G13 Pineapple Express and UFO Skunk #1 from Attitude. First Time Hydroponics Grow

I'm aware of that DevilSpawn, thanks though. I wasn't planning on simply adding nutrients because she's growing, I had a case of nute burn when she was very young, so I'm cautious to mess up something that's working good. I was only planning on bumping it up from 100 to 150 an see how she takes it. I was trying to follow ScottyBalls grow journal, and by day 10 he was already at 300ppm and the PE was taking it fine. I'm on Day 16 now and only at 100, and I know every grow is different, but I think she'll be fine. Pics in a bit.

Looks like things are runnin smooth now for you bro,...... i think this 1's goin to be 1 hell of a ride lol

peace

Day 17
PPM 150
PH 5.8
Temp 79
She seems to be taking the nute adjustment fine, but the leaf in the following two pictures (the large blade closest to the bottom, as well as the two blades on both sides of it) has been drooping a little each day, and its been developing tiny black spots which are growing very slightly. Every other leaf on the plant is fine, but this one looks odd. I know the pictures aren't the best, but any idea what it could be? All the other leaves are very green/healthy looking, it's just this one.
Here are some more update pictures as well.


Sorry the pictures don't really let you see the black spots I'm referring too, but it's better than nothing. You can see that it's drooping and the rest aren't really.

Lookin good though bud....dont no what the spots could be, best to ask around just in case its somthin series
And a little tip if you stall your HPS for a few min and get a lamp from your house turn that on you should get some better pics or turn the lamp on a couple of min before lights on

peace

It's not looking good today. I need to figure out what's causing this problem ASAP, because the first leaf that was effected is shriveling up/drying out, and a few of the healthy looking leaves are starting to droop slightly and have the little black spots developing as well. By this rate she'll look like shit by Friday. I took the foil out and put plastic back in its place in case the foil was burning the leaves. I dropped the PPM back down to 100 to see if that was it. Is there any way it could be a humidity problem? I can't keep the humidity above 35% now no matter what I try. Scraping up cash to try to run and buy a humidifier in a little while. Temps are always 77-82. Humidity is between 25-35. Will post the best pics I can in a little while. She's still growing fine, but the older growth isn't fairing so well. HELP! Hah.

In these 3 photos the main leaf in trouble is the one towards the bottom. The center blade is the one that began developing tiny blackish/rustish colored regions a few days ago, and was drooping. Now it's spread to all blades of that leaf, as well as the growth directly across from it. All new growth seems to be fine, it's just starting at the bottom and spreading upwards. The blade is VERY dry, like if I rolled it between my fingers it would rip/crumble.

Still hard to get good pictures of the problem as my camera is pretty shitty, but you can see where the blade is dried/curling up. And for some reason it looks like it has greyish areas on it; that is the rustish/blackish colored areas that are the problem. You can see the leaf towards the bottom is dying, and the one directly across the plant from it is beginning to do the same.

Again, grey areas are the problem. Went and bought a humidifier so my environment is as follows:
Temp - 79
Humidity - 52%
PPM - 109
PH - 6.0

Im thinkin its a nutrient/ph issue. Ive seen curling and dying leaves due to the ph being to acidic, but that is just a guess. It could also be the humidity I dont do hydro but i know for soil 52% humidity is way too high! Im actually growing pineapple express now and i keep my humidity at around 25% and Ph at about 6.3 and my plant has been super healthy with no issues. I would actually lower the humidity not raise it, with the humidty and temps there your askin for algae/mold or bugs. My last possible cause is bugs. You could have bugs somewhere on your plant possibly eating the leaves from the underside cause ing black/necrotic tissue to show up on the top of the leaf.

Like i said i know nothing about hydro so i could be completely off, but those would be my guesses.
good luck

Thanks for at least taking a shot at it. Everything I've read thus far has stated that 50% humidity for veg is completely normal, and something to aim for. I figured it couldn't hurt by buying a humidifier earlier tonight. As for the nutrients, I've been changing the reservoir daily with 2 gallons of RO DI water, with a PPM of 100-200 and a PH of 5.8. Before this I was using my tap water which was harder to keep around 5.8 and she was still growing fine. It just seems like theres too many different things it COULD be, so it makes it very hard to figure out exactly what it is.

get your ppm up. thats a little low for how far along your plant is. you should be around 500-600ppm at this point i believe. i do res change every 2 weeks.

If it were me, the first thing I would do is ignore post number 48, as it is full of misinformation. Hell, if we had to live with 25% humidity for long periods of time, we would all have dandruff, scaly skin, brittle hair and nails, etc.... Anywhere from 50-70% is healthy. In flowering, I'd like to see 50 or lower. 25% is EXTREME. I wouldn't put my plants through that, because it will increase the plant's transpiration rate (the rate at which a plant loses moisture to the surrounding air) which will shock the plants. 25% is too low to form proper buds as well. The transpiration rate will be high and the plants would self preserve before putting on buds. It is good to create an arid environment AFTER your buds are fully developed, because that will trigger the plant to produce more resin.

Now that we have dismissed some bad advice, let's take a look at your problem Raylan. I don't like the idea of daily reservoir changes. Also make sure that when you do change a reservoir or add water, that the water be at the same temp as the grow room. Storing jugs of water in a garage in the winter and bringing them in an hour before using them is a BAD idea .

