In Need of Hydro Help (Expert Needed)

MYWhat?

MYWhat?

Active Member
I'm having some issue's with the new hydro system I've set up. So I'll give you folks as much info and pictures as I can in this first post.

First the system. I have 6, 5gal bucket system with 6inch net pot bucket lids. I put my drain port as close to the bottom as I could, so it only leaves 3/4 to 7/8 of nutrient water in the bottom. I have a 12 gallon rez with a 16inch air stone in it, that's on 24/7. I had my timer set for 1 min on 15 min off. I just turned it to 1 min on 5 min off. I am using drip stakes with 1/8 inch lines to feed with.(not really a dripper more of a flow) My net pots have hydroton only in them. I did this so I don't have to keep buying medium. The light I'm using is a 600 watt hps in a raptor hood. I have an inline fan and carbon filter hooked up and plenty of fans moving air. Mostly determined by temp.

The plants I'm growing are 3 sour diesel (from clone), 2 sage (from clone) and 1 tangerine dream (from seed). I'm now using GH nutes, grow, micro, bloom. Before this issue arose they where growing aggressively in non hydro fox farm nutes. So when I switched over I flushed with 42 ppm water for 16 hrs then went to GH general feeding schedule. My PH has been maintained daily (much easier now) at 5.6-6.0. One day (when using FF nutes) it went up as high as 6.4 but now that I'm using GH it's staying between 5.7 to 5.9. My PPM was set back to 660 PPM after the switch. (1 tsp grow,1 micro,1 bloom/gal) My PPM drops off rapidly over the course of a day or 2(also water to). So I have been adding back to maintain 660 ppm. Thinking now the PPM should be raised to aggressive growth, 3tsp grow, 2 micro,1bloom. Any thought on this?

So here are some pic's of the plants.
Sour diesel 4-26-11
Sour Deisel3a 4-25-11.jpgSame plant on 5-3-11
5-3-11 005.jpgAs you can see the leaves don't look very good. There curling and some have gone necrotic. Here are some pics of the others so you can get a better idea of what's going on.
5-3-11 003.jpg5-3-11 004.jpg 5-3-11 007.jpgand a shot of the roots.
5-3-11 013.jpg
After I switched to GH, the aroma of the plants has returned. I thought they where getting better so I cut of most of the really bad leaves. Today I've noticed that they are getting brown spots and curling again.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
If you need more info or pictures I can provide them.
 
TruenoAE86coupe

TruenoAE86coupe

Moderator
I would lay into them if they are eating the nutes that fast. My math, you have a 12 gallon res for 6 plants right? So 2 gallons per plant, they shouldn't be drinking a notable about of nutrients in that amount of water.
You can easily take them to 1000 ppm, without hurting anything, some of them look like they may be able to handle closer to 1500, but i am a more is more grower (thanks Dutch Master!), and that is why i try to keep my rez feeding plants of the same strain (clones from the same mother plant is best), then i know they can all handle what i throw at them.
 
MYWhat?

MYWhat?

Active Member
Thanks guys (+rep to both)

My rez temp has been 67-69. room temp 73-78. My RH has been real low 29-33.

I have been adding back to the rez daily and was thinking they needed to be upped. I did up it tonight with grow and micro only, to 775. I will take them up again tomorrow. I just didn't want to add insult to injury by giving them to much at this point, but was suspecting this was what was needed.
This is my first time growing in hydro so I wasn't really prepared with all the same strain. But in the future I will grow all the same or I could easily split the system (after this grow) so I can do 2 strains at once. @ would be nice so I can have 1 to help me sleep and one for my pain issues.
So again, thanks !!
MYWhat?
 
D

disposition84

Well-Known Member
Just curious but what brand of hosing are you using? I've read a few stories of plants mysteriously dying
due to some NGW or something brand hosing that is apparently toxic to plants and will slowly kill them
driving the grower mad as he can't identify the problem.

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f145/toxic-off-gassing-n-g-w-1-2-hose-24770/index2.html

I've never switched nutes mid cycle, but I don't imagine that would have such a tremendous effect on things.
Your roots look clean of bugs and rot so it shouldn't be that.

