Some questions about DWC + orange/brown spot on old leaves

V

Valirev

Member
Hello guys hope you're good, I'm allowing myself writing this post cause I just started growing in dwc (used to grow in soil) and would like to know some things about it. I'm growing with Metrop fertilizers (I'm using MR1, MR2, Root+, Aminoxtrem, Enzymes, Calgreen) using tap water in a 10 liters bucket, my air pump is boyu u2800 which seems pretty weak to me but I've been told it's enough for a bucket this size.

If anyone can answer some of my few questions I'd be grateful :

-My tap water has "high" TDS (0.4 EC),is there any "cheap" way to lower it other than RO (if it's important) ? How should I calculate my EC for my plant, should I act like I start from 0 EC ?

-The EC in the bucket increase even tho the plant seems to be "healthy" and eating good, why does EC increase and how can I make sure my plant still has enough nuts in the water ?

-I've noticed that PH tends to go up in my bucket, is my ph meter accurate and why would it go up ?

-Last question, my plant has orange/brown spots on older leaves on the bottom of the plant (see pictures), maybe anyone has an idea of what it could be ? (I'm thinking about calcium excess but not sure)
1.jpg

Thanks a lot for your answers and knowledge,I hope my english is good enough for you guys to understand and wish you a nice day.
 

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sureshot138

sureshot138

Well-Known Member
Over all they look pretty good. Ph fluctuation can cause a lot of issues. Dwc is not my thing but my res always shifts up in ph and I use tap water. I always include my tap ec. Sorry I'm not more help. Good luck.
 
V

Valirev

Member
sureshot138 said:
Over all they look pretty good. Ph fluctuation can cause a lot of issues. Dwc is not my thing but my res always shifts up in ph and I use tap water. I always include my tap ec. Sorry I'm not more help. Good luck.
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Thank you a lot for answering, any advices are welcome, may I ask you one last thing ? What size is your air pump (liters/min) ? I bought this bucket with a 2liters/min pump and I'm asking myself if it's not too weak or something, I've read somewhere else on this forum that 1 liter of air/min per gallon of nutrient solution should be enough but idk, so far my plant is doing ok but I would have expect it to grow a little faster.
 
V

Valirev

Member
Here are a few pics, the plant is doing "ok" since last pics, I topped once. Idk if you'll be able to see but these brown spots starts to appear on some leafs again.
 

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Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
Valirev said:
Hello guys hope you're good, I'm allowing myself writing this post cause I just started growing in dwc (used to grow in soil) and would like to know some things about it. I'm growing with Metrop fertilizers (I'm using MR1, MR2, Root+, Aminoxtrem, Enzymes, Calgreen) using tap water in a 10 liters bucket, my air pump is boyu u2800 which seems pretty weak to me but I've been told it's enough for a bucket this size.

If anyone can answer some of my few questions I'd be grateful :

-My tap water has "high" TDS (0.4 EC),is there any "cheap" way to lower it other than RO (if it's important) ? How should I calculate my EC for my plant, should I act like I start from 0 EC ?

-The EC in the bucket increase even tho the plant seems to be "healthy" and eating good, why does EC increase and how can I make sure my plant still has enough nuts in the water ?

-I've noticed that PH tends to go up in my bucket, is my ph meter accurate and why would it go up ?

-Last question, my plant has orange/brown spots on older leaves on the bottom of the plant (see pictures), maybe anyone has an idea of what it could be ? (I'm thinking about calcium excess but not sure)


Thanks a lot for your answers and knowledge,I hope my english is good enough for you guys to understand and wish you a nice day.
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Total EC includes your tap water and can't be ignored

If EC is rising, the plant is drinking water faster than up-taking nutrients; i.e. lower your EC a bit. Ideally you want the EC to be stable or falling slightly.

pH rise in dwc is normal

Leaf issue looks like a pH problem but that's just speculation
 
V

Valirev

Member
Here are my ladies in soil, 6 Green Gelato and 2 Sweet ZZ, both genetics from Royal Queen Seeds, they're week 5 since light schedule switch, they're in 11 liters sized pots, feel free to make a "feedback" about them, good or bad, anything you think I should or shouldn't do, I'm here trying to learn and improve the quality of my buds =)
 

