Alright. This is my first grow so please have patience with me. I am seeking professional help with this. I have searched the other postings and I cant come across anything that matches my specific problem. I am using a ebb and flow system with a 150w HPS light fixture and rockwool gro medium. I have started with bagseeds and they are about two weeks old now. I started using Dyna Gro nutes at 1/4 tsp per gallon. PH stays around 6.5. Roots stay constantly submerged in the system I am using. I have been running the lights on an 18/6 cycle. Everything has been going really well until the last few days when I began to notice the tips of the leaves turning upwards and now today the leaves themselves are starting to droop really bad. I dont want to see these little guys keel over so any help you could provide as to what I am doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you I will change that right away. I know that most ebb and flow systems drain all the way to let the roots dry out. Is it a problem that mine does not? Like I said before, the roots are constantly submerged.
Also, I am concerned about the nutrient levels. Is the amount I am adding ok? I understand that at about two weeks with the root growth that I have you should be treating plants as though they were vegging. I am using 1/4 tsp dyna gro nutrients for every gallon. Should I up to 1/2? I am kinda afraid to use an excess of nutrients. Before you responded I was convinced that I had added too much nutes and was killing them. I appreciate all the help and patience.
im sorry i didnt read the whole thing. i jumped in to soon... ok the roots in water is what is causing the drooping (no longer an ebb and flow, but now a deep water culture), u need to aerate the water, or have it drain properly. did u presoak the rockwool? rockwool has a high ph so if u didnt presoak and u need to buffer that, try keeping the ph lower then 5.8 maybe around 5.5 to buffer that. there seedlings right now and dont need alot of food i would cut back on the grow formula and add some bloom formula to promote root growth, and using dyna grow is causing problem for u also, i would upgrade, i always recomend advanced nutrients, they actualy make there products for cannabis (hints there product kushie kush). how that helps... good luck
a good way to find ur buffer zone for ur medium is to pour 7.0 water through it and test the run off, ie if run off is 8.0, lower ph to 5.0 and try it again (to make run off 6.0)
Yes I soaked the rockwool before putting the seedlings in. As far as aerating the water there is a pump running at all times. What can I do to drain it properly or is deep water cultivation ok? For the advanced nutrient, Do I have time to place an order or will they be dead by then? Thank you for the help so far, adding rep.
Went to Advanced Nutrients Which of these do you suggest? There are so damn many of em. Sorry I know that I am a total newbie at all of this. And I appreciate that you have the time to help me out. Will continue adding rep as incentive to suffer through my tiresome questioning. lol
keep your ph range 5.8-6.0 no lower, no higher or you'll have problems. 5.8 being ideal. I'm not familiar with the nute line that you're using - did you dose at 1/4 strength to start with? If not, you'll want to cut back on the nutes or it'll probably burn them. Increase slowly - give them a week to adjust to their new feeding schedule before upping nutes again. Like Janemba mentioned you need to have the water airated(sp?) if your roots are sitting in it DWC style. you can pick up an air pump for a fish tank, and some long airstones that'll do wonders. make sure the pump is strong enough to run the air stones. Where is your water level in relation to the rockwell? Good luck! Doin'
Thank you for the input. If you look at the pic where you can see the roots submerged, you can kinda see where the water level ends. Right where it tops out is the bottom of the grow nets/pots. The rockwool is sitting on top of about 1/4 inch of grow rocks so technically the medium is not touching the water directly, though it stays relatively moist throughout the day. As far as the nutrients I believe I started out with 1/4 strength by adding 1/4 tsp per gallon. Or should I have added 1/4 of 1/4 tsp per gallon? Once again I am very grateful that you guys are taking some time with me for this. Adding rep.
Last night in a last ditch effort, I flushed the system and added all new water, cleaning the system thoroughly. I put in way less nutrients before and adjusted the Ph to about 5.9 also I set my grow pots in tall glasses with some fresh bottled water (that I also adjusted for optimum ph) just enough to submerge the longest of the roots and let the rest dry out a bit. I did this because the water I added to the system was from the tap, and although we are using well water here that contains no chlorine, it does has trace amounts of alkaline that I think can be harmful? So I didn't want to put them back in the system until it had time to process some of that stuff out first. I also left the light running for the full 24 hours for the first time. This morning when I went to look in on them, surprisingly enough the worse of the two, was starting to perk back up again, A drastic change from the night before when I was sure they were toast. It's hard for me to properly assess what was causing the problem because I changed so many parameters. Lights, water, nutrients, Ph and amount of water, were all changed. But seems to be for the better so far so I guess I am not complaining, However, I hope my victory is not short lived. Also I forgot to mention in all my other posts that the grow room temperature stays around 73-77 degrees on average, is this o.k or should it be different? Thanks a ton you guys!
