First cycle in Hydroton, are my plants overwatered?

Jypsy Dog said:

You can't pH Ro without putting something in the solution to read.
If you put it in plain ro for 48hrs.... Let it purge.
Start it back at 400ppm, CHECK THE #'s. Moving the right direction.... Up the PPM's by 50. REPEAT. Slowly bring her back to a PPM that she likes.

Click to expand...

He was at 400 ish. Plants looked no better. Then the yellowing which pretty much says needs Mg.Ive done this hydro thing for a number of years also. My clones get feed 300 until roots come out of net pots. Then it’s game on 7-900 ppm. I’ve tried many different strains and only one so far didn’t like above 700. So this is why I suggest at least 200 ppm more then what he had. Plant will tell him soon enough. Also it’s not like dirt where we can’t take away. A simple flush and back to sq one.

Ok so I am just about the flush my experimentee plant and change my tanks out and look how the worst looking plant is doing now ...


I am baffled!

How long since last water?thats how long it takes to respond.they liked what you feed them. Now right that down.

myke said:

How long since last water?thats how long it takes to respond.they liked what you feed them. Now right that down.

Click to expand...

It was this time yesterday they have a watering. They went into lights out looking awful (as they always do) and after 4 hours of the lights being on again they look like this


. No doubt I’ll see the same in the morning but I’m hopeful to see the plant I have flushed with bottled water. Maybe a water change with RO will help the rest of them as I have done.
If we see improvements with the flushed plant, I shall repeat for all of them.

I also tested the run off from the flushed plant. Typical that my TDS meter decided to pack in so all I had was my ec stick which only gives a low reading of 200ppm. Nothing was registered when testing the run off but the PH was way lower than expected at 4.8. I will retest again tomorrow to make sure this is legit.

The plants I started two weeks later seem to be doing much better than the older plants .. does this mean anything ?

myke said:

He was at 400 ish. Plants looked no better. Then the yellowing which pretty much says needs Mg.Ive done this hydro thing for a number of years also. My clones get feed 300 until roots come out of net pots. Then it’s game on 7-900 ppm. I’ve tried many different strains and only one so far didn’t like above 700. So this is why I suggest at least 200 ppm more then what he had. Plant will tell him soon enough. Also it’s not like dirt where we can’t take away. A simple flush and back to sq one.

Click to expand...

That's the point of the 48hrs... Solid flush to remove the imbalance. Call it a Purge. You can feed at a low PPM and still lock it out. Time will tell.

Woodsy92 said:

The plants I started two weeks later seem to be doing much better than the older plants .. does this mean anything ?

Click to expand...

Well you know now not to water 24/7.
Nice clean room by the way.

Thank you - the room is new so I’m sure it won’t look so clean in the near future.

So last night I flushed the isolated plant with bottled water like you guys said.. I also repeated the flush this morning. She is looking pretty similar to most morning when I come into the room - droopy and sad but marginally better with some new growth. This is her...

If you look at my previous post after 4 hours of lights on she looks like a different plant.

After a water change with RO water and 550ppm of nutrient (I will raise this by 50 today) this is how the rest are looking..



Is this nitrogen def or mag?





Thanks again everyone!

Good Luck!

Jypsy Dog said:

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

Is that a sarcastic good luck . Do you think they are f***ed? Haha

Leave it at 550 see what they say,always try to only change one thing at a time.
see if the one that was flushed responses any better.
The plants/system sure are fussy.

also keep notes of what and how much your giving them.

Ok, changing one thing at a time makes perfect sense.
Do you think I should flush the isolated plant again tonight or leave it at on flush last night and this morning. I don’t want to overwater ... EVER AGAIN.

I was wondering.. the silicic acid that I add to my water fist raises the ph considerably. I have to add a fair amount of PH down even after adding nutrients. Last nights water change called for 35 drops in each 70 litre tank ! Could all this acid upset my plants?

The flush idea was to check runoff ppm,your meter died?So that failed.But you know now its been cleaned.Feed it less/more then the others,its a test plant to speed up the learning curve.
As Jypsy dog says,ph down needs something in the water to cling to.ro water is zero.Everyone has this problem,when nutes are low it takes more ph down.Mix up a batch of 1200ppm and youll find the ph is lower.

myke said:

The flush idea was to check runoff ppm,your meter died?So that failed.But you know now its been cleaned.Feed it less/more then the others,its a test plant to speed up the learning curve.
As Jypsy dog says,ph down needs something in the water to cling to.ro water is zero.Everyone has this problem,when nutes are low it takes more ph down.Mix up a batch of 1200ppm and youll find the ph is lower.

Click to expand...

Thanks Myke- I do understand this concept. I am not adding PH down straight to my RO water as I know one drop would probably turn the solution very acidic. I am adding it after I have added nutrients. The PH last night after adding silicic acid, Rhizotonic, cal/mag and the three part nutrients was 7 !
I was more asking would all the ph down I am adding to achieve 5.8 affect the plants?

I have also kept notes like you suggested.

Check the part on flushing your Balls.... Might be in need of an enzyme...
https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/grow-cannabis-plants-clay-pebbles/

Jypsy Dog said:

Check the part on flushing your Balls.... Might be in need of an enzyme...
https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/grow-cannabis-plants-clay-pebbles/

Click to expand...

Great article thanks Gypsy Dog.

I do have some cannazyme lying around so I can add that to the flush next time.
The test plant has responded ok to the flushing, I am keen to flush the rest of my plants but will leave everything alone for a few days after last nights water change..

I am tracking my tank numbers like you said, ec has stayed the same and the ph has slowly increase.

Here are the plants an hour after lights on looking not perfect.. but quite happy.. At this point they always look like they are on the mend but disappoint me when I come to check on them in the morning. I have to figure this out it’s killing me. !!


The first picture is the test plant that was flushed twice.. I am going to try feeding her on a low ppm nutrient solution.







Most of the plants have a light green colour more prevalent at the bottom leaves.. I add cal/mag until I get at least 200ppm and the ph is good as I have said. Is this down to my low amount of nutrients in solution?

As long as you see numbers in the right direction... Just monitor. Don't fuck with the pH until it hits 6.1
Forget about the lower leaves, there being used for compensation by the plant while you figure this out. You have to let them stabilize B4 you change again.
I saw another page on Wilma systems, The guys running them modify them into damn near DWC.

I use to normally see Ca and mg def.I now hover my ph between 6~6.3.I dont see those def.anymore.
Ya looks like that Wilma could be altered towards the dwc.Do you have a link?