1st Grow, 1st Issue

[JTBsHappyGarden]

We keep researching, but we can't pinpoint this issue, since it is our first grow, and there are so many forums. We are growing white widow autos. We are growing in FFHappy Frog with 30% perilite. We are using very low range nutrients and i'm thinking this might be a PH issue, but we are not sure. Indoor growing 3 plants in 5 gallon smart pots in our tent. Thoughts on what this could be? Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Hydroholic]

Looks like a cal/mag deficiency. What nutrients? What part of the plant is this happening?

 

[JTBsHappyGarden]

I pulled that leaf from about half way up the plant. Our poor plants did get a dose or a few of jacked up PH. It was a Bluelabs monitor fail. My initial calibration may not have worked. Luckily we figured it out before it got any worse and have been double testing the water since. I am not sure how many times it was off, but the run off has been between a PH 6.6 - 6.8 We do know at least once I forgot to ph it at all, but we were able to give them correctly PH'd water immediately. Soil was a curve ball we did all the research on Hydro and chickened out at the store last minute. Glad we did. We are using at 1/4 the recommended charted use Per gallon. Nutes are: General Hydroponics CalMag, Flora Trio, Armor Si, now that they are in flowering we are using GH FloraNectar, Hydroguard although1st use was this week, PH Up & Down although I haven't needed the down yet. Last PH Run off was 6.6 and 6.7 we have 3 - 5 Gallon Smart Pots and a mars hydro ts3000 LED at 22in from the plants. Keeping 75-77 temp with 50-52% humidity. It has been no small feat to get to that so, yay. I am attaching picctures. The tall one is looking good, the tiny on i jacked up the roots stayed in the cup so I am surprised she is alive. The fluffly one is the same seed, but is slower, lighter, and way bigger than the other 2 its growing crazy every day! She was our last up and tiniest in the beginning. Genetics, transplant gone wrong? I don't know. We are surpised they are still alive to be honest. Speaking of genetics these are from Original Harvest Seeds. Hope that is enough info. Thank you for any suggestions you might have.

Tiny/gimpy
Normal
Different plant?

 

[AdaminCO]

Quit measuring runoff, it tells you nothing useful. You need to set your input pH to 6.2... water to runoff each time.
Just some advice... don’t bury them so deep next round. They can’t get any good airflow down in the pot. Are you should you’re not rootbound in the droopy one?

 

[Hydroholic]

One of the big thing I see that needs some attention is your pot fill level. If you are going to stay in 5g pots they need to be full. you probably have 2.5 gallon of soil in a 5g bag. This likely is contributing to small plants. To me it looks like your high in N and low cal/mag on the gimpy one. The other looks thirsty with the droop but likely root bound also with such little soil.
I personally find hydro less of a hassle than soil.

 

[JTBsHappyGarden]

Quit measuring runoff, it tells you nothing useful. You need to set your input pH to 6.2... water to runoff each time.
Just some advice... don’t bury them so deep next round. They can’t get any good airflow down in the pot. Are you should you’re not rootbound in the droopy one?

Thank you for the advice and I am not sure if it is root bound. Is there a way to check it other than pulling it out to look?

 

[AdaminCO]

Thank you for the advice and I am not sure if it is root bound. Is there a way to check it other than pulling it out to look?

No not really.

 

[JTBsHappyGarden]

One of the big thing I see that needs some attention is your pot fill level. If you are going to stay in 5g pots they need to be full. you probably have 2.5 gallon of soil in a 5g bag. This likely is contributing to small plants. To me it looks like your high in N and low cal/mag on the gimpy one. The other looks thirsty with the droop but likely root bound also with such little soil.
I personally find hydro less of a hassle than soil.

No not really.

Thank you for the advice. I will get on lowering the N & increasing the calMag. The big one being root bound makes complete sense. She was doing fine until the last 2 days, but she has also grown exponentially in the last 48 hours and is happy otherwise. I can't thank you enough. I have noted the pot filling and will adjust for the next grow. I was researching for adding soil now and came across top dressing. My question is do I add soil now or just keep in mind for the next grow? If I am adding soil; Are there any amendments to the soil you would suggest? We are doing FFHappy Frog with perilite. Or should I just leave it the way it is and up the calMag we are currently doing 2ml per gallon.