First try at DWC and indoor grow - Any suggestions advice help on leaf issue

[croptopper11]

decided to give this indoor grow a try with dwc, ive grown outdoors for years but never paid close attention to detail,nothing like ive been doin since starting these young ladies. my leaves are looking a little funny. i did start noticing the curling of the leaves a few days after lowering the light from 24” to 18” so i have moved the light back up. could have been caused from the light, could be nute burn, ive heard and read this strain doesnt take well to stronger nute solutions but any help or input is appreciated.

*growing setup*
im running a mars reflector96 LED in a 2’x4’x7’ tent, 5gallon dwc with dinafem blue widow 20 days from seed. tent temp 75-80 during the day 65-70 degrees at night, humidity 50-60%.. water temp 62-69 degrees. ph-5.5/5.8 ppm 800-825. running foxfarm nutes: grow big and big bloom right now at about 1/3 strength

 

[Scientific]

Hi CT11 -- Just BTW, there is a separate hydroponics forum here, and even a separate DWC subforum, though neither are super active.

Your leaves are looking a little droopy. I'm guessing the roots aren't getting enough oxygen.
You didn't say anything about your actual hydro setup.
Do you have an air pump and air stone for circulation and oxygenation in your reservoir? Maybe a separate circulation pump? (More important when the reservoir starts to get chocked with roots.) <--These would be my best guess.
OR...are your roots by any chance sitting in a big sopping wet block of rock wool? If so, rip away that rock wool and let them breathe.

Some more questions:
How do your roots look? (Any slime/brown gunk, or are they healthy tan color.)
How big is your reservoir? (Bigger is better.)
What are you feeding?
How many PPM is your reservoir?
What's the pH, and is it stable?

This all by way of fine tuning. This doesn't look like a crisis situation or anything...

 

[croptopper11]

Hi CT11 -- Just BTW, there is a separate hydroponics forum here, and even a separate DWC subforum, though neither are super active.

Your leaves are looking a little droopy. I'm guessing the roots aren't getting enough oxygen.
You didn't say anything about your actual hydro setup.
Do you have an air pump and air stone for circulation and oxygenation in your reservoir? Maybe a separate circulation pump? (More important when the reservoir starts to get chocked with roots.) <--These would be my best guess.
OR...are your roots by any chance sitting in a big sopping wet block of rock wool? If so, rip away that rock wool and let them breathe.

Some more questions:
How do your roots look? (Any slime/brown gunk, or are they healthy tan color.)
How big is your reservoir? (Bigger is better.)
What are you feeding?
How many PPM is your reservoir?
What's the pH, and is it stable?

This all by way of fine tuning. This doesn't look like a crisis situation or anything...

thanks for the words scientic!....the roots look really good and have nearly tripled in size in the last 2 days, mostly white to light brown in color, very strong and healthy looking. my res ppm, ph, res temp and others are listed in my original post

 

[Scientific]

thanks for the words scientic!....the roots look really good and have nearly tripled in size in the last 2 days, mostly white to light brown in color, very strong and healthy looking. my res ppm, ph, res temp and others are listed in my original post

I'm still wondering if you have an air pump and airstone for oxygenation and circulation bacause lack of O2 to the roots was my best guess. And are the roots in rock wool?

 

[croptopper11]

I'm still wondering if you have an air pump and airstone for oxygenation and circulation bacause lack of O2 to the roots was my best guess. And are the roots in rock wool?

im sorry i keep leaving out about the O2.. i dont think the O2 supply is the problem? i have 3 air pumps in each 5 gallon bucket with enough O2 bulbbles to make the wife complain when she is trying to sleep across the hall..lmao...i did start them from seed and then planted into rock wool with hydroton clay pebble and river rock..

 

[Scientific]

enough O2 bulbbles to make the wife complain when she is trying to sleep across the hall.

That should be enough.

i did start them from seed and then planted into rock wool with hydroton clay pebble and river rock..

If they are still in sopping wet rock wool, especially if the roots are not yet well established in the reservoir, that's probably your problem. If that's the case, gently removing the rock wool to let the roots breathe will help a lot and get rid of those droopy leaves. Or it may just grow out of this phase as the roots develop in the reservoir.

 

[croptopper11]

That should be enough.



If they are still in sopping wet rock wool, especially if the roots are not yet well established in the reservoir, that's probably your problem. If that's the case, gently removing the rock wool to let the roots breathe will help a lot and get rid of those droopy leaves. Or it may just grow out of this phase as the roots develop in the reservoir.

thanks for the info, ive started to break apart the rock wool cubes hopefully i can get this all turned around asap.. u asked how the roots looked and i "confidently" thought and told u they were looking really good with alot of new growth, asked the same question on a different forum so i posted a pic of the roots to get some feedback andddd the jury quickly replied with the veridct of...root rot! of courseeee it is, why wouldnt it be right?! wise man once told me beauty is in the eye of the beholder, guess im blind lol.

 

[Scientific]

This may prove interesting and instructive:
Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 2017

 

[Scientific]

BTW, HydroGuard is useful for treating (and preventing) root rot. It's expensive and has a short shelf life, though.

 

[croptopper11]

i guess its a waiting game now to see how these plants will react to my attempt to get the root rot taken care of. i went ahead cleaned the buckets out with everything the wife had under the sink. lol kidding.my ppms are in the 325 and 350, 160ppm of those totals are smy tap water... my ph 5.5 and 5.7 using 3.5 gallons of water and cut the feeding to almost nothing for now, 3 tsp of grow big, 3tsp big bloom total in each bucket. . ive read about peroxide being used to help with the problem, but havent found any solid info that would make me try it. some ppl swear by it others refused it so idk..i flushed the hydroton while i had the lids off, prolly a good thing i did, the ph after it drained thru was 7.1- 7.2...the confusing part is, i would think the plants would look much worse for having the rot and losing a few roots, but honestly they look like they are going good. topped in the morning before i was told my issue was root rot. but it hasnt slowed down the new growth any. any explainations for this??

 

[Scientific]

> it hasnt slowed down the new growth any. any explainations for this??

Someone up there likes you. (Or you caught a problem early--good for you!)

Really, your plants didn't look bad at all, just a little droopy.

Hey, don't keep 'em on that starvation diet too long.

People here use peroxide too much, methinks, but it does seem to help when used on bad infections. Big reservoirs, lots of air, lots of circulation, and water that's not overheated (plus benevolent bacteria like HydroGuard) are all the ounce of prevention.

I'm glad things are looking better. Kudos for getting on it quickly.

 

[croptopper11]

honestly idk if there was anything special. just had to talk a little ignorant to the little ladies and let them know they was fixing to get put out on the streets, no free rides in this house lmao.. heres a few pics from tonight

 

[croptopper11]

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[Scientific]

That new growth looks great! Arms raised in the sun worshiper position. Talkin' ignorant to her seems to have got her attention.

 

[croptopper11]

That new growth looks great! Arms raised in the sun worshiper position. Talkin' ignorant to her seems to have got her attention.

thats usually how works isnt it, typical females lol...new growth does look pretty good i think, i took a few fan leaves off to get some light down into it, it was a decent amount of under growth and im not sure if i want to mainline this girl or scrog. leaning toward mainlining. i lowered the lighting 4" last night, i still had the light at 24" but i got to find out my limits on the light distance. i dropped it down to 18" last week and then had the issues with the leaves a few days later and not knwing what exactly was caused my problems i raised the light back to 24"