First time grower question: Leaves are turning yellow and drooping, a few brown spot.

Hi RIU,
I finally got my personal grow going and I decided to go with the bubbleponics set up. I use a 6 bucket system (5 plants 1 res) and am currently growing 2 platinum bubba 2 dj shorts blueberry and 1 jack herer. My Djs are looking a little sickly and I was wondering if one of you might be able to tell me a little about whats going on with them. Here are the pics
As you can see, the leaf is turning very yellow and is developing some brown there on the right leaf. Anyone have any idea what this indicates? My Ph levels are between 5.8 and 6.2 and the room temp is around 70 right now. Im using a 400w HPS. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

What's your PPM or Ec?

Unfortunetly I dont have a PPM reader; and EC? not entirely sure what that is. I just checked the plants again today, they are looking better and the phs are all between 5.6 and 5.8 with the exception of my res (6.5+ cant get a completely accurate read for some reason). I also see this tiny white specs on the leafs, not alot but enough to make me wonder if they are spider mites... any times to confirm this? Thanks for the response Sworth.

How is your humidity. I was having simular problems and I was growing in coco. doopy leaves that turned half yellow and spots. All I did was up the amount of nutes( incase it was low nitrogen) repotted into bigger pots because they were looking rootbound and riased the humidity. i doubt its mites aswell. If you had spider mites you wouls know

I cant get an accurate reading on humidity in there, but I have a window AC unit set at 65 degrees (a little low because the temp is read at a higher level than the plants are at). Any tips for getting a humidity reading?

I'm not sure what you're worried about honestly. Your clones look fine to me.

Note:
Clones can droop and yellow while re-rooting. It's a temporary sign of deficiency while the roots re-establish themselves. Some strains are more sensitive to this than others. I believe you can avoid or minimize this mild temporary stress if you let them root out under a fluoro just in the rockwool a bit before planting into a body of clay pellets. Of course I never do that and just plant the clones in my system first day I get 'em... sink or swim I say.

Is this your first time growing clones?

Edit:

How are you watering those cubes, if at all?

Yeah this is my first time with clones, and thanks for the info on the roots re establishing themselves; that makes a lot of sense (especially since its only the DJs that are showing those signs). My platinum bubbas a real healthy looking and they are all at around the same ph level. Hopefully Ill be able to get my hands on a ppm meter soon and I can be more accurate with my counts. Thanks for the response Lordjin!

Nastylnate said:

Yeah this is my first time with clones, and thanks for the info on the roots re establishing themselves; that makes a lot of sense (especially since its only the DJs that are showing those signs). My platinum bubbas a real healthy looking and they are all at around the same ph level. Hopefully Ill be able to get my hands on a ppm meter soon and I can be more accurate with my counts. Thanks for the response Lordjin!

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Interesting, could the DJ's be closer to the OG family than the Platinum Bubba? Hmmm...

Do you have the net pot bottoms close enough to your bucket solution so that the bubbles popping at the surface are wetting the net pot? You should also hand water by pouring a bit of your res water directly on the plant's base... But not too often. Remember to keep that rockwool cube moist to the touch but not saturated. If you keep a good balance of moisture without it getting too wet, you should be fine.

Get a ppm meter and always keep a handle on what you're feeding them. This is crucial especially when your clones are so young and trying to get going.

Edit:

I also noticed that you buried your rockwool cubes too low. There shouldn't be any of the basket's open slots exposed like that. Light will get in those holes and reach your roots. Plant it a little higher and bury it completely (a one pebble layer to cover the rockwool completely). Algae loves to grow on wet rockwool surfaces.

Like this:
Hurry up and fix that before your roots start growing into the pellets too much.

Thanks for that information Lordjin, Ill get on fixing those pots once I get back; Ill post pics of them after I fix them, thanks again man!

Alright, I added more hydroton to the top of the opening in the pots so no more light should be getting to the roots. I hope im not smothering these lovely ladies. Check it out...

If you think you're gonna suffocate those roots by burying with clay pellets... don't.

Those pellets were designed to house roots, giving them air and moisture.

That's a bit better, but next time plant the clone a little higher so you can fill it to the brim with pellets, burying the rockwool cube with a one pellet thick layer of pellets.

Thanks man you've been a big help, ill go ahead and elevate the rockwool when I clean the buckets.

Nastylnate said:

Thanks man you've been a big help, ill go ahead and elevate the rockwool when I clean the buckets.

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Just be very gentle. I doubt you have tons of roots extending yet, but gentle, gentle when you dig those out. I'm sure you'll be okay. Make sure your hands are clean! Lol.

If it looks like there's too many roots extending into the rocks when you check, I would say leave it be. If there aren't too many roots and it can be gently lifted with minimal or no damage, then do it.

So I checked the 2 dj shorts(the sick looking ones) and it looks like the roots are extending through the netty pot into the buckets, I'm hoping this is a sign of recovery... Strong little guys if so.

Nastylnate said:

So I checked the 2 dj shorts(the sick looking ones) and it looks like the roots are extending through the netty pot into the buckets, I'm hoping this is a sign of recovery... Strong little guys if so.

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have roots, will travel. They'll recover and start growing now.