yellow leaves near bottom, 40 days in veg; problem?

[snack420]

Hi. I am growing a single blue dream plant that is about 40 days into the veg cycle. I believe it is doing well in general, but I noticed yesterday that it now has a couple of yellow leaves near the bottom. There were two large yellowed leaves and 3 very small yellow leaves. I'm looking to understand if this is a deficiency (or over nute problem), or whether this is somewhat natural and not a concern.

Some more details about my grow can be found in my journal (see my signature), but the basics are as follows:

4x4x6 tent
blue dream strain
coco coir medium
16 qt pot
600W MH light (air cooled)
try to keep temps around 75 F, RH around 40%
nutes: General Hydroponics Flora Duo feed schedule (using full recommended strength for late growth veg [week 3])
specifically, FloraDuo A, FloraDuo B, CaliMagic, RapidStart, Floralicious Plus

I feel like the plant should be getting sufficient Nitrogen from the nutrients and my watering pH is approximately 6.5. There is no run-off water (due to the auto-watering system I'm using), so I'm unable to test any outgoing water. (I don't want to manually water to avoid too much moisture on the top soil because I did that early in the veg cycle and some yellow mushrooms started and some fungus gnats were visible.)

Here are some pics. Thanks in advance for any tips!!

 

[DrRosko]

Your problem is the watering method.
You need to hand water, soaking the medium till a small amount pools in the drip catch.

Your plant is clearly underwatered. See the leaf edges curling up and the leaves drooping, especially near the bottom?

 

[snack420]

Your problem is the watering method.
You need to hand water, soaking the medium till a small amount pools in the drip catch.

Your plant is clearly underwatered. See the leaf edges curling up and the leaves drooping, especially near the bottom?

OK. Thanks for the feedback. I have already changed my watering method so now I am watering by hand, soaking the medium and making sure there is about 10-20% runoff into the drip catch. I'm getting used to checking the medium with my finger and only watering when it is dried out. Hopefully the plant will react to this better.

The yellowing leaves issue has mostly gone away in the last week, but there are a few lower leaves that have some dark spots or them, especially near the edges. I'm not sure if this is normal culling by the plant and those leaves will eventually die, or if this is some indication of a nutrient or watering problem.

 

[DrRosko]

You should think about going organic. It's much better for the plants and lower maintenance once it's dialed in.
Also keeps the chinese and the suits from lining their pockets with such high profits on mined minerals used in commercial fertilizer production, with HIGH margins and unadvertized levels of heavy metals including arsenic and lead.

But mainly for the healthy plants. I make my own soil and it can go through the whole cycle water only.

Here's an assortment of a few different plants grown uner a 600w like you!

 

[snack420]

Wow, those are some nice plants! I hope mine buds like yours did!! What strain(s) are shown in the pics?

I'm totally open to news ideas and organic soil definitely sounds interesting with many benefits, but I've also been thinking about trying hydroponics next time around. The purportedly faster grow rates using hydro are very appealing.

 

[DrRosko]

Strains are Grandaddy Purp (the colorful one), Red Poison is the dark red one, see the spider on the last pic!
And the large nug is blue mammoth. I just took a hightimes cover shot worthy photo of my prized strawberry creme cut. Smells like strawberry cremesavers after the cure.

 

[DrRosko]

I wouldn't waste your time with hydroponics. Hydroponics is for cashcroppers and people who like solutions to non-existant problems (There's dirt on my plant, how do I grow without it?)

The plants are healthier with soil. I do not know if growth rates are better since I have never joined the Hydro club. Personally I don't do it because I do not like hydroponic artificial manures or artificial manures in general. I like growing in soil because the soil itself is an entire ecological habitat on it's own and I just like that I am feeding an entire world and ecosystem in such a tiny space.

I have different species of predatory mites, bacteria, fungi, insects, mites, springtails, and limitless amounts of other inhabitants and visitors. I feel like it helps keep it pest free and relatively low maintenance with superior results in quality.

Anyway, I'm ranting, so I'll stop and leave you with this pic from last night of my latest creation. She is almost ready for the chop!
If you want any detailed pics of stem, soil, lower leaves, bugs, etc let me know. I'll be doing a grow journal sometime soon to show off the power of my personal soil mix and compost tea regimen.

Strawberry Creme (cremesaver pheno of Strawberry Cough)

 

[snack420]

Sweet pic of the strawberry!

Since you asked, I wouldn't mind seeing some closeup pics of the soil and if you care to share, maybe outlining how you create the soil mixture.

I've only looked into this passingly so far, but I got the impression that making one's own soil mixture was a lot of effort, but like I said, I don't know much about it. So far, coco has been pretty hassle free for me, but unlike you, I think I definitely need to add nutrients since the coco doesn't provide any itself. And the nutrients actually aren't cheap, so maybe a special soil mixture would be most cost effective and better overall? It's hard to argue with your results!

 

[DrRosko]

I'll have to start a thread!

 

[snack420]

Yeah DrRosko, I'd love to see a thread showing some of your grow methods. At least those pictures you posted look pretty dank.

My plant is starting to show the beginnings of buds. Can't wait until it is deep into flowering!!

BTW, as far as hydro goes, what did you mean about manures? I didn't know that manure was used with hydro grows. Thanks!

 

[DrRosko]

Artificial manures, it's just the original term for synthetic fertilizers. Basically name switched from artificial manure to "fertilizer" to make it more marketable.