First Grow..

Aslard

Member
So first time growing my medical marijuana and I'm on week 5 and been running into issues. I'm doing a bubbling hydro system - 3 5 gallon buckets and an 18 gallon res. My system doesn't recirculate constantly I just mix my nutes into the res. and then pump them into the buckets. My room is 4x3x6 and I'm using a Blackstar LED 500w with 3w chipset. I have an intake vent and exhaust vent. I keep the room temperature approx. 68 degrees and my humidity was low around 28%. I recently added a humidifier and it's still about 68 degrees and 36% humidity. My light is 26 inches away from the plants. I've been using the Lucas Nute Mix with GH Nutes and nothing but RO water has gone in.

I got my girls 5 weeks ago and they were less than 3 inches tall - they are now closer to 10 inches tall and quite bushy. About a week ago I noticed the edges of the leaves curling up like a taco with some discoloration. I read online that by using my RO water it may have a mag. deficiency. I added epsom salt but realized I put too much in there (this was a week ago). I flushed the system out completely and added my GH nutes back in. A few days later noticed my leaves stopped curling so thought everything was good to go. Then a few days ago got significantly more discoloration with spotting. I added GH Cal/Mag to the system 24 hours ago in hopes this will fix it.

I'm in veg clearly still so I'm doing 0-5-10 + Cal/Mag

I started out when clones were 3 inches tall with TDS: 200ppm @ .5 conversion / PH was at 6.5 / water temp never goes over 68 or lower than 63. Each week I upped nutes steadily - PH dropped as low as 5.3 at one point - that was when my leaves were curling (my PH meter lost calibration.)

TDS now at 660ppm / PH is 6.3. Here's a few photos of my girls - I'm just looking for any advice as to someone with more experience might think this is and if I am wright about it being Cal/Mag deficiency. Also if I am right - about how long before they start growing - growth is stunted for the last 7-10 days. Thanks in advance
photo 1.jpgphoto 2.jpgphoto 3.jpg
 

weedx

Member
eeek, sick plant man that sucks, looks like cal/mag to me hope they kick back soon man I imagine they will start to take off again once you treat whatever is ailing them.

had a plant go nana for no reason (everything perfect) around week 7 and came back as a true fkn champ, best yielder of the bunch! theres still hope yet
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
Five weeks they should be 3 feet tall. Looks like maily a ph issue. For young plants keep it at 5.6-5.8.
 

Aslard

Member
Yeah I kinda thought they should be taller too - just dropped ph to 5.8 thanks for responding guys.
 

smoke30

Member
i had a few buddys run the advanced nute 'revive'. their plants looked alot like urs. might b something to try out. just add to the res for about a week. pretty good shit. let us knw how dropping the ph works out man. good luck on ur girls man
 

Aslard

Member
Well kept PH at 5.7-5.8 but it kept creeping back up to 6.2 every night over two nights. Checked calibration of ph meter with 7.0 fluid. Went ahead and got the GH liquid ph testing drops and verified that meter is working properly.

Plants not looking any better and no new growth. Pruned off severely damaged leaves/stems.

Just flushed water with fresh RO water, adding 1.5ml/gal of CalMag and 20ml of FloraMicro and 40ml of FloraBloom. PPM @ 250 and dropped PH to 5.7 again with ph down.

Was advised to kick humidity up more by my hydro shop guy, it's been at 35% he said to go to 40-50%. Shooting for 45%, will update in a few days. Shit is frustrating!
 

Aslard

Member
My PH is still going back up every day / night. My roots look healthy - white and thick. I'm considering starting over as I'm not sure if the plants are just too far gone. My leaves are doing the same thing I posted in my 1st post. I've been adding nutes increasing by 10% per day and adding back to my res. My PPM is at 370 right now (.5 conversion).

Anyway - was just looking for some direction as to if I should keep messing with them or if I should just start over?

After reading more and more I know I have a lot to learn still.

I learned today that I made the mistake of not soaking my hydroton in ph'd water before growing. I did wash them off and get the crud off them before using them. Could the hydroton still be affecting my PH 6 weeks into growing?

Any advice is greatly appreciated as I have no experience and nobody up here to ask for help.

Cheers.
 

Aslard

Member
Plants are dead. Got a new ph meter that isn't a $9.99 special (bought an Oakton) found out the old ph meter was reading 7.0 but fucked up lower readings completely. I got it on amazon was yellow and black anyway stay away from the cheap meter.

Found starting signs of slime when I tore everything out. Getting rid of RDWC and just going to use dwc. Less water, less chemicals hoping it will be easier to maintain. Anyway hope someone learns from my mistake. Stay away from the amazon yellow and black cheap ph meters..
 
Top