First grow in 40 years: 1st problem

[Imaskypilot]

3 bucket DWC bubbleator.
Reservoir change yesterday, I 1/2 doses of what GH calls for in the Flora series at week 2.

KO Crop Autoflower Day 18 from seed.
Aside from being the slowest growing plants of any sort that I’ve ever seen, today, I see some brown spots on the second true set of leaves (3finger). If you expand the attached photo, you can easily see the brown spots on the two leaves.
I’ve done all my research and I’m guessing calcium deficiency.
Can I use y’all as a sounding board on agree/disagree?

I added 2 tsp of GH CaliMagic to each bucket.

 

[Imaskypilot]

That should read 1/2 doses of what GH calls for.

 

[Imaskypilot]

3 bucket DWC bubbleator.
Reservoir change yesterday, I 1/2 doses of what GH calls for in the Flora series at week 2.

KO Crop Autoflower Day 18 from seed.
Aside from being the slowest growing plants of any sort that I’ve ever seen, today, I see some brown spots on the second true set of leaves (3finger). If you expand the attached photo, you can easily see the brown spots on the two leaves.

I’ve done all my research and I’m guessing calcium deficiency.
Can I use y’all as a sounding board on agree/disagree?

I added 2 tsp of GH CaliMagic to each bucket.

 

[Imaskypilot]

Should read 1/2 doses of what GH calls for

 

[No Pain]

alrighty I picked up on first grow in 40 years ..welcome ...if you are going to do hydro ...get a good ph meter and a cood tds/ppm/ec meter they are a must as your issue could very well related to the ph of the solution and I did not see that you mentioned it . 5.8-6 is where you want it .

 

[BeanTownFan420]

 

[Imaskypilot]

alrighty I picked up on first grow in 40 years ..welcome ...if you are going to do hydro ...get a good ph meter and a cood tds/ppm/ec meter they are a must as your issue could very well related to the ph of the solution and I did not see that you mentioned it . 5.8-6 is where you want it .

Hey No Pain -

water temps 64-69°F, I let ph drift between 5.7 and 6.2, my PPM’s are between 890-900. I’m hitting all the targets. My equipment is Bluelabs, all calibrated.

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy and from what your pic`s compare to looks like calcium, this is from 420`s ?? Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial for early calcium deficiencies.

I have been researching it for my next grow options. I have done mainly soil / coco mediums indoors as I rent, so that is why I am not doing an ebb-and-flow set-up.
From what you mentioned as your numbers being on, I have only seen most keeping PH at a number below & to 5.9, they mentioning staying below 6 ~ avoiding 6.2 or higher.
Also I do winter grows because of were I am and cool temps slow their ability to process minerals and the micro-nuit`s If your reservoir is maintaining / staying toward the 64 degree temp. You mentioned 64 to 69, ... That may be adding to your troubles, because of the age of your plant. Again in my looking for info to start a ebb / flow in future. I read keeping your res temp lower then 76 ideal and targeting 70 to 72 degrees.

Leaves indicate a deficiency and yes you added more Calcium like you should do. Flora Series mentions using 5ml Cal Mag per gallon for first two weeks, with R/O`ed water or Coco. But, if it is already in the system, .... the roots cannot get it up...... I just had the same issue with my soil grow. Young plants in veg, just feed them and cold front moved in. I had 6 days of COLD temps and started showed deficiency. So adding was not the way to go, I lowered the lights and turned off all fans. That raised the temp from 20.5 / 22 centigrade to 24.7 / 25.6 over night and they perked right up and green color now back through out leaves.

They say temperature is often over looked or it plus a minor PH difference make small things / issues bigger. BUT I only have book and soil experience, so this is helping me for the day I do get my set-up. Hope things come around for you, my last 4 years had been only Autoflower grows.
They are butt crazy as to how fast they do their thing and a lot of fun learning how to grow.

...Peace.....

 

[Imaskypilot]

Howdy and from what your pic`s compare to looks like calcium, this is from 420`s ?? Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver: Pictorial for early calcium deficiencies.

