I'm new to this forum and to cannabis growing in general. Hopefully I have what is a very simple problem. Before I state my problem I'll list my grow room situation: I'm using a 1000 watt HPS system sitting about three feet above the tops of my pots, my temperature stays steadily at about 78 degrees fahrenheit, planted in a 2 1/2 gallon bucket with Ferti-Lome potting soil, a box fan providing some exhaust and another 12" fan blowing onto the plants. This is all contained in a closet in a spare room of my house. My problem is that my biggest plant's leaves are curling and it's alarming me. The plant is about a month old but has only been under the HPS for five days, watering on the third. The plant itself is only five inches tall, but about 11 inches wide from tip to tip. The leaves themselves are a dark nice green, but the top leaves (my new 5 pointers and 7 pointers) are curling up all around the edges. The inside of the leaf is staying flat but most of the outside of the leaves (a couple of millimeters maybe) are curling upwards. The plant is bagseed so of course I can't be totally sure of the strain, but it was sold to me as Kali and was definitely quite good. Hopefully I'm just jumping to conclusions because it's my first grow but I'd rather write a post for no reason than to let a problem go unchecked. Any input would be helpful and I'll try to get pictures up soon. By the way...there are three other plants growing in the same room right now and they don't show the problem that the big one has. They are smaller (about four inches tall and only two or three inches wide) but growing at a similar rate. The big one is still growing even since I've noticed the curling...it has been spreading its leaves out about 3/4" per day...sorry for the disjointed nature of this post but I'm kind of stoned as I write it...unfortunately not from my own garden yet.
first off welcome to the city and congrats on deciding to grow!! i believe you have your hps light too close to your plants and thats why they are curling upwards...typically downward curling of your plants would be from dehydrating your plants with not enough water and sometimes this also occurs with over-watering. my suggestion would be to raise your lights atleast a few inches, make sure you have proper ventilation because a 1000 watt hps is very powerful and can get extremely hot. even though your temp is right on for the grow room, i would still question the temp from the hps light being too hot because it is so close to the plant. i will check real quick to see how far a 1000 hps light should be away from a plant but i was thinking it should be close to 4 feet away but im not positive so let me find out. peace
I wasn't sure about the height of the lamp myself so I did the skin test method and found that at about three feet the little heat I could feel from the light was well within limits my skin could handle. Another question then...if my light is too close and that is what's causing the curling, how long should it take for the leaves to hopefully return to normal? Thanks for the answer by the way...quick and courteous.
Welcome to the city and check the sticky threads above for magnesium deficeincy to see pics of it. You treat it with Epsom salts. Good Luck
ok....here is some info: How far should my Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium light be above my plants? \t It is ideal to keep a HID light 18" - 36" above the tops of your plants. Lower wattage lights 150w or 250w can be as close as 18" but a 1000w light should at least 30" away to prevent burning. If you move your lights or air cool them you can usually move them closer to the plants. so my guess is that the distance is still to close to your plants due to their age. younger plants can't take the heat stress as well because using a 1000 hps is pretty hard on your young babies....typically people use a less powerful light for vegging and then switch to a more powerful light after a few weeks into the grow or when the are ready for the flowering stage. my only problem with raising the lights even more than they already are is that the plants will then start to stretch too much and fall over, essentially killing themselves if un-noticed. i would personally try to use a less powerfully light if possible for the early stages of veg. peace EDIT: lucian is much more experienced grower than me so his advice might be more accurate than mine, but still pics would be helpful!
We raised the light a foot or so to approximately four feet above the plant. Before the plants went under the HPS they were under a T5 two bulb fluorescent grow light for a little over three weeks. Again I'll try to get picture up soon but until then I'll keep everyone posted on (hopefully) the further progress of the plants.
