Need help please

[Allen42]

Hey everyone, so I’m a beginner when it comes to growing. I only have one grow under my belt so far and was actually very pleased with my first grow and the quality of my buds. I am now starting my second grow but am having difficulties with the seedling stage and will go more into that but I want to give you the basics of my setup. I am in a 4x4x6.5ft tent right now that I am using as my veg tent and have another 5x5x6.5ft tent I intend to use as my flowering tent. I am using the HLG 550 v2 r-spec and currently have it set at 25%, running DWC with air stones and hydroton as my medium. I have a hygrometer, ph meter and tds meter as well. Ph is around 5.8-6.2 ... I am going with two different strains this go around and will be growing white cookies and lambs breath. I will post pictures and update this as I go... SO my problem is occuring in the seedling stage and I have spent countless hours researching everything I could and I’m just a little baffled by this, hence the reason I’m reaching out for help. The problem I’m having is that when the seed cracks open and shows it’s leaves it all looks good but after growing it’s first set of true leaves, not the cotyledons, it seems to halt growing right as it should be sprouting it’s second set of leaves.. it then becomes VERY light green, and eventually starts forming what looks like brown or rusty like spots on the leaves.. after all my research I have concluded that it just needs to start being fed. Problem is that when I notice the early stages starting I will add light nutrients but the problem continues. This leads me to believe that it might be something else? ... I did notice very small amount of algae forming on the hydroton but from what I’ve read this won’t kill the plant or harm it any way? That the algae will just eat some of the nutrients, is this true? Sorry for such a long post guys, I just want you to be as informed as possible so hopefully we can get down to the bottom of this. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help I get in advance. Sorry about the pictures it’s hard to see the spots I’m talking about but they are just starting to form on the biggest seedling.

 

[TysonOG]

Are they in rockwool? Lots like a lot of water in that hydroton.

 

[Allen42]

No I just germinated and put directly into the hydroton, i thought this would be ok as it worked for my last grow. Is that method not advised? And ya the water is just below the rocks but I can see the bubbles through the hydroton and I keep em topped off whenever they need it.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi @SimpleManZ420 and welcome to the largest and most active cannabis forum in the world! I am curious as to whether some of your extensive research included reading through grow journals of people who are expertly growing using DWC right now on this or any of the other smaller boards?
Maybe doing that research you could call in some of those current experts, ie, people active on the board right now, to come in and give you some advice or maybe you could find what you need in reading about their grows. Throwing out an open question like this, you are going to get advice from lots of people, some who might not be so good at explaining or who don't even use the same method and there is also a possibility of getting some wrong advice.
Personally, I dont see a problem with your young seedling and I suspect that you just need to be more patient in waiting for the darker green to come in on the new growth, but you can be assured that several people will agree that you have a problem that needs to be addressed, as is the nature of online forums. I am a soil grower and they way I start plants is much different than what you are doing here. I suggest you peruse the DWC section of this forum, Deep Water Culture - DWC
and find a real expert to talk to, one who is using the same method you are using.

 

[Allen42]

Thank you for the response Emilya, and yes my research has included reading through what seems like countless grow journals trying to find a similar problem to mine but had no luck. I will continue researching though because I want to know as much as possible. Like I said though, you can’t really see the issue in the picture but one of the plants is starting to form orange like spots on it and I know that is not normal. I’m aware that I will get conflicting responses and I do not mind, i asked the question so I could get multiple different perspectives. I’m just here to learn. I would call upon someone but I’m new to this site and not really sure whose active or not and how to find them or link them into this thread. I’ll try to look into that, and I appreciate the input!

 

[Emilya Green]

it is hard to get deficiencies at this stage and still have living plants. I suspect, even though I cant see it yet without a close up shot of the trouble, that you are dealing with nothing more than a bit of nutrient spray getting on the leaves, and acting like a magnifying glass on the young tender leaves under your strong light. Not every spot is a deficiency... but a good picture can help a lot to try to understand what is going on.

 

[Allen42]

That would be a big relief, and makes a lot of sense since the water gets to splashing drops around as I’m checking my ph and what not. I just took a couple more that are a little better but I can only do so much with my phone, ya know? Lol so bear with me if it’s still hard to see I will have to wait until they get bigger and take another picture. I really appreciate your insight, much love.

 

[TorturedSoul]

As long as you're getting a mild, highly oxygenated nutrient solution to the plant's roots, with the usual recommendations about pH, and supplying a reasonable amount of light-energy, you should be fine.

I don't use Rockwool, either.

Personally, I tend to hand water the young plant several times per day instead of running the nutrient solution all the way up in the reservoir; as soon as the first root tip reaches the solution, things will take off. But whatever works for you.