Help emergency advice for the newbie

[24Merlin]

Good Evening everyone.I,am 11 day,s into my second grow attemp everything was lookin real good until early morn!When I observed one plant has developed yellow leaf tips and another is starting to do this on one leaf.I,am useing R/O water and have not added any nutrients.I have not checked the PH levels of this water as i was under the impression it is not needed!Advice from the seller of the grow box I bought.Also it appears two of the plants have the seed kernel stuck on the end of there leaf,s!One of them is real healthy the other is one of the yellow leaf plants!My questions are how do I check the PH levels and how would I adjust them if nessesary!Also could this be the cause of the yellow leaf tips?Should I remove the seed kernel that is stuck on the ends of the leafs of two of the plants?All help I can get will be greatly appreciated and will help other newbies who could have this same problem!I will be patiently awaiting the answers of my new found buds.Happy Trails amigos!From 24Merlin!

 

[trichomes]

Re: Help Help emergancy advice for the newbie

simple, check ph, adjust ph if its not 6.0 or lower, then flush with good water, consider adding nutes, this pic may help, ph VERY important, RO water has nothing in it, nutes must be added unless you are in good soil.

 

[TaylorMade420]

need a ph meter to check ph and a pic speaks a thousand words mate, hope you get it sorted

 

[Personal Stash]

I am newer than you Merlin, but I have to chime in cuz I don't feel you are getting a lot of advice. First of all, you can get a really cheap PH tester at almost any tropical fish store, if not, grow stores have them. The things on the ends of your leafs sounds like the seed to me, if so, you can leave it or gently take it off. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, are you sure you are not overwatering the plants. It is very easy to do when they are so young. Just my two cents, GL, Go Texans!

 

[DharmaBud]

Exactly, you shouldn't have to water your plants that often, give it a few days doing nothing to it and see if you see improvement. Unfortunately overwatering takes longer to recover from then overwatering. Remember this, it is a weed, it will bounce back in a few hours after watering if it is underwatered. If it is overwatered, it could take days for the soil to drain enough for the roots to get air. Good luck. Yes ph meter also at Ebuy and A***Z***N.

 

[24Merlin]

Thank you one and all for help. Hey trichromes is the picture you refer to the one were you have your poor plants in bondage. Or the one were you show some microscopic seedlings of some type? I really need to know !I would like everyone to know I, am growing hydroponic for this first grow so please don't mention dirt I don't know if what works for dirt will also work for hydro! So for know I just want advice from hydro growers for now maybe in future I might experiment and grow hydro and dirt side by side I am curious about dirt growing and aerogardeing. But am sticking with hydro for know. I'm going to ask some the same questions again just to see if I get some different answers. Is PH level monitoring real important in hydro growing or secondary. I am using R/O water as per several growers recommendations! I don't know if trimming the bad parts of leaves is good or bad but it's to late I've already done it and the body's look no worse for wear. After my having done it! What be the opinion of anyone about this! I'd like to give special thanks to TaylorMadr420 your info pinpointed my problem! And I have been able to identify the deficiency! Hopefully my TLC and nutrients i, am using will turn the tide! I'll be coming up on water change time 8/1/13.When changing should I make the roots don't touch anything at all! Should I build some sort of device to keeps the roots supported! Or is it okay if just hang in the open air! Also should the the basin be washed with soap and rinsed really good or just rinsed out with plain water! That's all I can think of right now Thanks so very, very much for everyone's help and love. I'll be patiently awaiting replies...24Merlin

 

[Joshua BenNun]

With many varieties, cotyledons yellow and fall off. Nor is it unusual to lose some mature leaves to yellowing throughout the life of the plant, especially during flowering when the buds take priority. As long as leaf loss is slow and the plant always has plenty of healthy exposure to light, it won't hurt your crop.

You don't need a pH meter. A small box of pH strips can be purchased in a health food or aquarium store. Test and adjust your water before putting it on the plant. (Acidifier drops can also be purchased from aquarium dealers.) My pH strips aren't all that precise, but they let me know I'm in the high 5-low 6 range, and that seems to have worked well. Actually, I don't always check my water's pH anymore, because I've used Crystal Geyser Spring Water (sold by Safeway), which always comes in the right pH. (As should be evident here, I'm growing in soil; I believe a different pH is recommend for hydroponic grows, but I don't know what it is.)

