New hydro grow and brown leaves. Need some advice!

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Pyreonfire

Active Member
Hi guys! I'm new to the group and also new to growing. This is my first grow. I'm currently growing a 30-day old auto from heavyweight seeds (2fast 2vast).

She's growing pretty well and smells amazing already but despite that I keep running into the same problem throughout her grow. Her lower fan leaves continue to turn brown on the edges and then it spreads inward, ultimately killing the leaf. The new growth looks great however.

I have her in a 5-gallon dwc set up under a 300 watt LED light. I am using General Hydroponics Trio and I am working to maintain a proper pH range, although it tends to drift upward and I have to stay after a daily.

I am using hard well water ( however I have access to RO water in my home that I can use if needed). My water tests as follows:
ph 7
hardness 332
tds 250
calcium 84
magnesium 30
potassium 5
sulfate 53
sodium 7
chloride 19
copper .01
manganese .17
Zinc .01
iron .28
electrical conductivity .49

My temperature is at about 78 degrees and Rh is about 55. Water temperature is 77 degrees.

I just started a new auto seed and I'm hoping to get my setup on track to give this new plant the best start-up I can! Can anyone help me identify where I'm going wrong with the brown leaves on my current grow? Thanks in advance!
 

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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Pyreonfire said:
Hi guys! I'm new to the group and also new to growing. This is my first grow. I'm currently growing a 30-day old auto from heavyweight seeds (2fast 2vast).

She's growing pretty well and smells amazing already but despite that I keep running into the same problem throughout her grow. Her lower fan leaves continue to turn brown on the edges and then it spreads inward, ultimately killing the leaf. The new growth looks great however.

I have her in a 5-gallon dwc set up under a 300 watt LED light. I am using General Hydroponics Trio and I am working to maintain a proper pH range, although it tends to drift upward and I have to stay after a daily.

I am using hard well water ( however I have access to RO water in my home that I can use if needed). My water tests as follows:
ph 7
hardness 332
tds 250
calcium 84
magnesium 30
potassium 5
sulfate 53
sodium 7
chloride 19
copper .01
manganese .17
Zinc .01
iron .28
electrical conductivity .49

My temperature is at about 78 degrees and Rh is about 55. Water temperature is 77 degrees.

I just started a new auto seed and I'm hoping to get my setup on track to give this new plant the best start-up I can! Can anyone help me identify where I'm going wrong with the brown leaves on my current grow? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Btw if you've got access to RO water, you should be using it.

And you may have a problem at 77°F water temps. With my chiller, mines set at 66°F and roots love it.
 
P

Pyreonfire

Active Member
Airwalker16 said:
Older leaves always die off
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I was finally able to post photos.. the site kept crashing on me every time I tried. Would you mind taking a look to see if the brown leaves are "normal" die off or "there's a problem" die off? Thanks!


rkymtnman said:
pics would help.
Click to expand...
Yes! Sorry about that! I edited the post to get them on. My phone was being a bitch.
Airwalker16 said:
Btw if you've got access to RO water, you should be using it.

And you may have a problem at 77°F water temps. With my chiller, mines set at 66°F and roots love it.
Click to expand...
I wondered about the RO water, but from what I read it's harder to keep stabilized? I'm having a hard enough time getting my PH to stay put. I worry that using RO will only make it worse. Am I wrong? And regarding chillers, I was looking and saw some that are like $300! Are there cheaper options that will do?
 
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Pyreonfire

Active Member
Airwalker16 said:
Btw if you've got access to RO water, you should be using it.

And you may have a problem at 77°F water temps. With my chiller, mines set at 66°F and roots love it.
Click to expand...
Oh and I also considered doing a mix of RO and the hard water to get some of the minerals and to help maintain the PH stability? Is that an option? I suppose I'm just not sure on why RO would be preferable? I need to research that more!
 
Hydro4life

Hydro4life

Well-Known Member
Sorry if it’s been mentioned but I just skimmed through.
You said your tap water has a 7ph. Do you add you nutrient solution then ph down to around 5.8?
In hydro you want to adjust your ph after adding your nutes to 5.5, 5.6 and let it drift up to 6.3, 6.4 then adjust ph again.
Keep it in this range all the time and letting it drift within these parameters is a good thing.
If your not doing this then that’s probably mainly where your going wrong.
i can see a touch of nute burn also, watch not to run your ppms too high atm.
Also is that 300w led you have the power draw from the wall?
 
