still having trouble please help

Alright problems started a few weeks ago. I was running the typical 3 part formula and had what I thought to be either a P or mag def. I changed the res and ran lucas formula for 2 weeks, 5ml Micro 10ml of bloom. ppms was around 7-800 and ph stayed around 6. I tried continuously to keep it lower but that was as best as it got. [HR][/HR]Changed the res today with 8 Gal RO water, and did 4ml grow 4ml micro 2.5ml bloom and 2ml of calmag per gal. PH at 5.8 ppm at 790. Res temp stays within range of 68-72. I have read all the nutrient forums out there and "thought" I was doing everything I could but still have leaves like this. Please give me some insight!!!

was just reading a post with similar effects to yours dont know if it will help but be a worth of time to look through it (Droopy leafs)

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/542322-leaves-hydroponic-cannabis-plant-curl.html

MP

Hmm, Let get this straight here. your plants are in pots, in soil (what soil), in an ebb and flow system?
How often is the system cycling and how long does the tray stay at "full" before draining? Pic 1 and 2 look like over watering (that's 1 issue).
If you are feeding at Hydro concentrations AND feeding every day. You are overfeeding them (that's issue 2).
I have the answers to those things, just waiting to get the facts before I'll provide solutions, as that depends on the answers.

As far as pH goes your ok. In PURE hydro your goal is 6.0 and 5.8 to 6.2 is your target "range". Soil should be around 6.5 -7.0 and that's THE SOIL, not water going in or out. The soil should be MOIST to test with an electronic tester. If your testing soil with a paper test strip you need to take several samples from 3 dif. locations in the pot. put them in a CLEAN pint jar. Moisten the sample with DISTILLED water and let set 10 min....add 2 test strips to the sample across from each other and after ten seconds remove 1 strip and compare to color chart. Wait 1 minute and remove second strip and compare, they should be the the same. If your nutrient has a color tracer in it it CAN effect the litmus paper test's accuracy!

Looks like nute burn. Have you tried reducing your nutrients? The leaf all the way to the right in pic 3 and 4 looks like a potassium (K) deficiency because of burned serrated edges. The curled leaves could be overwatering. I know that sounds silly if you're running hydro but, if the roots are deprived of O2 you can "overwater" plants.

It looks like a PH issue. I'm a little confused though, the pictures show soil, but you are talking like it's hydro. What's up with that?

I say nutrient lockout. How old are they? I would cut the ppms in half for a week or so and stay on top of your PH.

I do DWC and use distilled water. When I mix my nutes for a res change I start by setting my ppms to 130-150 with cal/mag. Then I add my GH 3 part. I start out with 1/4 strength of the recommendation on the back of the bottle then increase a little as I see the plant eat more.

Your res temps look straight, but what size air pump ya got? Maybe not enough oxygen? Is that res light proof? Algae growing in your res will fuck your shit up. What do your roots look like? Does it stink in your res?

Also, when you check your ppms and ph are your ppms going up, down, staying the same?

I have two plants growing right now that got worse than that, but I bounced those lovely ladies back. PEACE

Jimdamick said:

It looks like a PH issue. I'm a little confused though, the pictures show soil, but you are talking like it's hydro. What's up with that?

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I thought the same thing, but if you look close you can see the hydroton on the purple lid.

Sparkticus brings up another good point. If your water level is too high you can literally drown your plant, too.

Wakin Bacon said:

I thought the same thing, but if you look close you can see the hydroton on the purple lid.

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Yeah, in one pot in the second pic. look back at pic 1. He's running soil in an ebb and flow tray system made for rockwool (soil grows DO work in ebb tray systems. You just need to modify some things you do. First one would be fabric pots!).

I'll still await the answers to my questions before giving the final verdict and solutions.

Yeah I would check OW and reduce nutes like Wakin said. That first 2 pics screams OW to me with the swollen curled leaves but, I am a soil guy, so I may be a bit biased =) When I researched hydro cause I thought about doing it, it seemed like most started with 1/4 to 1/2 nute recommendations.

It is an ebb n flow system, the ones in pots are just sittin on top, they are not having any problems. The water cycles for 1 hr 6 times a day. It usually takes 15 min to fill so plants are fully submerged for 45 min. So, should I cut the timer in half AND reduce the # of cycles? To dilute my ppm should I add more water ph'd of course? Thanks for all the replies and sorry for leaving open questions.

Yeah, I would just reduce the ppms with PH'd water and stay on top of the PH.

Something to remember... leaf damage does not correct itself (except N yellowing). So, look for nice new growth, not fixed old growth.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!!! Hopefully I will see a difference in a week or so.

Nobody123 said:

It is an ebb n flow system, the ones in pots are just sittin on top, they are not having any problems. The water cycles for 1 hr 6 times a day. It usually takes 15 min to fill so plants are fully submerged for 45 min. So, should I cut the timer in half AND reduce the # of cycles? To dilute my ppm should I add more water ph'd of course? Thanks for all the replies and sorry for leaving open questions.

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K then....here we go on several issues
Things to do;
#1 WASH cycling at least 2 times then go on to step 2, , , at step 3 count the wash as the first AND 2nd cycle!

#2 I'll bet it's not a digital timer so cut back to 1/2hr. If it is a digital timer, cut back to 20 min. ( I suggest a stronger pump when you can, That can fill the tray in 5 min and cut back to 15 min. this would be best)

#3 Reduce # of times a day to 5. First 1 at lights on and then spread the rest out as even as you can, with the last one to drain right at lights out. This gives you 4 lights on feedings and one just before lights out to keep it from drying out at "night". (If problem continues reduce to 4 with the same pattern until new pump)

#4 Go BACK to Lucas formula for what ever stage your in and run at 100% adding 5-10ml CalMag per gallon of RO. (I run 10ml per when I run DWC in the winter "purple" runs).

Remember to keep your pH between 5.8 and 6.2 with the sweet spot being 6.0

A simple formula for res tank add back to help ward off high tank temps and keep things on an "even" keel is;

Add back every day or every other as you "see" lowering tank levels by adding back at a rate of 30% nutrients to the water and pH to the sweet spot then refill the tank with this "add back" solution.

Example: If you use 10ml of nute "X" or "Y" or "Z" , , use only 3ml to make "add back" solution and so forth! So for 5ml you would be looking at approx. 1.5ml to "add back" and so on.
When you have added back the same amount as the tank started with, , ,dump and refill with full strength nute solution! (a five gallon pail running DWC refills about every 3-4 days)

This SHOULD turn you around and give you a baseline to start at for the next one.

Good Luck

Dude that was a wealth of information that is exactly what I needed to confirm. A digital timer and a stronger pump is on my to buy list. I did already switch to 5 a day vs 6 a day and other than wasted time/electricity in regards with my pump and timer they are practically flooded for max 15 min. And from reading, 15 min flood time 3-5 times a day is pretty much the standard/sweet spot? I am still learning so new information will always bring new questions lol. And thanks again!!

Good luck!