Having some major issues need help

[MrMackey]

Seem to be one problem after another here I suspect this is boron or manganese from looking at various sources however there’s fungus gnats which have been there 3 weeks or so now I’ve been using sticky traps caught loads and treating the feed with tanlin, my humidity is also too high 55-85% my climate control is playing up basically only dehumidifies when cooling is say the average is 70%.
The system is alien easy feed in 20l pots of coco perlite 70:30 eco thrive charge they get bottom fed every 24hours the current feed is 0.4ec tap water with 1ml per l calmag plus to 0.8ec then ionic coco bloom to 1.7ec I’m using Buddhas tree pk and meta boost as directed and Cannazym 2.5ml per l total ec is 2.0 and ph is set at 5.7 and rises to 6.1 before I set it back to 5.7
I’m running a sealed room with day temps at 25-27 night 20-22 co2 ppms are 800 gavita de lights set at 850w. So the things I know are bad are fungus gnats (doesn’t seem huge infestation) these little jumping white things in the coco roots(rise to the top when I flush feed through) humidity is 65-70% on average but ranges 55-85, feed water is around 12degrees bit cold I know. Sorry for the wall of text but trying to give as much info as possible as I’m really stumped I’ve done some very successful grows using this system before only difference being humidity wasn’t an issue and no bugs and different strain. If you have got this far thanks for taking the time to read and will be eternally grateful for any help!

 

[MrMackey]

Forgot to add I flushed 2 plants with there normal feed today through to loads of run off today 1 plant was worse affected than the other and run off measured 6.1 ph and ec was 2.5 on one and 2.7 on the other as it’s a bottom fed system don’t usually have run off and I only flush when adding greatwhite or when I see a problem (always hoover out the run off)

 

[PuffyD]

Looks like nute lockout to me. I would give it a good flush with ph'd water, wait a day and feed 5 - 7.5 ml/gal calmag, then go back to normal nutes on next feeding. A good reset is the easiest solution when it comes to coco. As far as the gnats go, coco tends to hang on to moisture better than soil, try allowing a longer time between waterings. In the meantime, the strips and using neem oil will help get rid of them (be vigilant). Just speaking from experience and I am by no means an expert

 

[MrMackey]

Cheers puffyd for the advice mate I’ll give it a go tomorrow, I’ve got neem oil and a soapy additive thing it came with do I just spray the top of the pot with it or flush a litre or so through the top?
Thanks again mate

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Hello , 1st off never ever flush coco with just pure water it always has to at least have a small amount of nutes in it or it screws with the natural ph of the coco itself ,2nd coco will always dry out long before soil , coco growing is a form of hydroponics ,hence the reason it has to be watered (fed )everyday at least once at a ph of 5.8 (this is a crucial number ), I would try giving a watering(feed) by hand if you can from the top for a few days along with the normal feeding it gets , it is impossible to over water coco as it hold 30 % air in it unlike soil , some people water their coco 2-3 times a day , , I see a small amount of tip burn so get your ppm of the nutes back a little ,the purple stems are because your night time temps are to low and there is such a large jump in temps from lights on to lights off , purpling stems and branches are either a off ph or big temp changes usually unless it is the breed of plant you are growing .also are you using a air pump on your rez for added oxygen .the different strain is telling me that it is not liking the high ec .Using great white for anything other than a transplant or as a very young seedling is a waste of a expensive product and you are in flower so it should have a good size root ball already .That low water temp could be a problem , ,get a fish tank heater for your rez they work great at maintaining a constant temp ,this may be causing the purpling also and the water is chilling the roots , be sure to be adding a calmag to your rez , I haven't worked with that brand of nutes but cannabis loves calmag .as for the bugs just keep doing what you are as you are already in to flower so your plants will finish with a decent yield if you get the temp and nute issue inline .

 

[MassMedMan]

You can get rid of the fungus knats with mosquito bits. Either crushed up and top fed or in yer water. Sounds like yer late in flower so it might be too late.

 

[MrMackey]

Hello , 1st off never ever flush coco with just pure water it always has to at least have a small amount of nutes in it or it screws with the natural ph of the coco itself ,2nd coco will always dry out long before soil , coco growing is a form of hydroponics ,hence the reason it has to be watered (fed )everyday at least once at a ph of 5.8 (this is a crucial number ), I would try giving a watering(feed) by hand if you can from the top for a few days along with the normal feeding it gets , it is impossible to over water coco as it hold 30 % air in it unlike soil , some people water their coco 2-3 times a day , , I see a small amount of tip burn so get your ppm of the nutes back a little ,the purple stems are because your night time temps are to low and there is such a large jump in temps from lights on to lights off , purpling stems and branches are either a off ph or big temp changes usually unless it is the breed of plant you are growing .also are you using a air pump on your rez for added oxygen .the different strain is telling me that it is not liking the high ec .Using great white for anything other than a transplant or as a very young seedling is a waste of a expensive product and you are in flower so it should have a good size root ball already .That low water temp could be a problem , ,get a fish tank heater for your rez they work great at maintaining a constant temp ,this may be causing the purpling also and the water is chilling the roots , be sure to be adding a calmag to your rez , I haven't worked with that brand of nutes but cannabis loves calmag .as for the bugs just keep doing what you are as you are already in to flower so your plants will finish with a decent yield if you get the temp and nute issue inline .