Hydro4life

Hydro4life

Well-Known Member
Pyreonfire said:
Oh and I also considered doing a mix of RO and the hard water to get some of the minerals and to help maintain the PH stability? Is that an option? I suppose I'm just not sure on why RO would be preferable? I need to research that more!
Click to expand...
RO water is great to use! Depending on nute line and strain you may have to add a little cal/mag :cool:
 
P

Pyreonfire

Active Member
Hydro4life said:
Sorry if it’s been mentioned but I just skimmed through.
You said your tap water has a 7ph. Do you add you nutrient solution then ph down to around 5.8?
In hydro you want to adjust your ph after adding your nutes to 5.5, 5.6 and let it drift up to 6.3, 6.4 then adjust ph again.
Keep it in this range all the time and letting it drift within these parameters is a good thing.
If your not doing this then that’s probably mainly where your going wrong.
i can see a touch of nute burn also, watch not to run your ppms too high atm.
Also is that 300w led you have the power draw from the wall?
Click to expand...
No problem! I always add my nutrients first and then let it settle a bit. I will then have to PH down. Usually I'll let it sit for an hour or so and retest my PH before adding it to the plants because it seems like it will "pop" up more than "drift" up in the first day after changing nutrients. I will usually retest the following day, allowing the water to settle from the aeration for an hour or so. It will typically be around 6.5 at this point (from 5.7 or so). I will usually add some PH down in water and mix it with the water in the reservoir and retest in a few hours to see if it's back down again. I usually have to do this a few times to get it to the right place since I feel like it's probably better to "nudge" it down rather than drop suddenly.. I don't know, I'm just being cautious! I do not have a TDS meter at this point. Is this necessary?

I wondered if I was seeing nute burn or if it was a deficiency! It's hard for me to tell the difference.

And regarding my light.. I'm not sure on your question? My husband wired the outlet to the inside of our "closet" (It's actually under a stairway) and it is plugged in outside of the tent.


Hydro4life said:
RO water is great to use! Depending on nute line and strain you may have to add a little cal/mag :cool:
Click to expand...
Well then, I suppose I should start using RO! I was certain that I had read that RO is harder to "stabilize". (Although I'm not really sure what that means! Haha!) I figured that the minerals in our well water would be a good thing.. apparently it's not?
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
what is your total ec/ppm? is it dropping daily?

looks like nute burn to me in some pics. possibly nute lockout depending on how you answer the above questions.

and i'm on well too. i bought RO from walmart for years. then slowly mixed RO/well and now i'm totally on well. it helps to get everything dialed in with RO and then go from there.
 
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Pyreonfire

Active Member
rkymtnman said:
what is your total ec/ppm? is it dropping daily?

looks like nute burn to me in some pics. possibly nute lockout depending on how you answer the above questions.

and i'm on well too. i bought RO from walmart for years. then slowly mixed RO/well and now i'm totally on well. it helps to get everything dialed in with RO and then go from there.
Click to expand...
I don't have an ec/ppm meter! I got my numbers from having an extensive water test ran professionally. ‍♀ Would have been cheaper to buy a tester. I'm looking at the on Amazon. They run about $15. Will a cheaper one from there be sufficient?

I have a very nice RO set up in my home already so it wouldn't cost me anything but additional time to get the water from the RO compared to my well so really whichever is better for my plans will work for me. I'm not sure where I read it, but I was under the impression that Well water was better because of the minerals in it. Apparently I still have a lot to learn!
 
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Pyreonfire

Active Member
Pyreonfire said:
I don't have an ec/ppm meter! I got my numbers from having an extensive water test ran professionally. ‍♀ Would have been cheaper to buy a tester. I'm looking at the on Amazon. They run about $15. Will a cheaper one from there be sufficient?

I have a very nice RO set up in my home already so it wouldn't cost me anything but additional time to get the water from the RO compared to my well so really whichever is better for my plans will work for me. I'm not sure where I read it, but I was under the impression that Well water was better because of the minerals in it. Apparently I still have a lot to learn!
Click to expand...
Omg. I have no idea where that symbol came from! Haha
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Pyreonfire said:
I don't have an ec/ppm meter! I got my numbers from having an extensive water test ran professionally. ‍♀ Would have been cheaper to buy a tester. I'm looking at the on Amazon. They run about $15. Will a cheaper one from there be sufficient?

I have a very nice RO set up in my home already so it wouldn't cost me anything but additional time to get the water from the RO compared to my well so really whichever is better for my plans will work for me. I'm not sure where I read it, but I was under the impression that Well water was better because of the minerals in it. Apparently I still have a lot to learn!
Click to expand...
i'd go with all RO until you get a few grows under your belt. then slowly mix with well.
but you are correct, all the minerals in the well make it more pH stable than RO especially at lower EC
 
P

Pyreonfire

Active Member
rkymtnman said:
i'd go with all RO until you get a few grows under your belt. then slowly mix with well.
but you are correct, all the minerals in the well make it more pH stable than RO especially at lower EC
Click to expand...
Ok! I'll grab a PPM meter while I'm at it then. Would I be okay to switch to RO water at this point in my grow? Or should I continue this grow with my well water?
 
Hydro4life

Hydro4life

Well-Known Member
Ohh nice, keeping ph in its range is crucial or you will start to see a range of deficiencies.

If your fairly new to growing then definitely get a tds metre!
It not only shows you your nute strength but can assist in solving issues like salt build up (ppms not going down when topping up with plain water)
Great tool to dial things in.


and yea looks like your running your res a bit hot feed wise. Salt build up can also cause this. How often do you do a bucket change??

Maybe cut your feeding back a bit until you can get a tds metre!? And do a bucket change out with fresh nutes and ro water....

Alot of cheap LEDs claim to be higher wattage than they actually are. You may find your led light is a lot less than 300 watts!?
 
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