Only other thing I could think to ask is if you're using RO water? Maybe it could be a cal/mag issue?
 
MYWhat?

MYWhat?

Active Member
I'm using domestic water supply pipe. Same kind used in all the homes around here. I build homes for a living so I have a lot of useful stuff ling around.
That was a good read though, so thanks for sharing that.
I use reg tap water. The PPM of my water is low though 42-50 PPM.
 
P

PeaceFarmer

Active Member
It looks like it isn't just one thing causing your problems, but maybe a couple of little things making one big issue. To me it looks like maybe the light is a little too close to them, what is the wattage on it? Second thing is they look like they are starving like Marvin...At day 22 from seed my girls are between 1250-1450 of fox farm hydro nutes....they are absolutely loving it, with big, dark green fan leaves. Third possible contributor...do you have any air flow in them? Any fan to circulate the stagnant air around them?
 
P

PeaceFarmer

Active Member
MYWhat? said:
Thanks guys (+rep to both)

My rez temp has been 67-69. room temp 73-78. My RH has been real low 29-33.

I have been adding back to the rez daily and was thinking they needed to be upped. I did up it tonight with grow and micro only, to 775. I will take them up again tomorrow. I just didn't want to add insult to injury by giving them to much at this point, but was suspecting this was what was needed.
This is my first time growing in hydro so I wasn't really prepared with all the same strain. But in the future I will grow all the same or I could easily split the system (after this grow) so I can do 2 strains at once. @ would be nice so I can have 1 to help me sleep and one for my pain issues.
So again, thanks !!
MYWhat?
Click to expand...
You don't need to be wary of only growing one strain...I grow 8 diff strains on one set up, with one Rez...takes a lot of work checking them and making sure they are happy, adjusting things as needed, tying the tall sativas..but for the most part it is extremely easy.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
I'm surprised so many 'experts' are telling you to increase your ppms when your plants clearly show signs of overfeeding.

A few things, you need a bigger res for your set up. I also agree about your light being a little close (give yourself about 18-24 inches between the light and your plants). Lastly, lower your feeding levels. You're currently feeding little baby plants more than I would feed mature flowing plants. 3mls grow, 4mls micro, 2mls bloom per gallon.
 
TruenoAE86coupe

TruenoAE86coupe

Moderator
For probably the first time ever i disagree with homebrewer. There is absolutely no reason for a larger res, i use less than half of the water per plant you do, have no issues. I think you could use more water per bucket if that is what he means, your roots i believe would function better if the were able to build an upper root system.
I do not use General Hydroponics, but if i was to have the same issues as you i would up the nutrients. I would change out the entire res and add fresh water and nutes, then you know exactly what is in the water. When you just add to the res you truely do not know what levels of what you have, dump and refill and you know.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
TruenoAE86coupe said:
For probably the first time ever i disagree with homebrewer. There is absolutely no reason for a larger res,
Click to expand...
This is why I think he needs a larger res:

MYWhat? said:
My PPM drops off rapidly over the course of a day or 2(also water to). So I have been adding back to maintain 660 ppm.
Click to expand...
Typically you should be changing your res every week. If your plants are ripping though the food and water you're giving them in a matter of days, then you either need a res large enough to last a week or do full res changes more frequently.
 
My420

My420

Active Member
MYWhat? said:
I'm having some issue's with the new hydro system I've set up. So I'll give you folks as much info and pictures as I can in this first post.

First the system. I have 6, 5gal bucket system with 6inch net pot bucket lids. I put my drain port as close to the bottom as I could, so it only leaves 3/4 to 7/8 of nutrient water in the bottom. I have a 12 gallon rez with a 16inch air stone in it, that's on 24/7. I had my timer set for 1 min on 15 min off. I just turned it to 1 min on 5 min off. I am using drip stakes with 1/8 inch lines to feed with.(not really a dripper more of a flow) My net pots have hydroton only in them. I did this so I don't have to keep buying medium. The light I'm using is a 600 watt hps in a raptor hood. I have an inline fan and carbon filter hooked up and plenty of fans moving air. Mostly determined by temp.