The seed husk on your sprout won't hurt anything. Let it fall off naturally, which it will if the plant is healthy and well cared for.

 

[GreatLife4All]

pH monitoring is critical in hydro growing. Soil has the ability to buffer nutrients - water does not. What this means is that it is very hard for a plant / nutrients to change the pH of soil, but very easy to affect the pH in water. If you are growing in soil and know what you are doing (or following someone else's plan who knows what they are doing), you can get by without a pH meter.

If you are doing hydro using R/O water - then the yellowing is due to no nutrients. A seedling can not make it very long without nutrients. When you are growing in soil, those nutes are present. When growing in R/O water - there is nothing there for the plant to eat. You should start out at 1/4 strength and slowly work your way up to full strength.

By basin, I am going to assume you mean a nutrient reservoir. Yes, you need to clean your reservoir every time that you change nutes. I do two different grades of cleaning - the final cleaning when I am done growing and wanting to start anew... and the maintenance cleaning that I do when I switch nutrients.

I have been using SCROG on the last couple of grows, so I can't really move the plants out of their respective buckets. As such, I drain all the water out of the system, add clean water with H2O2 (.5 ml / liter), and then use a flushing agent such as Botanicare Cleanex. The purpose behind this is to get rid of the salts that have built up in the system and on the roots. As such, i leave the system running until the PPMs stabilize (typically takes a couple of hours). I then drain this out and add my nutrient solution.

I also have an Ebb and Flow system that I use for veg. It has a separate reservoir. I actually clean this reservoir by simply draining everything, and then using a mild bleach solution to wash everything down. Because it is veg, there is not as much salt buildup on the roots and system. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and flush with Cleanex... I just don't do it. Though I probably would if I kept mothers for any length of time.

I also have two journals - there are lots of hydro tips contained in these journals. You can see them by using the links in my signature.

 

[24Merlin]

Good morning,GreatLife4All Thank you so very much for your responce and coming to my aide.It,s great someone who pays attention to what i said is going help me out.Please no offence to anyone who grow,s in soil but to tell me what you soil grower,s do do,es not help me i,am growing HYDROPONICLY NO DIRT.So i dont think any advice given by soil growers will apply to me!To continue GreatLife4All you are correct about when I said basin I have all six plants in one water tank!It has six holes cut into the lid and all the roots hang down into one cantainer!You mention,ed to change water evey time I change nutrient,s do mean if I increase from 1/4 strengh to 1/2 strengh to completely change water.Or when i change from grow nutrients to flowering nutrients!The seller of the grow box i,am useing recomend,s to change water every three weeks is this a good rule of thumb or would you consider it hearsay!Your opinion will be greatly appreciated on this matter!Also in considering your instructions about cleaning I,ve went out and bought an additional tank to switch out for cleaning porposes.I asked the question of what to do with the tray of my six plants when cleaning or flushing.Should they always be put in a tank with R/O water or can they be put on jury rigged stand as long as the roots did,nt come in contact with anything!Also if I use your cleaning procedure would it work as long as I have two tanks to transfer from one tank to another with a fresh water/nutrient mix!So to get this right I would put them in fresh water with scrog leave for two hours then.Switch to fresh water with Botanicare Cleanex for two hours and then back to my R/O/nutrient mix as the final step!Seems confusing but if it makes my crop successful it,s what I,ll do!Please get back to me and let me know if I have the procedure correct!Ps where can I get Scrog and this botanicare cleanex products.I will be patiently awaiting your advice!Thank you so very much for your time!24Merlin

 

[GreatLife4All]

Wow, some very good questions.

First, there are a lot of similarities between soil and hydro. Many of what I would consider best practices are common between these two growing methodologies. So I wouldn't dismiss advice out of hand just because the guy grows in soil.

You mention,ed to change water evey time I change nutrient,s do mean if I increase from 1/4 strengh to 1/2 strengh to completely change water.Or when i change from grow nutrients to flowering nutrients!The seller of the grow box i,am useing recomend,s to change water every three weeks is this a good rule of thumb or would you consider it hearsay!

