Hello all! I am a long time reader first time poster ive always gotten great advice just looking here but now its a problem i cant seem to diagnose. im doing my first hydro grow after dozens of soil attempts and various pet projects. Since I lack the space to grow more than a few ounces at a time or a few smaller plants. Anyways, I changed over the res yesterday morning first thing into the 5th and 6th week late blooming solution before i go into a week of bulking and molasses and then a week of pure flush. During the switch I noticed that my main branch that accounts for about a thrid of my plant is wilting and yellowing and looks like it has no water or sunlight even though it has an abundance of both. There is no root rot, the nutrient solution isnt too high on ppm (about 950 as I like to start low and work up the concentration). The medium is moderatly watered coco coir and my timer goes off for 30 mins three times a day evenly spaced so one happens in the middle of the night the morning and the afternoon but if it was over watering wouldnt I see symptoms across the whole plant? It does have roots that reach past the pot and dangle into the res water and one particularly long root i think is responsible for getting water all the way to my largest branch. Now if I let those few roots touch the water source at all times could it be over watering? Im kind of lost Ive never had this issue in soil grows any help out there?
Hmm, strange! I'm no expert but my first piece of advice would be to get an air stone in the res asap (if there isn't one already).. I'm confused, are you watering 24/7 apart from the hour and a half (total) that the timer is off? That would be the only thing bringing some o2 into the mix, but it would probably water log the hell outta the coco and could eventually cause some stem/root rot .. Perhaps the apical tip is showing the symptoms first, and the rest of the plant will follow suit.. The "clawing" of the leaves are definitely the first thing that leads me to say it's getting too much water, and not enough 02.. (under-watering would give the same symptom but that's not the case here). I would aerate the hell outta that solution (24/7) and back off if not completely quit the over head watering.. Edit: Apart from the current issue, shes looks great so far!
Thanks for the response! To clarify, it's the opposite; The timer only turns the pump on for that collective hour and a half. I removed enough water from the res so that no part of the roots, even that long dangleing bit, are hitting the water and i turned the timer off in hopes of drying the whole thing out a bit. Are you suggesting that I use an aquarium bubbler to cycle the water when im not using it to get more air in it? if so that sounds good. I just changed the res yesterday and ran some of the new water as well as a liter of filtered pure water through the plant then shut it down for today to see if that helps. before the switch i had been adding new water as needed to top it off but i suppose thats no better if it doesnt have enough dissovled oxy and ill try that bubbler and post the results. And thanks, I plan to try and do the full journal and documentation for the next grow and see if i cant work some new science out of her.
ahh haa, that's more like it.. but even still, not necessary brotha.. The plant will get all it's needs from the res, no overhead is required.. The whole point of dwc is to LET the roots grow into the water.. You really want your water level about an inch above the bottom of the net pot.. That's the need for the 02 pump, to keep the roots well oxygenated.. but if your outdoors you may run into some temp issues.. You dont want your res temp over say 70 degrees F max.. It will promote bacterial growth and can lead to pythium etc = bad things.. I suspect that keeping the majority of your roots out of the water has helped with that... But i'd say by the looks of things you're only a few weeks out from harvest, and it looks like the majority of your roots have stayed in the coco, so don't do anything drastic..Stick with the over head watering for this grow (due to the majority of the root mass being above the res). I'd simply oxygenate the heck outta that res, and in the future you dont need the coco.. simply throw down a layer of geolite/expanded clay pebbles then spread out your roots and then top off with geolite.. keep the initial water level about 1/2" from bottom of net pot, and once the roots hit the res raise the water level to about an inch above the bottom of the net pot.. the point of this is that your roots will quickly find their way down to the res.. Edit: also, is the empty net pot on the right full of coco? If not be sure to cover it with something, you don't want light getting down into the res..
cool ill get the pump out of there for the next one and the pot on the right has that peatmoss planter material plugging the hole. The medium im using is because i started the plant in a pot until it grew enough then i moved it into the cooler. the medium is made up of coco coir that my buddy grows alfalfa in then grinds up for medium with clay balls in it and zeolite along with a soil amendment by kelp4less. your saying to place the plant a bit deeper in the pot with just a bit of clay and top it off as it grows? As for temperature, I have about 10 gallons in the cooler and overnight it chills the water and ive never seen it get past 70 degrees in the water due to the insulation even in extreme heat and direct sun. And yeah I just started week 5 or so so im right there before bulking time, if the problem persists should i just cut the whole limb? the rest of the plant is perfectly fine after all
Yea place the plant lower so the roots will grow right down into the res.. Then as she grows you could top off with the geolite just to hold her in place.. Oh shoot, 70 degrees is perfect for res temp.. And no I wouldn't cut it.. It should clear up.. The only reason to cut a main cola would be some bud rot..
No it kept getting yellower and more dry so I decided to cut it. It was very much it's own part of the plant and doesn't seem to have shocked the rest of the plant and the rest is showing no signs of the same disorder. Sent from my VS840 4G using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Hmm, that's strange.. But keep in mind it is completely normal for the majority of the fan leaves to begin yellowing a few weeks before harvest time as the plant will begin using all the nitrogen that is stored in the leaves.. Assuming your drying the herb.. hopefully it will be decent even though it's early.. Would love to hear about the results
Well it was all the leaves not just fan leaves. I think I was too late and bacteria had already taken root in my plant producing alcohol and whatnot So all this time later I made some bho wax that is almost exclusively psychoactive with little body high. It gets me to start having a hard time moving commands from brain to mouth or legs haha the mind is going to fast for the body Sent from my VS840 4G using Grasscity Forum mobile app