Ok my first question may answer most of the rest. Is it possible for a mother to just give up? I have my mother in a totally seperate area and she has been doing fine up untill this last clones were taken now she is wilting and leaves are browning out and dying My cloens rooted and started slowly growing and are now doing the same thing the mother is. about 3 weeks into veg. Here is my system. NFT hydro (this is all i have ever used never grown in dirt before) 4 plants in a 2.3 foot by 2.3 foot area under screen with 250 HPS fully enclosed room with 4 inch inline fan and CF filter 4 inch fresh air intake with hepa filter. light cycle is running 18-6 currently temps are holding steady aroud 75-78 during light and 67 - 70 during dark period. I am using fox farm nutes (grow big) at 1/2 strength on clones and 1/4 on the mother. Mother is in a 5 gallon bubbler bucket. Both resavoiurs are changed out every 2 weeks. Ph has remained at 6-7 I dont have a digital meter Im using a fish tank test kit. Ive been using this mother for the past 4 grows and the same system and method with great results this time around is horrible though. I am seriously contemplating going to soil but dont want to waist my time with a mother that has died out. Im looking for opinions and advice. Ill have a photo uploaded in a few min. so someone can give me an idea what I have done wrong or if my plants are just giving up.
The photo with the white background is the mother the rest are of the clones and yes I am flowering the mother out as i have a nother clone from her to make a new mother but I am wondering if it will be worth the time.
You need to adjust your ph. Especially in hydro this is one of the most important things. First off ph 6-7 is too high for hydro. Ideally you want like 5.5-6.1. I would be willing to bet ph is your problem. For any grow filtered water, and ph are very, very important, especially on dro. Get yourself a quality meter.
When you say get a quality meter do you have any suggestions ive seen them from 10$ to 200$ how do you classify a good meter?
While out today I stoped at one of the big box stores and got a soil ph tester and tried it if its right OMG my fish tester is way off the needle was nearly at 8 I had some spa PH down and got it down to a little over 5 Im gonna hit the hydro store as soon as i can to get the PH up and down plus get an acurate meter wow for the longest i havent had any trouble with our water but I tested it out of the tap and its at 7 when it use to be a little lower but then who knows I havent had an acurate meter so Im not sure. Im still wondering about the mother is possible to use her up?
Don't trust those cheap soil testers. They are very inaccurate. Milwaukee makes nice cheap meters, but I like the cheap ass Hanna one that you can replace the probe for like $4. Since it is always the probe that goes bad. I will try to get the model # when I am at my garden later. If your fish tank one is the kind where you put the water in the vile then add 4-5 drops of the solution, and check the color to the side of the bottle. These are actually really good. I often double check my Hanna to one of these cheap testers. Your problem is in the ph swing. You want it to be consistant. Get some phUp,and down to adjust properly.
Thanks for all the input everyone. My fish tester kit is a couple of years old and im thinking there may be a problem with the solution (expired)I didnt make it today but i got to make time to hit the hydro store. Maybe during lunch tomorrow
K got Ph down today plus a new fish ph test kit, PH and TDS meter should be in by the end of the week I ordered both Im tired of guessing time to get serious....