It's my first time doing DWC and as soon as I topped my plant for the first time everything changed. The leaves used to be all dark green and perfectly flat (critical sensi star) and now they are a much lighter green with a lot of the leaves looking deformed. I'm using aurora soul synthetics as a base, cal-mag, hygrozyme, silica shield, orca, and fruit juice at 500 ppm in 2 gals and i'm in the 5th or so week of veg. I have topped a few more times and try to keep the pH around 6 but things are still looking weird. My water temp is 72 and about 80 at the top of the plant. The fan is sort of blowing the light around, but i'm not sure if that matters too much. I wish I had never topped at all because everything went down hill as soon as I did that. Also the roots have a brown coloration to them at the top and i'm not sure if this is attributed to the nutes I am using or root rot. There is no strong smell, and they aren't slimy so i'm hoping its just nutes. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Looks pretty good. I'd consider lowering the pH to 5.5 and then let it drift up. Maybe you could just cut down on the silica to help with that? Do I see growstones? Might be worth trying to bring the temps of the room and res down a little?
Thanks man, I've actually been going down to 5.5 recently cuz it goes up so fast. I'll try cutting back on the silica. I don't have a chiller so I can't really get the res temps down. Im using those lava rock looking things...not sure if they're called grow stones. Thanks for ur help
How fast does the ph go up? Like from X to Y in Z amount of time. I ask because I used to have similar issues and the plant can and WILL change the ph rapidly if she is displeased. That pic you posted looks like the beginning of root rot. Your plant looks otherwise healthy and you topping it Im sure has nothing to do with this issue. edit: I know you said theres 2 gallons in there, but where does that leave the water height in relation to the bottom of the net pot?
It will go up from 5.5 to 6.5 in 24 hours or less. As far as the water height, I fill it up right to the bottom of the net pot. Should I be keeping it topped off at all times or let the water get used up? The roots look the worst right at the bottom of the net pot, i'm not sure why this would be considering they are probably the most oxygenated. I'm still leaning towards the fact that its the nutes that are causing this coloration because there is no foul odor and they aren't slimy looking.... and my water is very well oxygenated. I'm switching back to soil if it's root rot....not worth it.
deformed how? Lighter green leaves just mean they need more nitrogen. Just do a res change with 3/4 strength nutes
How many times in that 5 weeks have you completely drainded the system and added brand new fresh mix? I think the above posters answer will help you, in 5 weeks I think you should have changed it atleast twice, it has to do with the build up of unused nutes and salts. It will make your Ph go up fast too due to the left overs.
Yea, you want the water level to be about a 1/2 to 1inch below the bottom if the net pot. The ph changing that rapidly is no bueno. That plant isn't happy about something. I would do what the above poster mentioned. Drain the system, clean it nice and good refill with fresh water + nutes and ph to about 5.6. Then give out a couple days to see how she looks. I had very similar symptoms etc as you when i started out and those were some of my issues as well.
You mentioned not being able to bring the water temp down, just toss a few ice cubes in the Res, monitor the change and adjust the amount of ice you put in.
This. Alternatively, you can freeze a couple water bottles and dump them in. Just rotate them out semi frequently and always have one in the freezer ready to go. Edit: you can also wrap the bucket in foil tape our panda film or something and it will reflect heat as opposed of absorbing it.
I change the water once a week.... even though I know I don't really have to. I just try to keep things fresh. The pH wants to stay around 6.5 for some reason. I'm gonna start adding ice cubes to keep the temps down. If its root rot, the hygrozyme i'm using should help with that right?
It should, and very well might be why only those very top of the roots looks rotted. The stuff under water is being helped by the hygrozyme. Thatd be my guess, at least I'd just say lower the water level some and see if you notice any difference. I know it sounds odd, but how does the nutrient solution smell? The guy thats been kinda mentoring me says he can usually tell something is off by the smell. It should be 'earthy'... Ive been paying attention to different things and hes right. Weird as it sounds, you can tell a lot by the smell. Edit: Ignore my 'smell' comment. totally forgot you addressed that in the OP
he still needs to get his res temp down but hes not worried about a slime or a smell so not rot. Weak roots are common in DWC. Thats why I prefer a lower res and Rdwc
yeah its that dark brown stuff that worries me. But my nutes are so dark that they will stain the pump hose brown as quick as 24 hours after I clean it. The dudes at the hydro store think its the nutes but who knows.
If that were the case, you'd think that the entirety of the roots that are under water would be stained, no?
guess im not worried about them cuz they just look like root browning to me from nutes like mine Id love to see this system turn to a lower res with a small recirculating pump on a timer. wink wink