hempaholic
Member
This is my first time growing and I'm having trouble getting things stable.
I got a lot of bad advice in the beginning, but I'm learning. The 'indoor bible' has offered little practical help, though I've read the whole thing. I know I've made some really stupid mistakes, and I still don't have things under control. Please read my story and answer the questions at the bottom if you can.
My garden is 3 weeks old. They were clones that were no more than a week old before that. I'm growing in soil, in a 4x4 tent. For the first week, I didn't have accurate ph readings and the bigger leaves turned yellow. New leaves were half yellow, and all of them curled down/were limp. there was also browning at the tips.
I also started nutes (kelp, guano) right away, following the advice of the folks at the hydro shop.
Once they got to that yellowing/limp state, I got an accurate ph meter, flushed them with neutral water and let them sit for a few days. I had my lamp running at 50% at a distance of 18 inches.
They got better and began growing and standing up.
At the next watering, I flushed them a little more with plain water and then gave them a little of a mixture of water, kelp, and 'tea' and a bit of guano to the top of the soil.
They started to brown at the tips but were still standing up.
At the next watering I flushed them again and followed that with just neutral water/kelp mixture.
They are still browning at the tips and the bigger leaves are drying out. They aren't growing well either.
On top of all that, I am having trouble with my lamp. It is a 600 watt HPS ballast that can operate at 50%, 75%, and 100%. So far I have only been able to run it at 50% with is 18 inches away from the top plant. I have tried to raise is up to 26 inches and run it at both 75% and 100% but the leaves go limp and the browning increases when I do.
But running it at the low power, keeps the temp down too low, and doesn't create enough heat to evaporate the water in the soil.
Attached are some pictures of the most burnt leaves. Also, contrary to the pictures, the color of most of the leaves are a light, almost phosphorescent green. They aren't dark and healthy, but look low in chlorophyll to me.
So here are my questions: Obviously, I have stressed these plants, with bad ph, nute burn, heat burn, and now maybe over watering.
1. What kind of burn do the attached pictures show?
2. What do I do at this point?
The soil is still pretty wet. I want to flush, but I don't want to over water. But if its' nute burn, I want to get the soil clean asap.
3. At what distance should my light be and at what strength of operation? Just a ballpark. I think I should be able to run it at full strength but the plants keep saying 'no!!'
4. If I stop giving them nutes, when do I begin again, and with what? I have guano, kelp, and cns something or other.
5. I have been spraying every 3 days with a mixture of water and lemon juice for mites. And with an organic fungicide, once a week. Could these be contributing to my problems? Despite the spraying I have found leave rot on the more dead and yellow leaves. If these are not the best things for these two problems, what should I be using and how often?
Thanks for any help. This is much trickier than I thought it would be.
I got a lot of bad advice in the beginning, but I'm learning. The 'indoor bible' has offered little practical help, though I've read the whole thing. I know I've made some really stupid mistakes, and I still don't have things under control. Please read my story and answer the questions at the bottom if you can.
My garden is 3 weeks old. They were clones that were no more than a week old before that. I'm growing in soil, in a 4x4 tent. For the first week, I didn't have accurate ph readings and the bigger leaves turned yellow. New leaves were half yellow, and all of them curled down/were limp. there was also browning at the tips.
I also started nutes (kelp, guano) right away, following the advice of the folks at the hydro shop.
Once they got to that yellowing/limp state, I got an accurate ph meter, flushed them with neutral water and let them sit for a few days. I had my lamp running at 50% at a distance of 18 inches.
They got better and began growing and standing up.
At the next watering, I flushed them a little more with plain water and then gave them a little of a mixture of water, kelp, and 'tea' and a bit of guano to the top of the soil.
They started to brown at the tips but were still standing up.
At the next watering I flushed them again and followed that with just neutral water/kelp mixture.
They are still browning at the tips and the bigger leaves are drying out. They aren't growing well either.
On top of all that, I am having trouble with my lamp. It is a 600 watt HPS ballast that can operate at 50%, 75%, and 100%. So far I have only been able to run it at 50% with is 18 inches away from the top plant. I have tried to raise is up to 26 inches and run it at both 75% and 100% but the leaves go limp and the browning increases when I do.
But running it at the low power, keeps the temp down too low, and doesn't create enough heat to evaporate the water in the soil.
Attached are some pictures of the most burnt leaves. Also, contrary to the pictures, the color of most of the leaves are a light, almost phosphorescent green. They aren't dark and healthy, but look low in chlorophyll to me.
So here are my questions: Obviously, I have stressed these plants, with bad ph, nute burn, heat burn, and now maybe over watering.
1. What kind of burn do the attached pictures show?
2. What do I do at this point?
The soil is still pretty wet. I want to flush, but I don't want to over water. But if its' nute burn, I want to get the soil clean asap.
3. At what distance should my light be and at what strength of operation? Just a ballpark. I think I should be able to run it at full strength but the plants keep saying 'no!!'
4. If I stop giving them nutes, when do I begin again, and with what? I have guano, kelp, and cns something or other.
5. I have been spraying every 3 days with a mixture of water and lemon juice for mites. And with an organic fungicide, once a week. Could these be contributing to my problems? Despite the spraying I have found leave rot on the more dead and yellow leaves. If these are not the best things for these two problems, what should I be using and how often?
Thanks for any help. This is much trickier than I thought it would be.
