new growth is thin and curling down?

[KillerTree]

I run a 6 plant NFT system and recently redesigned it but I didn't really change anything. I use a larger res now, external pump instead of submersible and 6" pvc instead of 4. Other than that the design is the same but my new growth is real thin and curling downward which I dont remember seeing before. I am keeping my PH between 5.5-6.0, it has dropped a little below a few times but nothing major and never more than a day or 2 and it reached 5.2-5.3

I changed from botanicare to GH(just grow/micro/bloom as directed +H202 3ml/4L), I use tap water that I let dechlorinate same as I did with the botanicare. I was using the botanicare grow/bloom, cal-mag, liquid karma and sweet. I was told the GH as directed with no additives had everything I need, am I maybe low on something? All was going well until like a week ago and since then I have been doing daily PH checks and keeping it between 5.5 and 5.8 always but still the same thing on the new growth. I am doing rez changes every 5 days or so, typically once a week minimum.

my pump runs 5 minutes on 20 minutes off, air and rez temps are both around 75, humidity varies between 45-50%, strain is Swiss Bliss and it is 18 days into flower. I think I covered everything, any idea why it is doing this? Here are some pics, thanks for the help

 

[CocoJoe]

Swiss Bliss? A sativa yes?
A day or two? Thats long enough.
This is a PH problem.
Once the leaves curl down they wont go back to normal.
So watch the new growth for being normal.

 

[KillerTree]

Swiss Bliss? A sativa yes?
A day or two? Thats long enough.
This is a PH problem.
Once the leaves curl down they wont go back to normal.
So watch the new growth for being normal.

yes it's a Sativa, not sure how sativa dominant it is, but I know it is considered a Sativa. My PH was a little low for a couple days but that was like a week ago, I have made sure the PH didn't vary these past few days and these past few days it has still been curling. PH is one of the reasons I found by searching to be the prob so I just fixed it but it's still doing it, maybe it takes a few days to recover though. I read either PH or over-nute is typically the problem but I am using basic GH as described so I dont think it is over-nute, the leaves aren't burned or anything indicating that. Well everything seems to be good environment wise, I guess I'll just wait it out and hope it recovers soon. I hate seeing the quantity and quality of my medicine at risk when the only changes I made in my system were upgrades to make it better, would really suck if it does the opposite.

 

[CocoJoe]

Sativa dom.
Less nutes for sativas.
Bottom line, if your growing from seed, every plant will vary some as far as requirements.
Hydro is optimum when using clones from the same mom.

 

[KillerTree]

it's grown from clones, I am following the GH instructions which are pretty much spot on PPM wise as the botanicare I used before, 5.2-5.3 is low enough to cause these probs? cant remember exactly but was like 5.24 or something, was just a little low. Well either way since then the PPH has been spot on, I guess next res change I'll run like 80% nutes, which really I kinda do. My res holds somewhere around 25 gallons and i mix nutes for 20 gallons to give a cushion if they drink a lot of water and I can't top it off for a couple days, still I will run even less nutes and hope for the best. Thanks for the advice, even though there isn't signs of nute burn I will give em less... A wise man once said less is more

 

[CocoJoe]

Thanks for the advice, even though there isn't signs of nute burn I will give em less... A wise man once said less is more

I made a general statement about growing sativas.
They show no burn, the nutes are fine.
A little Calmag added to nutes helps.

 

[KillerTree]

A little Calmag added to nutes helps.

yah that is one thing im missing compared to my old lineup, but the guy at the grow shop said if I'm not using RO water the basic GH g/m/b setup is perfect and no need for anything else. I'm not saying he's right, but the only cal-mag I currently have is some organic stuff, it is weird, smells like mint. But being an organic cal-mag I can't use it cause since my chiller is just collecting dust and the res temps are 75ish I need to use h2o2 to prevent root probs... which would kill the organic cal-mag I'm sure or the organic could somehow even cause root probs I think? Not totally sure on that, I'm no pro.

The reason I don't use my chiller right now is because I tried installing some bulkheads in the cooler but they had a small leak, here is what it looked like

but every few days it would leak a couple gallons which wasnt too bad, I mean I was prepared for leaks and just shop vac'd it up but I didn't want leaks so I just bought a new cooler, $68 at walmart for these 150qt ones

now I just use the already installed bulkhead the cooler uses for a drain, it has a garden hose fitting on it so I just hooked the pump up to it, atleast this one doesn't leak I guess but it leaves me without the second valve to install my chiller so it and the other external pump just collect dust now.

