Help! Week 4 veg downturn

[GrowingCrazy429]

So this is my first DWC grow, and of course after a very successful soil grow I went into it confident. "What could be so hard about messing with water once a week?" I thought... Everything has been going relatively good so far. I'm one bucket change in, and just did a gallon swap yesterday per the schedule. I'm using the "advanced nutrients" line. Everything was fine last night, she looked great a few hours after the gallon swap. This morning I'm getting tiny brown spots, and my tips are bleaching. I've been through so many deficiency charts, and I can't find anything that really matches what's going on. My pH keeps drifting to upper 6's and my ppm is at 600. Someone said cal/mag defeciency but I can't imagine I'd have to add that using a full line of nutrients by schedule. I'm open to anything at this point.

I've been through quite a few threads looking for something similar, but it's only one, or the other. Or brown spots with brown edges. Not tiny brown spots, and tips/edgs bleaching on the fans. I'm almost thinking about dumping the water and starting over...maybe it's a potassium defeciency, but it's not. Maybe it's the grow light, but leaf temp avg is 73.2°f, tent temp is 75°f with an RH of 55%, water temp 72.3°f. With the pH drifting up, I've been trying to refrain from using too much pH down because I read that it can also cause brown spots like that. So many things it could be. HELP, I don't want to lose my first DWC grow!! Thanks again.

 

[Chewy]

 

[Chewy]

If the tips are burnt, likely feeding too much fertz ( Nitrogen ) to the plant causing it to go toxic. This in return can cause lockouts and make other nutrients like calcium and magnesium not be absorbed. Hope this helps along with the chart I attached above.

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

If the tips are burnt, likely feeding too much fertz ( Nitrogen ) to the plant causing it to go toxic. This in return can cause lockouts and make other nutrients like calcium and magnesium not be absorbed. Hope this helps along with the chart I attached above.

I was thinking nute burn at first but ppm is barely cresting 600 so I don't know what is going on. She looked absolutely beautiful last night. Dwc is Definitely more of a challenge than I thought. At the same time I'm glad I'm having a problem now to find out how to correct it, instead of later on down the line when it's irrepreble damage in flower. Also, gaining exp so my next grow goes smoothly. I'm seriously considering a res change when the light comes back on.

 

[Streetpro09]

What are you setting your ph to? What are your ppms doing and are/is the plant/plants uptaking any water?

Here are a couple ph charts. I know most suggest 5.8-6.0. Sometimes with a quick rising ph i adjust to 5.5.




What kinda media are you using? Clay pebbles? Did you rinse them really good before using them. They can cause the ph to spike rapidly if not thoroughly cleaned before first use.

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

Ok after an hour of checking EC, PPM, PH. When I noticed the problem pH was at 6.8 as a result of an upward drift. So 2 hours ago, EC 1206 us/cm, ppm 565, PH 6.6. just now, EC 1134 us/cm, ppm 533, pH 6.6. she's in lights out ATM so I can't tell if the damage is spreading or has stopped yet. I'm on the edge of my seat with a res change, but don't want to jump the gun and waste what I just put in yesterday. Pins and needles.

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

What are you setting your ph to? What are your ppms doing and are/is the plant/plants uptaking any water?

Here are a couple ph charts. I know most suggest 5.8-6.0. Sometimes with a quick rising ph i adjust to 5.5.

View attachment 112896
View attachment 112897

What kinda media are you using? Clay pebbles? Did you rinse them really good before using them. They can cause the ph to spike rapidly if not thoroughly cleaned before first use.

Sorry, it's a 3.5 gal DWC setup, with hydroton pebbles that I rinse when I do a res change or gal swap. Sprouted 3/11

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

View attachment 112893

Thanks btw!

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

What are you setting your ph to? What are your ppms doing and are/is the plant/plants uptaking any water?

Here are a couple ph charts. I know most suggest 5.8-6.0. Sometimes with a quick rising ph i adjust to 5.5.

View attachment 112896
View attachment 112897

What kinda media are you using? Clay pebbles? Did you rinse them really good before using them. They can cause the ph to spike rapidly if not thoroughly cleaned before first use.

A lot of helpful information, I appreciate it!

 

[Chewy]

Thanks btw!

That chart I attached...print it out and remember to use that when you got something going on. It is perfectly written and will give you an idea of what to do when your levels are bouncing around. I use GH's Flora series and it buffers my PH levels so I rarely adjust it....if ever. I also rarely ever use 100% of the recommended dosage unless the plant shows it needs more. I am in the middle of a RDWC grow at the moment. I have 6 plants in veg headed to flower and I am shooting for a pound per plant.

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

Noted, thank you.

