HydroPonics - Plants Won't Grow

[JerryDun]

Hi,

I am a little frustrated with my hydro grow, and I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I am growing 3 seedlngs in Rockwool Cubes, and they were doing terrific during the germination stage. But once the first set of leaves appeared, their growth has completely halted. This is the 3rd time this has happened. I would appreciate it if anyone can help me.

Environment:

Deep Water Culture Tank - 6 gallons
PH - 6.0
Heat - 80 Degrees
Humidity - 40%
Lights - 400W MH
Light Distance to Plants - 28"
Note: Due to air cooled lights, there is no heat on the plants

Nutrient Levels:

Nitrogen - A little high
Phospherous - In line
Potassium - In line

Fert Feedings:

Just over 1/8th strength
6 Gallons of Water
2 tsp FF Grow Big (Hydro Formula)
2 tsp FF Big Bloom
2 tsp Cal-Mag

Strains:

LowRider2
Blue Mystic
Bubblegum

Order of Pictures:

Deep Water Culture
LowRider2
Blue Mystic
Bubblegum

These plants are 2 weeks old, why won't these little girls grow?

 

[greenisland]

hmmm, before I answer or start to help, letr me know you still need an aswer cause I see this thread was started a while ago. But if you still need help I woulkd be more than happy to help. Hopefully evevrything worked out just fine and you dont need help anymore! lol

 

[greenisland]

PS: Your growing with Hydroton or growrocks in 3inch net cups in what looks to either be a DWC setup or a aero setup... Im guessing aero. Your not using rockwool, thats a different substrate. It usually comes in block form made by Cutilene or Grodan.

 

[greenisland]

oh crap! I see the rockwool in there now,... lol. Sorry. I feel like a morron now. lol And PS: I wouldnt bee using nutes for maybe another week or so after these pics were taken. And I would keep the PH a half point lower, especially when starting in rockwool cubes.

 

[Spike69]

I got 2 aerogardens and could never get them right so I use them for cloneing(work great)and I use them for the light they have great lights.My plants got so big and healty in dirt I will continue this way. I have lot of pics to show to me its the way.

 

[dirty420247]

Bump your nutes to 1/2 strength. From your summary it would appear that the nutes are the only possible thing keeping the plants from growing.

 

[greenisland]

You know the arogardens arent really what you want if your trying to grow MJ plants to full maturity. Its more suited to be an herb garden really. And the lights in the aerogardens (even the XXXXL, or whatever versions) arent going to be enough to make good buds. Its just never gonna turn out if your trying to do it with a arogarden. It should work great for cloning like you said but I would love for you to try and grow in a REAL hydo setup witha real 1000 watt or something. Its really nice to not have to mess with dirt sometimes, and its definetally faster in a hydro setup. But soil does make for some great smoke, I gotta give you that. Hydro certainly has its place in the MJ growing world though, no doubt its here to stay. Especially since its so easily automated (not that soil grows arent easy to automate either, I just would be more comfortable leaving a hydro grow for a week alone than I would a soil grow.) And not everybody feels the same as I do, lol... So hmmm, I guess I just wanted to put in a good word for hydro. Hope everythings working out great for ya!

 

[Retired One]

JerryDun, your ph is to high...shoot for 5.5-5.8. Also, you need to check the temp in your res...68-72 degrees is what you want. Any higher and you can start running into issues. The droopy leaves in pic two and three could be several different problems. PH, ambient temp, water/nute mix to warm.

Check the water/nute mix in your res to make sure you have the level right. You want 1-2" between the water/nute mix and the bottom of the netcup.

On a different issue, one DWC grower to the next, you'll never be able to grow out these 3 plants in that small setup. The attached pic shows what 5 plants, 4 of them AF dwarfs like you LR, will do. My res is 18 gallons and you can tell buy the shape of the root mass that it had completely filled the res with roots. This nearly cost me the grow in the last couple of weeks. You can construct a 5 gallon bucket style DWC for around 25-30 bucks each, and retire the small setup you have to cloning/nursury duties.

Hope this helps get things on track for you.