Hi all... 4 weeks in to flowering....Everything was going good until this week. I noticed during a water top off that my air stones were not producing bubbles like they were... they were underneath the root ball and could not be visible. Now I have a some discolorization on leaves and I think it might be from the air stones not producing enought bubbles. PH is around 5.5-6.0 constantly. Bucket temps are betweeen 70-80.. they rise and fall with the frozen water bottle technique. using Recipe for Sucess nutes. I was just topping off the bucket every two days with full strength nutes when the girl drank almost 2 gallons in that time frame (not pulling the bucket and washing it out when doing a water change (or add)). Yesterday, I drained the entire bucket and added fresh water and nutes and placed new air stones in the system. But I am afraid I have root rot or I hope it is just a little nute burn from a contrated PPM from not doing a full water change. I can't pull this bucket because the plant is locked in a S.O.G. filling a 30X42 inch screen to the max! I can only drain the bucket..... if there is any info that you feel I am missing (other than total PPM) ..let me know. thanks in advance for your replies....
Hi.. I always have problems with the airstones getting clogged up near the end of the flowering cycle. As far as your discolorazation, I agree with you that it is most likely due to nutrient burn. You didn't say what your PPM readings were (or if you have a meter), but if you have been topping off with full strength nutes (and not taking PPM readings), then the PPM will get very high. The flush and refill should take care of the problem. Good Luck!
Thanks for the reply. That is EXACTLY what I did yesterday... we'll see how they look in a few days... no ppm meter... in the market for one now.
well.... shes is looking better today and smelling really dank...not like something died in the bucket.
just an update.. so fellow blades can learn from my trials and tribulations...lol. Topped bucket off with plain R.O. water at a ph of 5.8-6.0 on Friday afternoon... went away for the weekend and came back yesterday to all water in bucket, except about 1.5 inches, GONE!!! She was a thirsty one while I was away. When she was starting to turn sickly... she would drink maybe and inch a day. So in 48 hours she drank about 7-8 inches. Topped her off with 3/4 gallon of full strength nutes and 1-1/4 gallon of plain R.O. water on yesterday afternoon... You can sure tell when the plant is sick...it doesn't smell as "dank".. and smells a little funky as in something has died in your bucket. Now she is looking better and after inspecting all the colas last night... she looks and smells AWESOME!! Yes... some leaves still have the "nute burn" look to them but they were leaves that were effected before correcting the nute issue. FELLOW BLADES.... CHANGE YOUR WATER IN YOUR BUCKET EVERY 7-14 DAYS... YOU'LL BE HAPPIER IN THE LONG RUN AND WILL BE ABLE TO NOT LET THOSE PPM LEVELS CREEP UP AND CAUSE THE NUTE BURN. take it for what it's worth. But this works for me and could work for you also. Good Luck...
Get a good EC/TDS meter, if you're going to grow hydroponics you and your plants need one, and so you might as well get a good one... This one I know is a solid meter and costs 60 bucks... HM Waterproof EC/TDS/Temp Combo Meter - $59.96