ok so this is my first deep water grow from the soil switch and the snowcap was thriving in veg but as soon as i switched the nutes to big bloom and threw it in 12/12 the leaves have been drying and falling off. my growing partner seems to think that adding ph up or down to adjust the fluctuated levels ranging from 3.2 all the way to 7.8. i think that its the ph's dramatic fluctuations causing the dryness. any input at this point would be much appreciated.
For Hydro your pH should be 5.8. If you are +/- .5 then you are locking out some nutrients. What is your room temperature? Humidity? Water/Reservoir temp? Feeding schedule?
the temp stays between 70-78 and humidity stays around 24-35 i dont have a thermometer to check the bubble buckets water temp but it seems to be at about room temp and the feeding schedule is once a week or depending on how she is looking, she has only been in 12/12 for about a week. the day after we made the switch and changed the nutes to bloom from veg the roots gummed up with tannish goo. i can take pics of plant and roots if needed.
Do your buckets have a light leak? Either that or they have too many nutes but it sounds like a light leak...
Also, big swings in PH at one time (which it sounded like you did) can cause problems with the plant. From what I've heard, try to go slowly, adjusting at .5 at a time. PH is the cause of most problems. Also, what kind of water are you using? If using RO water, you may want to look into magical, as RO removes some of the minerals you need to grow. (its magnesium, Iron, and Calcium)
Can you post pics of the plants and roots please? What other nutes are you using? Tiger Bloom? You can easily burn your plants with Tiger Bloom, it's best to start it at a low dose and gradually increase it, IMO. Big bloom is an organic nute and it will NOT hurt your plants. It's bat guano and worm castings with very low NPK. BB and other nutes can cause discoloration of roots, as long as the roots are a light tan color, and NOT slimy with a foul odor I wouldn't worry about discoloration. If you're PH is dropping so drastically, odds are that the nute levels are way too high. What are the ppm's? First thing to do is to get the ph in check, a good range is 5.8-6.0. When the ph is off, it causes lock out which leads to deficiencies and toxicity of vital nutes. When you adjust PH, how long are you waiting after adding ph up / down for the water to stabilize before checking it and trying to adjust it more?
i will snap some photos of the plant and roots when the lights turn on at 8. but now that its mentioned, light leak could be very possible because the hole drilled on the side for the air line was a little too big and was like that untill i realized my grow partner didnt cover it up 3 days later. so i covered it with a few layers of duct tape but i think ill put some 6mil black plastic with more tape to fully block it. also yoda we used 1/8th strength tiger and 1/8th of big bloom as well as a small drop of superthrive and 1/2 strengh Ca mag. the ppms ran 580 last night and the ph was 6.1 so i let it be on the ph due to dumping 10 ml of down into it to get it down on the 5th from 7.8. The water is filtered tap with a few drops of chlor-out and runs at 4.1 without nutes. i usually wait about 20/30/60 min to recheck and and usually a few hours to add more unless its still way off the charts.
a grow back i accidentally phd the water at around 4.9 and left it there for only one night and i saw in my plant the symptoms your describing aND as dramattic as the damage sounds id say your ph is fluctuating way too much did you thoroughly rinse the rockwool and hydroton and the best cure is to give it some good additives and leave it at 5.5-5.7 throughout the WHOLE veg cycle and you will see some restoration
ok so this is the plant the night of the nute flush and switch and this is the plant now with the roots. i just checked the ph and its at 6.3 and the ppm is 1060, also i checked the possible light leak and its not leaking.
What's the res temp? Have you used both ph up and down in the res? Someone told me that it's bad to do that, I could be wrong but something about salt buildup or something, so I just carefully use the ph down and never use the up. I had to put a fan on my bubble buckets to cool the water a tad cause it was getting too warm. And I use a little hygrozyme every now and then cause it makes me feel safe.
i need to get a thermometer to check it tomorrow, and i added a little up because it was 3.4 the other night. im starting to think that the half/half mix of tiger bloom and big bloom might have done it even though it was still at 1/4 strength. there is a large fan pointed right at the buckets and the fan has a inline of constant cool air from the ac blowing directly at it. i stuck my finger in the bucket and it feels like it has to be no higher then 70 but i could be wrong.
When you add nutes to the water, are you adding them one at a time? Mixing them together first will cause nute lockouts and is bad for your ph. Again, I'm not an expert, but if you're mixing them first, just add them separately instead. I'd drain the water, clean the buckets w/ bleach water and let em air out for a few, rinse the shit outta that plant like through the hydroton over a sink till you're just sick of rinsing it. Then mix up a fresh batch of nutes, adding one at a time then adjusting ph after. That's one way hydro can be more forgiving than soil, when in doubt, dump it out.
ok, im going to flush the system tomorrow and give that a try or just use 1/4 strength of big bloom instead of the tiger as well..
i think i should have another bucket laying around somewhere so i can get it airing out for the swap. would it be better to just run with plain water for a week before loading it up with nutes? so that way most of the gunk on the roots clears off before i load it up again?
Hey bro... just thought i'd throw out my 2 cents. I just switched from FF to Advanced Nutrients because i couldent get it to stabalize in my ebb system. the pH bounced all over, especially with higher water temps. I havent used pH up/down since i switched. When Advance advertises "pH perfect", you can believe it. 5.7 for about 8 days... and i addback 100% of the res size. It lasts longer... I highly recommend it for a beginner. I use the Sensi A+B Bloom. Its super clean... no more flakey salts and crap floating. Those roots look like there a little slimey, and need a good cleaning. I use a product by Dutch Master called Gold Zone. It eats away the dead bad stuff from the roots, and flushes out toxic buildup like that. I would run it for a hour or so with plain water... then flush and run some fresh clean nutrients. and trust me there is a HUGE difference between the two lines. I was blown away. You can get a gallon of the A and the B for about 40 bucks each... so $80 total, and it applies at a ratio of 4ml per liter. You dont need to run all the supplements... check out my journal... the indoor just switched to Advanced a few weeks ago... and you can see the difference in how the plants were growing and now. You need those water temps to stay low too. If your above 74 consistently your going to have problems all along. The higher temps allow for less dissolved oxygen... which the roots need alot of. Make sure you clean the diffusers regularly, cause they clog quick. (less with Advanced... very noticeable). Good Luck to you. Happy to help... i hope this does. No, I am not a sales rep for A.N. They are just easily superior, and people should know.
thanks man ill deffinatly look into it, im going to need new nutes soon so ill deffinatly look into advanced nutes
but why would you want to keep your ph the same when diferent levels of nutes( plants intake) work at diferent ph levels besides 5.7 for 8 days?????? thats a sign your plant is not maximizing production because when a plant is in optimal conditions you can expect the ph to go from 5.5 to 6.0 in 4 days the ph slowly rising is a sign your plant is eating good ...very good.. and the nutes that i have found best or growing bud is botanicare cuz its ph stable and most nutes are organic or natural derived (not chemicals like most)but then again its ALWAYS the growers preference