I recently put my plants into the budding stage and the lower leaves have started turning yellow and dying. It seems that it is starting to spread up the plants and I'm not sure what the problem is. I am using a homemade hydroponic system modeled off the aerogarden (aerogarden.com). I have attached some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. The first few pictures are from about a week ago and the later ones are from today so you can see the progression of the problem. Can anyone help me save these girls?
Yellowing, dying lower leaves... Help Please!!!
- Thread starter moselyt
- Start date
Jonus
Well-Known Member
What is the pH, EC/ppm, air temps, temps of nutrients, what is the nutrients and additives you are using, what are u using to treat the root area for pathogens, what color are the roots, are there any dark areas in the roots, what lights are u using,is your grow room completely light proof, thats about all that comes to mind in terms of missing info.
The PH is at 6.5, the air temp and temp of nutrients is about 75 degrees f, I am using Technafloral Plant Products more specifically the recipe for success. The roots are dark in the water almost black in places. I am using a 1000 watt HPS form my light and the grow room is not completely light proof. I do not know how to check the EC/ppm and I don't currently have anything to treat the root area for pathogens. What do you suggest I do and thanks for the help man.
start by fixing your ph. 6.5 is a little to high. 6.0 in soil is okay, in hydro you want it a little lower around 5.5 I had a similar problem but my leaves got really weak and started to fall off f you even blew on them. fixed the ph and with in 2 days they started to get better. Get the room light proof that will also really screw up the plants, they need 100% darkness. Make sure the light is not to close. a 1000W HPS is a huge light and might be to big for your space. How big is the grow area? Make sure the light is at least 24 - 36 inches (2-3 feet) above the tops of the plants. Start there and see if it make a difference.
i81two
Well-Known Member
Your PH needs to be 5.8 on the button. Looks like you have been up and down on ph and nutes are being locked out. Flush with 5.8 water with H2O2 for 2 days then change rez then add nutes 1/4 strngth for a couple days then 1/2 strength for a couple weeks. You might have root rot. Good luck.
Sorry I miss typed the PH I ment to say that it is at 5.5 so I dont think that thats the issue Im facing.
smokie927
Active Member
For veg. your ph is supposed to be 5.8-6 which is the best for your plants to motabolize nitrogen,5.5 is too low budy. Now a lot of people say for flowering you want your ph around 6.3-6.5, never over 6.5. I keep my ph around 6.5 because I have no nitrogen problems and my plants do great. Seems like your plants are on schedule,get the light issue taken care of,so thats off the problems list. Fix your ph; for your dwc i'd say around 6,maybe get a better air pump you dont want root rot starting. Your leaves are dying because nitrogen and other micronutes are being locked out or not getting enough of,you need to fix ph give res. change and up your ppm by about 50 every day until they green up,also you could add a catalyst this facilitates nute uptake. Hope I helped. Keep your head up Oregon.
Jonus
Well-Known Member
This could well be root rot. When growing in hydro it pays in my opinion to bite the bullet so to speak and treat your root area with a water conditioner that contains hydrogen peroxide.....regularly. Root rot is probably the biggest enemy you are fighting against with hydro growing. The usual culprit is pithium which attacks roots and results in dark patched roots which will eventually smell rotten as well. Go to your local garden center and ask them for something that you can treat pithium with.
As others have stated, grow rooms should be completely light proof.
When growing plants in hydro, measuring the E.C is crucial to giving you a gauge of how much salts/fertilizer is present in the root area. The reason I say this is because from looking at the pics it does look to me like over feeding, root rot and light shock are the cause of that problem.
Ouch!
Def need to clean the res - and then flush... You gotta get back to ground zero. Something is certainly off. I see some fungal spots, and major nutrient deficiency - likely due to a root disease or rot. Your plant needs some help. You need to Park the plants some way... you can float the lid in another tub of water, etc. Once the plants are safely out of the way, clean your res and system well... scrub it out, rinse it well, spray a 10% bleach solution on all surfaces of the unit, and run with a 10% bleach solution rinse well, repeat the process - get it hospital clean.
Now fill with 5.8 RO water... if you have a flushing agent, use that too. Run your plants with the flush mix for a couple hours. Empty the res and repeat the flush process with a fresh batch of ph 5.8 RO - and not flushing agent... run for another 2 hours. Empty the res, fill one more time with RO at 5.8 and nute with your CalMag product to approx 200 ppm, now add just your base nutrient at approx 600 ppm at 5.8. Remove all dead, spotted, wilted, etc leaves. Keep the res at 75 degrees MAX - 5 - 10 degrees lower is much better - especially when defending root rot. If you have a product such as Hygrozyme - you may want to use that to help break down the dead roots - but don't it is not a must have. Change your res every other day for the next couple weeks... you can slowly up the nutrients as the plant recovers.... keep it under 1200ppm max - unless you are sure about the strain.
Def need to clean the res - and then flush... You gotta get back to ground zero. Something is certainly off. I see some fungal spots, and major nutrient deficiency - likely due to a root disease or rot. Your plant needs some help. You need to Park the plants some way... you can float the lid in another tub of water, etc. Once the plants are safely out of the way, clean your res and system well... scrub it out, rinse it well, spray a 10% bleach solution on all surfaces of the unit, and run with a 10% bleach solution rinse well, repeat the process - get it hospital clean.
Now fill with 5.8 RO water... if you have a flushing agent, use that too. Run your plants with the flush mix for a couple hours. Empty the res and repeat the flush process with a fresh batch of ph 5.8 RO - and not flushing agent... run for another 2 hours. Empty the res, fill one more time with RO at 5.8 and nute with your CalMag product to approx 200 ppm, now add just your base nutrient at approx 600 ppm at 5.8. Remove all dead, spotted, wilted, etc leaves. Keep the res at 75 degrees MAX - 5 - 10 degrees lower is much better - especially when defending root rot. If you have a product such as Hygrozyme - you may want to use that to help break down the dead roots - but don't it is not a must have. Change your res every other day for the next couple weeks... you can slowly up the nutrients as the plant recovers.... keep it under 1200ppm max - unless you are sure about the strain.
I forgot to say - a PPM meter is a must with an aero unit... the roots have no buffer against toxic nutrient PPM levels and incorrect PH. They are cheap compared to the price of medicine. If you insist on winging it - use no more than 1/2 of what the manufacturer recommends when mixing nutes.
If you use tap - skip the calMag product - but don't use tap unless you know you have bottled-water style tap in your area. Most urban growers are stuck with 500PPM + city water.
If you use tap - skip the calMag product - but don't use tap unless you know you have bottled-water style tap in your area. Most urban growers are stuck with 500PPM + city water.