This is my first hydro grow and had a few mishaps along the way but typically found a reason was able to correct the problem and return to normal growth.
However, we're now 3 weeks away from finishing and for the past week or more the girls have hardly been eating at all, 150 ppm at most. Fan leaves are yellowing, wilting, and falling off. Started under the canopy, but now even some of the top leaves near the colas are becoming discolored. They are drinking a lot, up to a gallon per day, just not eating. I don't know what to do at this point.
I'm using GH WaterFarms: http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/waterfarm.html
and the included Flora Series nutes: http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/floraseries.html
The WaterFarms have been modified to work as DWC systems by adding airstones in their bottoms and drilling more holes in the bottom of the top buckets to encourage more roots to grow into the reservoir.
The pH has been very stable, never dropping more than 0.2 from the 6.0 that I leave it at.
I'm using RO water and adding nutes in 3/2/1 ratio (bloom/micro/grow).
Temps have been ranging from 70-90 deg F.
RH has been between 35-45%.
I had a similar problem a few weeks ago, but was able to find a clear reason and correct it:
So of course I've flushed out the systems again couple of days ago, but to no avail. The similarity is that they're not eating, but this time I can't find a reason and the symptoms are not the same since the pH is very stable. But due to the lack of food (not really lack of, but rather bio-unavailability of it), the leaves are yellowing and dropping just like last time. I'm 3 weeks away from finish and don't think they'll finish very strong (if at all) if this continues. Their peak feeding concentration was around 700-800 ppm. Watching other current Delahaze hydro growers, it seems natural for nutrient uptake to slow down a little bit, but not nearly stop like this. Also, the accelerating leaf shedding doesn't seem normal. Something's wrong here for sure...
Any and all suggestions welcome...
However, we're now 3 weeks away from finishing and for the past week or more the girls have hardly been eating at all, 150 ppm at most. Fan leaves are yellowing, wilting, and falling off. Started under the canopy, but now even some of the top leaves near the colas are becoming discolored. They are drinking a lot, up to a gallon per day, just not eating. I don't know what to do at this point.
I'm using GH WaterFarms: http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/waterfarm.html
and the included Flora Series nutes: http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/floraseries.html
The WaterFarms have been modified to work as DWC systems by adding airstones in their bottoms and drilling more holes in the bottom of the top buckets to encourage more roots to grow into the reservoir.
The pH has been very stable, never dropping more than 0.2 from the 6.0 that I leave it at.
I'm using RO water and adding nutes in 3/2/1 ratio (bloom/micro/grow).
Temps have been ranging from 70-90 deg F.
RH has been between 35-45%.
I had a similar problem a few weeks ago, but was able to find a clear reason and correct it:
- The reason was that I inadvertently added an organic CaMg supplement which grew massive amounts of bacteria and/or algae virtually overnight.
- The symptoms were threefold:
- pH was dropping like crazy, 3 full points per day, which indicated an infection.
- No food was being consumed by the plants at all.
- Fan leaves were yellowing and dropping off.
- The solution was to flush out the systems, wash the buckets and everything was back to normal for a while.
So of course I've flushed out the systems again couple of days ago, but to no avail. The similarity is that they're not eating, but this time I can't find a reason and the symptoms are not the same since the pH is very stable. But due to the lack of food (not really lack of, but rather bio-unavailability of it), the leaves are yellowing and dropping just like last time. I'm 3 weeks away from finish and don't think they'll finish very strong (if at all) if this continues. Their peak feeding concentration was around 700-800 ppm. Watching other current Delahaze hydro growers, it seems natural for nutrient uptake to slow down a little bit, but not nearly stop like this. Also, the accelerating leaf shedding doesn't seem normal. Something's wrong here for sure...
Any and all suggestions welcome...