The plants I'm growing are 3 sour diesel (from clone), 2 sage (from clone) and 1 tangerine dream (from seed). I'm now using GH nutes, grow, micro, bloom. Before this issue arose they where growing aggressively in non hydro fox farm nutes. So when I switched over I flushed with 42 ppm water for 16 hrs then went to GH general feeding schedule. My PH has been maintained daily (much easier now) at 5.6-6.0. One day (when using FF nutes) it went up as high as 6.4 but now that I'm using GH it's staying between 5.7 to 5.9. My PPM was set back to 660 PPM after the switch. (1 tsp grow,1 micro,1 bloom/gal) My PPM drops off rapidly over the course of a day or 2(also water to). So I have been adding back to maintain 660 ppm. Thinking now the PPM should be raised to aggressive growth, 3tsp grow, 2 micro,1bloom. Any thought on this?

So here are some pic's of the plants.
Sour diesel 4-26-11
View attachment 1585909Same plant on 5-3-11
View attachment 1585911As you can see the leaves don't look very good. There curling and some have gone necrotic. Here are some pics of the others so you can get a better idea of what's going on.
View attachment 1585924View attachment 1585926 View attachment 1585929and a shot of the roots.
View attachment 1585934
After I switched to GH, the aroma of the plants has returned. I thought they where getting better so I cut of most of the really bad leaves. Today I've noticed that they are getting brown spots and curling again.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
If you need more info or pictures I can provide them.
Click to expand...
My advice if you want it. Only mix nutes once a week or less depending on how fast you go through your rez and do not add to mixture to raise PPM but only add PH up or Down to control your PH level. Every week you should change your rez and flush your plants starting over each week. Just adding to the rez is not a good thing. because it makes the PPM jump around to much and you have no idea what the true mix is. PPM will be dropping because they are taking it in and also in veg your PH should be rising ( have you checked it ) You need to be sure your PH does not rise to much. I am doing hydro a little different then what you have right now but I do 1 rez change a week and flush plants and then clean and re fill rez with nutes. You look like your burning your plants. For that size I would be at 600ppm about. I start at 550-600 PPM at clones size and am up to about 1000ppm when they are almost 2 feet tall. Then of course it keeps going up the more into flowering I get. I am at 1850PPM right now and my PPMs are dropping and so is my PH which usually rises until about week 4 of flower then it drops. Check out my grow and if you have any questions let me know I would love to help you any way I can.
 
My420

My420

Active Member
homebrewer said:
I'm surprised so many 'experts' are telling you to increase your ppms when your plants clearly show signs of overfeeding.

A few things, you need a bigger res for your set up. I also agree about your light being a little close (give yourself about 18-24 inches between the light and your plants). Lastly, lower your feeding levels. You're currently feeding little baby plants more than I would feed mature flowing plants. 3mls grow, 4mls micro, 2mls bloom per gallon.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was just thinking. To much nutes causing burn. Nice advice but do not think getting a bigger rez would do anything but make it so you do not have to change it that much. I have a bigger rez due to the size of my opp.
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
Here is my help.

Never put (expert needed) in your title. You are asking for free information and it seems a little elitist.
 
My420

My420

Active Member
NLXSK1 said:
Here is my help.

Never put (expert needed) in your title. You are asking for free information and it seems a little elitist.
Click to expand...
and that also attracts every goof that has ever heard from his brothers best friends cousin who knew a guy who's grandpa used this stuff one time and then tell you they used it and got 6 ounces off a 7 inch tall plant when that advice is just not needed.
 
MYWhat?

MYWhat?

Active Member
NLXSK1 said:
Here is my help.

Never put (expert needed) in your title. You are asking for free information and it seems a little elitist.
Click to expand...
I just want to start off by saying sorry about this. I'm far from being an elitist, and truly appreciate all the help that all of you have offered.
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
My420 said:
and that also attracts every goof that has ever heard from his brothers best friends cousin who knew a guy who's grandpa used this stuff one time and then tell you they used it and got 6 ounces off a 7 inch tall plant when that advice is just not needed.
Click to expand...
And putting it prevents them from posting in a thread? LOL!!!
 
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