Drooping with curling leaves

GrowHarD

Active Member
Hey guys, I just upgraded yesterday from using a little 150W hps to a 400W hps. I had the light about 10 or so inches from the top of the plants and everything seemed fine. Then I went in to check on the my ladies about 2 hours later and noticed that they were starting to droop. The leaves were also starting to curl upwards, which I assumed was too much heat so I moved the light up. The plants are about a little over 3 weeks old and I'm growing in a DWC/aeroponic setup so I don't think I could be overwatering the roots... need some advice asap... nutes are about 350-400ppm and the ph is in the 6-6.5 range as suggested by my nutes...
 

bigballin007

New Member
Did you have you light to close to your plants? They need adjust to the brighter and hotter light slowly. When you change like that the bulb should be like 2 to 2.5 feet above the plants for a few days slowly lowering them to around 1 foot till your plants get adjusted. Lots of air movment is a good idea to as they must adjust to the change in sudden climate.

It's like having the sun move twice as close to Earth and not expect a reaction.

Hope this helps.
 

GrowHarD

Active Member
Well I moved the light about 1 1/2 feet away. I'm not too concerned with the curling as it is not too severe. But the drooping is puzzling... I just read somewhere that the temp. in the res. and root area cannot get too hot. I'm starting to think that the bigger light could be making the res hotter. I will be getting a thermostat to check the res temp shortly. I'll post pics tomorrow once the lights are on and thanks for the advice.
 

groprofosho

Well-Known Member
you may be overwatering, though you would think it is hard to do. You will know if you are overwatering in a hydro setup if your roots begin to turn brown and die at an abnormal rate. The first sign you will see in the leaves is yellowing older fan leaves and dying lower leaves, as the plant takes nutes from itself. Of course the other reason they would turn brown is your ph is off. Your ph level of 6-6.5 is too high for a hydro setup. You should maintain the ph between 5.5-6. They like 5.5 the best. You need to make sure the roots have some air all the time. I let the roots grow extra long and just keep the bottoms in the nute solution, with a cycling res so the ph and ppm dont fluctuate too much. Dont worry about too much light, at those levels 400 is fine. Just make sure there is plenty of air flow to lower the temp near the tops and to help transpiration.
 

groprofosho

Well-Known Member
make sure your tanks are completely blacked out to keep light from growing algae, which will take the o2 out of the water and promote other problems. I use construction plastic, or white/black 7 mil plastic. Make sure the outside is wrapped in a reflective material though, so the light doesnt absorb and warm the tanks. Black or darker tanks will warm up more than white.
 

GrowHarD

Active Member
Alright, it seems like the plants perked up a little over night once the temps got a little lower. I have a feeling the humidity/ temperature in the room is getting a little excessive. The little ones that I put in with the older ones seem to be drooping a lot more so I think I might have to take them out for a day or so. I have the ph at 6.5 because I'm using Holland Secret nutes and it says for vegetive growth in aeroponics to have it around 6.5. The roots seem to be happy and I add H2O2 everytime I change the nutes so I don't have an algae problem. I think I'm going to wrap the tub in some heat reflective material and add an additional res in order to maintain the water temp a little better. I appreciate the suggestions, anymore would be appreciated since ya'll can see what I'm dealing with now.. thanks
 

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