That is why I switched to chems to get through the summer. You think the thin/curling is from ph or over-nute more than cal-mag though right? I just don't want to go spend more $ on additives until I know for certain it is what I need



It does look like they are doing better though, the outer sites are still thin/curled but those closer to the light are definitely looking better, look at the ones directly under the light, they for the most part have normal leaves

and unrelated to the problems, we had a battle under that screen. I cleared out 90% easy, just left enough to take new clones in a couple more weeks. If I take em during veg the clones would get too big and be considered a mature plant and not cuttings so I roll my dice taking em in flower, so far they've all rooted and reveg'd fine and I don't mind chancing it because I have some AK99 seeds in storage for that rainy day

and another off topic, are my pics too big?? I reduce them to 20%, should I reduce them more? I have a 22" monitor so it looks good for me but I can see how lower resolutions would be better if they were smaller, would 10 or 15% be better or continue to do 20?

 

[CocoJoe]

Nice rig you are running your gear in.
I have not used GH 3pt. but it is said to be a little low on Mg.
Leaves curling down, big deal, they look healthy other wise.
+rep.

 

[Sensibowl]

it's grown from clones, I am following the GH instructions which are pretty much spot on PPM wise as the botanicare I used before, 5.2-5.3 is low enough to cause these probs? cant remember exactly but was like 5.24 or something, was just a little low. Well either way since then the PPH has been spot on, I guess next res change I'll run like 80% nutes, which really I kinda do. My res holds somewhere around 25 gallons and i mix nutes for 20 gallons to give a cushion if they drink a lot of water and I can't top it off for a couple days, still I will run even less nutes and hope for the best. Thanks for the advice, even though there isn't signs of nute burn I will give em less... A wise man once said less is more

Here's the thing you have to remember about instructions for plants - plants that are in the nutrient company labs are grown a bit differently than yours will be grown.

Nutrient companies spend big bucks to make sure the plants they grow are grown as perfectly as possible - I don't know about you, but I don't have the time or the patience for that.

And it sounds like you're not even quite sure what your strain is, so that's throwing a wrench in your nutrient measurements.

What you need to do is to ALWAYS use 25% less of the nutrients that the company feeding schedule says. This way, you can avoid burn, you can avoid pH troubles.

Adding more nutes into the feedings is just so much easier than taking them back out.....

Never ever trust the labels. They're only a guideline for what you should do, not the answer to all of your growing questions. Your plants are the only ones who know what they need - and they don't tend to come with a label on them....LOL

 

[WarBux79]

Nice setup. You can use organic cal mag w/ H2o2 It will only kill microbes not organic chemicals. Usually the bottle will say not to use H2o2 with the product. That looks like a PH problem. I always end up having to add CalMag during flower I actually just added some to mine about an hour ago.

 

[KillerTree]

Nice rig you are running your gear in.
I have not used GH 3pt. but it is said to be a little low on Mg.
Leaves curling down, big deal, they look healthy other wise.
+rep.

yah they are definitely healthy minus that little hickup and those damn mites. Ive been doing good keeping em in check but i can never seem to get rid of em for good, oh well, really not that big of deal.

And it sounds like you're not even quite sure what your strain is, so that's throwing a wrench in your nutrient measurements.

I honestly don't know for sure, I was originally told it was called Paradise, it is a cutting I got from a friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing and trying to look into it somebody said they thought it was Swiss Bliss which is a Paradise seeds strain but who really knows, he said she said but it produces huge colas and tastes amazing

What you need to do is to ALWAYS use 25% less of the nutrients that the company feeding schedule says. This way, you can avoid burn, you can avoid pH troubles.

I'm going to start using half dosage to be safe since I already do give 20 gallons worth of mix for 25ish gallons

That looks like a PH problem

It has been getting better since I've been keeping it above 5.5 so I'm sure that is all it was, crazy what .25 difference can do. My white russian hit 4.8 at one point in a previous grow and it was no bubbles no troubles. I guess it is a tougher strain

 

[CocoJoe]

It has been getting better since I've been keeping it above 5.5 so I'm sure that is all it was, crazy what .25 difference can do. My white russian hit 4.8 at one point in a previous grow and it was no bubbles no troubles. I guess it is a tougher strain

It's a different strain.
Every seed grows a different plant. They are all different.
The same pack of seeds produces variance.

 

[KillerTree]

The curling is still there somewhat but most of the new growth isn't as bad as before, doesn't seem to be effecting them much though. They are fattening up nicely and they are already super frosty at day 34, I will be chopping at day 66 so to be this frosty only half way there I'm stoked to see what it produces