Test Drops will not lie to you. Digital EC/TDS/PPM pens are ok and can last many years with proper maintenance.

            3. 

               J Mystro

               05/04/2024

               There’s a few companies that have fulvic acid products like New Millenium’s Ruby Fulvic and RAW Full Up. Use as directed for normal use. As a ‘flushing agent’, soak the media in double strength for about 15-30 minutes before rinsing out the excess. This doesn’t need to be done with plain water. You can use low strength nutrients to rinse out the excess fulvic acid containing previously locked up cations. Think of humic and fulvic acids as a claw that can grab salts and other minerals bonded to the media where water alone can not.

2. 

   PacNW Dan

   05/02/2024

   What does your pH look like? I just mucked up my grow with yellowing and deficiencies, and upon getting “back to the basics” I found my pH was 4.9 after mixing (yrrrk!). Course-corrected to 6.1 (soil) and plants looking much better since.

   If your pH is below around 5.8 (Coco) the plant can’t absorb certain nutrients, the lower the worse. So “deficiencies” can sometimes be due to pH out of range, not a lack of nutes.

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   1. 

      J Mystro

      05/02/2024

      Ya, a pH of 4.9 will lock out/limit most elements availability, even potassium, which has the widest pH range of all the essential elements between about 5 and 10.

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