Can a plant become locked out and not finish?

[Makeminefullgrown]

I am a new indoor grower….so pardon my lack of knowledge and inquisitive state of mind right now. I do have some experience growing outdoors and did it successfully for a long time….but it was also a long time ago and things have really changed.
I think i understand the problem of nutrient lockout caused by salt buildup and/or PH issues. I’m still trying to grasp the idea of growing in amended soil and how to diagnose and handle those PH or salt buildup issues.
I’m told to not water until there is runoff when using amended soil (like an Ocean Forest), because you’d be washing out or leaching important nutes.
I’m also told not to worry about PHing my water because the soil will buffer.
But what do you do if you suspect u have a ph issue or a nute lockout??
Furthermore, is it possible for a plant that is very close to finishing, say 3 weeks from fully ripe, to develop a lockout and basically not finish?? Or should I say not progress any further?
I’m at the end of my first indoor grow and def know a helluva Lot more than I did 4 months ago……but this basic issue is confusing the hell out of me.
If you have soil that comes amended or perhaps you mixed in some amendments yourself and things become locked out, how do u fix it without leaching your medium ??
And if this lockout happens really late in the grow, would u handle it the same way.
I really hope to hear from some smart folks who can enlighten this old fart.
If u haven’t figured it out by now, I’m asking because I think it’s happening to me. I have a plant that won’t finish and I believe it’s because of some sort of lockout and it’s not getting whatever it needs to finish up.
Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Emilya Green]

absolutely it can... have seen it happen to others multiple times over the years.

Regarding pH... the only reason we have to pH adjust is when we are using synthetic nutrients. This is because, in order to stay stable in the bottle, they chelate some of the nutrients into a salt protective shell, that only breaks apart in a certain specific pH range. If you ajust the pH of your incoming fluids, those nutrients are available to the plant immediately. If you choose to follow the bad advice not to pH adjust, yes, your soil will eventually buffer it into range, but until then, some of your nutes are locked out to the plants, and the ones not chelated will be immediately available still... setting up all sorts of interesting possible lockouts and deficiencies.
Some people refuse to believe that salt lockouts occur, but as you break apart those nutrients to be available to the plant, an appreciable amount of salt is released. This salt eventually builds up to the point where the soil can not hold nutrients, or it actually affects the roots, and then you have a salt lockout. This happens a lot around this forum, and people are being told that other things are happening. 5-10 years ago we saw these all the time, and the most common advice you would hear on these forums was to flush, 3x the container size, of fresh water and it would clear the salt. Most times, it worked. I have always recommended at least one flush in a synthetic grow, toward the end of the grow, like at the 6 week point, just the clear the pipes and allow for a good finish. It is also very common to have your salt lockout around week 5 or 6, just when you are feeding the most heavily, and logically, the most salt is being left behind to build up.
I have flushed hundreds of times and NEVER did I have a problem with anything being leached or washed away. If I was using nutes, the next application of nutes continued things along as if nothing ever happened. If you are giving nutes, there is no need to worry what might leach or wash out of a good soil... the plant isnt using that anyway if you keep applying readily available nutes. If you are growing organically and not building up salts, and have lots of good stuff cooked into your soil... you have no need to flush anyway. Anyone using this argument against flushing is not being logical or they just dont know what they are talking about. Organic growers do not flush, ever.

As far as your amendments that you have given that might be washed out... Give them again after your flush! Easy solution and certainly not an argument against giving a flush.

Lastly, don't believe everything you hear, read or see on YouTube... there are a lot of snake oil salesmen and charlatans out there.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Ye there has been all sorts of crazy or bad advice over the years about some topics of growing which some of it has been very frustrating to be put right but the good members help steer the truth.

Like Emilya mentioned about 3 x times the volume of pot size of water for a flush, now most people like using 5 gallon pots regardless of what belief, how ever that is 15 gallons of water used for the flush & if you got more than one plant this going to take some serious time to the job

Yup you would of done a pretty good flush but on a technical note you have just over watered & how long is that going to dry out ?

Before you next feed/nutrient cycle ?

Also because of the flush & leaching you have washed out a lot of salts including nutrients which may lead to nutrient deficiencies in the short term when in flower so you may have do a little feed after the flush to keep problems at bay ?

Sounds complicated but that is what the process doe's !



OK, if you got salt build up with a soil grow you should have a white crusty lair on the surface of the soil (sorry no pic's to share on that)

But when in flowering nutrients are increased which can be acidic in nature & if you have a build up of salts your PH is going down so you may be experiencing some deficiencies...

So I would ask how often are you feeding as this may be part of the problem ?



I normally feed once a week.