Should I start again?

Hello all you clever, generous with your time, plant fixer people!

Please tolerate my stupidity. I am growing some autoflowers and have lovingly provided them with nutrient lockout for 3 weeks!

Technical stuff: I have 3 x homemade 10L (20L black buckets with lids) R-DWC systems. All air and water temps and humidity are great. I have 3 strains; Think Different, Blueberry x NL and Automazar. Each with different flowering times. I was going to Scrog them (and go long into flower) but they look like they'll never reach 12"! I have a 300W LED and intend on having another 2 x 300W LED soon. The tent is 2' x 4' small, but a manageable environment. Doing this in ridiculously oversized 8" net pots, with Root Riot cubes in the middle of clay balls (Hydroton).

What happened is I replaced my pH litmus fluid test kit (which was pretty useless; 4 different shades of yellow covering a 5 pH range!) for a cheap pH pen from Ebay/China. What I neglected to do was calibrate it upon it's arrival. I just ass-umed that it would be factory set and good for a few weeks. WRONG. When I acquired some buffer 7 a few weeks later, I realised it was 0.9 out, and that my plants had been trying to deal with a fizzing acid bath (4.9 pH) trying to beckon them down from the net pots.

Needless to say, growth has been stunted and nodes are tightly packed. This pH discovery was only yesterday, so I flushed and changed the nutes and will now wait for recovery signs. The plants had the hallmarks of N, P, K, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Zn deficiencies, in varying amounts in different plants. I have been spraying the leaves with chelated stuff called Revive (Advanced Nutrients) which has probably kept them alive. They range from 2" to 4" tall, with 4-5 nodes, and the Automazar is showing pre-flowers. I thought I was over-watering them.

What I would like to know is this;

Should I carry on and see what happens? (keep learning from this mistake option)

Are autos likely to recover from this and produce a yield worthy of the time, nutes and electricity?

Should I rip them up and start again? (I've had the Orange Juice ear-worm for hours whilst considering this, sorry if it happens to you too!)

Potentially stupid self-suggestion; If they're gonna be sh*t maybe I could transplant them all into one bucket, try my best to keep them separate and just see what happens. Thereby freeing up two R-DWC buckets to carry on properly with 2 new plants.

Need pictures? Lemme dig out my old digital camera that doesn't automatically cloud them. Never done this before so feel cautious about network-y images of my private doings.

Many thanks in advance for any and all advice received.

Love and Peace

James xoxoxo

England
(Not-so-United Kingdom)

I would certainly continue. If you changed the water you should see improvement shortly (in plant terms). These plants are amazing survivors. As long as you stop abusing them, they usually do well. Since they're so small, you might not even be able to notice in a month or two.

Ablaze said:

I would certainly continue. If you changed the water you should see improvement shortly (in plant terms). These plants are amazing survivors. As long as you stop abusing them, they usually do well. Since they're so small, you might not even be able to notice in a month or two.

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What a relieving thing to read! Thank you Ablaze

I'm currently going trough exactly the same thing my PH pen was fucked and giving the wrong reading from week 2 which resulted in PH lock out and my plants showing every deficiency going! I've lost half the leaves but they're still going. I go new pots and re planted in fresh coco and after 10 days they're starting to show recovery and some new growth....it's hard but they will recover eventually!

48 Hours into the nute change and 2 of the 3 are showing much greener new growth...

These photos were taken 24 hours apart, starting 24 hours after flush and nute change. Sorry about the lights being on an stuff, I've seen some intolerant sorts complain about this laziness on grow forums. I'm just tech ignorant, and couldn't get the flash to work in conjunction with the zoom. And I can only take so much when I'm on my *knees! (Getting old)

and 24 hours later...

*knees, the stance I must assume to work on my garden. Damn it! I wish it didn't have to be a covert-op.

That brings a smile to my face. Keep takin' it easy going forward. It looks like you have a nice set up. Best of wishes my friend.

