Leaves shriveling up and dying, slow to show signs of flowering.

Okay so this is my first indoor grow, so I may be over-alarmed at the fact that i'm 7 days into 12/12 with no discernible signs of bud growth outside of the singular calyx/pistol set at each node that's been there since they got accustomed to their new home (bought clones, I'm a medical patient). I know, however, that I'm not being over-alarmed about finding three or four dead, shriveled up and dry leaves every time I go in there!

So here's my story. I'm growing 25 GDP clones hydroponically in hydroton at 15min on/15 off as the first part of a perpetual harvest set up. I brought them in three weeks ago and put them into a 4x4 under a 400w MH and in the third week under it their growth slowed and they started showing these dead leaves. I've noticed purpling on the 'corpses' and on leaves that would soon BE corpses that's indicative of phosphorus deficiency, but I'm not sure because there's NO red in any of the petioles or veins and telltale purpling that you get right near the petiole on the leaves in phosphorus def's isn't really widespread... At any rate I HAVE rebuilt my solution according to GH's expert schedule for blooming plants, thinking that the veg and their balanced 'transition' formula might be the culprit. I have also been keeping the solution between 5.5 and 6.2 instead of 6.5 hoping to make phosphorus more available.

For more information I use GH full "expert" schedule (Flora series base, Diamond Nectar, FloraNectar, FloraBlend, Floralicious, rapidstart) as well as CaliMagic to adjust for reverse osmosis, Hygrozyme and SuperThrive.

In the attatched photo's the two shriveled guys are obvious but one of them appears healthy, however you'll notice that the smallest bit near the petiole is starting to twist; I'll find that leaf totally shriveled and crispy when I go to check my Ph before lights out.

Thanks in advance for any help

Im not sure that your using the plant terms correctly... but whatever.... First off... you should NEVER be at 6.5 when growing in Hydroton. Thats way too high. Try to keep as close to 5.8 as possible. Dont try and get fancy by adjusting your PH to make certain nutrients more available. The more PH up and PH down that you add into your nutrients mix, the more you increase your chances of causing lock out. Your PH is Phosphoric Acid (most likely), so your really just adding another form of Phosphorus. And its usually SUPER concentrated. Once your Phosphorus levels get too high, you start to lock out the smaller trace nutrients. So dont play with the PH. Adjust it only if you have to. And this is only my opinion, but 6.2 is too high in my opinion. I see the beginning of nutrient deficiencies once I get to 6.1. So I try and stay between 5.6 - 5.9 . Once it gets to 5.5 or 6.0, I adjust it back to 5.8. So keep your PH in check and see how things go.

Elite Nugz said:

Im not sure that your using the plant terms correctly... but whatever.... First off... you should NEVER be at 6.5 when growing in Hydroton. Thats way too high. Try to keep as close to 5.8 as possible. Dont try and get fancy by adjusting your PH to make certain nutrients more available. The more PH up and PH down that you add into your nutrients mix, the more you increase your chances of causing lock out. Your PH is Phosphoric Acid (most likely), so your really just adding another form of Phosphorus. And its usually SUPER concentrated. Once your Phosphorus levels get too high, you start to lock out the smaller trace nutrients. So dont play with the PH. Adjust it only if you have to. And this is only my opinion, but 6.2 is too high in my opinion. I see the beginning of nutrient deficiencies once I get to 6.1. So I try and stay between 5.6 - 5.9 . Once it gets to 5.5 or 6.0, I adjust it back to 5.8. So keep your PH in check and see how things go.

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I'll definitely do that. Thanks for the sound advice. I'd heard that 5.8-6.2 was optimal What term do I seem to be using incorrectly?

And for the record, I wasn't trying to be fancy with the ph, I've heard before that excessive amounts of up or down can cause issues so I've always only added down at 6.5, up at 5.5. What I meant in the OP was that I used 6.3 as a threshold for adding down instead of 6.5.

dmbdutch said:

I'll definitely do that. Thanks for the sound advice. I'd heard that 5.8-6.2 was optimal What term do I seem to be using incorrectly?

And for the record, I wasn't trying to be fancy with the ph, I've heard before that excessive amounts of up or down can cause issues so I've always only added down at 6.5, up at 5.5. What I meant in the OP was that I used 6.3 as a threshold for adding down instead of 6.5.

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Sounds like you've been doing a lot of reading. Keep it up. Also... take my advice and keep your PH at 5.8. I've been growing in Hydroton for a very long time my friend. I wont grow in anything else either. I love this stuff... and I know that 5.8 is the sweet spot. But you can also find strains that like it more or less acidic. So its really more strain specific, then anything else. But speaking in general, I would say 5.8 is where you want to be. When I get over 6, I see the very beginning stages of deficiency developing.



Look how flat and silky smooth I have my leaves. If my ph starts to get over 6, my leaves start to get a little wrinkly. If you want 100% health in hydroton, 5.8 is where you want to be. See... I even get buds growing in the middle of my fan leaves. This is what I get when I have a plant completely dialed in.

Elite Nugz said:

. If you want 100% health in hydroton, 5.8 is where you want to be. See... I even get buds growing in the middle of my fan leaves. This is what I get when I have a plant completely dialed in.

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That's sexy lookin lol. I'd love to keep it bang on at 5.8 but it's always creeping up the first few days of a new batch of solution, guess I'll just have to stay on top of it.

Elite Nugz said:

Look how flat and silky smooth I have my leaves.

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That LA Confidential? How'd you get her so purple btw?

dmbdutch said:

I know, however, that I'm not being over-alarmed about finding three or four dead, shriveled up and dry leaves every time I go in there!

Thanks in advance for any help

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I would be, I would be very alarmed. Thats said I am a soil person, so it might be " Normal" in Hydro, but its a " Alarm" is soil

anyone using Canna nutes.. what do u keep soil or soiless mixtures ph.. and say ur using canna coco ... and soil.. is there a ph that u can use for waternig both coco and soil? or do u gotta water seperatly at diff phs?

Elite Nugz said:

Im not sure that your using the plant terms correctly... but whatever.... First off... you should NEVER be at 6.5 when growing in Hydroton. Thats way too high. Try to keep as close to 5.8 as possible. Dont try and get fancy by adjusting your PH to make certain nutrients more available. The more PH up and PH down that you add into your nutrients mix, the more you increase your chances of causing lock out. Your PH is Phosphoric Acid (most likely), so your really just adding another form of Phosphorus. And its usually SUPER concentrated. Once your Phosphorus levels get too high, you start to lock out the smaller trace nutrients. So dont play with the PH. Adjust it only if you have to. And this is only my opinion, but 6.2 is too high in my opinion. I see the beginning of nutrient deficiencies once I get to 6.1. So I try and stay between 5.6 - 5.9 . Once it gets to 5.5 or 6.0, I adjust it back to 5.8. So keep your PH in check and see how things go.

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Solid advice..

LIVE2GRO said:

anyone using Canna nutes.. what do u keep soil or soiless mixtures ph.. and say ur using canna coco ... and soil.. is there a ph that u can use for waternig both coco and soil? or do u gotta water seperatly at diff phs?

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You would have to water separately with Canna Coco @ 5.8 and then your Soil PH at whatever you do... Coco is just part of passive hydroponics.