Rdwc, roots crushing it, but stunted vegetation. End of 2nd wk veg.

Normally don't need to come here looking for answers but this has been an ongoing thing with the last four rounds I've put into my system. So I've lost a fair amount of time and money on this. Basically I transplant into the system, make sure water level is good and hand water the rocks until the roots are well enough developed for me to stop. The roots take off and are crushing it, but when I get into the 2nd and 3rd wk of veg (where I usually see massive vegetative growth) the plants do no more stretching and vegative growth stops. Some of the fan leaves start curling down. No signs of deficiency (in terms of color or burning). Also, they eventually start showing pistils. I had an issue with humidity being too low and since then I've thrown away a round and introduced a new round with humidifier added. Same problem. So I don't think it's an issue with my humidity. I even had some AO in the same system last year around this time with low humidity and had no problems. Basically all the essentials have been on point.
Temperature: 70-84
Humidity: 40-60
EC: .6
Water temps: 64-70

Anyone have an issue that sounds similar? Wondering if some of my nutes are bad?
I run house and garden aqua flakes a&b, drip clean, botanicare cal mag, pure nutrients ROOTS, cutting edge solutions Silica bulletproof, and hydro guard in veg.

I've done a fair amount of reading up on this and a lot sounds like an issue with humidity, but again that issue has been corrected and I'm still seeing this go on. I want to say that this started happening after I got my big jugs (5L) of aqua A&B, but can't really remember as it was back in the summer, maybe end of July early aug.
Any and all help or suggestions are very much appreciated.

What's you watts?

12-1000w I've used for the last two rounds (~6mo's). I have them on a 12 light controller where I have 6 on half the light cycle, then the other 6 on the second half of light cycle. If its cold enough outside ill run all of them on at same time. 18/6 by the way.

Also, they're 2-3' above the tops.

i doubt RH is problem. i'm at high elevation in CO and my humidity is always pretty low.

ever thought of trying 24/0 for veg? it works well for me and cuts down on veg time.

Do you still flip at end of wk 3? I've thought of it, but I honestly think they benefit from a little lights out. I'm usually good to flip at end of wk 3 without the little bit higher bill. Now if you flip at end of wk 2 and ur still getting at least a bow per 1k, let me know. But if ur plants are as tall as mine after 3 wks, I'd see no benefit. I'll try it out on another project and make a comparison.

i'd rather have shorter plants with tighter node spacing which is why i do 24/0.
if the lights aren't on, the plants aren't photosynthesizing. 18/6 is 42 hours a week they aren't growing.
just my preference.

I like them stretching a bit since I have 12 plants taking up a 10x16. Three rows of four with a 1k watt above each one. Could use a little more spacing between nodes.
Will def try 24/0 on my new 6 site I'm planning to build.

give it a shot. see what you think.

Anybody else? With all the success I've had in the past I can only think that my problem is with some nutes that may be bad. Perhaps they were stored in an area too warm and are causing a lockout? But there is no discoloration. Just hardcore stuntin'. They're like 6-8" tall. None of the branches are stretching to the top. Leafs curling down with no burn and showing pistils like they're trying to flower.

A few pics of my problem. Branches aren't shooting up like they normally would at 2.5 wks and are showing pistils.

Never pic when HPS is in use. Noone can see. Need white light. But,... Looks pretty green to me, I bet your roots are brown too. Over feeding...

Agree on the hps but he said .6ec so i doubt over feeding.

Got a pic of those roots?

Roots are good. Thinking more. I've had the same bulbs in for maybe a year, not in constant use, but easily 2 cycles. Don't really think that's my problem. Some of my nutrients did get too warm at some point just don't remember which ones and didn't throw them out and im not sure if this happened before or after I started noticing this problem. Thinking more about that, my GH run ended fine and i used the same nutes. Read something somewhere briefly about too much beneficial fungi may stall veg growth???? Definitely spray the root zone once with great white at/or just a hair above the recommended dosage for hydro.

skitownsnucka said:

Roots are good. Thinking more. I've had the same bulbs in for maybe a year, not in constant use, but easily 2 cycles. Don't really think that's my problem. Some of my nutrients did get too warm at some point just don't remember which ones and didn't throw them out and im not sure if this happened before or after I started noticing this problem. Thinking more about that, my GH run ended fine and i used the same nutes. Read something somewhere briefly about too much beneficial fungi may stall veg growth???? Definitely spray the root zone once with great white at/or just a hair above the recommended dosage for hydro.

Click to expand...

Totally looks like a root rot problem in those HPS lights, or a lack of uptake. Weird. Definitely need to take a new picture in better lighting.

I truely doubt it's the lights. Somethings happening and we're just not seeing it. Plants look sick, not lack of PAR.

What's your pH?

Check battery on your EC meter?
Is air pump burning out or lack of O2 in the water?
Check battery on pH meter?
Friend or roommate messing with your garden?
Bugs?

And lastly, where did you get the plants (faulty genetics)?

New pic, with better lights might help diagnosis.

Absolutely not a root rot problem, they're gorgeous.

If I ran my RDWC at EC 0.6, every one of MY plants would die of starvation; even my early veg runs EC 1.4 in ebb n flood and EC1.4-1.6 in RDWC. I flower starting at similar strength and peak at EC 2.0.

Veg pH 5.4-5.8, bloom pH 5.9-6.5

The roots are fine, the feed could be increased.

I still think it's maybe humidity or room temperature, that's what it looks like.

ttystikk said:

Absolutely not a root rot problem, they're gorgeous.

If I ran my RDWC at EC 0.6, every one of MY plants would die of starvation; even my early veg runs EC 1.4 in ebb n flood and EC1.4-1.6 in RDWC. I flower starting at similar strength and peak at EC 2.0.

Veg pH 5.4-5.8, bloom pH 5.9-6.5

Click to expand...

I see that and they are, but the upper growth's symptoms are. It's just weird as hell

Checked for bugs and no bugs. Ph whole time has been anywhere between 5.8-6.3 which is always where I've kept it n the past with no problems. Ph and ec meter both seem to be working fine. Thinking maybe some bad cal mag causing lockout. maybe bad drip clean not doing its job. Maybe bad silica. Potentially could be magic green I sprayed on them ~4days after transplant (at the lower recommended dosage). Not faulty DNA, this is the fourth time in a row with this. Took cuts from one buddy, then another differ buddy, and one more. I use RO well water that comes at 0 after RO. Everytime this has happened it does the same thing:roots start crushing it, veg growth stunts, leafs curl down, then shoots pistils.This issue is really cramping my sides. Really appreciate all your input. I'll take pics of the veg growth later under some white light.

Just from that, is probably the spray, but new pics in non-HPS light would, again, help diagnosis.

Changes in how they look, in the last 24hours?