CLOSET GROW - Problem - Fan leaves falling off, others look to be drying up WHY?

I've got fan leaves falling off for no apparent reasons. Other leaves seem to be drying up. This is a hydroponic grow, the reservoir is full.

Some of the leaves just start wilting and then they fall off completely. I'm in week 5 of flowering using 5 CFLs, 2 on top and 3 as side lighting.

Heat is not a problem the area is not really hot at all.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

I'm using a liquid nute mixture of 10-40-20.

I change out my water once a week.

Water is Reverse Osmosis only.

Should I try distilled maybe for now?

Pics help alot. If it is the bottom leaves this is somewhat normal. plants kill the bottom leaves for new growth since nitrogen is reduced during flowering. ;P good luck and keep on smokin'.

Its not the bottom leaves, its the top

so heat isnt an issue huh? not even an option to be considered?

Since it is the top leave, heat could be an issue but since it is this far without any prevous problem it is something recent you have changed (Flower nutes) or RootRot are the most likly causes

That's a whole lot of P in the nute formula. Toss that stuff and go for something with a better ratio. Sounds like your plants need some Nitrogen. Despite all the hype, you should really be feeding them N all the way through. Plant can't make buds if it doesn't have any leaves to work with. Also, add some H2O2 to the solution if your not going organic. It definitely helps the root system and makes the plant a lot more efficient with nutrients. I'm in week 6 of flowering a sativa, PPM's only at 500. Plants love it, wish I used it longer ago.

Fever829 said:

I've got fan leaves falling off for no apparent reasons. Other leaves seem to be drying up. This is a hydroponic grow, the reservoir is full.

Some of the leaves just start wilting and then they fall off completely. I'm in week 5 of flowering using 5 CFLs, 2 on top and 3 as side lighting.

Heat is not a problem the area is not really hot at all.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

I'm using a liquid nute mixture of 10-40-20.

I change out my water once a week.

Water is Reverse Osmosis only.

Should I try distilled maybe for now?

Click to expand...

OK my friend.. many things can cause these issues. What is your pH?

RO water can be bad because of pathogens... adding your own enzymes can help combat this.

No heat, means a nutrient issue. caused by either pH or simply not feeding enough. Don't worry about overfeeding the plants, that really can't happen. Plants puck and choose what they want when they want, so long as the ions are available of course.

If you believe you have enough nutrients then you need to look for reasons why they aren't taking the ions.

pH, temperature, pathogen.

If a pathogen the earlier advice of H2o2 should do the trick.

Thanks, my PH kit is coming in the mail now. I'll try to the H2O2. No heat is not really a problem however i put my finger in the water today and it seemed to be a little warm... I recently (just recently) added the more lights, i was only using 3 before, now i have 6.

As for the nutes - so you cannot over feed? I have 2 dif types is it ok to put some of each in and combine the 2?

actually they don't technically make selective decisions on what they would like to ingest its more a matter of osmosis. roots operate on principals of high concentration to low concentration. if there is low concentration of moisture in the plant and higher concentration of moisture in the soil. moisture would move from the soil into the roots through osmosis. concentrations of nutrient in the plant and in the medium would determine how much nutrient is allowed to enter the plant with the water. if the plant has too much of something it can effect the plants ability to absorb any other nutrients. this is why it is important to use the correct ratios of nutrients based upon the plants usage in its various stages of life. and also why lockouts occur when the wrong nutrient ratios are used. flush your medium readjust your nutrient ratios and reapply nutrients at 1/4 strength until you see an improvement. 3-1-2 is a good NPK ratio for veg. flower would be more towards 1-3-2

Fever829 said:

Thanks, my PH kit is coming in the mail now. I'll try to the H2O2. No heat is not really a problem however i put my finger in the water today and it seemed to be a little warm... I recently (just recently) added the more lights, i was only using 3 before, now i have 6.

As for the nutes - so you cannot over feed? I have 2 dif types is it ok to put some of each in and combine the 2?

Click to expand...

that depends on what they are.

