Plant nute problems

[BB0420]

Hello I am currently growing punch the cake. This is a RDWC grow with general hydroponics 10 part system. I am on week 6 nutes of veg. I am having some type of nutrient problems. My pH is 5.9 and my ppms are at 570. I had my ppms in the 800s but recently dropped my ppms. My temps are 70-75 and my humidity is 50-55%.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Rexer]

Hey @BB0420

How are your roots looking?

 

[Bill284]

Hello I am currently growing punch the cake. This is a RDWC grow with general hydroponics 10 part system. I am on week 6 nutes of veg. I am having some type of nutrient problems. My pH is 5.9 and my ppms are at 570. I had my ppms in the 800s but recently dropped my ppms. My temps are 70-75 and my humidity is 50-55%.

Any help is appreciated.

Hello @BB0420 sorry to hear your having issues.
I'm not a dwc guy so forgive me but.
Whats under your pots.
Is it a cement floor.
If so it could be cooling you pots and mix.
If so a piece of Styrofoam sm underneath works great.
That's all I got.
Bill

 

[Rexer]

That or believe it or not too much air. Try turning it down slightly so it doesn't bounce the roots too badly, I seem to remember someone else showing similar, and once the airstone was dialed back a bit there was improvement.

 

[BB0420]

So my roots are growing crazy though piping and all. My mix has a red tint to it also so hard to tell color wise. I’ve heard people say concrete floors and hydro can be trouble. I’ve never had a problem with that I have a water chiller hooked up that keeps the temps between 68-70 I’ve never see it drop below that. The chiller has to kick on every few hours. As for my air stones they are set to 20psi per recommended by current culture. I’ve never had that problem previously either. Do you think I should dial that back?

 

[Rexer]

So my roots are growing crazy though piping and all. My mix has a red tint to it also so hard to tell color wise. I’ve heard people say concrete floors and hydro can be trouble. I’ve never had a problem with that I have a water chiller hooked up that keeps the temps between 68-70 I’ve never see it drop below that. The chiller has to kick on every few hours. As for my air stones they are set to 20psi per recommended by current culture. I’ve never had that problem previously either. Do you think I should dial that back?

Well...good news, I think that might be the problem, the roots growing through the pipes. Your going to need to take them out, either cutting them or gently pulling them back. I've only had to deal with it once, but if there's any warnings on the how, @bluter Could probably steer you well there. He could also confirm if that's what's going on? (If you don't mind Bluter?)

How is the smell?

 

[013]

Soil guy here so from different perspective….. Concrete can be a real problem for soil grows, the whole cold feet & wet feet thing. A covered or indoor concrete slab stays about 55 degrees in winter & jumps to 56 in summer. Understand you‘ve got res and prob running recirc but maybe check temp at rootball instead of at central rez. Hell lay a hygromter right beside the bucket. If it’s all hard piped together then might have to shift everything up slightly but sheet foam or wood block spacer. A thin layer of tent canvas, carpet, linoleum or hardwood over the concrete still does not mitigate a massive slab of stone trapping moisture and cool temps that are weeping up out of the earth around the clock

 

[bluter]

i haven't done rdwc so long i'm not a real resource.

roots could be staining from the nutes.

for what it's worth i ran without a chiller on concrete. i elevate most things i run though. if the chiller still kicks in, then it's doing it's job and you could probably rule that out. hydro maintains consistent temps in a bucket top to bottom pretty much.

i dunno how much air you are running but i could never get enough. have never been in a too much situation.

i had piles of issues with roots in pipes. used to build stuff with root guards and screens for the pipes. you have to maintain flow though. there are better systems all over this board. my favorite are the large pipe undercurrent type.

not sure what's up for certain
plant looks good. looks like it wants a touch of cal-mag a bump in nutes and a flip to me. maybe a little cleaning up.

10 parts huh.

 

[013]

Boom there it is - what happens in soil may be totally different in hydro and vice versa.

Bluter has ran every hydro config under the sun and prolly invented half of them so absolutely take his depth of experience as if it were carved in stone!!! Not to mention Rexer & Bill - all these guys can grow circles around me. You’ve got an amazing cast of top level support here to back you up!

great comment by Rexer too on how is the smell? By that I believe he is asking how does the water smell? Funky smelling water means root rot / bad bacteria etc.

 

[BB0420]

Hello all!

I changed my nutes out running a little more calmag. At 880ppm and 5.9pH. I took apart a lot of my hydro system. There was roots growing through the entire system all the way to my pump. I was dealt a task honestly haha.. The pic below of the 2 clumps was just in the bigger pipe… But it’s all done and clean now! I started cleaning up the plant itself also cutting stuff out below the light line. Only doing so much at a time trying to not shock her. I figure I’ll be done fully trimming the lower stuff in the next few days. I will send some pics regarding that on my grow journal!

Thanks everyone for your input and help. I’ve never had a root problem like this before. Also there is no bad odor on my roots. If you see a stain it’s from my nutes they are red in my reservoir.

 

[013]

This is fantastic, glad you got it sorted

 

[TysonOG]

Late to the party, but seems like early mag deficiency to me.

 

[BB0420]

@TysonOG so general hydro recommends 2ml per gallon for the entire grow. I have been just using 2ml the whole time. I do use RO water. So maybe I should be using more?

 

[TysonOG]

Perhaps. 2ml/gallon is about what I use but sometimes you have to up it slightly. Try 2.5ml and keep an eye on it.