DWC: Nutrient lockout or deficiency

Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
I have some plants that are 9 weeks old that seem to be extremely vigorous in their nutrient needs. I record the PPM and the PH daily and have done some deep dives on this and everything I find is confirming that this is a phosphorus deficiency as I have some purpling of the stems, bluing of the leaves, brown spots followed by more intense leaf curling. The fan leaves most exposed to the light have the most symptoms though some newer leaves that are lower due to LST and receive less light show the same symptoms just less severe. Whenever I have increased my P nutes, the plants respond positively and the problem appears to stop for half a week after I religiously change the water every 7 days (using RO water with GH nutes, Hydroguard and CalMag). Last nutrient dose of N & P was 9ml/gal in a 5 gallon DWC and 6ml/gal of K, CalMag & Hydroguard. I've considered that this could be root rot but have examined the roots and they are not slimy and only appear to match pictures of being slightly tinted from nutrient water color. Root ends aren't as white tipped as I'd like but just at the far ends of the roots so I added another air pump with additional stones for more aeration despite each of the two DWC setups having a dedicated pump. It now holds 6 air stones in each bucket and is producing far more air bubbles for 3 days now.

Godfather OG
PH: 5.51
PPM: 2,360
Water Temp: 67F
Air Temp: 70-75F
RH: 30-50%

Chiquita Banana
PH: 5.51
PPM 1,990
Water Temp: 66F
Air Temp: 70-75F
RH: 30-50%


I feel like this could potentially be a salt build up simply due to the high PPM but every time I add another dose of phosphorus mid-week by 5ml/gal, both plants respond positively. Several days will go by and I will run into this problem again. It has been re-occurring for several weeks now and I don't want to harm my plant by flushing it if it's already deficient. Thanks!
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
UPDATE:

I ended up going with a flush for 48 hours and started the nutes back up again at 3ml/gal for NPK & CALMAG & 2ml/gal of HydroGuard with fresh RO water. The discoloration had stopped spreading and the plants look better, though they never did look terrible! PH for both reservoirs is now 6.22 with the PPM 450-500. Color looks great and plants seem to have accelerated growth!

Thanks for the great advice through other post on this site!
 

Attachments

Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
But all kidding aside, is not letting the roots sit in RO water without anything any it not flushing the plants? From what I've read, it removes the salt build up in the roots putting PPM back into the water flushing it away from the roots. If that's not flushing, what do you call it?
 
D

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
Alctrz8849 said:
But all kidding aside, is not letting the roots sit in RO water without anything any it not flushing the plants? From what I've read, it removes the salt build up in the roots putting PPM back into the water flushing it away from the roots. If that's not flushing, what do you call it?
Click to expand...
That's called starving the plants
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
DaFreak said:
That's called starving the plants
Click to expand...
Then there are a ton of people using the words "flush" for "starve" on this site then, I've only found "starving" now that I've done a search for it, but everyone in that thread calls it flushing too.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Alctrz8849 said:
But all kidding aside, is not letting the roots sit in RO water without anything any it not flushing the plants? From what I've read, it removes the salt build up in the roots putting PPM back into the water flushing it away from the roots. If that's not flushing, what do you call it?
Click to expand...
Pretty sensitive word around here,perhaps we need to come up with another term?
Like taking the ladies to the spa? lol.
 
D

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
Alctrz8849 said:
Then there are a ton of people using the words "flush" for "starve" on this site then, I've only found "starving" now that I've done a search for it, but everyone in that thread calls it flushing too.
Click to expand...
Flushing is a term misused all the time. Flushing is trying to wash out built up salts from a medium. If you have no medium then you aren’t flushing. But yes, there are tons of people who starve their plants.
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
myke said:
Pretty sensitive word around here,perhaps we need to come up with another term?
Like taking the ladies to the spa? lol.
Click to expand...
Hahaha!!! By gads methinks we have a winning phrase!!!

After I took my ladies to the spa, they never looked better!!
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
DaFreak said:
Flushing is a term misused all the time. Flushing is trying to wash out built up salts from a medium. If you have no medium then you aren’t flushing. But yes, there are tons of people who starve their plants.
Click to expand...
Ah, the technical info my mind craves!! Thank you!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top