ey guys, First time post, but been fallowing the website for a while now. So I set up a new drip system the other day, and it seems to have been going well. The last couple of days I have seem to be having a really weird problem with new growth on a Snow White clone I got a couple days ago. When I first got the clone, I think i took it out of the humidity dome a little too early, and it looked real bad for the first couple of days. Everything drooped, including the stem. But lately, it perked back up and seems to be doing good (kinda?) All new growth, whether its on the top or a couple nodes down seems to be curling up (taco), discoloring, and turning yellow. There are some strange white spots as well on the new growth that I highly doubt are insects. I cant tell whether or not this is nute burn, fungus, or a disease? Since everything is new, and I havent had such problems before I'm real confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Using 1/2 strength nutes Botanicare growing (seedling strength) 250 watt metal halide Drip runs 4x a day, for 30 minutes each time Light is 20 inches from plants ~75 degrees F and 30% humidity
it could be a couple things, first i noticed the burn tips on the fan leaves, the folding of the new and younger leaves could be a heat issues, when the leaf gets to hot it folds to minimized surface exposure to heat, also leaves will do this when magnesium (mg) deficiency is present, called "praying for magnesium". but they look like they are twisting which could be pH imbalance. so my question is whats ur pH at? does it fluctuate? if so how much? but... there is yellowing on the leaf margens and rusty spotting, that looks like a mg deficiency, this can be from a pH that is to acidic, locking it out
So I borrowed my friends pH tester and it appeared to be around 7. I lowered the pH to around 5.8, and changed the reservoir lessening my nutes a little bit. The heat never really goes above 80 tho so I dont think that was an issue. Hopefully itll start looking better once the next watering cycle begins.
the room temp may be 80, but the surface temp could be higher, the only way to test that is to get a lazer themomater, folding will happen if leaf temp gets above 85. but it is most likely mg deficiency, u can treat with some epsion salt, 1-3 tbls per gal
I also added 60ml of sugar daddy (6 gallons), which said it should increase mg and potassium. Was this a good idea?
i have never used sugar daddy, but generally, sugar or candy anything, are carbohydrates and some times terpenoids, from various fruits. when deficient, u wanna add a food of supplement that has the nutrient that is needed
hmm, checked her back out today and its looking pretty much the same. Generally, how long should it take to see whether or not the changes are working?
The strain is snow white. I adjusted the pH from 7 to 5.8. I also changed the reservoir and used slightly less nutes.
thats a helpful chart 77401. but if u add biology to ur soil or hydroponics then pH is of no consequence, the biology makes chelated food for the plants and they also regulates the proper pH. this is why ur plants around the yard dont need pH adjusted water. but thats a whole knew ball game
Keep your eye on the new growth, it'll tell you if the issue has been resolved the damage currently on the leaves, will not go away. If the problem persists, the damage on the older leaves will get worse and it'll be on the new growth as well. As long as your feeding nutes, keep your ph in range 5.8 - 6.0 for hydro. If you're ph stays too high / too low, for a long period of time you'll start to see signs of deficiency and / or toxicity of vital nutrients. They yellowing around the edges of the leaves, and rust spots are a good indicator that you're ph is off - as you mentioned above it was at 7. Also, if you note the brown at the very tips of the leaves - good indicator of nute burn in most instances. did you start them on a 50% mix of nutes? If you look at the leaves at the top of the plant - note the up-curl (usually heat stress) and how the leaves have started to dry - IMO they need more water. How much water do they get with the drip system 4x's / day at 30min's per watering? Are you using another medium such as grodan or rockwell cubes, as well as the hydroton? Do you have air circulation in your garden, i.e. an oscillating fan blowing across the plants? You mentioned that your humidity is at 30% which is a little low for veg IMO. You'll probably find that your plants prefer an rh of 40-50% during veg, especially if your temps are higher. edit: White spots - could very well be an indicator of insects, and some of those little buggers are hard to see if you don't have something to magnify what you're looking at. There's a chart in the plant abuse sticky that shows pest damage, and how to check for them. *77 great chart! very helpful! Good luck with your grow Doin'
Thanks for the help, right now they are in 4 by 4 rockwool cubes in hydroton. I have been keeping the pH in check and some of the problems seems to have gotten better. Strangely, the seedling from some random bagseed schwagg seems to be loving everything that I have been giving them. More problems seem to be coming up tho. On the same clone, I seem to be having a problem where the plant keeps drooping. I think it might be overwatering because everytime the drip kicks in it gets droopier. Im using a drip system now 15 minutes a day 3 times a day. I turned it away from the plant to see if it percs back up but it doesnt make much sense. I also raised the nutes a little bit. I need a ppm meter Also, there is some crazy new growth on the middle one (Grand daddy). It seems like there are 4 tops even tho I didnt top or FIM it.
The tops on that grand daddy are nothing wrong with that Definitely invest in a ppm meter. I wouldn't raise the nutes until they tell ya they're hungry. Give them some more time to bounce back and work on their root growth. Good luck! Doin'
I was watering more frequently than I am now and have cut back. I think I am not going to water the snow white for a day or two, then start it back up to see if it gets better. The rockwool cubes in the hydroton has the sides taken off, the one not in the pot still has it on so algae doesnt build up. One other question, on the GDPK clone, the new growth seems a little distorted but real nice and green in color. The growth is still extremely small, and very cramped together so I dont know if thats just the problem.
ughh so i took a look today and the gdpk clone seems extremely warped now. all the new growth is deformed and curled, and some of the older leaves are tacoing too. All the new growth is green tho.
curling / twisting of new growth is usually related to ph issues, even tho you've stabilized the ph it can take a while to show in the plant itself. Keep your eye on the next node of new growth too. nice green new growth is good tacoing - curling up, or down? can you post a pic please?
this is from yesterday since im on campus and cant take another at the moment. But it pretty much looks the same except has grown a little and continued this pattern.
She looks much better! nice job! Do you have a fan blowing directly on her? The airflow from a fan could cause the upcurl, if so it's not a big deal IMO If it were me, I'd take the two damaged leaves off that are in the pic you just posted - it won't hurt anything and the damage on them won't recover. You mentioned previously that the grow temp was 75, and the light is 20" above. How's the heat from the light at the top of the plant? An easy way to tell is to do the hand test. hold your hand at the top of the plant(s) for a minute or two, if it's too hot or uncomfortable for your hand, then it's too much for the plant so raise the light a little. Good luck!
