This is my first grow ever. It started out fine when it was a seedling and I was just giving it water for like the first week or so. I started off with 2 ml / g of micro grow bloom and cal-mag and the leaves did not respond well. They yellowed and withered. I will attach photos soon. I think my plants may now be in the flowering phase. The roots do not look great at all. One plant seems to be doing way better than the others and the root system shows. I started off using tips and tricks from youtube but when my plants nearly died, I decided to give them way more nutes in a last-ditch effort for my first grow. They responded pretty well I think, relative to what they looked like in the past, I will add pictures from then also. Any advice you guys could give me would be much appreciated. P.s. I used to check and attempt to adjust ph but stopped doing so since it is supposedly Ph perfect and it seemed to fluctuate greatly once I ph'd it.
White Widow First Time Ever Hydroponics
- Thread starter peelaf
- Start date
Welcome Peelaf, I agree. There's lots of hydro journalers here.
Aloha peelaf!
Welcome to
I’m a soil grower so can’t be much help. Someone that does come to mind is Braddah @Stltoed He grows trees! Any thoughts to help this new grower out?
Welcome to
I’m a soil grower so can’t be much help. Someone that does come to mind is Braddah @Stltoed He grows trees! Any thoughts to help this new grower out?
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Awww Sunny, you're too kind.Aloha peelaf!
Welcome to
Your plants don't look that bad. One looks like a calmag issue, and the overall color looks a little light, which may be a pH deal screwing up iron. But they look pretty good really.
Once you get used to growing in water I think you will find it pretty easy. There are certain rules that need to be followed that aren't as important in soil. Since your plant is getting almost everything it needs from water its important to make sure your plants feed properly. PH is very important. You need to be sure your solution is between 5.8 and 6.3ish. AND you need to check it everyday to watch for changes, patterns, etc. If your pH is wonky it may keep your plants from getting the elements it needs. A smaller hydro system will have a harder time controlling pH than a larger one. You will need a reliable meter that gives a value for PPM or EC, pH, and temp. You can buy an all in one unit, or seperately, BUT you need to keep them calibrated. Calibrate every month or so. This may sound daunting, but you'll get it. Blue Lab, Milwaukee, and Hanna make good stuff. Milwaukee is out of Hungary, their instruction is a little spotty. Hanna makes a great meter, but can be super expensive
You want to use pure water. Distilled, filtered, but not Deionized. I use an RO filter and an auto fill valve. Some people don't use an auto fill because they want to "read" the changes from the plant feeding, and things like that. I dont need to. These people are tethered to their hydro system because they are constantly adding water. I could walk away from my grow for a week if I want to.
Pure water gives you a base to work from. You PPMs will be very low... 10-20 PPMs. With your system full of clean water you will add Calcium/Magnesium first. A Cal or Magnesium is probably the most common deficiency in hydro. But, you need to add this product first. It doesnt play nice with other elements so we add it first to dilute it before the other nutrients show up. There are other products that are also social misfits. Silica, probably my favorite additive. It does so many things, its best that you take a moment and read about it. I highly recommend it. Another is micro nutrients. This product will give you your metals, Molybdenum, Copper, and some of the nutrients not used so much. NOT EVERY NUTRIENT LINE HAS A SEPERATE MICRO NUTRIENT. It may not be an issue for you.
Temperature. Your water temp is very important. You want it between 65 and 70. A chiller can be a nice addition to a system, but they are spendy and aren't cheap to run. I dont use one, if you need to chill out your water give me a ring, and I'll show you how I do it.
Air in your water is super huge. If you lose an air pump, you have a few hours before you plants are in serious trouble. In my opinion, people don't use enough air. They have tiny pumps with a couple airstones. I do it a little different. I have a Airforce 80 pump for 2 17 gallon pots. This pump could drive 6 or 8 pots of that size with no issue. I believe the extreme amount of bubbles not only aeriates the water but also stirs the solution, keeps the roots clean. You roots can only take up so much oxygen, so at a certain point more air isn't oxygenation the plant Ill share some photos at the end.
A light proof rig. Make sure its completely dark where ever there is water. A reservoir, tubing between pots, holes in the top of the pots. Everything has to be blacked out. If not, the light can cause bad stuff to grow.
Healthy roots. This is ultra important. There are a ton of ways to inoculate roots. I use Hydroguard. Some use Z7, which I have issues with and don't recommend... but it does work.