Because this is your first grow, I believe that there are many things to learn. How to properly mix. How to hit the right ppms... right pH... when to increase ppms... and etc. The only way to get good at this stuff is to do it. IMO, it takes more experience to grow well when you are changing nutes every three weeks. You are introducing the possibility of disease and pests because of the length of time between cleanings. Obviously, many people go longer than three weeks between changing water - but they know what diseases look like and know how to react quickly to save the plant.

As a newbie, you will notice an issue and ignore it for several days. You will then post online and wait a couple of days for responses. You will then argue with yourself about which of the conflicting responses are correct, and a week or so later you will attempt to correct the original issue... In the meantime, the plant has advanced to other follow-on issues...

So even though it seems expensive and silly... I would recommend that you change nutes every week for your first grow. it will teach you a lot about your system and plants.

And a nice stepped plan for nutes would be to start at 1/4 strength, move to 1/2 strength, and then 3/4 strength and finally on to full strength. This gives the plants four weeks to adjust to the higher nutes. It also gives the plant four weeks of increasing size (which allows it to suck up more nutes). If you are doing clones rather than seedlings, start the plants on 1/2 to 3/4. I start my clones at the same level as the mother - approximately 1000 ppms. But again, this takes more experience because it can burn some clones.

Also in considering your instructions about cleaning I,ve went out and bought an additional tank to switch out for cleaning porposes.I asked the question of what to do with the tray of my six plants when cleaning or flushing.Should they always be put in a tank with R/O water or can they be put on jury rigged stand as long as the roots did,nt come in contact with anything!

IMO, you don't need to do anything special. I use 4 gallon buckets - and I have a spare set of buckets for when I am cleaning. I just move the plants into the buckets without water or anything. I have never had a problem doing this... and have never given it a thought until you mentioned this. I have left the plants in the buckets without water for hours on end without damage that I could see.

I believe the most important thing is keeping light off the roots. So I wouldn't recommend a makeshift stand that leaves the roots exposed to light... but I don't have any proof that this would hurt things. And have even done it myself for short periods of time.

Also if I use your cleaning procedure would it work as long as I have two tanks to transfer from one tank to another with a fresh water/nutrient mix!So to get this right I would put them in fresh water with scrog leave for two hours then.Switch to fresh water with Botanicare Cleanex for two hours and then back to my R/O/nutrient mix as the final step!Seems confusing but if it makes my crop successful it,s what I,ll do!Please get back to me and let me know if I have the procedure correct!Ps where can I get Scrog and this botanicare cleanex products.I will be patiently awaiting your advice!

I try and avoid recommending products... but sometimes I must.

As you circulate water and nutrients in your system, nutrient salts can and do build up on the roots, tank, pumps, and etc. After you build up so much, you will start to have issues. One of the symptoms that you will see is that the PPMs keep increasing on a daily basis. When you see this, it is time to use Cleanex to help get the gunk off the roots.

I have a very fancy system for personal grows - I will admit. I only change my reservoir every five weeks or so which amounts to three times during a normal eight to ten week flowering cycle - after transition, after bloom, and flush. I am forced to do this because I change the amounts and types of nutrients that I use. After going five weeks without changing the reservoir, it is VERY beneficial to flush the system with Cleanex. And I think it is very important that the roots get this cleaning as well - so the plants should be in the tank for the flush.

And yes, if you have two tanks it can work even better. Simply prepare the spare tank with water and appropriate amount of nutes, Switch the plants over. And then do an extensive cleaning of the tank that you just liberated... at your own pace.

Under this system, the only advantage to the Cleanex would be to clean up deposits on the roots themselves. Your normal cleaning of the system should take care of most of the other issues.

And let me repeat the process one more time - a little more clearly.

1. Drain the system as completely as possible.

2. Fill the system with R/O water.

3. Add Cleanex to the R/O water.

4. Take a ppm reading. Wait an hour. Take another PPM reading.

5. As long as the PPMs are increasing, continue the flush.

6. Once the PPMs are stable, drain the system as completely as possible.

7. Add R/O water to the system.

8 Add nutrients to the system.

9. Check PPMs, adjust pH.

10. Final check of PPMs. Everything OK, add the plants back to the system.
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I am trying to be thorough without being pedantic... a difficult task when I don't know your level of knowledge. If I still haven't answered your questions, feel free to ask again in a different way.