I have been researching it for my next grow options. I have done mainly soil / coco mediums indoors as I rent, so that is why I am not doing an ebb-and-flow set-up.
From what you mentioned as your numbers being on, I have only seen most keeping PH at a number below & to 5.9, they mentioning staying below 6 ~ avoiding 6.2 or higher.
Also I do winter grows because of were I am and cool temps slow their ability to process minerals and the micro-nuit`s If your reservoir is maintaining / staying toward the 64 degree temp. You mentioned 64 to 69, ... That may be adding to your troubles, because of the age of your plant. Again in my looking for info to start a ebb / flow in future. I read keeping your res temp lower then 76 ideal and targeting 70 to 72 degrees.

Leaves indicate a deficiency and yes you added more Calcium like you should do. Flora Series mentions using 5ml Cal Mag per gallon for first two weeks, with R/O`ed water or Coco. But, if it is already in the system, .... the roots cannot get it up...... I just had the same issue with my soil grow. Young plants in veg, just feed them and cold front moved in. I had 6 days of COLD temps and started showed deficiency. So adding was not the way to go, I lowered the lights and turned off all fans. That raised the temp from 20.5 / 22 centigrade to 24.7 / 25.6 over night and they perked right up and green color now back through out leaves.

They say temperature is often over looked or it plus a minor PH difference make small things / issues bigger. BUT I only have book and soil experience, so this is helping me for the day I do get my set-up. Hope things come around for you, my last 4 years had been only Autoflower grows.
They are butt crazy as to how fast they do their thing and a lot of fun learning how to grow.

...Peace.....

Thanx GoofyFoot !! Good stuff here! I think I’m gonna raise my bucket temps to hang in the 70-74°F range. I have thought from the beginning that 64-68 is too cold for a tender plant! I am now using HydroGuard in the system, so I’ll take a chance and raise temps. I’ve been good at watching my ph range from 5.7-6.2. Are you suggesting 6.2 is too high for DWC? Thanx again for the feedback!!!

 

[No Pain]

Hey No Pain -

water temps 64-69°F, I let ph drift between 5.7 and 6.2, my PPM’s are between 890-900. I’m hitting all the targets. My equipment is Bluelabs, all calibrated.

Good to here that you came prepared ..good job .. I do not know what nutrient brand you are using but in a dwc bucket I would be giving her around 300 ppm .. I never go over 550 in an entire grow . So since you have all your other parameters dialed im thinking her solution is to strong .

 

[goofyfoot]

This is what I would be using for hydro as you can see you cut off Calcium and Manganese, or it makes it harder for the plant to uptake it. My biggest thing I have found out it the plant shows a deficiency, so of course you would think to add more.

But if you have enough for it to use but PH or temperature is causing the plants root to not absorb it. You are making an issue worse. I have seen most advice given to stay below 6.0 PH for hydro. Like the chart shows 5.9 to 5.7 you get the sweet spot, most inclusive zone for hydro is at 5.8 PH.

This is what I seen as far as water temp`s: they use centigrade 23C = 73.4Farenheite and what they mention at 18C = 64Farenheite cut the roots availability to uptake the nuit`s. This is the URL of the hole article: Water Temperature in Cannabis - Growbarato Blog

f the water is too hot then the concentration of water lowers quite a lot as the temperature rises. From 20º onwards the oxygen in the water lowers quite a bit to 9ppm which is a decent temperature for your roots to grow at; at 23º or more they reach their maximum absorption point with about 8,5ppm of oxygen.

So, if you want to allow your plants to root correctly then you’ll need to water and keep it at around 20º during the entire process which will help them grow and get a lot of oxygen. If you want your plant to absorb the most nutrients possible you’ll need to keep it at 23º.


Until now we’ve been strictly talking about grows done in soil, where your plants are safer and the actual temperature of the soil depends a lot on your grow situation and parameters. The real issue comes when you’re growing in hydroponics.


When growing in hydro, there’s no soil there to soak up any shocks your plant might get, and your only substrate is water. Your plants’ roots will be in permanent contact with water, which is why the temperature is extremely important for these kinds of grows as it directly impacts the health of your plants. You’ll need to lower or raise the temperature of the water if it’s lower or higher than 20º in this case.


