My Deep Water Culture, White Castle, SH, First Grow, 1 Blackjack Added

[VapedOutJoe]

I haven't had much time to get a grow thread started, but figured I better do it, cause I keep needing help. I hope things work out for me on this. Started 2-12-10, and have had issues with having to get the seeds in the tank a day sooner then I thought I would have to. I have had gnats flying around, hopefully that has been taken care of, haven't seen one in the grow room for 2 days now. I had/have algae, and it looks like maybe nute burn, or heat stress??? I have no pictures as of right now. Sorry, that's one of the reasons I haven't started a thread yet too.

Start date: 2-12-10 Calling this: Day 1 of Grow, Day 1 Veg. Put cracked seeds into Bubble system with 3 CFL 85 Watt (2x 6500k 1x 3000k) Cracked seeds in 2 days using the Plate method

I've done quite a bit to get things under control, and am still working on getting this in balance. After 10 days the plants all look different. One has the second node showing pretty good, but the tips, and up to half of the first 2 leaves are browning. One is about the same size, a little bigger, has the 2nd node showing, and the first 2 leaves have browning on the outside of the leaves. One is a slow growing runt that is catching up, but it now showing yellowing on the tips of the first node. The last one is the largest, very nice structure, all green, my only plant I am happy with right now.

This thread is starting on a low note , but hopefully it will turn around soon. All of the plants have roots, the runt has finally produced a 1 inch root last night. 2 plants have a bit of browning on the roots from the algae issue I'm working on now. I have done 1 complete drain and clean of the res and all parts, and did a 3/4 drain and fill. I am running Nutes, but very low dose. I had 200 PPM for the past 3 days, and want to up it, but I'm not sure if that's what is causing the leaf browning issues. Seems low for Nute burn, but what do I really know.

I am planning on moving the Blackjack to a bucket soon. The 3 White Castle's will stay in the SH system. I know I'm leaving tons out, and I'm sure you will have many questions. I will try to add more info and answer questions posted. Things have been crazy lately, and very busy, so sorry if I'm a slow responder. I've been reading up for a while now, but this is my first time using a Hydro system of any kind.

Once I get this thing going better, I hope I can give you all a good show with this grow. Thanks for stopping in and taking the time to read my thread.

 

[Trunk5]

just take it slow with nutes at first untill you can acquire a feel for them. keep your ph between 5.3-6.4 my exp this is the best range to be in. keep light out of the res that will cut down algae. just take it slow and let the plants tell you what they need best way to learn.

 

[VapedOutJoe]

just take it slow with nutes at first untill you can acquire a feel for them. keep your ph between 5.3-6.4 my exp this is the best range to be in. keep light out of the res that will cut down algae. just take it slow and let the plants tell you what they need best way to learn.

Thanks for words of encouragement. I've been starting to really bum about the issues I'm having, but I relaxed and said to myself, I need to take a step back, get the PH under control, I think I have the light getting into the res under control, I have the pest thing under control, and I need to go back to straight water, (with H2O2) for a day or 2 to get the plants happy again. Then start the nutes back up at that point. I'm working the algae issue by removing as much light as possible. I added reflective tape to the lid, and taped white plastic, think multi layered garbage bags to the outside of the res. I put new plastic covers over each cup, with a small whole cut out for the plants.

If the leaves are turning tips down and curling under from the tip to the stem, is this supposed to be nute deficiency? That's what I thought, up'd the nutes (barely), and got the burn on 2 of the plants. But i had also moved lights around, and had a couple of lights pretty close on the plants because I wanted to try to stop them from streching so much as babies.

 

[Trunk5]

they could be curling down to get away form the light, just a sign to show your starting heat stress. and no matter what you do the plants there gunna grow its first 4 weeks of bloom. mine started week 4 yesterday and finally stoped stretching.

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Today I did some work. First last night I PH'd the water to 6, and added H2O2 for the algae issue. Today, I had more time, so I did a complete drain, clean and refill with tap water, H2O2, and PH'd it to 5.5. No Nutes added, since I have the leaf burn issue. I also moved the lights up a bit so the girls can have a cooler time during recovery. The lights are about 6-8 inches away instead of the four inches I've had them. I misted them while I was cleaning out the res, and will mist them again later.
I bought a temp strip for the res, and it showed I was running at 76 degrees. After the res change, it showed 64. I will check it in a few hours to see how high it gets. I also removed one of the 12 inch air stones, it had a break in it, and replaced with a 6 inch. I'll go buy a new 12 inch later today. The 6 inch is putting out a ton of bigger bubbles than the other 12 inch that puts out smaller bubbles.
Wish me luck, I'm going to let them run with straight tap for at least 2 days to help clear up the algae and nute issues I've created. I feel like a mad scientist creating monsters in the water! BWAAHAHAAHAHHAA, that's bad, but I need to make light of this situation so I'm not bummed.

Thanks again Trunk5 for the help!

What? No Pics??? What a weak @ss grow thread! Right? I need to get a camera. Mine is MIA right now. I think it's at my bro's house.

 

[TheAnswer1776]

Thanks for words of encouragement. I've been starting to really bum about the issues I'm having, but I relaxed and said to myself, I need to take a step back, get the PH under control, I think I have the light getting into the res under control, I have the pest thing under control, and I need to go back to straight water, (with H2O2) for a day or 2 to get the plants happy again. Then start the nutes back up at that point. I'm working the algae issue by removing as much light as possible. I added reflective tape to the lid, and taped white plastic, think multi layered garbage bags to the outside of the res. I put new plastic covers over each cup, with a small whole cut out for the plants.

If the leaves are turning tips down and curling under from the tip to the stem, is this supposed to be nute deficiency? That's what I thought, up'd the nutes (barely), and got the burn on 2 of the plants. But i had also moved lights around, and had a couple of lights pretty close on the plants because I wanted to try to stop them from streching so much as babies.

