All my trees are dying! HELP!

Ok so I have a hydroponic drip system. The pH of the water is between 5.5 and 6.0. The plants are about 2 weeks old seated in rockwool. There is a very small amount of rooting hormone (about 1/2 the suggested amount). Until funds pick up a little I am using a 120w gro-bulb by Sylvania. It puts off a little bit of heat so I had it about 18" from the plants until I noticed them withering. I moved it to about 24" from the tops but now they seem like they're stretching. The light is on 24/7 as well as the drip. The closet is a constant 72 degrees (75-78 under the light) with constant airflow. I will be using a darkroom as soon as it gets here and a 400w HPS, but until they ship I need to know what to do. If you need any more information about what I'm doing let me know. I am desperate for help as this is my first grow. I can have more pics upon request as well.




PLEASE AND THANK YOU TO ALL!

help anyone? :'(

they dont look too bad, maybe the light so close to them stressed them cuz they are still babies, keep the light away from them but u can gauge it and put it closer when the time seems right

i dont think u are supped to use any type of hormone


im also worried why they are so small if you have been growing them for 2 whole weeks

your useing a complact flouresnt bulb right?

cuz the regular type bulbs will not work even if they say daylight on them


lastly once they get bigger a lil thier roots will tangle together so kinda not good to put them in the same pot unless you can separte them in a lil while

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=76595-3-15156&lpage=none ...This is the light I'm using until my HPS setup ships but I'm using a 120w not a 65. In a week time I should have the HPS and a darkroom with 2 of those buckets and another 5gal. res. This is 2 weeks from germination. I'm going to flush the res tonight...Thank you. any more advice is greatly appreciated...ANY advice

You said your drip runs 24/7. Is it possible that your roots are too wet? They need some time dry out every so often or else you will get root rot and stunted growth. I think that may be why you are having the issues you are. Also I think your bulb may be too far away. Use your hand to gauge how far off the light should be from the plants. When it gets warm on your hand stop. As they get a little bigger you can get a little closer. As a rule of thumb though if it is too close for your hand it is too close for your plants.

I tried gauging it with my hand but didnt seem to have much luck with that. I also tried shutting off the drip for 3.5 hours while i was at work and came home to less happy looking plants . I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy a few florescent lights for these little ladies. These first few plants may hafta be my test. I have 8 other seedlings that I just finished germinating and put them in plugs tonight. I'm hoping I'll have more luck with these.

Hemp4Victory said:

You said your drip runs 24/7. Is it possible that your roots are too wet? They need some time dry out every so often or else you will get root rot and stunted growth. I think that may be why you are having the issues you are. Also I think your bulb may be too far away. Use your hand to gauge how far off the light should be from the plants. When it gets warm on your hand stop. As they get a little bigger you can get a little closer. As a rule of thumb though if it is too close for your hand it is too close for your plants.

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I think Hemp4Victory is right on this one.

Plants do not need constant water especially in their early stages of growth when they are trying to establish roots.

I am a soil grower but I have had severely stunted growth because when I began growing I thought my seedlings needed a lot of constant watering. In truth they actually seem to like it more on the dry side.

Just enough water to keep the roots moist but not soaked is usually sufficient.

DownOnWax said:

I think Hemp4Victory is right on this one.

Plants do not need constant water especially in their early stages of growth when they are trying to establish roots.

I am a soil grower but I have had severely stunted growth because when I began growing I thought my seedlings needed a lot of constant watering. In truth they actually seem to like it more on the dry side.

Just enough water to keep the roots moist but not soaked is usually sufficient.

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So should I cut the pump? the last time I did that only for a few hours i noticed what looked like some unhappy plants. I'll give it a whirl tho.

Big P said:

as long as the medium the plants are planted in is still wet they should be ok

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My fingers are crossed...we'll see how they are in 8 hours when I wake up. Thanks for all the help!

Hemp4Victory said:

You said your drip runs 24/7. Is it possible that your roots are too wet? They need some time dry out every so often or else you will get root rot and stunted growth. I think that may be why you are having the issues you are. Also I think your bulb may be too far away. Use your hand to gauge how far off the light should be from the plants. When it gets warm on your hand stop. As they get a little bigger you can get a little closer. As a rule of thumb though if it is too close for your hand it is too close for your plants.

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I woke up this morning to some pretty unhappy girls . Shutting off the drip for the night didnt do anything good. Anyone have any ideas???

My best suggestion would be to get yourself a timer that has multiple on off settings. Then set your pump to turn on 2-3 times a day for a period of maybe 15-20 minutes. I don't know for sure how a drip system works though. My little bit of experience comes on the soil side of things. Have you watched the video Mr. Green I Grow Chronic? He does a very thorough job of explaining how to setup and maintain an effective drip system. It is available for download by torrent or you can also view it on youtube in sections.

Also any pictures or details you could give us would help. Do you know roughly how much water your drip system puts out when it is on? What is the temperature of your grow room? How are your humidity levels? All of those questions could help us help you.

Hemp4Victory said:

Also any pictures or details you could give us would help. Do you know roughly how much water your drip system puts out when it is on? What is the temperature of your grow room? How are your humidity levels? All of those questions could help us help you.

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The temp is between 70-76 all day with a good amount of airflow. I'm not sure of the humidity yet most of my measuring tools will be shipping with my lights so I wont have them for a few days. I will be recieveing a Dark Room DR80 2'8"x2'8"x5'3" grow tent with a 400wHPS lighting system hopefully before the weekend. I've also decided to get some compact florescents to put below the plants to give them more cool light coverage. But until then I'm stuck with just my closet lol. I'll throw up some pictures. I think a big problem is the light I'm using temporarily. I don't think it's giving the plants what they need. I have a window in my closet that I decided to open the shades on in the day to get some sunlight in and see if that helps. I'm really looking forward to getting my lights and darkroom. I'm going to be using less water when I start my next seeds. I think my first batch of ladies was toooo wet and the cubes may have gotten a little crushed by the grow medium. So I actually fear that the roots may not be getting enough airflow. I think my next bucket is going to have some airstones in it as well as the drip. But I'll get you pics...I appreciate all your how-to and help.