HELP - first time grower needs help!

P

phernando

Active Member
This is my first grow and I have the following set up:

DR60 24"x24"x55"
x2 T5 24" 2 bulb (one cool and warm bulb in each)
temp: 76-80 degrees
Air King 6" clip-on air curculator (model 6C507D/9145D)
rockwool cubes sit in a propogation tray, no dome

My question is about healthy root growth. I noticed that the roots coming out of the bottom of my rockwool cubes are brown at the tip of the root. Is this because the rockwool cubes are too wet or because there is not enough air getting to the roots? Any advice?

I read through Al B Fucts threads for answers and got great info there but nothing about brown root tips.

I began these plants from some bag seed. I germinated in a mug of distilled water covered with a saucer. Once the seeds cracked and root tip emerged, I placed into 1" rockwool cubes. I prepared my rockwool with a solution of 4 liters of tap water and 6 ml of Thrive Alive Red. I used a 1/2 strength solution as aposed to the recommended full strength. I followed up by adjusting PH to 5.5-5.6. I dropped my RW cubes in and let them sink to the bottom. I then pulled them out and squeezed out a portion of the water in each of the cubes and placed my seeds in them. The cubes then went into a dark warm place until signs of life appeared. At that point i introduced them to light, 20/4. The seedlings eventually showed roots poking out the bottoms of the 1" cubes, so i transferred them to 4" cubes. I prepared the 4" cubes the same way I did the 1" cubes. All seems to be going great except for the brown root tips on one of my seedlings. the leaves on this seedling also seem to be drooping. This is concerning me because I had a seedling just fall over and die about 8 hours after I noticed a brown root tip on it. That seedling was about 4 days old. When I feel that the RW cubes are dry I have been spraying them with the half strength solution that I used to soak my RW cubes in. I only spray the RW until it feels damp. Should I only be using ph adjusted tap water at this point? How often should I water my cubes?
 

Attachments

N

netpirate

New Member
Looks too early to tell. Just take care of them and give them proper PH'ed water and plenty of MH or 6500k lighting.
 
P

phernando

Active Member
thanks for the feedback. i think im going to stop watering the cubes and see what happens. the next time i think the cubes need watering, i'm going to feed them with ph adjusted water, taking care not to over water. thats all i can think of. temps seem to be ok.

i also thought it might have to do with airflow in the tent. i have a 6", 2 speed, clip-on fan(it looks like a desk fan) in my tent which i bought to use on the seedlings. can i manage to utilize this fan to ventilate my tent or should i dedicate it to the seedlings?
According to the instructions for the fan the CFM on high is 190 and on low is 90.
 
N

netpirate

New Member
you can use it for your tent, but as soon as the plants get bigger, you will want to start looking into a bigger fan. Plus, the rockwool is a huge water retainer so dont water so much. When the plants need more water just mist on top.
 
O

Old in the Way

Well-Known Member
phernando said:
This is my first grow and I have the following set up:

DR60 24"x24"x55"
x2 T5 24" 2 bulb (one cool and warm bulb in each)
temp: 76-80 degrees
Air King 6" clip-on air curculator (model 6C507D/9145D)
rockwool cubes sit in a propogation tray, no dome

My question is about healthy root growth. I noticed that the roots coming out of the bottom of my rockwool cubes are brown at the tip of the root. Is this because the rockwool cubes are too wet or because there is not enough air getting to the roots? Any advice?

I read through Al B Fucts threads for answers and got great info there but nothing about brown root tips.

I began these plants from some bag seed. I germinated in a mug of distilled water covered with a saucer. Once the seeds cracked and root tip emerged, I placed into 1" rockwool cubes. I prepared my rockwool with a solution of 4 liters of tap water and 6 ml of Thrive Alive Red. I used a 1/2 strength solution as aposed to the recommended full strength. I followed up by adjusting PH to 5.5-5.6. I dropped my RW cubes in and let them sink to the bottom. I then pulled them out and squeezed out a portion of the water in each of the cubes and placed my seeds in them. The cubes then went into a dark warm place until signs of life appeared. At that point i introduced them to light, 20/4. The seedlings eventually showed roots poking out the bottoms of the 1" cubes, so i transferred them to 4" cubes. I prepared the 4" cubes the same way I did the 1" cubes. All seems to be going great except for the brown root tips on one of my seedlings. the leaves on this seedling also seem to be drooping. This is concerning me because I had a seedling just fall over and die about 8 hours after I noticed a brown root tip on it. That seedling was about 4 days old. When I feel that the RW cubes are dry I have been spraying them with the half strength solution that I used to soak my RW cubes in. I only spray the RW until it feels damp. Should I only be using ph adjusted tap water at this point? How often should I water my cubes?
Click to expand...
Lets start by addressing a couple things....

