My grow is not proceeding as expected, anyone know what's wrong? It's kinda hard to check the moisture because the top layer is almost always bone dry. I'm using miracle gro potting soil with Pearlite that's had a gallon of distilled water put through it originally and I water it when the ecowitt moisture sensors I have hit 24% water saturation but it doesn't appear to be very accurate. I don't have any ph monitoring equipment because I'm broke and was hoping that this would just work. I have a temperature controller hooked up to a 5000btu window AC unit and a 200cfm exhaust fan, and a 400cfm intake fan (6") they only turn on when it's too hot, and i use two Mars hydro led lights that are about a foot or less from the plants. Theirs an oscillating fan circulating the air in the enclosure to keep the temp homogenous. I'll add some pics too. Idk if their overwatered or pH imbalanced, or nutrient insufficient. Or nute burned. They all have rocks at the bottom because I thought that would help with drainage. I started another two in a single pot to without Rocks and with extra holes at the bottom but I just put the seeds in. It's miracle grow and Pearlite that's been flushed with distilled water.
What's wrong with my autos?
- Thread starter Jatgm1
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zeroday
Well-Known Member
Hey there. 
Can you post a couple of pictures with natural light? It'll be easier to see the actual color of the leaves.
Also, are you saying that yoiu don't PH the water at all when you feed them? Looks like PH issues, possibly locking nutes out?
What model Mars Hydro are you using? 12" from the plants seems too close to me. I run my LEDs 24 inches during flower, 36" during veg.
Can you post a couple of pictures with natural light? It'll be easier to see the actual color of the leaves.
Also, are you saying that yoiu don't PH the water at all when you feed them? Looks like PH issues, possibly locking nutes out?
What model Mars Hydro are you using? 12" from the plants seems too close to me. I run my LEDs 24 inches during flower, 36" during veg.
GHempster
Well-Known Member
Hi and welcome to 
.
The experts are gonna need natural light pictures in order to diagnose leaf issues but some great articles if you search around.
.The experts are gonna need natural light pictures in order to diagnose leaf issues but some great articles if you search around.
zeroday
Well-Known Member
I looked back through my grow jornals (personal offline ones). I have a plant for a year ago that looked similar. It turned out to be a PH issue, that was locking out Boron.
John Wick
Well-Known Member
What they said, natural light photos.
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Welcome Jatgm, looks like they're doing ok. So you've put only distilled water on them so far? The water has no food aspect to it and calcium/magnesium issues can come up without adding some. Your plants seem to be having the issue on the lower leaves though and if the new growth is fine then it may have been something they needed to grow through. PH may or not be the issue since it appears you're going water only. Is "water only" on purpose or have you not decided what's next? Either way is fine but you want to decide if you haven't already. There's a problem solver in my signature area below. You might find the problem there. If they're growing well in the new growth I'd leave them alone, otherwise we can take some action. If you put a @ in front of anyone's name and it calls us to your question. @Jatgm1
zeroday
Well-Known Member
Agree. If its only on lower growth and new growth looks groovy, let err be.
I'm backing off on my PH issue. Seeing them in natural light obviously shows it much better.
Also, I looked at Mar's website and the videos they have there show the lights hanging pretty low, the 300w at leasts. You might want to google a bit and see how high they are keeping the light from the plants. I'm a bit sensitive, maybe. I ruined the first grow I did when I moved to LED. I kinda put it as close as I did my CFLs, and it cooked em up good. I went straight to 500w though, so zero experience with 300w.
I'm backing off on my PH issue. Seeing them in natural light obviously shows it much better.
Also, I looked at Mar's website and the videos they have there show the lights hanging pretty low, the 300w at leasts. You might want to google a bit and see how high they are keeping the light from the plants. I'm a bit sensitive, maybe. I ruined the first grow I did when I moved to LED. I kinda put it as close as I did my CFLs, and it cooked em up good. I went straight to 500w though, so zero experience with 300w.
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I don't know what I should use and what to add and have heard that miracle grow had too much nutrients in it. So my thought was "there literally can't be too much of anything in distilled water it's literally just water so I probably won't kill them with it." But idk. Their all doing this for some reason, and the other three I had I watered way too much and are way smaller. Also I think I used the wrong type of miracle grow soil for them. I think the original had more nutrients in it. It didn't say potting soil. (The one plant that I ran out of soil for and got new soil for is doing better than others.)
Is the new growth coming in perfectly fine?
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Fingers crossed
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VanIslandConnoisseur
Well-Known Member
Looks possibly under watered, too hot and burned from nutrients ppm, maybe not enough air exchange as well.
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to Jat
You don't have to PH in Miracle Grow
DO NOT add anything, but water from your tap...or mineral water
18 to 24 inches for a "full spectrum" ...(check brands suggestions)
Hey Jat, I used MG when I started with no problems...you're loving it too much...water till runoff and let them dry out to the point of drooping so you don't over water...should take a few days (3-4)...Do not add anything food wise till the bottom leaves "start" to turn lite green or yellowish
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And here's the replacement from Amazon that may be working? Everything seems overwatered. And idk what water moisture percentage should be at normally. Should I completely saturate it when I water it or just pour a little into the base of the plant?
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VanIslandConnoisseur
Well-Known Member
So the amount of soil/medium its growing in and the size of root system has its own amount of watered needed, research size of root systems at different sizes of plants, it will show that something like yours in average conditions should have a root system 4-5 inches away from stalk and same depth down maybe more, so you should water from stalk to roughly that far from stalk and water when soil is dry on top and half inch to inch below or so.
