Help for Yellowing Leaves/Wilting Plants in a Hydro Grow Room

JRB526

Member
We are having trouble in the 6th week of veg with 3 out of our 11 plants drooping, yellowing and wilting. These plants were the fullest and best we had, and now we don't know what to do to bring them back around.

The details of our hydro setup are as follows:

9x9 room
2 1000 watt Raptor lights
temperature 75-77 degrees at all times
45-65% humidity at all times
We use an RO system w/h2o2
We have a 40 gallon rez
We use the Technaflora BC line for nutrients
ppms are at 1100
water temp is 73-77 degrees
ph is 5.8
We are on a lighting cycle of 18/6
We use the Ebb and Grow fill and drain buckets with a feed to drain cycle of 15 to 22 minutes, occurring once every 4 hours
We currently have no Co2 and no air scrubber

The initial problem started about 2 weeks ago when our PPM pen broke and the PPMs got out of whack (1400-1500.) We got that fixed, and everything seemed fine. We did have a bit of yellowing on the leaves at that point, but chalked iit up to the nutrient burn from having the PPMs out of whack. Then this past week, 3 days after our last rez change our water turned cloudy, milky, slimy and smelled nasty. The 3 plants in question started looking droopy as well. We did some reading and found out with the temperature of the water being what it is, we needed to add the h2o2 to help kill off any organisms that may grow in the water. So, we did a rez change again and added the h2o2. We have not seen an improvement. In fact, its gotten worse. The 3 plants we are talking about look like they are dying, and the yellow/browning leaves toward the middle and the bottom of the plants look horrible. So, from what we surmise from the research we've done we are thinking of doing the following:

-Draining the tank and running straight water with 0 nutrients to flush out the system completely
-Pruning some of the plants down and removing the bad leaves to allow for better air circulation

Please help! We have had such a great run so far with these plants, I would hate to lose them.
 

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Bayou bud

Active Member
How much h2o2 did you use per gal? Cause it can besed as an oxidizer, a preventative for bacteria, and to keep roots nice and white. Or it can be used to kill everything and sterilize your whole setup. What percent h2o2 did you use as well?
 

JRB526

Member
How much h2o2 did you use per gal? Cause it can besed as an oxidizer, a preventative for bacteria, and to keep roots nice and white. Or it can be used to kill everything and sterilize your whole setup. What percent h2o2 did you use as well?
We used 3ml per gallon of the h2o2
 

Bayou bud

Active Member
That's good. I was terrified you'd say oh you know a few spoonfuls hah. Hmm. I'd trim and flush and reintroduce nutes slow. Make sure your adding calcium and magnesium to the water if it starts at 0ppm
 

JRB526

Member
That's good. I was terrified you'd say oh you know a few spoonfuls hah. Hmm. I'd trim and flush and reintroduce nutes slow. Make sure your adding calcium and magnesium to the water if it starts at 0ppm
We are trimming and flushing as we speak. We just got so nervous because everything was going so great, and then BAM, our 3 best plants crashed and burned. Hopefully we can turn them around. So, are you saying we should add the calcium and magnesium by themselves in the water, or once we start reintroducing nutes? And how long do you think we should keep them on just plain water?
 

Bayou bud

Active Member
That spike in ppm more than likely stressed those plants. Are they near each other? Could it be disease that affected one then spread? Add some CaliMagic into your 0ppm water then nutes. Always add in the CaliMagic or else the EC will get messed up and you will begin to draw nutes away from the plant. I'd go half strength or awhile. I would flush, run water with CaliMagic , add in 1/4 strength nutes then slowly build up. Each plant has its own genetic limitations to how much nutrients it can intake obviously other variables as well. But more than likely hit the threshold and just gotta let the girls chill for a bit in weaker water while they gain the momentum to get back to where they were
 

JRB526

Member
That spike in ppm more than likely stressed those plants. Are they near each other? Could it be disease that affected one then spread? Add some CaliMagic into your 0ppm water then nutes. Always add in the CaliMagic or else the EC will get messed up and you will begin to draw nutes away from the plant. I'd go half strength or awhile. I would flush, run water with CaliMagic , add in 1/4 strength nutes then slowly build up. Each plant has its own genetic limitations to how much nutrients it can intake obviously other variables as well. But more than likely hit the threshold and just gotta let the girls chill for a bit in weaker water while they gain the momentum to get back to where they were
Ok. Right now we are running straight water w/the h2o2 which comes in at 600ppm. With the temp of the water, we need to fight off those nasty organisms/bacteria w/the h2o2. We are definitely going to introduce the nutes back in slowly. But you're right, I had a gut feeling the stress of the ppm spike was what caused the sudden changes. I keep reading more and more of what can happen with stressed plants, and we just need to let them chill. Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Look for a product called Aqua Shield. I would do as you are doing and go to sraight up ph adjusted water, with Aqua Shield at this point. Get them to bounce back and then start getting back on track.

Well, to be quite honest, I'd probably start over, but that's my personality. You are going to have to commit at least 8-10 weeks flowering, these need at least 2 weeks to recover, sizes of plants are going to be all out of whack, I dunno, I'd start over.

Which leads to another question....what kind of lights are you planning to flower these trees under? Maybe it's a perspective thing, but those plants look fuckin enormous to still be in veg. and preparing to flower indoors.
 

JRB526

Member
Look for a product called Aqua Shield. I would do as you are doing and go to sraight up ph adjusted water, with Aqua Shield at this point. Get them to bounce back and then start getting back on track.

Well, to be quite honest, I'd probably start over, but that's my personality. You are going to have to commit at least 8-10 weeks flowering, these need at least 2 weeks to recover, sizes of plants are going to be all out of whack, I dunno, I'd start over.

Which leads to another question....what kind of lights are you planning to flower these trees under? Maybe it's a perspective thing, but those plants look fuckin enormous to still be in veg. and preparing to flower indoors.
We have very high ceilings in our room, so that works in our favor. We planned on a 2 month veg, 2 month flower cycle, and we wanted to grow big so that's why we set up the room as we did. We figured at least 1 week for recovery time on the current situation. I'll look into the aqua shield as well. The Aqua Shield helps balance out the water?
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
Aqua Shield helps kill the shit growing in your reservoir. I had a partner who tried "organic hydro" and of course had big problems with this. Nasty smell in the reservoir, PH fluctuates daily and has to be adjusted. I believe it was constantly rising and he had to lower it. Eeventually his plants took a turn for the worse, just like this. We didn't think anything would work and he picked up that Aqua Shield and the shit was straightened out pretty quick. What's done is done, but he went with straight up water and that aqua shield for a week and everything was good again. He doesn't do organic anymore, but uses that stuff in every reservoir, I've switched to soil so don't really deal with it anymore.
 

laserbrn

Well-Known Member
I talked to him...It was some kind of bacteria growing in the reservoir. Aquashield and Hygrozyme with 1/2 strength nutes @ 6.2ph cleared it all up. The tell tale was the smell in the reservoir and he said DROPPING ph. Everyday it would drop and would not stay stable whatsoever, would drop after 4-5 hours even. If that seems fitting, give it a shot, we all thought his shit was dead, lol.
 
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