First Time Hydro, unsure problem

Jason Stone

New Member
So this is my first time growing hydro. My first time growing serious. "Kush/NL, Northern Lights, and Northern lights/bluberry" I tried one of each seed I had. Did not know this should not be done. Water temp is almost always between 62 to 75. The only thing I can think I am doing wrong is I have had some major "ph swings" Last water change went from 7.8 to 4.2 to 5.9 in less than 48hrs.
The way the leaves look is the same problem I have had from the start about 5 or 6 weeks ago. The only time I think it cleared for a while is when I was not using any nutrients. Just water. I have had a little root rot, first tried aquashield, I think it was old. The inside of the Aquashield container had green fungus i think. Shortly after my res. got worms. So I switched to Orca. Any Ideas as to what could cause the leaves to look like this.
Thank in advance.

450 watt LED
Hydro corn w/rockwool
3x 5 gal. buckets and one 5 gal. res. Total about 15 gal. water.
Temp. of grow tent never over 80 to 85.
 

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Squidbilly

Well-Known Member
Wow, sound like you've had nothing but problems. Unfortunately your going to need to post way more info and pics to get any type of response.
 

DeeTee

Well-Known Member
I agree, need more info, what's your medium,, system, ebb and flo, dwc, what lights, how often do you feed, what's your ferts? .etc.
 

zander19

Well-Known Member
only one way to fix your issue STOP GROWING HYDRO is gives you no time to help your plant an it crap i hate it. the taste of the plant is shit trust me stick to soil she will do you fine PEACE
 

zander19

Well-Known Member
i see baron issues in your plants by the looks of it m8 you have not got the hydro thum at all. trust me go to soil stay wth it. or your never going to get a crop in anytime soon. I HATE HYDRO !!!!!!
 

Jason Stone

New Member
Ok so I got the pics uploaded. So can anyone give me an idea of which problem I am having, besides the unhelpful "Hydro Hater".
Am I looking at "Nutrient burn" or lack of some nutrient.
I would go with soil but I think it may be a little too late to switch the plants into a pot.
One last question.
If I started the 12/12 cycle 2 days ago, is it too late to switch back to full 24 veg cycle till I can fix this problem?
Any help? Please!
Thank you one and all "except the "HYDRO HATER"" aka zander. If I go to soil I will be sure to ask you.
 

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denarfer

Member
Greetings: Jason

I look through my “ Marijuana garden saver” book and saw the pictures for iron deficient and it kind of looks like what your plants and if your ph is fluctuating wildly it might be your nut’s. I use to use Flora Nova liked the results hated the mess was looking to switch to the same ones your using but found FloraDuo and I like it a lot it’s clear it is a two part mix but it is easy to use. Look up my last grow to see the results. And one thing I have learned about plants is they are resilient and yes you can switch them back to veg and they can be in veg for as long as you want or need them to be. Good luck and I would never use soil ever!
 

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Spanky84

Active Member
Never really saw root slime or rot. Some of the roots on one plant were more cream color than white. The other two plants have totally white roots.
Discoloration is not a problem if there is no slime. From my experience, specially with hydro, problems like that are most often caused by root system not doing its job properly. I'd check there first. Do your roots have enough growing space, are they suffering from some kind of infection, do they have enough air, that kind of stuff.
 

Roscko

Well-Known Member
Just a quick question, are you aerating the reservoir (the 5 gallon)? If not I would throw some airstones in there and and air pump. As for the damage to the leaves I would think its over fertilizing. I use GH nutes and have just had the same problem. The stuff is way strong and I find doing 1/2 of what they recommend on the bottle does just right. Also How close are your LED lights? This can sometimes discolor the leafs as well making it look like a burn/deficiency.

EDIT: I see the pic with the leds, looks about the right height.
 

xwant2LeaRNx

Well-Known Member
bro your plants are nute burned and now locking out other nutes. your ph is dropping fast cause they are drinking water and leaving the food. well when ph drops ppm will rise then burn sets in. you need to flush with un ph water for 1 or 2 days. Then drop your next nute solution from 339 to the 200 range then after they recover start rising food a little at a time. when your ph is rising and ppm dropping there feeding. ph staying the same ppm staying the same now thats the sweet spot. And stick with hydro bro ! NO DIRTBAGS HERE WE SLANG WATER!!!
 

Jason Stone

New Member
Greetings: Jason

I look through my “ Marijuana garden saver” book and saw the pictures for iron deficient and it kind of looks like what your plants and if your ph is fluctuating wildly it might be your nut’s. I use to use Flora Nova liked the results hated the mess was looking to switch to the same ones your using but found FloraDuo and I like it a lot it’s clear it is a two part mix but it is easy to use. Look up my last grow to see the results. And one thing I have learned about plants is they are resilient and yes you can switch them back to veg and they can be in veg for as long as you want or need them to be. Good luck and I would never use soil ever!
Thank you so much. This is exactly what my plants look like.
I think it is weird because it did not matter how much I cut back on the nutrients, it always seemed to cause this effect. I think maybe I have done too many water changes trying to get the leaves to stop this. Only when I ran straight water did it seem to clear up. I know I need some nutrients though.
So for now I will put back into Veg. cycle "cause I just started the 12/12 three days back with water change and nutrient boost" then the leaves started this again.
I will change half my water in the res. with just straight water and PH balanced.
Today it is at 5.8
The water I will add is at 6.2 without adding anything. The PPM of the water is 12.
This should get my PH to about 6.0 and bring my PPM down to 150 or so. Then I will give Co2 and a few days of rest for them.
Thanks again.
 