Thanks so much for the detailed reply mate, I didn’t get there today in the end so didn’t flush with water yet do you suggest maybe an Ec of 1.6/7 total? How much etc of cal mag I think this is where I’m messing up? I use 1ml per litre of plant magic cal mag plus which is 0.4 ec on top of my tap water. Managed to get the heating sorted so the tanks should be around 20c now I’ll see tomorrow and adjust it if needed, what are the ideal temps day and night you suggest mate I can control this accurately I just thought 22 night 27 day was about right, it’s the humidity I can’t get better which I think is a lot to do with the problem if the plants can’t respire properly? And yes I have a big air pump that has 2 ball style air stones in each res
Thanks again mate

 

[PuffyD]

Hello , 1st off never ever flush coco with just pure water it always has to at least have a small amount of nutes in it or it screws with the natural ph of the coco itself ,2nd coco will always dry out long before soil , coco growing is a form of hydroponics ,hence the reason it has to be watered (fed )everyday at least once at a ph of 5.8 (this is a crucial number ), I would try giving a watering(feed) by hand if you can from the top for a few days along with the normal feeding it gets , it is impossible to over water coco as it hold 30 % air in it unlike soil , some people water their coco 2-3 times a day , , I see a small amount of tip burn so get your ppm of the nutes back a little ,the purple stems are because your night time temps are to low and there is such a large jump in temps from lights on to lights off , purpling stems and branches are either a off ph or big temp changes usually unless it is the breed of plant you are growing .also are you using a air pump on your rez for added oxygen .the different strain is telling me that it is not liking the high ec .Using great white for anything other than a transplant or as a very young seedling is a waste of a expensive product and you are in flower so it should have a good size root ball already .That low water temp could be a problem , ,get a fish tank heater for your rez they work great at maintaining a constant temp ,this may be causing the purpling also and the water is chilling the roots , be sure to be adding a calmag to your rez , I haven't worked with that brand of nutes but cannabis loves calmag .as for the bugs just keep doing what you are as you are already in to flower so your plants will finish with a decent yield if you get the temp and nute issue inline .

I have never had a problem with flushing my coco with RO water without anything added, that's why it's called a flush. My advice is from experience, but take it with a grain of salt. Each grow is different from person to person. If it's a nute lockout, something in your medium is off. Better to flush and start with clean coco. Marijuana is pretty resilient plant, so the reset won't hurt it. Calmag is the most common deficiency in coco, plus it's hard to overdo it. I use a little more than what most say. My girls love coco and I stress less because of it! This is exactly why I prefer coco over soil. ✌

 

[dakotamoon]

I agree with noob - look at the feeding instructions from Culivator - NEVER flush coco with plain water. It does throw the ph and ppm balance way off. For an overview of Coco - Cultivator - I've read it at least 3 times all the way through, it's an amazing resource.

Fungus Nats - I had a zillion of them with my soil grow, but haven't seen a single one in my coco grow. Two things I have done to try and minimize nats: added hydrogen peroxide to my waste water reservoirs, and added food grade diatomaceous earth to the coco top and bottom. That has kept me from seeing a single nat (so far)!

 

[MassMedMan]

I flush coco with plain water, and usually some house and garden drip clean. Either way, I don't have a working PH meter and have not for years
I run Canna coco (reused) and rxgreen.... I guess I'm just lucky.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Growing in coco is always flushed it is just not the same type of flushing as in soil , flushing in coco is done every time you water (feed) as you need a good 20% run off ,this takes the old nutes , salts etc out and brings in the new nutes and is watered (fed)every day , plants will only take out of the coco what it needs at that time and leaves the rest ,with a heavy run off it takes the leftovers out and then you replace the nutes and let the plant decide the next day what it wants (needs) out of the new batch of nutes .flushing in soil is because the soil acts like a sponge and holds in a lot more nutes and they accumulate over time and the salts will build up also ,hence coco is watered every day and soil every 3-5 days .soil has a lot more microbes etc in it to help the plant break down these nutes , coco doesn't , coco is the medium used to provide the stability for the plant to hold itself up right just like clay pellets in d.w.c. (bubbler buckets ), they are both just 2 different forms of hydro growing , topping up your bubbler buck is replacing what the plant has taken in and is then topped up to replace what it took , it is then dumped out every week or so as to prevent the bad bacteria from building up in the bucket , in soil the good bacteria helps keep the bad bacteria in check .this is why you need a constant ph in coco (5.8)and let it do its own ranging of ph through out the day , flushing with plain water causes what I call hot and cold spots in the coco where some of the nutes have been totally washed out and spots where the nutes are still there , you can never totally clean a pot of ALL its nutes , just keep them (low and consistent )and feed it every day and let the plant tell you if it wants more .(higher ppm )Flushing in soil is only done if you have severely fucked some thing up (ph or ppm`s) as it causes the plant a ton of stress .