As long as a plant is alive, it is worth saving! Especially if you are new to this. The best practice is figuring out what you've done wrong, and correcting it. Once you've done this for a few years it'll become second nature. With time you will some to know certain warning signs quickly and correct them before if ever causes any damage. Like @Ablaze said, these are very resilient plants. They evolved in harsh and competitive habitats and will likely recover from anything you throw at them, quite literally.. lol

Ablaze said:

That brings a smile to my face. Keep takin' it easy going forward. It looks like you have a nice set up. Best of wishes my friend.

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dtl420 said:

As long as a plant is alive, it is worth saving! Especially if you are new to this. The best practice is figuring out what you've done wrong, and correcting it. Once you've done this for a few years it'll become second nature. With time you will some to know certain warning signs quickly and correct them before if ever causes any damage. Like @Ablaze said, these are very resilient plants. They evolved in harsh and competitive habitats and will likely recover from anything you throw at them, quite literally.. lol

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Thank you both, you've quite literally save these young one's lives!
Positive reinforcement works wonders with confidence when there's a haze.

Peace and love to you both x

It would be great if I could like your posts too. Though I don't know where to click! I really am a noob. Perhaps it comes with time and experience. I'm such a noob that I don't even know where to look to find out beyond the search function. I don't even know if 'noob' is a socially acceptable term anymore, I got bollocked (privately; by my partner) for being racist for using the word Chav. It was 3 cars with revving loud exhausts in a petrol station car park at 23:30. I can see how I was being judgemental, but racist? Just not the intent behind it.

Anyway, maybe only a noob can call another noob, 'noob'. In which case, I'm a noob, and all other noobs are welcome to come shout at me, "Noob!"

About the like button? Where is it?

Your roots are in a bad way. feed them with a mild solution foliar sprays every day.

ANC said:

Your roots are in a bad way. feed them with a mild solution foliar sprays every day.

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I have imagined what I have done to them

I have been using a chelated spray on them twice a day. I am also using something called Rhizotonic in the rez, which I have just found out can also be sprayed also. I'll go do that now ) [EDIT: Ha! That emoji was supposed to be a smile!

Thank you very much.

you need to make more posts, then the like button will show up in the bottom right

Roger A. Shrubber said:

you need to make more posts, then the like button will show up in the bottom right

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Thank you Roger. Thought so.

Have you read any of the pinned threads? There are the ones at the top in each category. They are there because they contain very valuable information and are definitely worth checking out. Understanding RIU and it's members will definitely make life easier for you as a grower. Once you've been here for a while you'll notice some of the members that consistently give genuine advice.

If you want to call on someone in particular just say @MotherOfFups, you'll notice that it will pop up that persons name and profile pic as you are typing it with the @ in front of it. Also notice that you'll have an alert saying that I mentioned you in this comment. This can be a helpful tool when trying to call on someone particular, or just giving someone credit for something. Sometimes I use this tool when I don't know how to help the person, but I know someone in particular that will know how to help.

Thank you so much @dtl420 this is wonderful information! I have been much of a forum reader until now, it always appears someone else publishes my problems, and associated solutions, years before I have them.

Obviously there's a level of anonymity amongst members here, but where I live I have met many growers from all walks of life, and you're right, I have seen the provado of some and been inspired by the love of others.

I am slowly going through some of the pinned threads, lots of interesting reading.

You picked a good place to start reading. There are a lot of smart, yet humble people here.

I've perused the threads of many of the weed community forums, and it seems that RIU is the most active. I get bored watching my plants grow, so I try to get on here frequently and make sure no one is left in the dark.

Ablaze said:

You picked a good place to start reading. There are a lot of smart, yet humble people here.

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dtl420 said:

I've perused the threads of many of the weed community forums, and it seems that RIU is the most active. I get bored watching my plants grow, so I try to get on here frequently and make sure no one is left in the dark.

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You've both (@Ablaze and @dtl420) made me feel very welcome, thank you. And to celebrate, I've rewarded myself a Critical Kush spliff in the living room! (I never smoke inside unless up the chimney, but my good lady is away and I thought I'd take the piss!)

Time for me to check progress and take measurements...