Here’s what I’m currently running: RDWC with two Northern Lights from seedsman in week 3.5 from seed. RWC is 3 five gallon buckets - 2 plants and one reservoir Using GH flora nutes Last week I was using 1/2 strength early veg recommendations = micro @ 3.75ml/gallon, gro @ 5ml/gallon, bloom @ 1.25ml/gallon —> ~750ppm After the discoloring started, I changed my water and added nutes at 1/4 strength = micro @ 1.875ml/gallon, gro @ 2.5ml/gallon, bloom @ 0.625ml/gallon —> ~450ppm I’m also adding hydroguard at 2ml/gallon I’m using tap water pH’ed to 5.8 (pen calibrated and accurate) and starts at about 225ppm. Temp is usually around 18 Celsius. I’ve got a bottle of cal-mag but haven’t added any since a lot of the forums say you don’t need to if you’re using tap (wish I would have read that before purchasing) Lights are quantum boards 288 v2 240w x 2 (2 boards per plant). Currently about 20” above plants. I’ve been looking at a bunch of pictures for Nute deficiencies and excesses, but don’t feel I really have a discerning enough eye to pick out my problem. I was hoping someone with experience could steer me in the right direction. Also, the last picture is of my other plant on the same system which isn’t showing any discoloration. Since they both share the same water, why they both have yellowing if it was a Nute issue? Thanks in advance for any help!!
225 ppm is pretty high for tap water. Mine is 190 ppm, and I failed when trying to use it as an experiment. My leaves looked like yours, and the growth was distorted, until I switched back to RO water. There's no telling what's in the water to give 225 ppm, but you should subtract that from the final ppm when mixing fertilizer. My experience in dwc is that the plants will thrive on 350-400 ppm. If you were to have 400 ppm above tap, then that would be 625 ppm total. You might want to consider a cheap RO system for around $70 from PureWaterClub or ROBuddy. RO water is best for the top fill ultrasonic humidifier you will probably need. Google Vapor Pressure Deficit chart. When you get things on track, your biggest problem will probably be too much growth.
Cool - thanks for taking the time to help. I’ll prob try RO for my next water change. My whole system takes 10 gallons, so I’ll start out with just buying 10 jugs or RO from the grocery store to see how it goes. Do you do 350-400 with DWC for the whole grow or just the early veg phase?
I use top feed dwc and follow VPD chart from seed to harvest. That style requires very little fertilizer. 480 ppm got me nute burn, so I backed off to 400, which will be my max until harvest, and I'll slowly reduce down to about 200 ppm at harvest. I now believe that the plants will grow just fine using the same ppm from sprout to harvest if seeds are planted directly into hydro. I also believe that reservoir changes are unnecessary (unless problems happen), and I haven't changed mine once in almost 12 weeks. But I do add clorox every day. So far I've noticed no difference never changing res, other than saving money on nutes.
I have ten 20 to 30 gallon RDWC systems in operation . Something that I am learning is my grow containers need to be flushed 3 or 4 times over the 4.5 month plants life time. If my house gets hot my plants will use more water then I would think possible , 4 to 6 gallons per day per plant per system . I like to be able to travel and want 3 or 4 days away from my plants . I couldn't do that if my plants where in 5 gallon buckets, my plants roots would fill a 5 gallon bucket There would be no room for water …. RO systems ,, I use allot of RO water , sometimes 60 to 80 gallons per day depending if its time to replace 3 or 4 plants water at the same time . I could help spec out a RO system for you , Need some info How many gallons per day ? What is your water pressure , And what are the minerals in your water and how many ppm are they . Are you already using a water softener ? and would you be willing to also buy a water softener plus a RO system ?
adding Clorox to your res is killing all the beneficial bacteria, i would not recommend that at all. Op what are the temps by your ladies? I think you need to lower your ppms a bit they are young for they have some nute burn. the wrinkles in the leafs sometime occur in young plants may not be a concern at all, But they are short for 3 weeks and that suggests your nutes are to high.. Hope that helps..
I learned about clorox when using a setup and nutes from the hydro company Current Culture. They recommend adding "UC Roots" along with nutes whenever they are added. Turns out UC Roots contains very dilute clorox. Some of us prefer having as sterile a hydro setup as possible, and don't worry about killing beneficial bacteria along with all the rest. Quality and yield are excellent, and no root rot worries when using UCRoots/Clorox.
Just a suggestion, but fill a bucket with the water you're using check the PPM, then leave it for a few days and see if it has dropped. I'm thinking there might be a lot of chlorine in your water? An air pump will help remove the chlorine if that is the problem, but get rid of the chlorine before you add the fertilizer, because they can react.