Strange problem...<pics>

[spazstic]

Hi everyone!

This is now my third grow, but with 40 clones I picked up from clubs in L.A. Never had this leaf droop issue before. The leaves were standing fine and tall when I transplanted them into 6" RW cubes. I had let the cubes soak and brought the pH to 6.8 before transplant. This is the end of the first week with me, they were approx 2 weeks old when I got them.

I am running an air cooled 400W MH, 600W HPS approx. 3' above the tops, thermometer at plant tops indicates average of 80F, 40% RH. A large fan gives good airflow.

I am running an ebb and flow, with 40 gal solution at 68F. pH is at 6.0. I flood twice daily. I have 4 large airstones oxygenating the nutes at all times.

I use reverse osmosis and I am at 800 PPM. Using (mL/gal):
-5 Micro
-5 Grow
-2.5 Bloom
-5 Diamond Nectar
-2.5 Floralicious Grow
-2.5 Liquid Karma
-2.5 SM-90

I think one of the problems may be that the nutes had been sitting in a shed outdoors for almost 2 years (didn't want to waste 20 gallons of new nutes). They seem alright, no crystallization and they smell fine. It did get hot in there last summer though. I changed the res today (it's been 6 days) and there was a lot of residue on the bottom of the res. It seems a good amount of nutes had fallen out of solution. Could the nutes be bad?

The girls were growing fine at first but this happened about 3 days ago. Growth has slowed significantly. I had the timer set to flood 15 min/hour (from when I used hyroton) but I have set it to twice a day as of yesterday. I am used to these things taking off when put under this lamp, and I'd like to see that happen.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. This site has been really helpful and I know someone here knows what is going on. There is a good amount of $$$ in these clones and I want them to thrive. A few are going to be mothers as well.

Thanks for taking the time to look!

 

[spazstic]

Maybe they just need a little more time to acclimate?

Thanks for any input or suggestions you may have....

 

[herbose]

Maybe they just need a little more time to acclimate?

Thanks for any input or suggestions you may have....

I'm thinking you're right. They look fine except for the droop. Give it a little more time.

 

[DownOnWax]

They look healthy besides the droop.

Cool setup BTW!!!

Hope it works out

 

[spazstic]

Cool, thanks. Guess I'm just a worried father.

BTW, I poked down into the cubes and the roots look great, nice fuzzy and white. That was a relief.

 

[spazstic]

Thanks! It's very nice, and I've got it in a large room with two 4x4 trays, but I've got room for at least 2-4 more.... hehe it's tempting... probably going to go with 4x 600W after this one. It's a total clean room too. Waiting for them to fill out and then I am going to split them between two trays, 16-18 each. After that I will have mothers and a cycle to work off of.

Will anxiously await the perk of the leaf! I will post when things either get better or worse .

 

[herbose]

Cool, thanks. Guess I'm just a worried father.

BTW, I poked down into the cubes and the roots look great, nice fuzzy and white. That was a relief.

I don't recommend doing that. Everytime you jostle the roots the tiny hairs that do all the work get broken. You can't tell because they're too small to see. That's where most transplant shock starts.

 

[spazstic]

I don't recommend doing that. Everytime you jostle the roots the tiny hairs that do all the work get broken. You can't tell because they're too small to see. That's where most transplant shock starts.

Ah, thanks for the tip! It takes some time for the roots to emerge out of these large 6 in blocks, and I was getting impatient.... Will watch out for that next time!

 

[laserbrn]

Ah, thanks for the tip! It takes some time for the roots to emerge out of these large 6 in blocks, and I was getting impatient.... Will watch out for that next time!

You're flooding twice a day for how long? That's too often for little guys, especially if you are flooding really high. They probagbly only need once a day to start. Especially with the larger 6x6 Rockwool cubes. Good luck, I'll be watching this one.

 

[laserbrn]

I also don't know much about the nutes that you are using, but damn, 800ppm on little girls like that? I would've started them at 100ppm and worked up to about 800ppm over the first 2-3 weeks. They look a bit too small for 800ppm, but I use AN nutes...

 

[spazstic]

I also don't know much about the nutes that you are using, but damn, 800ppm on little girls like that? I would've started them at 100ppm and worked up to about 800ppm over the first 2-3 weeks. They look a bit too small for 800ppm, but I use AN nutes...

I flood for 15 min, it takes about 5 min to fill so they are under for about 10 min. The nutes get up to about 3/4 of the way on the block.

I know the nutes are a little strong, I was getting some leaf twist and the leafs are growing very long. I didn't think that would have an effect on the drooping though. I figured they will get acclimated to it. It's what I've done in the past and had great yields.

According to General Hydroponics feeding schedule, week two plants (after the clone week) should be at 400-800 PPM and I'm pretty sure they are in their 3rd week.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate any support I can get on this!

 

[spazstic]

Then again, I don't know what the clubs were feeding them, or if they were even feeding any nutes at all....

 

[parttimer]

I dont know if it will be any use, as im a very new grower with just three plants going, but last week I overwatered them and they looked exactly like yours do now. I diddnt give them there next feed and they soon came back to good shape.

 

[laserbrn]

Too much water brotha...3/4's of the way up the block? They aren't going to dry out the cubes enough between waterings. Cut down to 1 watering /day and they will perk back up.

They don't seem to have "the claw" or nute burn, so they must be okay with the higher ppm levels.

 

[spazstic]

Yeah, with my second crop I was watering 15 min every hour. It was my first time with these large rockwool blocks and I vegged them for 2 months. They were huge and I was cutting hundreds of clones a week off of them.

However, they eventually got root rot and were so sick I threw them out. Had to learn the hard way.

Although the blocks will stay wet for 24 hours, won't the nutrients have depleted by then? It seems like you would want to replenish with fresh nutrients a little more often...

Thanks for the help everyone, it is really appreciated.

 

[spazstic]

Thought I should update the thread in case anyone stumbles upon it with the same problem...

They perked up after a week or so. Just needed to get acclimated. Transplant shock.... Doing well now.