Dear fellow growers,
I need your help to figure out a problem with my plants that has been following me for the last 6 grows. I am running a mid-sized operation and It is a repeating problem that I just can’t seem to understand and resolve.
It all goes normal with the seedlings, they are growing well with a light color of the leaves and no visible problems. However, as I approach week 3 of Veg the leaves start to get a darker shade. I have tried to withhold any feeding and wait for them to get lighter but they never do. They never get light but rather darker and when I eventually feed them only the new growth/ top become a bit lighter. I have tried different feeding approaches(more/less) both with the young plants and also later in veg but the result is always the same - dark droopy leaves, clawing and generally a very stunted growth. I have top dressed with worm castings, made teas with just a temporary effect.
Recently I made an observation that the plants don’t develop a very good root system (yes, I could have checked this earlier) . In early veg roots are white, but not that thick or dense. After repot the new roots also appear white. The pictures show the plants in their week 8 of VEG, that is 4 weeks after repotting and the roots don’t seem to be strong or dense. You can also see that the plants are very small for 8 weeks growing.
Later in bloom the roots get brownish and plants start to get yellow with dying leaver starting from week 4 until the end. Plans don’t handle strong light and don’t drink as much. Harvests are poor and generally low quality.
I have posted pictures of a current batch in VEG and in BLOOM. You can see that the roots of both batches are not right. Is this root rot?
I am beginning to think that the problem is not caused by feeding schedule or environment but rather watering and lack of oxygen. I water every other day and generally have a good observation how much they drink every 48h. However, I might have overwatered on repot and didn’t water them for 5-6 days until they got lite. Could that single overwatering start a root rot? Also, would you suggest to put pot elevators and additional perlite to the light mix?
Any suggestions and comments with regards to prevention and current actions are welcomed. I really need your help as this has been happening the last one year and I am running out of ideas and resources.
Environment: Sealed room, CO2 enriched (more info in the attached table)
Media: Plagron Lightmix (preloaded with mineral nutrients for 1-2 weeks at most)
Media pH: 5.8-6.4 (measured with a BlueLab multimedia probe.)
Nutes: Plagron Alga Grow/Bloom (100% organic, seaweed based) (find attached a veg feeding schedule)
Pots: ½ gallon (2L) for the first 3-4 weeks then repot into 2.5 gallon (10L)
VEG/BLOOM: 8 weeks veg and 9 weeks bloom
Lights room1: Chinese LED bar lights with Samsung LH281H chips (cold, warm and UV)
Lights room2: Quantum boards (fotops 800) with Samsung LM301B and IR 3500/4000K
Light schedule VEG: 18/6
Water source: ph 7-8, 60 ppm, filtered through a chlorine filter
Seeds: Skunk XL from Royal Queen Seeds.
Hi buddy. Nice to meet you. I'm a new grower on here. But am experienced enough. I'm on my 3rd grow now. I pull 70 average off autos. And only really getting proper into fems now but this is 1 of my girls on day 62 or so was flipped on day 45. The 1 on the right started out much bigger but I didn't uppot her like her sister on the left and I give her nothing put water and a bioenhancer feed from @GreenHouseFeeding and I treat the soil with their bioline grow & bloom. Try the kids method buddy. Took me 2 rounds of growing to get to that.
So, you have 1 issue. Why are you growing in a full light mix and using seaweed. You are starting the race by shooting yourself in the leg running with 100% light mix. You need to treat the soil to get proper nutrient uptake and a good breeding background going in your soil normally that takes weeks or months if you don't use jump starters like actual soil conditioners.. I use light mix biobizz and 40% all mix and my secret compost and triggers fungus reaction throughout my entire grow. I'm not bragging at all. But, by the time I get to my 6th I'll be using 100 my own nutrient mix. As you are using light mix. When you say preloaded with mineral nutrients.. so how long are you letting your soil sit. (It should be smelly. That's good soil and should look like this buddy. If you need help, with soil feel free to DM me. To get a good jump. Without waiting for weeks. You could use green House feeding. Dry powder additives. It'll help get fungus going. It does for me. And I only use a small bit. No nutrients through entire grow. Maybe some Epsom Salt for mag/sulphate and cal powder as my water is only 110ppm.
But, the crooks of it. You need to condition your soil. Or you may aswel grow in coco and have the benefits of adding nutrients aa you please without worrying about soil growing..as the whole point to use soil, is for the bactria beneficial side, or why bother?
So, in the future. Get some all mix. Do a mix. You adding minerals to light mix. (I've no idea what you are doing) and BTW, don't get hung up with roots growing on the outside.
Ppl only take them root shots when they don't uppot.. and don't understand the whole point of growing in soil. Is to have the roots on the inside not running up the Inside of your pot. So, when you uppot you make a root ball in the middle of your soil. My plants have very few roots on the outside. As they are all on the inside.
The Fungus is like that on all my plants. Even the ones without bioline, as I'm running autos on their mineral line (syntheic nutrients) and that is 3 nutrients in total from seed-harvest but if your water is less than 250ppm you will more than likely need calmag. (The fungus degrades over time)
But, that's just the type of conditior I add to mine. There's tons of soil additives out there. Or just a general all mix, open a bag wet it and let sit for 2 days. And you'll notice it start to smell. That's the goodness you are missing out on pal.
Plants in tent are from 55 days old and as young as 30 days. And all have benefit of live soil.. or if they weren't, I'd save myself a lot of hassle by running a coco..
Good luck pal. You can find me on GrowDiaries under same usernane