Overwatering or PH problems?

[snarkface]

Hi All,

 

This is my first grow and I am a little stumped as to what is wrong.

 

First things first the setup:

 

1m x 1m x 2m grow tent

400w HPS lowbay

900mm x 900mm tray

clay ball and rockwool cube media (40mm x 40mm for seeds then into 10cm finally buried in the clay balls)

NF elements A & B nutrient

NF Cargo Boost additive

X10 Boost additive

1200L/hr water pump

2 x air stones

150mm inline extraction

Watering - 5 min flood 4 x per day recirculating (drains back to storage tank)

45L tub holding 30L of nutrient @ approx 18 -19 C

Air temp Max 32C min 15.5C

Humidity Max 60% - Min 20%

Light time 18/6

PH sits arround 5.8 - 6.0

 

OK so first appologies for the photos as they were taken on a crappy phone, I will try and get a proper camera and post so decent photos.

 

The girls (at least I hope their girls ) look a bit sick and I am unsure as to what I am doing wrong. At first I thought I was overwatering but cutting back the water doesn't really seem to change things much, then I though the PH was off as it has been mentioned that rockwool can be a quite alkaline in the media so I dropped the PH down to 5.5 ish again didn't seem to change anything.

 

Anyway as you may not be able to see them properly the leave's have a slightly yellow tinge, more a light green than a yellow I guess, with a couple of little yellow spots on the bigger fan leave's. They are also a little droopy as you can see but the stems don't appear soft. The new growth appears normal then starts to loose color and droop.

 

Hope that make some sense (I'm dry right now and brains a bit manic !!!)

 

I bow to the wisdon of the forum and look forward to bright healthy babies.

 

Peace and love

 

Snarkface out.

[snarkface]

A couple more pics of baby number 2 and 3

Edited July 13, 2008 by snarkface

[snarkface]

Appears to have been overwatering. I have reduced to 1 flood per day and they seem mucho happier.

 

Well we will see how we go.

[Pure]

Looks to me like it's over watering coupled with a nutrient deficiency , Magnesium or Iron from the signs of things this could be directly tied to you them not feeding due to being overwatered or a completely different issue , once they have recovered from overfeeding , give them a light flush and resume normal feeding as per your normal schedual afterwards. If you still see signs of deficiency you may need to add suppliment elements or simply up their overall nutrient level

 

Do you have a CF , ppm reader / truncheon ? If so what are they reading at

 

 

Re the black lines in your pics people have found sunglasses over the camera lense can help , or better yet take your pics under normal house lighting not hid

[Radic]

greetnz snarkface

hummm

they are not happy yet

dont worrie

we will help

 

irey pure

 

it could be a deficiencey or toxidity

seen

and i see a combination of problems too

i hear you

a good flush is a must

gotta love dat

yo

imo

Air temp Max 32C min 15.5C

 

i would get the grow room tem max down to 28c and stable

 

NF elements A & B nutrient,

NF Cargo Boost additive,

X10 Boost additive

 

did you follow the directions as recommended by NF????

and

please tell we bout

the boost additive

 

is that compatible with your NF products

some additives are not

seen

if NF recomend it and you did follow the directions

than

np

 

how often do you change the nuitrent sollution??????

 

i'd recomend at least 1 week if you dont have a cf meter

and flush as soon as you see problems like this

then dump the old mix

and start with a fresh mix at half the recommended strength for the first day after the flush

then back to full strength mix the next day and follow the NF recommended plan

 

if you do have a cf meter than flush and stick to the plan recommended by NF

 

one more ting

do you have a book?????

if not get 1 or 2

this 1 is irey

 

Integral Hydroponics: Indoor Growing Principles for Beginners and Intermediates, Edition 3 by G.Low (2007)

 

glow rulez

here is his site http://www.integralhydro.com/

 

irey guidance

[snarkface]

Thanks heaps guys

 

I usually try to change out the tank every 7 days or so but I will def give em a big ol flush with plain water and then start the nutes up again. I dont have a CF meter yet but thinking I should mabye get one ? and the book ey.

 

The Cargo Boost is NF product so should be compat. and so is the x10 Boost root extender.The x10 says its organic micro bugs ands that all. The cargo boost says that it increases the chelating speed of nutrients and pushes more through the cell walls

 

Maybe this causing too much / too little nutrient and I should stop with it.

 

Took some more photos under normal light (I am not the worlds best photographer and I got a crappy phone cam)

 

tsk tsk tsk I need a cone, just went to turn the hid back on and the bastards not starting, all I get is ballast going click click click. bugger.

 

ahh well shit happens.

[snarkface]

The light came back on !!!

[Radic]

irey

did you get the temp down yet?????

does NF recomend grow room temps???

if so stict to it

if not

than

maintain the max at 28c

some say 26c even lower

but 28c max

ok

temps above 30c will strech the plants and may burn the tips

so

stay under 28c to be safe

 

guidance

[snarkface]

I think that the temps in the room stay arround 26 - 28 not to sure as I think that I may have had the temp probe in the wrong place (was lying on the clay balls horizontal under the light and i read this can give false readings) I have it hanging in the air uder the light now so I will see how that goes. or maybe I need a bigger fan? I have a cheapo 150mm inline but am thinking of getting a 150mm centri but these aint cheapo so may have to wait till next pay.

 

Also I have passive intake would changing to active make much of a diff? and is 15C over night too low?

 

sorry for all the q's Thanks so much for helping, Radic, Pure, Respect !! I was kinda floundering but now feel heaps better about it.

 

Peace and Love

 

Snarkface out

[snarkface]

OK I have got a 150mm centri that I am using for the exhaust and I have moved me axial to an active intack role. I now am getting max temps no more than 27C but it is still droping to about 16C overnight which is the ambient room temp I guess. I still dont have an EC meter as I could only afford fon or meter this month and I figured that the fan was more important.

 

I flushed for 2 days with plain PH adjusted water which they seemed to like but I think I flushed too long as they started to show yellowing leaves, so I started them on 1/4 strength nute. They seemed to like this so after a couple of days so I upped to 1/2 strength. I will up them to 3/4 strength today and see how that goes. They are scheduled for a flushing on sat night / sun morn but this time I will try the 45mins continuous flush to waste method and see if this goes better.

 

I will try and put up some more pics shortly.

 

Peace and Love

 

Snarky