1st Time using flood & drain > Need help please...

What up all!

I have posted here and there but this is my first thread.

I have grown indoors with areoponics a couple grows with good results.

I have a pen by Hannah. It does ppm, ph, temp, and something else I am not sure what it represents.

I am setting up a couple more grow rooms and the cheapest way I found to set them up was flood and drain with rock wool. (Starting with 2x2 cubes and going to 6x6 for flower or before root bound)

Currently I have a 50 gal res., 4x8 table, and one 1000 hps hooked up. I have another 1000 hps waiting for the plants to out grow the one.

My climate is under control - 60 at lows, during night and 80's during day. humidity is a little low usually not under 40%.

Right now on my flood and drain I have a timer that runs the water 8 times a day evenly spread through out 24 hours.

Recently my plants have been stunted and the leaves are twisting to the side some almost upside down. I bought the new Hannah pen and found my ph out of control. I have gotten it back to normal but I fear I may be over watering also.

Is there anything else I should be concerned about with the twisting of the leaves, could this be over watering? The leaves are not fat and the rock wool seems fairly dry if I water 3 times a day like I have been told.

How do I know when they are root bound?

Also, any other information about flood and drain would be use full as well. I have done some research but there is not a lot of definitive direction to take with this method of grow.

Thanks...

Watering 8 times a day with an Ebb and Flow system is a lot. I used to water 4 times a day while vegging and 5 times while flowering.

Good deal.

Step one will be to cut the watering frequency down.

How moist should I keep the rock wool?

At times a couple of them sporadically on the table will be pretty dry on the top.

Don't let them get that dry, just make sure that your nutrient solution is oxygenated and keep the rockwool damp.

Ok, I will monitor them.

Any advice on the twisted leaves? Should I just give it a day or two and make sure it doesnt get worse now that the ph is under control?

Give it a few days to recover from the ph. if problem still exists it could be a magnesium deficiency or a deficiency of a micronutrient. If all the leaves are the same color then it’s probably a magnesium deficiency. If so, you can fix this by adding Epson salt (about 1 tablespoon per gallon works good). If the leaves are a lime color or if any bleach like stains are present it’s probably a zinc deficiency.

It very well could be the zinc then, the new growth on most are bit light in color.

Also, with the twisting another sign that recently showed up is some of them look as though they are shriveled. Like they drank lime juice and it made them pucker, only on the new growth.

I am not going to do anything for the meanwhile. I'll let them chill out, just need them to grow and not stunt them.

How to you give people reputation points?

I appreciate all your help and would like to kick down...

way way way overwatering, i use the rockwool minicubes in 6 inch pots on 3x3 flood tables. i end up flooding once at lights on every few days and that is all they need. i prefer the minicubes over the blocks.

sounds like a good plan. you were probably just overwatering them so they should revert to a healthy status within the next couple of days. to add reputation points you click the scale symbol, which is above the Join Date, Location, Number of Posts and Experience Chart.

Alright, thanks guys, I appreciate the thoughts.