First Time Grow, Newbie, thoughts!?

GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
HI everyone! This is my first post, I'm new so be gentle! LOL. I'm in the middle of my first grow, will give details below of setup. I want to start off by saying I've searched many a forum, and links and googled plant issues, and for the life of me, I can't figure out if I have a phosphorus deficiency, calcium deficiency, or nutrient burn. Plants are growing well I'm about 3.5 weeks in and using GH flora series w/calmag. And using the nute schedule per growweedeasy.com in distilled water. My DWC is 3 gallon 2 plant setup in a 4 foot grow box Yield Machine Max Yield grow box.

PH: 5.8
Temp/Humid: 79/50
Doing water changes every 7 days with distilled water and going by GH grow chart on GrowWeedEasy.com.
Growing Pinapple Express Autoflower (since I have small grow space)
Mars Hydro 300w w/Infared (true 180w) 18" from plants.
Crazy thing two plants in same hydro having slightly different look.
PPM: 1200
3 gallon DWC res

Seems to be lack of Phosphorus based on all the multiple hours of research, but still unsure. I need some assistance from all the experienced growers out there. I'm enjoying this new hobby, but I can't put my finger on this. And what do you recommend? Add more cal mag? Epson Salt? How long to see adjustments take shape? Thanks in advance! attached pics as of today.
Plant 1:

Plant 2:
 
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bobtokes

bobtokes

Well-Known Member
looks like cal/mag def to me but the pics are crap, if you keep your ph at 5.8 you will get mg def, raise your ph to 6.3 2/3 times a week to allow the the uptake of cal/mg
 
GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
Thanks a lot, sorry for the pictures in advance. I had my PH at 6.2 but read somewhere that would lock out Phosphorus, and Ideal was 5.5-6.00 will adjust that right away and give it a few days, that's why I needed to finally post to see what the experts felt. Do you feel I need to add more Cal/Mag or just adjust PH should do it? Thanks again in advance. I'll post new pics in a couple of days to show results.

Thanks again bobtokes!

Dan
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
you need more air to the rootzone

the plants don`t look too happy, I`d say more air to the rootzone so bigger airpump or watefall and mix up some more bennies or something

hydro plants looking that droopy means you may get root rot issues
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Plus 3 Gallon is not much of a dwc res, 10 to 20 Gallons is more like a good starting size for flowering a plant in, I`d go with 60L to 120L as a min, only point to running hydro is you can go bigger than soil/coco with less hassle and 30 to 60L coco or soil sacks are easy to work with

so if I`m going hydro has to be a good reason or I`m going over 60L for sure best way to keep the water cool and stop any issues is a large res or big dwc

try using 60L to 220L waste bins, you can insulate them or put panda film around them to help with the heat/light

also I would get a pump or fit a tap to make emptying them easier
 
GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
@bobtokes
Will do~

@Konassure and @HydroDan

That was another concern of mine guys, slightly drooping. Roots ae white but at the top toward the plant cups there is some green algae I just did a flush and new nute mix yesterday. These pics are of right now. Thanks again everyone, so much appreciated.
Roots:

Pump:

Plant:
 
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T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
GrowerDaniel said:
@bobtokes
Will do~

@Konassure and @HydroDan

That was another concern of mine guys, slightly drooping. Roots ae white but at the top toward the plant cups there is some green algae I just did a flush and new nute mix yesterday. These pics are of right now. Thanks again everyone, so much appreciated.
Roots:

Pump:

Plant:
Click to expand...


that algae is your problem probably some light getting into your rootzone

Also I normally just use tap water if its under 300/400ppm`s its fine to use just good to butt it and condition it for 2 to 10 days before using it in your hydro but needs must I`ve hydro`d out the tap before, only if I can get constant access water is unstable for the 1st few days when you 1st ph it

best way I found it to use 20% to 50% of your old res as long as it was healthy as a "kicker" for the new res

otherwise the 1st few days can be a bitch I`ve seen ph5 swing to ph8 in a few hours or less


*also clear airlines get light into the res, go with black or colour/tape it up


also that`s a very small looking airpump but I always over kill with them as there not very good

I normally go for the nice blue hailea types or the metal compressor types

you want tons of bubbles like the water should be misting at the surface from the sheer volume of bubbles

I like a 40L to 60L pump for 100 to 200L

I`d maybe go with the sliver type with 2 to 8 outlets, 2 x 50mm round airstones and a big pump is what I`d use in each one of them res`s

but I`d go bigger you wanna go atleast 30L per plant, more is better it`s easy with hydro cos its just water, getting 200L pots set up is much harder in soil/coco
 
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GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
THE KONASSURE said:
that algae is your problem probably some light getting into your rootzone