That being said, I would focus on stabilizing my reservoir. Your plant is about what, 4 weeks along, maybe 5? She is at that stage where she wants to take off, but like a car on the side of the road, she is outta gas. A plant of that age should be at least at 500 ppm, if not higher. With such a low ppm, you are playing havoc trying to stabilize PH as well. Stop changing water for now. Get your ppm level up to 500 and don't adjust PH until you have given the nutrients a chance to buffer the PH. Wait at least 2 hours.

I believe that the mottling of your leaves is caused by a phosphorous deficiency. I'll go back and read the journal from the start to see what you are using for food, but if I don't edit this or add to it, get that ppm up and ph down to 5.5 or abouts. I prefer 5.8

Raylan said:

I'm aware of that DevilSpawn, thanks though. I wasn't planning on simply adding nutrients because she's growing, I had a case of nute burn when she was very young, so I'm cautious to mess up something that's working good. I was only planning on bumping it up from 100 to 150 an see how she takes it. I was trying to follow ScottyBalls grow journal, and by day 10 he was already at 300ppm and the PE was taking it fine. I'm on Day 16 now and only at 100, and I know every grow is different, but I think she'll be fine. Pics in a bit.

Click to expand...

Your ppm level is too low. 100-150 is brand new seedling strength. Those plants need food. You might want to go back to Scotty's thread and read our discussion of how to read a plant and tell if she is asking for more food or not by utilizing our PPM meters everyday. I also discuss it thoroughly in my thread that you are in.

Here is my advice to you Raylan.... think about what you are doing. I know nute burn scares ya, it concerns all of us, however you have to let that past incident go and stay focused on the end result. If taking the plants to 500 in one step seems extreme to you, then let's do it in two steps. Today, asap, bring it to 300 ppm with a full top off of water. Tomorrow morning, get a ppm reading. if your ppms drop ( I suspect it will), adjust the ppms up to 500. The next morning, do the same, making adjustments of 150-200 ppm each step. After a couple of days, you'll see where the plant wants to be and just keep it there, and keep monitoring for changes. Usually once you find that sweet spot, you won't have to adjust PH; the plant will keep the PH where it wants it. But as usual, monitor daily.

I hope you find this info helpful Raylan, if not, please let me know asap.

hope thigns pull thro for you

Thank you for correcting me. Ive really never heard of people pushing their humidity up that high. Ive always heard to keep it lower than 50 % or your risking bud rot. what humidity level would you recommend? My plants seem perfectly fine with the humidity there, so idk about the transpiration problems. If you have a good recommendation i will definately change my ways.

Thanks Serapis, that's why I bothered to come ask you for advice, because you take the time to give a full explanation of what could be going on.
As far as the humidity goes, I was 99% sure that was a small part of the problem, so I went and go ta humidifier. The humidity hovers around 45%, which isn't what I'd love to see, but it's better than what I had going for now. And to address the PPM situation; She is currently on day 20 or 21 which would be week 3. After reading a few more forum posts last night I decided that bumping the ppm up was worth a shot, and I adjusted it to 300ppm before going to bed. It's been about 9 hours since changing and I'm going to check her PPM count when I get back from taking my stepbro to work. I did thoroughly read the PPM situation, it just makes it a little hard to tell when its going up/down due to the fact that my hydroton causes slight PPM increases it seems. I'm not really nervous about adjusting the PPMs, it just seemed like she was doing fine for the time being at 100 so as I said I didn't want to mess up what I thought was a good thing. Obviously somethings not as good as I'd hoped, so now its time to make adjustments. When I get home I'll post more pictures, as well as an update on how the PPMs played out. Thanks again for all the help guys.

And as for the res changes/water temps...I've only been changing the res daily to try and dial in what the culprit was. And I store my DI water in the grow tent so it is the same temperature as my growing environment. I didn't want to risk shocking the plants/root with colder water than they are used to.

Hope you get this sorted mate, im just gutted i cant help you out im still new to growin my self and im not hydro , but serapis advise sounds good bro
Good luck

peace

You could try postin whats happnin on this thread for some more help bro
Marijuana Plant Problems and Cures

Okay, so last night I adjusted the PPM to 350 before going to bed. When I woke up and finally got around to checking it this morning (10 hours later), the ppm has raised to 370 and the water level has dropped very slightly. This would indicate that shes taking in more water than nutrients, correct? Which means that I don't need to bump the nutrients up anymore for the time being? That's what I get from the readings.
Perhaps I could just leave her alone at this nutrient level, and simply add adjusted water until the PPM reaches 350? No time for pictures, but as far as how she looks the problem hasn't really spread anymore, and she seems to still be growing (a little slower than before). I was hoping for a PPM drop and a noticeable improvement in her damaged leaves, but I guess it takes time.

Day 22 -
The PPM was at 370 around 4pm today. I checked it at around 1am and it was down to 350. Just checked it a few minutes ago (at 5:40) and its down to 320. So between last night and now it has gone up slightly, and now started to drop. I guess I'll just check her in the morning and if it's dropped again I'll top off the res and bump the ppm up 400-450. Here area few pictures. Hopefully all the new growth will stay healthy. Fingers crossed. :/