I saw the mention of stretching and I was just wondering what signs exactly to look for so I can catch it before it causes any real damage. Also it's only been about an hour or so since I raised the light and the temperature at plant level has all ready dropped another 2 or so degrees (to about 75-76 degrees fahrenheit).
signs of stretching can be very easy to notice, but do you know what kind of marijuana you are growing...indica or sativa?? typically the plant will start to grow really tall with very little amount of leaves due to the plant have to concentrate so much energy on the stem area alone and not on the internodes and fan leaves. just keep an eye on the stem to make sure that it doesn't look weak so that it doesn't happen to fall over due to not being able to support itself. usually the stem will start to turn a purple color and start to look a little unhealthy when its stretching towards the light too much. also, some strains do produce purple branches so knowing the genetics about your plants can help. you may also find later down the road during the flowering stage that your plants will start to produce such large/heavy buds that the branches will not be able to support themselves with the amount of weight from the buds...just use a supporting stick or whatever they call it and place it in the soil, then tie down some of the branches to it to help support it from falling over. you can also do this during the veg cycle if your plants are stretching or you have a weak stem to help ensure that the plant won't fall over! peace
I got a picture of my problem. My other ones are doing it very slightly but not nearly on the scale of the one in the picture. Any help would be appreciated.
I would go with saying that is a magnesium def. I have had it myself, the leaves will curl up more which is why they call it "praying leaves". It is treated with Epsom salt and I'll edit this with how to mix it. I have to look though an old journal for it Found it: I mixed up a 1/2 teaspoon epsom salt to a gal of water and misted just as the lights went out and again two nights later and the affected plants all got healthy. Course, I made sure to raise my light and turn off the fan first. You can also water with it but pouring salt water on the roots just scared me so I misted the leaves till they where dripping and it cleared up. Good Luck!
Thanks for the help...I'll get some of the Epsom salt tomorrow. Besides that does the plant look healthy? I'd love for some comments. Attached are a few pictures of my smaller plants including my weird four-pointed leaf. What the hell anyway...
Plants look fine. I take it that larger plant that is magnesium deficient is older than its other little buddy's. And, I assume you have foliar fed explaining the white spots on the leaves?
I'm not sure what white spots you mean but no...I haven't done any foliar feeding. I have been misting them about twice a day (morning then night)...but just distilled water, no nutrients. Speaking of which...what are some nutrient solutions that I could get to add to my water for foliar feeding? The biggest one is also not much older than the others...maybe three or four days. It was planted within two days of the others and was transplanted to under the HPS three days before just because it was so much bigger than the others. I'm expecting to make a few more mistakes on this first grow and hopefully they'll be simple ones...but I can definitely say I'll be looking for more help.
Also, I was wondering how long it took for your plants to show signs of recovery Lucian. And also did it cause any problems further down the road or did you just have to mist them those two times and they were fine from then on out? I'm hoping it's the latter.
Honestly anything that I haven't mentioned all ready I really don't know. It would be helpful if anyone would politely but firmly tell me everything that I really need to do that I'm not all ready doing...hehe. Thanks..
Hi Hades, Yeah, in my case just those two mistings did the trick for me. The first time and then I think two days later and the problem cleared up completely over the next two days with no problems down the road. As for pH, it is very important. If it is too high, It can't 'eat' things it needs from the soil. Likewise when it is too low and when the pH is off, all sorts of things can happen from wilting to weird discolorations on the leaves and stunted growth. (It is usually called nutrient lock out) Distilled water is great except for pH. They tend to make it neutral pH which is 7. I have bought and tested a bottle of distilled water and it was almost 8 which is too high. To do a quick test on your water, go to Spawlmart or even better, a pet store and buy a cheap pH test kit. It will be a small vial you fill with your water and then you add a drop or two of some stuff and shake it. You then compare the color of you water to a chart they give you to tell you your pH. It is not the most accurate but will give you a good idea. I used this for my first grow but eventually bought and electric tester off ebay for like 10$ To check it out, search on ebay for 'Checker pH'. Hope this helps and good luck!
I went to the store today and bought some "Epso-Grow"...it says it is a 100% natural source of magnesium and sulfur and whatnot. I also got a garden pump mister with which to apply it. I came home and mixed a half teaspoon with a gallon of water, mixed thoroughly, and then filled my mister. I then applied the mixture to all my plants (since the smaller ones were showing the same signs of curling) and now will wait for something to happen. I'll put some more pictures up in a couple of days hopefully showing recovery. Again, thanks for all the help.