Also I normally just use tap water if its under 300/400ppm`s its fine to use just good to butt it and condition it for 2 to 10 days before using it in your hydro but needs must I`ve hydro`d out the tap before, only if I can get constant access water is unstable for the 1st few days when you 1st ph it

best way I found it to use 20% to 50% of your old res as long as it was healthy as a "kicker" for the new res

otherwise the 1st few days can be a bitch I`ve seen ph5 swing to ph8 in a few hours or less


*also clear airlines get light into the res, go with black or colour/tape it up
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Gotcha,

I'm going to do a rinse on those roots right now and I agree some light has to be getting in. I tested my tap its 340ppm so that's why I went with distilled because I heard tap can be hard on the plants. Great idea with 20 to 50 percent of old res, that makes sense is such a small res that a water change could actually cause some plant stress. Great stuff!!!

Thanks a bunch all, I will update after I give the plants time to recover.

Dan
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
GrowerDaniel said:
Gotcha,

I'm going to do a rinse on those roots right now and I agree some light has to be getting in. I tested my tap its 340ppm so that's why I went with distilled because I heard tap can be hard on the plants. Great idea with 20 to 50 percent of old res, that makes sense is such a small res that a water change could actually cause some plant stress. Great stuff!!!

Thanks a bunch all, I will update after I give the plants time to recover.

Dan
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there`s a lot to screw up in hydro, you can`t overwater but if you get overwatering symptoms then normally its a rootzone problem best thing about hydro apart from you can`t dump soil down the toilet but you can hydro nutes... 2nd best thing is you can see the roots easy to make sure there`s no rot or slime

Bad thing is you see a lot of brown roots I mean people still getting good yields and nice stuff even with roots going brown or rotting by week 4/6 of bloom, but its better if you can keep them white till finish

Orca and greatwhite are good products if you can afford them once you've ironed out all your hydro issues
 
GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
THE KONASSURE said:
there`s a lot to screw up in hydro, you can`t overwater but if you get overwatering symptoms then normally its a rootzone problem best thing about hydro apart from you can`t dump soil down the toilet but you can hydro nutes... 2nd best thing is you can see the roots easy to make sure there`s no rot or slime

Bad thing is you see a lot of brown roots I mean people still getting good yields and nice stuff even with roots going brown or rotting by week 4/6 of bloom, but its better if you can keep them white till finish

Orca and greatwhite are good products if you can afford them once you've ironed out all your hydro issues
Click to expand...
Got it. I feel like now I have some direction and idea what to do and look for, no matter how much you try and read hard to find your exact problem/setup as others, I just wasn't sure what to do as far as adjust nutes or flush or what.

Do you think 340ppm tap is usable growing?

Also I have Hydroguard, I have used like 1/2 it recommends just to be safe, I'm guessing I need to use more.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
GrowerDaniel said:
Got it. I feel like now I have some direction and idea what to do and look for, no matter how much you try and read hard to find your exact problem/setup as others, I just wasn't sure what to do as far as adjust nutes or flush or what.

Do you think 340ppm tap is usable growing?

Also I have Hydroguard, I have used like 1/2 it recommends just to be safe, I'm guessing I need to use more.
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Hydroguard I`d use at full power or even use double, I buy tricadema from india they call it "guard" think I pay £15 or £20 per kg good stuff

Yeah 340ppm is not that bad I mean under 200 is better but like most tap water my bet is its got some cal in it is all

mix up your tap water, ph it, give 6 to 24 hours, re-ph it and add your bennies hydroguard, great white, orca or what have you, then let that stuff brew for a day or 3 before adding nutes to it

Tap water where I am now comes in around 300ppm out of the water butt I`m getting around 400ppm or so hoping the tricadema is braking down the cal and stopping calcium phosphate build ups

but if your changing your res every week you`ll be cool, you can go 2 weeks to a month with that kinda tap water just topping up, over a month is pushing it

and if you don`t clean out your system or change your res for 6 months you`ll get rot, well that way my record for dwc, 6 months without cleaning the system, and a blue dream still did it hard till the end, but a lot of other strains hated it

after that I was decided your average hydro set up must need cleaning every month or so

Small systems are better to clean every one to 2 weeks but you`re not using loads of £`s worth of nutes and bennies with a smaller system like when your over 200L or so you start having to rethink how much things need to cost and how often you can afford to be dumping your nutes away

a nice big outdoor grow is normally a good friend to your old hydro res water, lol
 
GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
THE KONASSURE said:
Hydroguard I`d use at full power or even use double, I buy tricadema from india they call it "guard" think I pay £15 or £20 per kg good stuff