I use Gen Hydro Flora series nutrients. Its been around forever, its really cheap, and it works. Ive tried other stuff but always came back. My Calmag is from GrowMore I use it because it has no Nitrogen. I use Power Si for Silica. Its not cheap, but the plants love it. If you go with a silica dont use Armor Si from General Hydro. The pH can be as high as 11, and it takes a while to overcome pH shifts. I like Rapidstart to get seedlings going, but continue to use it for root health. I also use a ton of Fulvic acid. The best is Fulpower. I use a PK booster called Hula Bloom.
Thats kinda how I do it. Heres a little vid. of whats going on in my hydro right now. I apologize for the language. I cuss a lot.
- Thread starter
- #6
wow, that was very helpful , thank you for taking your time to write that out. Can you please recommend a feeding schedule for me to use. I have been using the cal mag and mixing it first before adding advanced nutrients micro grow bloom in that order. Right now I am using this feeding schedule and they seem to have burned but are doing better now, I think? Also, I think my plants just went into flowering stage, do the pictures support that. And lastly, I noticed in your setup it was very hot, I moved my setup into my closet mid grow before and it was very hot and my plants thrived. I took it out dude to fear of bad roots. Thanks for the help man! @Stltoed.
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
No sweat!
So, it looks like you're growing Deep Water Culture. An excellent choice. As for a feeding schedule... i dont know anything about Advanced, I assume they recommend 1 teaspoon (5ml) per gallon. Kinda surprised you had burn issues. You may have had a tad too much nutrient when you started feeding them. Or, it could have been a calmag thing... super common in hydro. Your nutrients sound very similar to what I use. How big is your system in gallons? Are you using a reservoir? I ask this to see if pH issues are amplified by the lack of volume. If you have pH problems this is your biggest issue other than root rot. pH must be under control.
What is your water temp?
If you havent put your lights on a schedule then your plants aren't flowering. Its not driven by nutrients, or shock or anything like that. Its a light schedule thing.
The heat in my room IS a problem. I regularly run my plants between 80 and 85. If your lights good 85 degrees will speed up the plants metabolism so they can feed more aggressively. And if you add CO2 you can go as high as 100 degrees, but thats a conversation for another day. Silica is a major reason why my plants aren't catching on fire right now. I had 2 buds grow into the reflectors with no serious damage. One light is running at 875watts with a bud less than a foot away. I grow in a shed in Southern California. Heat affects me on more than one level.
I'm glad to help. If you ever need a little advice, I'm here
So, it looks like you're growing Deep Water Culture. An excellent choice. As for a feeding schedule... i dont know anything about Advanced, I assume they recommend 1 teaspoon (5ml) per gallon. Kinda surprised you had burn issues. You may have had a tad too much nutrient when you started feeding them. Or, it could have been a calmag thing... super common in hydro. Your nutrients sound very similar to what I use. How big is your system in gallons? Are you using a reservoir? I ask this to see if pH issues are amplified by the lack of volume. If you have pH problems this is your biggest issue other than root rot. pH must be under control.
What is your water temp?
If you havent put your lights on a schedule then your plants aren't flowering. Its not driven by nutrients, or shock or anything like that. Its a light schedule thing.
The heat in my room IS a problem. I regularly run my plants between 80 and 85. If your lights good 85 degrees will speed up the plants metabolism so they can feed more aggressively. And if you add CO2 you can go as high as 100 degrees, but thats a conversation for another day. Silica is a major reason why my plants aren't catching on fire right now. I had 2 buds grow into the reflectors with no serious damage. One light is running at 875watts with a bud less than a foot away. I grow in a shed in Southern California. Heat affects me on more than one level.
I'm glad to help. If you ever need a little advice, I'm here
- Thread starter
- #8
Hey check out this video of this set up and what I am running. Considering moving into my shed for my next grow also if your saying it can be hot. I also want to get out of the closet I am growing in and use larger resevoirs.
The ph and such is as follows:
77 degrees water temp
6.7ph
1042 ppm
When I add water to the resevoir when my plants drink it, do I just add distlled water or water with nutes. I swap resevoir weekly.
Thank you so much
The ph and such is as follows:
77 degrees water temp
6.7ph
1042 ppm
When I add water to the resevoir when my plants drink it, do I just add distlled water or water with nutes. I swap resevoir weekly.
