What Am I Doing Wrong?

[Sid Taylor]

Hey all! New here and need some help. I put 12 Bubblegum seedlings in my hydro drip system 7 days ago and not seeing much growth. I was told they were about 2 weeks old when I got them. The roots were about 1" long on each plant when I put them in the Hydrton expanded clay pellets. Some were longer. I have a 28 gal reservoir that I filled with ph'd well water and added 1/4 strength nutes. I use a two part nute called Grow A and Grow B. It says on the bottle to mix 4ml to 1 L. The feeding program I have is from the Hydro store I got the nutes from as it is based on the nutes I have. I also added 100 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide to the tank. I turned on the MAG Drive 1200 GPH pump to feed the 12 plants to drip constantly when the lights are ON (18 hrs) and twice for 10 min when the lights are OFF. The drippers are 2 gph drippers. The lights I have are two 1000W MH. I started the lights at about 4 1/2 ft above the plants for 48 hrs to let the plants adjust. Then I dropped them to 3 ft above the plants and that's where they are right now. The buckets I am using are 2.5 gal with 8" mesh pots filled with Hydroton expanded clay pellets. The temp is at 80 F when the lights are on and 70 F when the lights are off. The humidity is constantly at 55-60 %. The nute tank temp is at 70 F all the time. I just got a Quick Dip nute meter and found that the well water (unsoftened) is at 1000 PPM. I also have a spring fed well and that water is at 200-300 PPM. For the last 2 days I have been feeding water from the spring fed well that is ph'd to 5.5-6 with no nutes trying to flush the system out. I noticed white salty stuff on the clay pellets and thats why I switched to the spring water to try and fix and remove the salt or what ever it is build up.

 

I have attached some pics of some of the plants for you people to see and tell me what the problems might be. One question I am having a hard time finding an answer for is how often should I be feeding with this type of medium? Hopefully someone here will be so kind as to try and diagnos my problems.

 

A really big thanks to all those that can help. Don't want to loose these ladies as this is my first grow.

[Sid Taylor]

Another pic

[Sid Taylor]

Another pic

[Sid Taylor]

Another pic. Notice the yellowing?

[Guest Wilderbud]

Thats some major salt build-up you have there. Feed seedlings at 1/4 strength then 1/2 strength over the first couple of weeks - they cant handle full-strngth nutes right now.

 

Wait for a hydro grower to help you out with a fix before doing anything but Id look into starting some more seeds unless your roots arent affected [i think they would be].

 

This is an Aussie site so most people are asleep right now.

[Sid Taylor]

Thanks for the reply Wilderbud. I appreciate it. My nute mixture was 1/4 strength added to 5.5-6 ph'd water. I added a little hydrogen peroxide as well. I since got a nute meter and the nute gave me a reading of 1600. I right away dumped the mix and ran straight ph'd water through the girls with a PPM of 400. I have been doing this for two days now to help. I also have changed the water I use to 200 PPM. This morning I have been flushing the clay pellets with luke warm 200 PPM ph'd water to try and clean the salt build up out.

[Guest Wilderbud]

Youre doing the right things now IMHO - see what others think later on [i think bicarb helps with salt but dont take it as advice yet since Im still a newb].

[white_cluster]

Keep using that spring fed water mate. If possible do not use the shitty 1000ppm stuff again, thats very dirty, i hope youve never drunk it.

 

Anyways good luck with yourt growing.

[white_cluster]

another thing is dont just run straight water thru your drippers, to hurry them back to better health pour a bottle of water thru th pot by hand.

[F420]

why not put plain water through the drippers mate??

 

I would tend to be thinking more like too much light, try moving your light at least 4 feet away from the plants,

set your drippers to run constant for 15 mins every 2 hours.

dont use any water over about 300ppm, buy a water filter if you have to, and a reverse osmosis unit if you can,

 

Cover the top of the pot with some black plastic or something that will prevent the light touch the rocks.

 

Use 1/8th strength nutes untill the clone is approx 14 inches tall, then switch to 1/2 for a week, then 3/4 next week, and then full strength after that.

 

The plant grows faster with less nutes, and slower if theres too much.