Hi, This is my first grow. I started a grow from bag seed while I get my equipment together for a DWC setup (don't want to pop my Tutankhamun and White Widow nuts til I'm ready for DWC ) I have 3 plants in 4 gal pots in a mix of 60% peat, 20% perlite, and 20% vermiculite. I'm using Technaflora nutes (and am very careful about following mixing directions), have a 48" - 4 bulb T5 6400k light, & 2 - 2' T5 6400k on the way, but they are on my screened porch for 10 to 13 hours a day in sunlight. 2 of them are right at 12" in height, and the other about 18". They are about 5 weeks out, and have been doing really well until the past few days. The tops are turning a mottled lime green on the margins, with darker centers, and new growth leaves are also lime green (see below) The pots are kinda' heavy, so I'm guessing that they may have been over watered (my brother is also involved), but read that it could be a lack of iron and sulfur. I'm planning on letting them dry out for a few days, but what should I do about feeding in the mean time? It's basically a "soil-less" setup, and I'm not really straight about feeding this grow media anyway. Is it once a week, or should it be more often in this setup (as it is kinda' considered hydro) Thanks for the help baldylox
I would advise you to consider your Ph run off, use a correct metered Ph meter supported by those Ph 'pool' strips that you get at any drug store, maintain a Ph runoff of 6.5, and flush until you get that, when doing DWC, I was always concerned about my roots drying out, so prefer to have the pumps on at least 1x time per hour. Nute mixing is always always under feed ya plants until you are totally happy with the product, I under feed by about 20-25%, then foilar feed 1-2 times per week, caution is a great teacher ...lol Understand that peat is by nature an acidic product, that few growers wash out the peat before using..dumb move! as this will constantly through out the Ph levels for the next few weeks. You are correct to feed just one time a week at 12 inches or so, though I'd be increasing that by 20% increments or just follow the words on the bottle, but again best to under feed, You will wish you got the T5 that was 4 ft long, the 2ft don't have enough lumens for my setup
Listen to Vostok. Get your ph straight. Hey Vostok, shouldn't his run off be at 5.8 since its not soil?
I do have a 4 foot T5 rated at 20,000 lumens, and I a waiting for my 2 foot ones to be delivered at the end of the week for side lights. I didn't wash/flush the peat. I've not heard of having to do that before and was unaware peat is so acidic. I'm using General Hydroponics PH Wide Spectrum test kit, and haven't tested runoff, but will now and will dilute the nutes by 25% to see what happens. Thanks vostok!