DOH! LOL! oversight on my part. sorry about that I'd drop the water level to an inch or two below the bottom of the net pots to promote root growth - if it were me if the starting dose is 1tsp per gallon then starting at 1/4 tsp should be perfect IMO. You're very welcome! I enjoy helping...thanks for the rep edit: your temps are good, but I don't know about the well water, hopefully someone else that does will come along. Glad to hear that things are looking up! Great news!!! Good Luck! Doin'
I had another question while i'm at it.. I started two plants at basically the same time from seeds. With maybe a day in between the two. Plant #1 (as I will refer to it) Is growing much more rapidly than plant #2. It has been ahead at all stages of growth so far. Does this mean that it is a male and the other female? Or is it simply too soon to tell. I will be providing more pics soon. Thanks in advance. -DrakVrael
Also, with a 150w HPS light fixture, How close should the fixture be to the tops of the plants? I wouldn't ask but everyone seems to have their own opinion. I have been using the hand/heat technique where I hold my hand under the light for like two/three minutes, and if there is any aggravation to the heat at all I move it further away. But I want to make sure I am getting the most lumens possible out of my light. Someone said around 4-6 inches away with a 150w was optimum? That seems way to close to me. I have tried it at this height, and the heat is not unbearable (I am using a sun system HPS) but I would imagine the plants are much more sensitive than I am to heat and light damage/ overexposure. You guys are awesome P.s Got some lamb of god rocking em to sleep right now. LOL Heard somewhere that they (plants in general) like the metal. We are not so different after all!
this happends because seed have hidden genetics, or recessive genes, so not every seed is going to be the exact same plant, thats why breeders start out with hundreds if not thousands of posible mates and single the best ones out...
nutriends. Advanced Nutrients' Nutrient Calculator - Analyze Soil Chemistry and Plant Nutrient Levels for Your Hydroponic or Indoor Garden. check this link it will tell u what to use when and how basics i would pick up sinsi grow and bloom formulas(both formulas have A & B aplications), mother earth (grow and bloom) sinsi cal-mag, nirvana, big bud. do some research if ur intrested in thier products. also look up Voodoo juice, B-52, Bud candy, Piranha, Final Phase, Tarantula, Sensizyme, Bud ignitor, Bud factor X, & Rhino skin... the roots in water is not a proble as long as there is O2 in the water also, they will suficate with out it and the leaves will droop (as u already know) i dont know how u have ur set up so i could not tell u how to make it drain properly, but i have found DWC promotes relly fast growth. 150w... if u can have ur hand under it with out extream heat then ur plants will be ok under. but if ur leaf surface temp get over 96 they will stop producing chlorophyll, stomas will close and stop CO2 intake. since there young i would recomend 1- 1 1/2ft till the grow into that then 6"-1' thier after (if ur room is cold enough u could get a little closer)
Hello again, I am back with some more pics and an update. So I waited about 18 hours for the water in the system to cycle through and get rid of the unwanted stuff and I just put the plants back in again. The Ph is at a perfect 5.8 and HPS fixture is approx. 13' away from the tops of the plants. Plant #1 (the larger of the two) still has the slight curling up of the leave tips going on, though it is hard to say whether it has gotten any worse. It may just be that the damage is done on those leaves and the future growth will be better? I have no clue what I should do right now. I'm getting the hang of it, and I generally learn really fast, but there is no room for error here! I feel like I am watching a pot of water waiting for it to boil, in the sense that I check on the little guys at least every half an hour. It almost seems like plant #1 is drooping a little more when I put it back in the system, though it doesn't look like an unhealthy droop if that makes sense. Another thing, almost the second I put them into the system again, the grow room exploded with a rich marijuana scent! I mean these things smell like a bag of some sticky shit already!? I have no clue why or if this is a sign of impending doom, with my lack of experience i'm kinda in the dark without a flashlight so to speak. But I do know that before they have never smelled like anything really at all. I am posting the pics of the system itself so you can kinda see how it is designed. As well as some very recent photos of my little girls (hopefully!). Once again you guys have been fucking awesome and I would give all the rep I could if the server would let me. I'm basically looking for someone to rep so I can toss more at you guys. I know my plants would be dead by now if not for your advice, but I am not in the clear yet!! Is it normal for the plants to have some droopage? I hardly put any nutes at all this time so I don't think that is it. I'm getting a air stone as soon as possible, but may need to wait a few days for the funds. Same goes for better nutes. Another thing, as far as the suggestion to raise the growpots one to two inches from the water level, wont the roots in that said area wither up and die? Also is it cool to start the 24/7 cycle now? I ran them on it last night instead of turning lights out for the usual 8 hours that I was doing before, seemed fine. Thank again in advance!! And sorry about the quality of the pics, the lighting situation in the grow room sucks ass apart from the HPS (which I have determined screws with the pic quality pretty hard. Doing my best! -DrakVrael
Does anyone know anything about or have any experience with ordering from http:////www.drchronic.com/ I was considering ordering some better stuff then I currently have now, but I am obviously concerned with the risks involved. Know of a better site? I liked this one a lot Mandala Cannabis Seeds As always I appreciate the help and wish I could repay you guys some way. -DrakVrael
have them sent to a friend if they have stelth shipping u wont have to tell ur friend what they are, just say im having a gift sent and i dont want my gf to snoop of something
The roots between the bottom of the net cups and the top of the water will be fine...no worries, I'm running DWC for veg and haven't had a problem, and Budslinger has been running DWC in veg for a few years and it has been fine as well. Lights 18/6 or 24/7 is good, you might notice a little change in the plant switching to 24/7 while it adjusts - it might droop a little at first. But they should be just fine. It's not about the rep, it's about helping a fellow blade have a successful grow and enjoy the fruits of his / her labor The fact that you appreciate it and the thought is there is more then enough - Thank you! Good luck!