Thank you so much
- Thread starter
- #9
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Thats a pretty cool closet! Heres what I see. 2 and a half gallons may be very difficult to stabilize pH. I have 4 plants and im using 50 gallons. Now, you could get by with 10, but much less and it may be hard to keep stable.
You need a fan blowing on your plants. A simple 6 inch clip fan (or 2) may be all you need. You should clean up the plants a bit.. pull all dead and dieing leaves. this will help get air into the plant so mold, and other issues can't get a foot hold.
I love growing in my shed, but it takes a lot of prep. Insulation, ventilation, AC, wiring, and electrical planning, water, and on it goes. My shed is an ever changing project that I've petted to death. With that being said, if you ever decide to "move out" I can help you with it. There are some great benefits to shed farming.
First thing i see in your specs.... your water is waaaay to hot. Don't ever let it get hotter than 72 degrees. I have a cheap fix for that, but I dont know how it would work for you. If you start smelling wierd smells double up on you Hydroguard. Your pH is high, but it could be a lot worse. Your target should be around 6.0 +/- .3.
Hope this helps!
I’m grow in Pro-mix, but I do use AN at full strength. 6 plants 2L each per feeding, 4ml/L M/G/B, 2ml/L BigBud and BudCandy, 7ml/L Terpinator and 1.5ml/L Cal/Mag. I don’t believe that’s what’s burning the plants. I’m gonna day it’s the high pH and water Temps. Not a hydro guy though so I’ll leave this one to @Stltoed
Edit: he replied before I tapped send, lmao
Edit: he replied before I tapped send, lmao
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Your PPMs are high, but the plants are responding well.
When you are in flower start using a fulvic acid. I use Fulpower. It will help your chelate some of the less bioavailable nutrients. Its completely tame, its not really an acid, usually neutral on the pH scale. But your plants will dig it. But since it makes you nutrients easier for the plant to bring up you can use less. I usually don't go about 1000 till I'm deep into flower. The plants i have now are digging the big meals so ive been as high as 1500 for short periods of time.
When you are in flower, be sure to chill out on the Nitrogen. Nitrogen toxicity will destroy a flower cycle. Also a PK booster like KoolBloom liquid (Koolbloom dry is totally different) you use it for a few weeks and that's it.
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
I think you nailed it.
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
So here is a very brief explanation of how I cool my nutrient water. Super cheap, crazy easy, earlier today my water temp was 20 degrees cooler than the room. I think we could figure something out that might work for you. Even a 4 inch fan would do it. Proportionally it would be more effective than mine.
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
So a few posts back I wrote about the plants and threatened to add some pictures. Well, I never produced them. I was on the pot and simply forgot. Marijuana is a helluva drug.
PK
Well-Known Member
Thats a good way but you are losing all of the cold air. As the air comes in and goes out from the outlet that is a ft away.
When i tried dwc I had a 6" airduct taped to the outside of the res and when i had the ac on 75f the water temp of res was constantly at 64f
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Losing all the cold air? Not sure what you mean. You don't need cold air for this to work. In this example you arent cooling the water, you are pulling out heat from the water.Thats a good way but you are losing all of the cold air. As the air comes in and goes out from the outlet that is a ft away.
When i tried dwc I had a 6" airduct taped to the outside of the res and when i had the ac on 75f the water temp of res was constantly at 64f
PK
Well-Known Member
double check your water temps of your res. the upper water level will have a diff temp vs at the bottom.
So you might be pulling some hot air from top of the water which would cool the water but at the bottom of it, the water temp is more warmer. if you don't have water circulation inside the res.
by losing i meant the air is coming in and its exiting quickly. how many pumps are there in the res? is there only one that feeds the plants or do you have another one that will circulate the water inside the res?
So you might be pulling some hot air from top of the water which would cool the water but at the bottom of it, the water temp is more warmer. if you don't have water circulation inside the res.
by losing i meant the air is coming in and its exiting quickly. how many pumps are there in the res? is there only one that feeds the plants or do you have another one that will circulate the water inside the res?
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
Nope. Heat rises. So cooler water will sink and mix with the rest. This is how ocean convective currents work. Then there is the current coming in from the tubs.
If i were to restrict the air flow this method of cooling doesn't work. It doesnt mater how many water pumps i have
PK
Well-Known Member
also, with all due respect, you seem to be more advanced than me and its working for you. Im just givning a scientific point.