Jason Stone

New Member
Just a quick question, are you aerating the reservoir (the 5 gallon)? If not I would throw some airstones in there and and air pump. As for the damage to the leaves I would think its over fertilizing. I use GH nutes and have just had the same problem. The stuff is way strong and I find doing 1/2 of what they recommend on the bottle does just right. Also How close are your LED lights? This can sometimes discolor the leafs as well making it look like a burn/deficiency.

EDIT: I see the pic with the leds, looks about the right height.
Yea I have a duel outlet air pump connected to three air stones one in each bucket. Looks like there is plenty of air.
I have tried using just half of the GH nutes, and still it burns the leaves. I need to pay more attention to the PPM levels. I will cut in half and try 150.
I also moved the lights up just about 2 or 3 inches. Just in case. I think they are plenty strong for this little grow box.
Thank you very much for your help.
 

Jason Stone

New Member
bro your plants are nute burned and now locking out other nutes. your ph is dropping fast cause they are drinking water and leaving the food. well when ph drops ppm will rise then burn sets in. you need to flush with un ph water for 1 or 2 days. Then drop your next nute solution from 339 to the 200 range then after they recover start rising food a little at a time. when your ph is rising and ppm dropping there feeding. ph staying the same ppm staying the same now thats the sweet spot. And stick with hydro bro ! NO DIRTBAGS HERE WE SLANG WATER!!!
SWEET!!!
I have read a lot around the net, but this info is new to me!
I am still a little unclear as to what you mean by "un ph water" Do you mean drop it down to 0.0 "I use sulfuric acid to drop and pool ph up to raise"
And I know I will never go back to dirt. I had one plant in dirt before I started my setup of this Hydro and then transplanted into the Hydro. It burst with growth in less than 3 days. Blew my mind!
Sadly it had suffered more than my other 3 with the nute burn. It was just a seed from one of my local purchased baggies. The others I had ordered and picked to strain.
I let it go when I changed from a single rubber maid res. to my 3 buckets and separate res. with the pump in the res. so the roots will not clog it.
THANX!
 

xwant2LeaRNx

Well-Known Member
SWEET!!!
I have read a lot around the net, but this info is new to me!
I am still a little unclear as to what you mean by "un ph water" Do you mean drop it down to 0.0 "I use sulfuric acid to drop and pool ph up to raise"
And I know I will never go back to dirt. I had one plant in dirt before I started my setup of this Hydro and then transplanted into the Hydro. It burst with growth in less than 3 days. Blew my mind!
Sadly it had suffered more than my other 3 with the nute burn. It was just a seed from one of my local purchased baggies. The others I had ordered and picked to strain.
I let it go when I changed from a single rubber maid res. to my 3 buckets and separate res. with the pump in the res. so the roots will not clog it.
THANX!
When i said un ph i meant when you flush dont worry about ph.ing the h20.just let it flush with the water you use dont adust the ph low.
 

denarfer

Member
Greetings: Jason

I know that the general hydroponics products you are using now are not ph balanced and that is why I went with the general hydroponics floraDuo after doing the research about it. I do a water / nutrient change once a week from sprout to flower all the way thought and once I get the ph to 6.0 it stays there the only time it will vacillate is during flowering when it tends to drop. I also don't flush my system till after it's done flowering I never saw a reason to do it more than that. And you can use lemon juice to lower and baking soda to raise ph I don’t know if pool products are good for plants.

And if you are having a problem with a chemical imbalance and ph I would seriously think about changing nutrients. I know it sucks but I did when I switch from the flora nova to the floraDuo and this was the result https://www.rollitup.org/t/1st-critical-kush-grow-at-11-weeks-77-days-41-days-flowering-3-weeks-from-harvest.824858/ . Your plants look really good except for the burn if you can get them stabilized they should turn out fine Good Luck.
 
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denarfer

Member
Something I keep forgetting to mention is if your plant(s) roots have a slim on them it is probably the water temp causing it. I now keep mine at 65 degrees Fahrenheit basically ground temp but I also use a chiller to do it. I know with earlier plans I tried to grow as soon as the water temp got above 78 the plans would die and the roots looked a ball of stringy yellowish gooo
 

DeeTee

Well-Known Member
Looks like your system is DWC, if I'm right my personal opinion is that DWC is not and easy system, to me there are too many problems, Your best bet is using a medium like rockwool grow cubes or hydroton pebbles, in pots or some kind of tray, I think you'll have a better chance at growing hydro, just my opinion, best of luck.
 
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