1.No worries on the roots....the little brown tips is just the air/light pruning occuring naturally as they are exposed to, well....air and light.....this is probably being exaccerbated by overwatering--and IMO you probably need to ratchet that back a little (sudden death of seedlings, drooping leaaves, sqeezing rockwool cubes to remove excess water, tisk, tisk, tisk). Same thing happens to the root tips on my freshly rooted clones if they are exposed for a couple of days and I am getting lazy with the amount of water I am giving them.

The large rockwool cubes don't need watering very often........for seedlings as little as once every couple days is ok if you are watering heavily or too much each time......small amounts of water applied more frequently will be more forgiving while you get the hang of the rockwool.

:peace:
 
P

phernando

Active Member
thanks guys for your responses. I will water less and hope that makes a difference. keep checking back for more updates.
 
P

phernando

Active Member
Its been about a week since my last post. my plants are looking good except for one. there are brown spots on the leaves of one plant. since my last post i have been watering them for 2 minutes, 3 times a day, on a drip system. the drippers are 2gal/per. prior to having my plants on the drip system, i was watering them by hand, soaking the bottom half of the 4" cubes in ph adjsuted water of 5.5-5.8 for 1-2 seconds.

i have been using the technaflora recipe for success.
http://www.technaflora.com/sharedfiles/USA3RFS2008.pdf
this was a starter kit of nutrients for around $30

so far, i have only used the nutrients described in the cutting stage and the seedling and transplanting stage. I am currently using a 1/2 strength solution of Root 66 and Sugar Daddy in my drip system, 2mins, 3x a day.

Am i still over watering? Is this nutirent burn? ph lockout? i need some advice please. i first noticed this when black spots started showing up on the leaves about a week ago. those spots have now turned into the brown spots.

Can someone tell me what the problem is? How do i correct this?
 

Attachments

N

netpirate

New Member
just look at the 3 numbers from the nutes bottle. ie: 10-22-22...

The browning leaves could be a nute deficiency of some sort. What nutes are you using?
 
P

phernando

Active Member
i have been using the technaflora recipe for success.
http://www.technaflora.com/sharedfiles/USA3RFS2008.pdf
this was a starter kit of nutrients for around $30


i currently have a solution of the following products at 1/2 strength solution as described under the seedling and transplanting stage:

Sugar daddy - magnesium(mg).............1.6%
Sulfer(S)......................1.75%

Root 66 - N......1%
P......1%
K......1%


i have a 5 gal res and used 25ml of each in my tap water. i ph adjusted to 5.6
 
N

netpirate

New Member
well im not familiar with that recipe, but when it comes to making receipts, some plants like it and some dont. Use what works right! 25ml seems too much for the tub size. Are the roots in water yet?
 
P

phernando

Active Member
my roots are coming out of the bottom of the rockwool cubes but i dont let them sit in water.

the soution that i have in my res is 25ml of the sugar daddy and 25ml of root 66 in 5 gal of tap water.


the full strength solution calls for 10ml of both sugar daddy and root 66 into 1 gallon of water.
 
N

netpirate

New Member
Still seems like a lot for roots that havent been properly established in the water yet. Since they just came out of the rockwool , i can assume that the growth is going fairly slow no doubt to the nutes and feeding schedule. You sould go out and get you some better vegging nutes. High (N) low (P,K) for vegg. Cut back on the nutes until you see the roots hitting the water, then go to that strength.
 
P

phernando

Active Member
i didnt know that my roots were supposed to sit in water. if my rockwool cubes sit in direct contact with water, wont they always stay saturated? i thought that was bad for my plants. i have been trying to follow the process described in the mr green video. check it out.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=646579098652323139&q=mr+green+i+grow+chronic

he gives his plants nutrients just after they sprout at a weak strength. his rockwool cubes are never sitting in water. what am i doing wrong here?
 
N

netpirate

New Member
You are correct! Rockwool should NEVER sit in water. But as the roots grow, they submerge in the water in the tub. So when you have the roots in the water, its safe to feed them.
These are my roost a few weeks ago. They are nice and healthy with a brownish tint due to the ff big bloom nutes. But do you see what i am talking about.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top