When you use cold water in hydroponics (18º) it helps roots to grow properly after transplanting, but at that temperature the roots can’t absorb that many nutrients. Because they’re so small they don’t actually need any more nutrients, but once the roots have adapted to the system and they look like they can keep up then you need to increase the temperature to 23º so that the plants can absorb all of the nutrients correctly.

 

[Imaskypilot]

Good man GoofyFoot! This is all good stuff!
I think you hit the nail on the head with the water temps. I was worried about root rot, but by using HydroGuard and keeping water temps below 74°F, but above 68°, I think I’ll be ok. It’s still winter here in the colonies, and I have to put water bottles of ice in every morning to bring the water temp down. I see having to buy or DIY a water chiller in my future. It gets hotter than the hinges of Hell here in the summer!
pH is another matter. I’ve been going by the attached chart. Yours is different and I just pulled up another one from another grow site and it different as well !!! It looks like the downside to working at 5.8 is the possibility of locking out Phosphorus & Magnesium. That’s why I let it float thru the 5.8-6.2 range, so that it covers all the nutes intake. Thanx for taking the time to help me out, I’ll be sure to pay it forward when I get some experience under my belt !!! Where are you located GoofyFoot?

 

[goofyfoot]

I am here in USA on the east coast of Florida, IT IS hotter then Hell over here in summer. Mainly why I do winter grows, I would LOVE to have a green house to capture the sunshine here.

It is so humid in the summer cannabis has a hard time of it. At 90 to 94 percent humidity they cant breath and do very poorly. So winter and early spring are the best way around it. With a temperature and humidity controlled green house I can only image the results. The sun is so powerful it would be like 100,000,000 WATT LED`s!!

I figured out a cooling system that would be very efficient so now all I have to do is wait to win the lottery. That is the only thing holding me back from going to an eddy / feed hydro set-up is not owning the property. You have to sneak them in and out of the house to get the sunshine. I worry about my neighbors coming around when I am out and pinching my plants. If they realize what I have growing. So I do indoor grows so they wont steal my shit.

I don`t have any pets so these make up for it, and they are a lot more fun then a bowl of gold fish!!
Keep`em Green and good luck with them ...Peace.....

it is 4:30 PM here and I have their lights come on at 4:00 PM ....a little peek at my 2 girls, they popped open Dec.7th so this is starting on their 7th week....

 

[Imaskypilot]

Beautiful girls !!!

 

[Northern Hydro]

Thanx GoofyFoot !! Good stuff here! I think I’m gonna raise my bucket temps to hang in the 70-74°F range. I have thought from the beginning that 64-68 is too cold for a tender plant! I am now using HydroGuard in the system, so I’ll take a chance and raise temps. I’ve been good at watching my ph range from 5.7-6.2. Are you suggesting 6.2 is too high for DWC? Thanx again for the feedback!!!

no. 67/68 is what. You. need . For water temp
My Journal in sig
Good luck!
Namaste

 

[Northern Hydro]

3 bucket DWC bubbleator.
Reservoir change yesterday, I 1/2 doses of what GH calls for in the Flora series at week 2.

KO Crop Autoflower Day 18 from seed.
Aside from being the slowest growing plants of any sort that I’ve ever seen, today, I see some brown spots on the second true set of leaves (3finger). If you expand the attached photo, you can easily see the brown spots on the two leaves.
I’ve done all my research and I’m guessing calcium deficiency.
Can I use y’all as a sounding board on agree/disagree?

I added 2 tsp of GH CaliMagic to each bucket.

 

[Dr Fish]

Imaskypilot
Been a fan of 5 gal dwc systems since i discovered the joys of waterfarming... In my waterfarm thread there are a few mods I've made to a couple 5 gal buckets that might interest to you.. The scrog screen add on to the bucket is easy, a few $ and being a little handy, will get the others done..
I think the slow growth is due to the fact the hydroton isn't wet enough for the explosive growth you get with a constant drip from some type dripring... You could just add a GH dripring next time, without any mods, that would solve the slow growth..
The led thread is another example of a diy type waterfarm..