RDWC 400w- One plant a little droopy.

freesativa

New Member
Hi all, I've got an issue with a plant that's a little droopy and I'm not sure why.
I'm running a RDWC with a 400w HID in a 4'x4'x7' tent with 4 plants. The tent is located in my unheated garage. This is day 2 of flowering.

Light on temps- 65-71f (I have an inline exhaust fan pulling air out. it's on a 15min on and 45off when the lights are on). Intake temps around 65f.

Lights off temps- 65-70f (exhaust fan set to 15on/15off)

I keep the light about a foot from the top of the tallest plant (which is the droopy one).

Water temps- varies. Lights on- 70-75f. Lights off- 68f.

PH- 5%+ right now. I keep the PH between 5 and 6.5%. Typically 6%+/-

Nutrients- GH 3 bottle nutrients. I'm still on week 4 veg strength. I change the res once a week and I will switch to flowering cycle schedule on Wednesday. Right now I'm at approx 500ppm (water is well water with a 50ppm base)

Humidity- Here's an odd one, the humidity has been higher with the lights on. Right now I'm at 59% (lights on), but when the exhaust fan turns off it'll shoot about 10 points above the garage RH (59% right now). I tend to run between 60 and 75% humidity. I'm getting a dehumidifier for the garage soon.
Update: Lights went off while I was writing this and the humidity dropped 3 points within 30min of lights going off (garage RH is still at 59%).

I have two air pumps, one in the res and a large 4 outlet pump with a stone in each bucket.

I have the waterfall on a 1hour on and 1/2 hour off schedule.

3 out of 4 plants are approx 12" tall. #4 is 8" (late start).
The droopy girl is a G13 blue OG and the rest are Barneys Critical Kush.

Air- Light and tent intake- moldy, unheated garage. Both light and tent are exhausted to outside.

Any thoughts?

For some reason my pics aren't uploading. I shot an email to the admin. I'll add pics asap
 
Pics:
Droopy plant:
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From a few days ago:
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Misc pics of all or other plants:
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From a few days ago:
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Update: The little droopy plant is almost completely not droopy anymore. I still can't figure out what the issue is or was.
One problem that's bugging me is the humidity. Right before the lights went out the humidity in the tent was 72%. An hour later it's 54%. I added a dehumidifier in my garage and about 5' front the tent intake duct at 9am. The garage has dropped 3 points from 60% to 57%
I thought I should have a lower humidity with the lights on as opposed to a higher humidity with the lights on. The temperature definitely rises with the lights on. Am I missing something?
 
heat brings and hold humidity way better than cold does,to have a higher reading with lights on does not surprise me

air movement will bring humidity down,either in the garage or in the tent

try and keep you ph a little more stable,a drift is good, but 5 is to low and 6.5 is to high..veg--5.6-5.8 flower--5.8-6.0

have you grown in this tent before?? it is a little light on light--50wt/per square foot is about the minimum,(you have 16sq/ft)they will grow,but they wont get "rock hard"

keep at it man,you will be burning in no time
 
Thanks c526! I thought the light would burn off more humidity. I guess I have the light vented properly.
This is my first inside grow. In the past I grew in an attached greenhouse or outside. With the kids getting older and my wife not liking the smell of the house in September, I decided the tent would be a good idea. Plus I can grow year round now.
My ph tends to be around 6+/-. Only when I do a reservoir change (once a week) and add nutrients or ph down, does the ph swing to either high or low. Usually within 24hrs the ph levels at 6+/-.
I'm going with a 400w light because I pay $.24 a kw for electricity and I am concerned about high electric bills and overheating. Though I am debating getting a 600w ballast&bulb.
That one plant keeps drooping a little. It is a different strain than the other three and it's the fastest grower. I wonder what the problem is.

Thanks for your input!
 
how warm is your water getting??

are those buckets connected??? rdwc=reservoir deep water culture----dwc= single buckets with air stones??

if those are connected,i have found it really hard to feed different strain in the same system
 
I do have a reservoir. I started off with only an airstone in the res, but after the timer died on the waterfall (15on/15off, bought a new timer and it's set to 60on/30off) and the plants were severely wilted when I found them, I bought a 4 outlet airpump and added stones to each bucket. This was about 2 weeks ago, while still in the veg cycle. I don't know how quickly they depleted the o2 in the water, but it had been about 12hrs since I had last seen them. They recovered amazingly fast. Within 24hrs I couldn't tell they had wilted. I had no leaf loss or noticeable damage.
The water isn't chilled and I've been getting temps mostly in the upper 60's to mid 70's. I add a bunch of frozen bottles to the res when I find it over 72f.
Two weeks into the grow I found some brown/black slime on one root (I'm on my cell, I'll add pics later). Since then I add 2ml of bleach every 3-4 days. The plants have not seemed to mind the bleach and the algea or whatever it was hasn't returned.
 
if you are not using,then i strongly suggest the heisenberg/cap'n tea,--
Live or Sterile? Why I choose Live

for my air pumps,i like to have at least 1.5/wt per gallon of water,and i run them full time 24/7
If the pumps are not on,there is a chance that the plants could drown.

after this harvest,if your into experimenting,check out TheCap'n style of growing,his system is flawless,cheap and productive
for the dwc expert check out --cultivator
 
Thanks, I'll check it out. I plan to do another grow right after this and want to try different techniques until I find what works best for me.

One thing I'm doing right now that I like is the dead reservoir principal. I understand I lose out on the beneficial bacteria, but I also don't get the bad bacteria (or less of it). If I'm not mistaken, that's how the commercial hydroponic growers do it. I live in an area with a high humidity and it gets cold (and pretty hot). Every outdoor or greenhouse grow I've done has been hit with bud rot. Add the moldy air in my unheated and unvented garage, and a dead res sounds like the best course of action to me. I have added a dehumidifier and fan to my garage.

I keep the air pumps on 24/7. I believe the res pump is 4w and the rest divee up a 4 outlet 12w air pump. The res pump came with the setup and the 4 outlet I bought. I went for the highest watt 4 outlet air pump I could find. I think I only had two to choose from. Theoretically the waterfall (or whatever it's called) should add o2 as well due to the water surface displacement.

Here are some pics from this morning (Day 5 of flowering):
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looks great man:high-five:

I think the term for the waterfall is "floaming"

after you try the tea recipe,you will never go back,in all my time,ive never had roots come out anything like my last years worth
Its one of those things that you have to see to believe.

are you venting the dehumidifier to the outside??(Some people dont realize the hot air comming out IS the dry air) dont vent to the outside.

if you try other styles,read up on the Capns top feed system,its what ive settled on,cheap-easy-productive and the lowest maintenance ive had in all these years---plus the fact that i can leave my setup for 3-4-7 days at a time(as long as i trust timers)

looks something like this--tote-watepump-rockwool-3.5 gallon bucket----(no air stones in water at all)I find that no air stones keeps the ph way more stable--my oxygen is replaced by the "waterfall action" buckets dripping back into the reservoir
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