If the leaves are curling under and tips turning brown, it is usually either nute burn or overwatering. It could also be caused from heat stress if your lights are too low. You did the right thing with the flush and plain PH water. I would leave it like that for a couple days then add 1/4 dose of nutes. How big are the plants now?

 

[TheAnswer1776]

That 76 degree reservoir temp is a little high. I would keep an eye on that, as that could be leading to your algea problems. I keep a seperate fan dedicated to blowing right on my reservoirs and it keeps my temp below 70. Make sure you get you another 12" inch airstone, as those little bubbles are what you want. Good luck my friend and stay positive. My last grow I had so many problems, including bugs with one week of flower left! Just remember patience is the key to a good grow!

 

[VapedOutJoe]

If the leaves are curling under and tips turning brown, it is usually either nute burn or overwatering. It could also be caused from heat stress if your lights are too low. You did the right thing with the flush and plain PH water. I would leave it like that for a couple days then add 1/4 dose of nutes. How big are the plants now?

Thanks for stopping by and replying. The plants are still very small, 3 are about 2-2 1/2 inches and the other is about 3 inches tall. The largest one still looks pretty good to me, I can see the 3rd node coming out. Only one other shows the 3rd node coming out too. The 3 small ones all have leaf burns, but I think everything will be fine.
to my grow!

 

[TheAnswer1776]

Thanks for stopping by and replying. The plants are still very small, 3 are about 2-2 1/2 inches and the other is about 3 inches tall. The largest one still looks pretty good to me, I can see the 3rd node coming out. Only one other shows the 3rd node coming out too. The 3 small ones all have leaf burns, but I think everything will be fine.
to my grow!

Yep they will be fine! Just remember too little nutes are always better than too much! I start at 1/4 and gradually go up 100 PPM at a time and see how the plants react.

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Last night I PH'd the water to about 5.2 from 6.5, this morning I had to do the same thing. Tonight I will PH it again, same with tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night I will do a complete drain and clean of the res and put fresh PH'd water. We'll see how they look then.
Res temps are down in the 71-73 range, pretty steady at 72. No nutes. The plants look about the same as yesterday. One of them has quite blackened leaves. Like I was trying to make some cajun blackened chicken, black. But it also has the new node that is still pretty green.
Later

 

[ol hippy]

Where are you getting your water from ? My tap water was very high ppm (580) and it caused my ph to jump all around. I now just use bottled drinking water (1 dollar a gal) add my nutes adjust ph and it stays there ! See if youe water is causing your problems . good luck with your grow Vaped !

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Where are you getting your water from ? My tap water was very high ppm (580) and it caused my ph to jump all around. I now just use bottled drinking water (1 dollar a gal) add my nutes adjust ph and it stays there ! See if youe water is causing your problems . good luck with your grow Vaped !

Thanks ol hippy. And welcome! My water comes out at 250-300PPM and always right around 7.25 PH. I'll keep an eye on things, I'm thinking the algae issues are causing some of the fluctuations. I didn't have PH problems the first few days, before adding nutes or having algae. I was thinking of going with bottled water just like you said for the same reasons, but wasn't sure if I was ready yet, since I think the algae is what's causing the PH changes. I should know within the week, I hope. Thanks for the help!

 

[VapedOutJoe]

I checked the plants a bit ago.
res temp: 74 with no fan for 8 hours, fan has been turned back on
nutes: none - still working on getting the plants to be happy
Plants:
Right rear - cripsy brown looking, green still left on 2nd node
Right front - not so much brown as it is yellow, yellow starting to cover the 2nd node. I turned down the water trickle even though it was slower then the best plant I have growing.
Left rear - smallest of them all, tips of first node are brown
Left front - largest of them all, little bit of browning on first node, but 2nd and 3rd look good so far.
PH: was 6.6, now 5.6
I moved the lights up to about 15 inches away. They've been more like 6 inches away, but I don't know if that is causing them issues. I've had the plain water in for a day and a half, but the right rear is still crisping. Where should I have the lights right now? High? Low?

 

[Daffodil]

high and also that res temp seems alil high and also could b nute burn

 

[Daffodil]

can u show pics?

 

[Dr.hightime]

as for the bugs. if you grow outside or greenhouse you can put lizerds on your crops. it sounds weard but it works. DO NOT spray with shittty chemicals. if you live inside and you are getting bugs, move to a new house

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Got some PICS!!! This is the Left Rear White Castle, small but looks better then some of the rest

Here is the Left front, this is the best one of them all.

Here's a Pic of the two

Sorry I was in a hurry taking the pictures. I should get better with practice.

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Right rear, this is the BlackJack, pretty black huh???

Right front is another White Castle, this one is really yellow and was the first to show any stress issues

And one together

 

[wowtestdrive]

Well Vaped, They are certinitly hurting..but they still have plenty of room for improvement!! And the new growth looks great, which is the most important!

To ME it looks like light burn...but i saw you say that the 85w cfls were 15" away...which is way too far away to burn them. I grew from seed with 85w and went from ~8" away moving em closer every day.

How close were the lights when you first started getting the brown?

 

[VapedOutJoe]

Well Vaped, They are certinitly hurting..but they still have plenty of room for improvement!! And the new growth looks great, which is the most important!

To ME it looks like light burn...but i saw you say that the 85w cfls were 15" away...which is way too far away to burn them. I grew from seed with 85w and went from ~8" away moving em closer every day.

How close were the lights when you first started getting the brown?

Hey there, thanks for checking this out. I had the lights like 4-6 inches away. Just earlier today, i thought that might really be whats giving me soo much problems from the burnt plants to the warm tank, and then the algae. So now the lights have been moved to about 15 inches away.