leaves curling? is thia from overfeeding?

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
Hey guys. If you want pics of my plants skip to the bottom. For the intelligent ones who plan on actually helping me, here's some back ground: So I was having really slow growth with my old setup. 400w metal halide (hung vertically BC I started with a diy hood that I quit using BC I don't think it was reflecting well) in a long skinny closet with shelves i made that stadium seat the plants, more or less. I had cold air coming from an air conditioner blowing down on the light, and kept the door open with a fan blowing in the space.

Temps stayed around 75-77° F and RH at around 40-50%
Ffof soil + perlite in smart pots
Roots organics master 5 mil feeding schedule
Watered every 3-5 days, feed, feed, water.
I had slowed down on my nutes BC I was noticing a little tip burn and slight burn on some of the bigger fan leaves.
View attachment 2763598View attachment 2763599

Some of the plants (directly under the light) were only 3-4 inches from the light, but some were like 18" away and so I thought that might've had something to do with my growth being slow.

Soooo I decided to quit fucking around and bought a galaxy sun select ballast (runs 400, 600, and 1000w bulbs, or can dim any bulb, plus has a "turbo" setting for 1100w) and a digimax 1000w bulb. I have it hooked up to a $200 magnum xxxl hood being cooled by an exhaust vent hooked to a 435 cfm inline hurricane fan. I put all this sweet hardware inside of a 2' x 4' tent (actually like 58x 35 inches or something so its a decent size).

I have the air conditioner hooked up to one of the lower vents for intake, and have one side of my hood exposed and the other hooked to my inline fan so it pulls all the air in my tent through the hood.

View attachment 2763607View attachment 2763612View attachment 2763615

So anyways, before I switched to the new setup I was noticing that some of my plants closer to the light were starting to have the top leaves curl towards the last few hours of my light period. I would check again in the morning and they would be straight up and look fine, but 14 hours later they would start curling again.

So I've been running my new setup for two days. Yesterday they were under the metal halide the first half of the day, and then I put them under my new hps and have been running at 600 watts. Today was its first full day under the lights, and the first time I watered in like 5 days. It was also the first full strength feeding I've given them in over a week and a half (probably 4 waters ago)

IMG_20130804_214921.jpgIMG_20130804_214928.jpg Even the Bubba kush is curling, and he NEVER has problems. Its the first time that he hasn't looked perfect:
IMG_20130804_214935.jpg

So I'm not sure if I let them dry too much and then watered and it kind of shocked them or what. The leaves dont have that soft, cool healthy feeling when they start to curl. I have been on the roots organics 5 mil program for about 3 weeks but a little over a week ago I was seeing burn so i flushed and slowed down the concentration.

Thanks a bunch for hangin in there guys, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction on this one. What does this look like, humidity problem? Temperature? Over fed? My nutrients are organic and don't act as fast as most advanced nutrients, so its hard to tell. Could it just be from transitioning to the GPS from the metal halide? Probably not, BC it was doing this a little at night before with the metal halide. Like I said, it only does it towards the end of the photoperiod.
 

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
I have got to start making my OP shorter. I think people start reading my shit and are too high to keep paying attention, lol.

Anyways, so I'm learning more about the plants "internal water pressure system" and salts, and how even soil with plenty of water can have a dry plant if there is a salt build up.

That makes sense, I know that the human body moves water by moving salts. If there is too much salt outside of the root membrane then osmosis can pull moisture from a plant even in moist soil.

I'm also finding heat and too much light are likely culprits. I might try raising my hood. My temperatures are a little higher in my new setup which would make sense why it is curling more now then it was previously, and only at the end of the light photo period.

As for over fertilization... Definitely a possibility, seeing as how I'm running the full master pack in ffof soil. But I gave them a few weeks in the soil and have been feeding for about 3 weeks now without having many problems. My nutrients might be causing a slight salt build up (they're organic but I'm sure its possible), which is probably compounding with my heat and causing the leaves to curl this badly. I'm about to go check them out and see if they are curled. I would think if it was caused by nutrients then they would consistently curl downward, so maybe heat or the shock from the newer, brighter light is my problem.

Feel free to chime in if you have any ideas....

**creeeek creeeek (cricket chirp)**
 

dankxherb

Member
over watering or lockout by salts not over ferilizinf by nutes or you would see burn or deficiency let them babies get good n dry before u water em again
 

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
I waited 6 days before I watered them. I watered 8 cups in 3 gallon smart pots (they dry really well). I also have an inch of perlite at the bottom of each pot to make sure it drains well. Its definitely not over watering, that's one culprit I mastered early BC it was the first mistake I was consistently making.

But yeah, first time it was watered in 5 or 6 days and a couple hours later they're doing this.
 

ricky1lung

Well-Known Member
They are adjusting to the new spectrum.

I had the exact same thing happen when I went from MH to HPS, it took a few days
for them to perk back up.
 

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
Awesome man, thanks a ton. I'm gonna keep an eye on the nutrients and possibly add a humidifier BC the air conditioner is really drying it out.

I do think I have something else going on BC it was doing it before the switch but they weren't ever this bad until after. Thanks again.
 
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