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all 5 of my babies (about 3 weeks old) are doing well in my topfeed dwc system. however 2 of them started showing signs of what looks like a cal/mg deficiency. This happened right after water change (perhaps before and I just didn't notice.). It's only affecting the first set of true leaves and the rest of the leaves were healthy. My pH was dialed in around 6.0 but this morning I came back and it's 6.4 so I threw a little pH down in it and I'll check it again later today.
No pictures yet but is cal/mg uptake sensitive to pH swings? I know Ca is absorbed rather slowly, so while the pH was swinging a bit while I was dialing it in perhaps it was never in the proper pH window long enough for the plants to uptake what they need?
will the spots heal themselves or should I just trim off those leaves once the plant is large enough to trim?
I don't use any Cal/Mg suppliment, I'll post my feeding schedule and nutrients later but the other 3 plants are doing rather well so I don't know, maybe it's just a few weak plants?
Quote: henik0 said: all 5 of my babies (about 3 weeks old) are doing well in my topfeed dwc system. however 2 of them started showing signs of what looks like a cal/mg deficiency. This happened right after water change (perhaps before and I just didn't notice.). It's only affecting the first set of true leaves and the rest of the leaves were healthy. My pH was dialed in around 6.0 but this morning I came back and it's 6.4 so I threw a little pH down in it and I'll check it again later today.
No pictures yet but is cal/mg uptake sensitive to pH swings? I know Ca is absorbed rather slowly, so while the pH was swinging a bit while I was dialing it in perhaps it was never in the proper pH window long enough for the plants to uptake what they need?
will the spots heal themselves or should I just trim off those leaves once the plant is large enough to trim?
I don't use any Cal/Mg suppliment, I'll post my feeding schedule and nutrients later but the other 3 plants are doing rather well so I don't know, maybe it's just a few weak plants?
That should help ya some... Also, this should be in the "Doctors Diagnosis" forum... lol
Also, no, damage to leaves will not heal on its own. If its just very light yellowing from a deficiency or OD, its possible for it to return to normal, but its not very common. Once its damaged, that part of the leaf is done.
Quote: henik0 said: all 5 of my babies (about 3 weeks old) are doing well in my topfeed dwc system. however 2 of them started showing signs of what looks like a cal/mg deficiency. This happened right after water change (perhaps before and I just didn't notice.). It's only affecting the first set of true leaves and the rest of the leaves were healthy. My pH was dialed in around 6.0 but this morning I came back and it's 6.4 so I threw a little pH down in it and I'll check it again later today.
No pictures yet but is cal/mg uptake sensitive to pH swings? I know Ca is absorbed rather slowly, so while the pH was swinging a bit while I was dialing it in perhaps it was never in the proper pH window long enough for the plants to uptake what they need?
The small period of time that your pH was off balance is not going to suddenly cause a calcium or magnesium or ANY type of deficiency. It takes a long time of being out of whack to cause this.
will the spots heal themselves or should I just trim off those leaves once the plant is large enough to trim?
No they will not heal, but there are still stored up nutrients in the leaves. So leave them on until a gentle tug and they come off easily on there own.
I don't use any Cal/Mg suppliment, I'll post my feeding schedule and nutrients later but the other 3 plants are doing rather well so I don't know, maybe it's just a few weak plants?
Give us some pics man. You know what they say about pictures and words right?
Thanks for the replies guys, sorry I haven't responded. finals are coming up. anyways I talked to my local guru and he said with the organic/synthetic nutrients I'm using that "the pH is going to climb due to the organic nature of some of those nutrients. a small simple ecosystem of flora will grow and this will naturally cause your pH to always rise. Wait for it to get to about 6.7 until you add any pH down. otherwise you'll be adding soooo much pH down every day that your salinity will rise too high and they'll die anyways."
he also says that the reason i'm probably showing a cal/mg deficiency is that i probably didn't mix the nutes strong enough (i'm scared of over feeding in hydro) and this causes the plant to pull nutes from the young leaves instead of through the roots. since then the problem has been corrected (using a stronger mix of nutes and am keeping an eye on, but not constantly compensating for, the pH) and everything looks happy =)