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V

Valirev

Member
Billy the Mountain said:
Total EC includes your tap water and can't be ignored

If EC is rising, the plant is drinking water faster than up-taking nutrients; i.e. lower your EC a bit. Ideally you want the EC to be stable or falling slightly.

pH rise in dwc is normal

Leaf issue looks like a pH problem but that's just speculation
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Alright sir thank you for all this knowledge, you might be right about ph problem, do you think that ph fluctuation could affect the plant days after fix ?
To explain, as I said I'm using Metrop fertilizers, MR1 and MR2 contains phosphorus (and other things ofc), Calgreen contains calcium (and other things ofc), I realised like a week ago that for soil, mixing them (Phosphorus and Calcium) in the same nutrient solution would make both of them "useless" (I'm not an expert at all this is what I could read on the internet trying to figure what could these brown spots be) and that Calgreen dosage wasn't the same at all between soil and DWC (3 times less). And this is why I tought it might be Calcium excess, since that I prepared of new nut solution and my ph moves up way less than before (like my ph could go from 5.8 to 6.3 in 12 hours and now I can let it be for a few days and it would only move from 5.8 to 6)
 
VA804Hydro

VA804Hydro

Member
I’m having same thing but was told like this once the leaves get that damage it doesn’t heal so as long as it’s not on the newer growth also your ok ( not positive but if you look at my post I had somewhat same issue and was a calcium and magnesium deficiency at first
 
V

Valirev

Member
VA804Hydro said:
I’m having same thing but was told like this once the leaves get that damage it doesn’t heal so as long as it’s not on the newer growth also your ok ( not positive but if you look at my post I had somewhat same issue and was a calcium and magnesium deficiency at first
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Thank you for your help, I'm going to take a look at your post
The problem is that newer growths are also slowly getting those spots too, and since calcium/magnesium deficiency and excess look literaly the same to me I have no idea if I should put in more calgreen (for calcium) or make a new nutrient solution with even less calgreen than what I'm going for right now.
Here are some new pics, as you can see it's growing good but those spots =(
 

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Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
Depends on your water source.
I use Lake Michigan water which has 35ppm Ca according to my local water report; no additional Ca supplement needed.
 
V

Valirev

Member
Billy the Mountain said:
Depends on your water source.
I use Lake Michigan water which has 35ppm Ca according to my local water report; no additional Ca supplement needed.
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Very interesting, thanks a lot for answering such obvious questions, I mean sometime my brain lag as fuck on such easy things, like it's pretty much obvious that it depend on the water source but it gets clear in my head only after reading your answer. I might need to stop weed lmao.
 
amneziaHaze

amneziaHaze

Well-Known Member
VA804Hydro said:
I’m having same thing but was told like this once the leaves get that damage it doesn’t heal so as long as it’s not on the newer growth also your ok ( not positive but if you look at my post I had somewhat same issue and was a calcium and magnesium deficiency at first
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happens to me as well its probably ph or strong nutes . but after you get a little bit bigger plant it stops. you can see it in my diary now.
 
V

Valirev

Member
amneziaHaze said:
happens to me as well its probably ph or strong nutes . but after you get a little bit bigger plant it stops. you can see it in my diary now.
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I hope so, I used to grow in soil so I kinda never had issues except bud rot (or at least not this "big", just small nut excess), I kinda have no idea of how much could these types of problem (deficiency or excess) impact yield and quality. And since (probably as everyone) I'm always looking to make the best buds possible I have to admit I'm worried about those spots.
 
V

Valirev

Member
Billy the Mountain said:
Depends on your water source.
I use Lake Michigan water which has 35ppm Ca according to my local water report; no additional Ca supplement needed.
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Sorry to disturb you again Billy, I found a report about both calcium and magnesium concentration in my city, it says 180ppm but I'm not sure since it's a lot more than you have and you said you had enough to not add supplement.
 
70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
If you ask me, it doesn't look like cal mag deficiency anyway. I figured somebody else would have said that by now. I think it looks like a K deficiency. I'm not familiar with your nutes and I didn't see your EC but they may need a little more.
 
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