Yeah 340ppm is not that bad I mean under 200 is better but like most tap water my bet is its got some cal in it is all

mix up your tap water, ph it, give 6 to 24 hours, re-ph it and add your bennies hydroguard, great white, orca or what have you, then let that stuff brew for a day or 3 before adding nutes to it

Tap water where I am now comes in around 300ppm out of the water butt I`m getting around 400ppm or so hoping the tricadema is braking down the cal and stopping calcium phosphate build ups

but if your changing your res every week you`ll be cool, you can go 2 weeks to a month with that kinda tap water just topping up, over a month is pushing it

and if you don`t clean out your system or change your res for 6 months you`ll get rot, well that way my record for dwc, 6 months without cleaning the system, and a blue dream still did it hard till the end, but a lot of other strains hated it

after that I was decided your average hydro set up must need cleaning every month or so

Small systems are better to clean every one to 2 weeks but you`re not using loads of £`s worth of nutes and bennies with a smaller system like when your over 200L or so you start having to rethink how much things need to cost and how often you can afford to be dumping your nutes away

a nice big outdoor grow is normally a good friend to your old hydro res water, lol
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This is great stuff! Much appreciated! I'll try and push it to two weeks but no further like you said small hydro setup better to change sooner, I wish I could grow outside! Living in condo so must be small and stealth although am considering to get a 3x3 tent and move most of my things to it and invest in a nicer hydro, maybe the superponics 8, or maybe just individual bucket drip setups. Don't need huge grows but I bet I can get much better yield out of one plant in a tent then in this small box. Good to know though you can go longer than a week, and I can possibly use my tap water because there is no cost for me in the condo, and distilled isn't costly but buying 4 jugs every week can add up!

Thanks again for all your help! I feel so much better, I have been stressed more than my plants. LOL!
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
GrowerDaniel said:
This is great stuff! Much appreciated! I'll try and push it to two weeks but no further like you said small hydro setup better to change sooner, I wish I could grow outside! Living in condo so must be small and stealth although am considering to get a 3x3 tent and move most of my things to it and invest in a nicer hydro, maybe the superponics 8, or maybe just individual bucket drip setups. Don't need huge grows but I bet I can get much better yield out of one plant in a tent then in this small box. Good to know though you can go longer than a week, and I can possibly use my tap water because there is no cost for me in the condo, and distilled isn't costly but buying 4 jugs every week can add up!

Thanks again for all your help! I feel so much better, I have been stressed more than my plants. LOL!
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Go bigger than you need with the grow area its always nice to have room for fans and such and with hydro you may want some chambers and a fat tank out of the lights supplying it

Yeah I`d go sprayers or drip or flood&drain or dwc

The bitch with hydro normally is the height you need, I mean a 30L bucket for vegging in is no big deal but 100L to 200L for a tree starts to take up some height, so I like 2m+ 3m or more is better for height under that I just go with sacks or bag pots and coco you know so long as I can get rid of the coco when the plants are done or have space to nuke it to kill any bugs or mold in it
 
GrowerDaniel

GrowerDaniel

Member
THE KONASSURE said:
Go bigger than you need with the grow area its always nice to have room for fans and such and with hydro you may want some chambers and a fat tank out of the lights supplying it

Yeah I`d go sprayers or drip or flood&drain or dwc

The bitch with hydro normally is the height you need, I mean a 30L bucket for vegging in is no big deal but 100L to 200L for a tree starts to take up some height, so I like 2m+ 3m or more is better for height under that I just go with sacks or bag pots and coco you know so long as I can get rid of the coco when the plants are done or have space to nuke it to kill any bugs or mold in it
Click to expand...
Yes I can see how that would be important, I'm looking at either the 3x3 or 4x4, and I do like the drip or Superponics it seems to keep them looking very healthy. I feel my DWC is limited and the plants just seem dry, but that could be the lack of cal/mag that I have been dealing with, I understand it can take up to a week to improve so I'll try and be patient. I've considered going with a soil grow next time out just like you mentioned in bag pots, but I don't know. I am happy with how dense my plants are but I know they are not happy, so I want to help them so bad, and do it right not stress them.
 
B

Budget Buds

Well-Known Member
I would drop your ppm way down, Auto flowers IMO dont like hi ppm I never went above 6-700 when I was doing autos , What is the temp of the water? If it is the same as your air temp in your room it is to high, Try for 68-74 air and water temp . Does the ppm rise quickly in such a small res? Plants drink alot of water in comparison to nutrients. and they may be irritable because of the high ppm. Fix the light issue in the res, Algae is prolly not an issue YET but you could add a few tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to add o2 to the res and to help get the roots back to white.
 
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