White Widow doing unusual things

[BeatleB77]

Here's one that's pretty close- This is my Northern Lights from last year, suffering from a Potassium/Phosphorous overdose- It was doing fine till I decided to "help her out" with full strength
Bud Explosion (0-19-39)
The overdose showed up the day after the application..I did give it a root rinse, which helped a little, but the damage was already done...the good news is that (other than killing off most of the sugar leaves) the buds weren't damaged...but boy,was it ugly!
Did you apply any bud boosters shortly before she toasted on you?

That looks very much the same and I did give her a big full strength drink a day or two before. As with mine I can see the damage done but it seems to be looking a little better underneath all the crusty leaves with nice green growth.

 

[BeatleB77]

Unreliable. And testing the pH of coco isn't necessary as it's hydro. Check the pH of your nutes and water to runoff, and as Penny said, don't let it get below a 30% moisture level.

I really appreciate all the advice, I’m taking everything thing onboard and am excited to see how it’s going to come back from this

 

[InTheShed]

We're here to help!

 

[013]

Hey Beatle, sorry for your troubles! The thing to remember is coco looks like soil but that’s where similarities end. Coco is drain to waste hydro so hydro rules apply, ph 5.8 to 6.2 don’t let media dry out, no plain water ever, always feed low dose nutes every time and feed to runoff every time helps flush out old nutes. A small plant needs feeding once a day bigger plants need feeding 2X per day and in flower many do 3X per day. It’s called fertigate - feed + irrigate = fertigate.

Nevermind runoff ph or ppms, chemical salts from your nutes & fine sediments come out in the wash so it’s an inflated number anyway. Where folks really go wrong is measure the output then adjust the inputs to get a different value - don’t chase that, it’s leads nowhere good. Watch your inputs forget about the output numbers. Soil grower here so that’s the extent of my knowledge but you are surrounded by a great team of skilled weedologists. Nothing new here just reinforcing what’s been dropped down.

Welcome to 420, best of luck to you!

 

[Pennywise]

All good info 013

 

[Dan Dark]

Hi Rexer
So... turned out not so healthy, within 24 hours it had turned into a dried shrivelled twig, nute lockout was my first thought so flushed with plain water over 4 days and trimmed back some of the damaged foliage and it seems to be coming back, I’ve searched everywhere for a pic of something similar and could only find a similar pic with zinc deficiency. This pic was today and I’ve never seen anything like it

I had a similar look on my equatorial Sativa's. They grow so fast and so high, even indoors I got light burn on a few of the bigger cola's. Because I was new I actually did the right thing (for a change) and scraped off the dried sugar leaves, moved the light. It harvested wonderfully and these buds all worked out just fine - plump!

Plus, aside from chopping it off now, what can you do to make the best of the situation?

 

[MrSauga]

I have always held that runoff pH is not a thing regardless of the medium. And as coco is hydro, the pH of the nutes gets adjusted before going in. That's the number that matters to the roots.

Have I got that all wrong?

IMO it does. If a grower is pH'ing their nutes at 5.8 in coco then really the runoff should be the same, or close, since there is nothing to buffer the pH. In buffered media you're chasing your tail by measuring the runoff.

What changes the pH in the media? The type of nitrogen or the alkalinity of the water. We know nute solutions can't change the pH in the medium, which is why it's important to be in the correct range when growing in passive hydro substrates. Theoretically the pH should be the same coming out as it is going in.
Again, just my opinion.

 

[InTheShed]

Ignore Run-Off pH​

Although it is critical to adjust the pH of the inflow, you should not be concerned with the pH of the run-off water. Your only concern with pH is always providing nutrient solution (inflow) that is in the appropriate range. Many growers make the bad decision to provide nutrient solution that is outside of the acceptable range in a misguided attempt to correct run-off pH values. This can destabilize the pH of the nutrient solution in the root zone and make nutrients unavailable. To avoid this common pitfall, simply ignore the pH of the run-off.

From Coco for Cannabis .com (can't link)

 

[Pennywise]

I never even think about runoff, it tells you nothing in coco

 

[MrSauga]

Extreme pH readings​

If you have extreme pH readings in your runoff, bad things are happening. Seeing a pH that is more than 1.0 from your input target is cause for alarm when you see any indication in the plant. This usually indicates over/under feeding, bacterial infection, large amounts of media buffers present, or some lesser-likely issues.

Coco Coir is the classic example of this. If you feed regularly, but don’t run enough solution through to dissolve and remove some build-up from past feedings, nutrients accumulate. Since these nutrients are mostly acidic mineral salts, they drop the pH of the plant. By the time you notice, the pH has hit an extreme enough level that you need to act fast.

Fixing this particular case consists of flushing the plant and giving light feeding for a little while. After the media environment stabilizes, you can increase the feed schedule. Additionally, you should run more nutrient solution through to prevent build up, or add a flush in the schedule.

Extreme pH fluctuation going alkaline is a sign that you are greatly underfeeding your plant, or could be a bacterial infection. This is far more rare, but just as deadly. The solution is to determine the cause, and attack that problem.

Curiouscultivations.com

 

[InTheShed]

If you test the runoff pH and it's not close to your input pH, what it really indicates is that you're probably watering incorrectly (which is what your post says). The answer isn't to fix the pH, the answer is to drain to waste.

But you don't need a runoff pH test to tell you that, just watch yourself water and you'll know!

 

[BeatleB77]

So today she looks much better, although it looks very dry it is still very sticky and smells amazing. It had 3 days of fresh water flush and a little quarter dose of nutes last night, today I gave a half dose of Cyco’s recommended dose, it does look to have new pistils appearing and the leaves are looking healthier. Nutes pH’d to 5.8 and the run off 5.2.
Should I take out all the dried foliage?

So grateful for all the input from you all, this has been so helpful and a great learning experience. Fingers crossed she makes a speedy recovery.

 

[InTheShed]

Leave on anything with green, but those crisp sugar leaves can go now or at harvest.