 

[Chewy]

Noted, thank you.

You're welcome.

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

So here's a question. Decided to do a res change. After I added scheduled nutes I noticed my pH barely got there, ppm is at 315, and EC is 700. That's for a gallon.5. what am I doing wrong here? Or am I?

 

[Nobighurry]

Are you using RO water or tap water? Almost all nutes I have used go thru a PH swing you will figure out how long it takes for your system to get out of range use it to your advantage plants do well being able to utilize all the available nutes as your PH swings within each nute perfect range set your PH at the low end of the range sure beats trying to keep your res at 5.8

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

Are you using RO water or tap water? Almost all nutes I have used go thru a PH swing you will figure out how long it takes for your system to get out of range use it to your advantage plants do well being able to utilize all the available nutes as your PH swings within each nute perfect range set your PH at the low end of the range sure beats trying to keep your res at 5.8

RO only, my tap water is atrocious. Starting ppm is 140 . Anywho, I followed the chart Chewy posted. After taking readings for a couple hours it ended up saying res change. So, fuck it res change it was. She looks pretty pepped back up this am and the damage stopped spreading. DWC is a lot harder than I thought it would be, first starting out. My "mentor" is a soil background guy so I've been on my own mostly. Appreciate the help guys. Hopefully she stays out of the woods.

 

[Streetpro09]

RO only, my tap water is atrocious. Starting ppm is 140 . Anywho, I followed the chart Chewy posted. After taking readings for a couple hours it ended up saying res change. So, fuck it res change it was. She looks pretty pepped back up this am and the damage stopped spreading. DWC is a lot harder than I thought it would be, first starting out. My "mentor" is a soil background guy so I've been on my own mostly. Appreciate the help guys. Hopefully she stays out of the woods.

Fyi: 140 outta the trap ain't bad. Mine comes out over 400 if i remember right.

Knowing that you run ro and leds you might have to add a calmag supplement to the water. I've had people tell me it's not needed with certain nutrient lines. I temporarily switched to a different nute line and that's not what i experienced.

 

[Zaphod420]

Salute GrowingCrazy429, the first thing I would suggest is...

There is some seriously good info in the above posts especially the ones on what nutes become locked out and unavailable if you let your PH drift too high or too low. I would suggest checking it more frequently than every 7 days (I check mine every 2-3 days) and just keep it in the sweet spot of 5.8 -6.2 and I bet your new leaves will be nice and green.

GL on your grow going forward.

 

[Buddernugs]

How’s she doing rn?

 

[GrowingCrazy429]

How’s she doing rn?

As of this am I'm not seeing any more of the damage spread. Seems growth rate has slowed though, and something just seems off. My pH after res change was 5.8, and that was Sunday night. Checked last night and it was all the way back up to 7.0 so I added a ml.2 of pH down which dropped it to 6.5. came back later and added .2ml and dropped it further to 6.1. I didn't get a chance to check pH going out the door so hopefully she's not drifting as fast.b Like I said this is my first DWC so everything as far as timelines is all new to me as well. I'm not 100% sure my water level is correct. Started out 1/4" below the basket until I had a root, then I dropped it a couple inches a few times as the root ball grew. Now the water is about 3.5" just covering the main cluster. Another concern I had, which may be completely normal is the roots were all super white and healthy. Last night they were looking more brown. Is that Just a part of the natural process or something telling of an issue? All help is definitely appreciated, I'm sure us newbs get annoying with our silly beginner problems.

 

[Buddernugs]

As of this am I'm not seeing any more of the damage spread. Seems growth rate has slowed though, and something just seems off. My pH after res change was 5.8, and that was Sunday night. Checked last night and it was all the way back up to 7.0 so I added a ml.2 of pH down which dropped it to 6.5. came back later and added .2ml and dropped it further to 6.1. I didn't get a chance to check pH going out the door so hopefully she's not drifting as fast.b Like I said this is my first DWC so everything as far as timelines is all new to me as well. I'm not 100% sure my water level is correct. Started out 1/4" below the basket until I had a root, then I dropped it a couple inches a few times as the root ball grew. Now the water is about 3.5" just covering the main cluster. Another concern I had, which may be completely normal is the roots were all super white and healthy. Last night they were looking more brown. Is that Just a part of the natural process or something telling of an issue? All help is definitely appreciated, I'm sure us newbs get annoying with our silly beginner problems.

Non of us know everything about this shit bro lol…… there ain’t a man alive on this planet who knows everything there is to know about growing this shit lol…… some of us just have more knowledge in certain areas than others that’s all……you’ll get their’ just keep after it and don’t let fuck ups stop you from evolving into a better grower…..u got a water chiller?