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply mate, I didn’t get there today in the end so didn’t flush with water yet do you suggest maybe an Ec of 1.6/7 total? How much etc of cal mag I think this is where I’m messing up? I use 1ml per litre of plant magic cal mag plus which is 0.4 ec on top of my tap water. Managed to get the heating sorted so the tanks should be around 20c now I’ll see tomorrow and adjust it if needed, what are the ideal temps day and night you suggest mate I can control this accurately I just thought 22 night 27 day was about right, it’s the humidity I can’t get better which I think is a lot to do with the problem if the plants can’t respire properly? And yes I have a big air pump that has 2 ball style air stones in each res
Thanks again mate

I always add calmag to my feed ,plants need it in coco a lot more than soil , and 20 degrees for water temp is good , even at 17 it's ok but no lower you want it at as close to room temp as you can get , humidity play a bigger role on plants in flower mostly ,as long as you are 40% or above you are ok but 60 % is best for veg , 40 % or less for flower is great , day time temps (lights on ) 73-79 is good and no less than 73 for night (lights off ), I can not tell you what ec (ppm) to use as every environment and plant is different but I always start low and watch my plants for signs of yellowing as in coco you can fix a nute deficiency real quick as its fed every day , it is a lot easier to give more to your plants than it is to try and take away a over feed .if it yellows give it more if the tips start to burn give it less if it looks green and the leaves are pointing straight out you have hit the sweet spot and keep doing the same thing .I am a ppm grower so I cant tell what e.c to use but I start at about 280 ppm on a plant that is about 6 inches tall in veg and 5.8ph

 

[Emilya Green]

manganese deficiency is very common in late flower. It and several of the heavy metal deficiencies pop up due to a lack of pH drift in a system and most commonly affects those who religiously adjust their pH for the middle of the range, never allowing it to venture toward the lower edge where these metals are the most mobile. Many experienced growers get around this problem by purposely setting their pH to the low end of the scale at least a couple of times toward mid to late flower, allowing a pick up of these essential nutrients.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

In over 20 grows I have never had bugs so not much help here ,but I can tell you that you could eat off the floors of both my grow tent and flowering tent , I believe in preventive maintenance than trying to get rid of the little buggers afterwards , but have a look at cultivators posts he is the guru of this growing in coco thing , his advice is rock solid !! hey EMILYA , maybe you can help out with the bug thing .

 

[Emilya Green]

hey EMILYA , maybe you can help out with the bug thing .

i like the diatomaceous earth suggestion... works very well, and I sort of enjoy the concept of shredding their little bodies up and turning them to compost.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

i like the diatomaceous earth suggestion... works very well, and I sort of enjoy the concept of shredding their little bodies up and turning them to compost.

Can you use this in coco ? Emilya

 

[Emilya Green]

Don't see why not... I am curious why the gnats like it in there though... what's in there for them?

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

you got me as I have never had a gnat problem in coco ever , something sounds fishy

 

[dakotamoon]

I'm a first time Coco grower, I had so many gnats with my first soil grow, that I added DEarth to my coco grow - which was recommended - somewhere else in this forum. That and adding panty hose to the bottom of the pots. I didn't like the smell coming from my DTW runnoff - so I added peroxide. It's very possible that - I didn't need - to address the gnat problem, but I believe in being pro-active! I had the misfortune to buy some brick coco - which was full of bugs.. the top of the coco was literally moving - like a disney movie. So maybe I have over reacted, but I don't have any gnats.

 

[MrMackey]

Guys thanks so much for all the info taking it in like a sponge! Been up there today and the problem has got worse (of course because I not changed nothing) my humidity is my biggest worry at the moment and can’t sort it for a few days when I replace the opti climate I believe that’s why it’s not gettting the humidity down enough I’m 99% sure that’s why the gnats are loving life I’ve seen thrips in there too leaving snail slime looking marks on leafs will be spraying everything with a neem oil solution tomorrow to hopefuly piss the bugs off abit, never had them before can only assume it’s down to the high humidity as I keep the room very clean and sealed, I’ve flushed 1 plant with 40l of diluted feed with ec 1.1 and added h202 3% at a rate of 3ml per litre the 1st bit of run off had ec of 2.6 ph 6.1 by the end of the flush run off was 1.6ec and 5.9 ph I vacuumed it all out and the whole room is getting fed on a diluted feed of 1.2 ec 5.7 ph today debating whether to flush the rest of the plants tomorow in the same way or just give the weak feed for a few days and see what happens?
I’ll get some of the diamatious earth over the weekend if possible is it a grow shop thing or b&q type thing? Am I wasting my time adding it now they’ve taken hold or isit a preventative for the next run?
Can’t thank you enough for the help again