I'm located offshore so its very difficult to get stuff shipped in. I've ordered some African Violet Plant Food from Amazon.com - check it out, the ratios are 11-40-20 so I think its perfect. It wont be here for 2 weeks however. The stuff I have now is the stuff that came with the aerogarden which i think is 20-10-10.... plus some magic bloom stuff which is 10-40-10.

I added the peroxide today, I'm a little worried about it, since its the 3% stuff... there is no chance of finding the 35% here at all. I'm probably going to flush the system out tonite, in case the 3% stuff is gonna damage it. The problem is likely the root-rot... as the temp. here is warm, and with the added lights and being in the closet the reservoir water is warm. I have a new airstone coming, pH kit, the proper food for veg... and I think i'm gonna order some Lowrider AK47, which is more suitable for the Aerogarden grow.

I thought of another possible problem the Aerogarden sponge system seems to be constricting the stalk of the plant. Is it possible its very tight around the base of the plant and its not getting the water or nutes it needs because of that? I'm grasping at straws here i know but it looks tight around the base.

Fever

well i dont think i would even bother attempting to grow cannabis in an areogarden. they are not really big enough to be honest. if your already getting all that other stuff why dont you just get a black 5 gallon bucket and do a dwc? you might want to look into a 3 part nutrient system from fox farm, or advanced nutrients or one of the other highly recommended companies. the 11-40-20 might work for flowering. but use the 20-10-10 for veg.

svchop889 said:

actually they don't technically make selective decisions on what they would like to ingest its more a matter of osmosis.

Click to expand...

A plant's roots will come into contact with nutrient ions in 3 ways.

One way, as you said osmotic pressure.

The second way is through transpiration, as the light pulls the water up through the plant nutrient ions come into contact with the root surface.

The 3rd way is that the roots simply bump into the ions as they grow.

However, just because they hit the root surface does not mean the plant lets them in. The nutrient uptake process is an active one ONLY.

This means that the plant needs to carry the nutrient ions from the root surface, using a carrier hormone, into the plant. The same goes for the water ions too.

Imagine yourself at a buffet table with everything you need to live sitting in front of you. You may have already had some B12, and you're full of it. Although B12 is on the table you don't have to select it and will select some C instead, maybe you feel like a drink of water, maybe you don't. Plants do the same thing using suberisation.

Using suberisation a plant's roots can block the passage of any ion depending upon the consistency of the suberisation.

This is why ratios of nutrients do not matter, all that matters is that there are enough available nutrient ions hitting the root surface. Too much is fine, too little is bad... very bad.

K WELL..............
I put 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide in last night, I can only get the crappy 3% stuff where i live, so just to be safe i dumped the water today (about 18 hrs later) and replaced the water with distilled. I got a Pool PH kit to see where I'm at and i'm below the readable pool scale so that is a good thing. (a light yellow colour).

I added my nutes again, buffet style. I mixed my 2 nute mixtures and added those in. And I added 2 drops of my "drop-a-gallon vitamin mixture" ...

Since i'm using the AG, i topped the water right to the rim of the thing, i noticed there's about 2 inches where there are bare roots not getting any water or not being in the water, could this be part of the problem? The other roots are huge and inside the reservoir.

I know there is a lull period when flowering starts where nothing seems to happen, is this a 4-week wait usually?

Fever

Sorry another Aerogarden specific question - should I have my pump turned off at when the plant is in darkness? I leave my pump running 24-7.

I do not have an airstone installed yet, i got the pump but the stone is in the mail.

Fever829 said:

K WELL..............
I put 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide in last night, I can only get the crappy 3% stuff where i live, so just to be safe i dumped the water today (about 18 hrs later) and replaced the water with distilled. I got a Pool PH kit to see where I'm at and i'm below the readable pool scale so that is a good thing. (a light yellow colour).

I added my nutes again, buffet style. I mixed my 2 nute mixtures and added those in. And I added 2 drops of my "drop-a-gallon vitamin mixture" ...

Since i'm using the AG, i topped the water right to the rim of the thing, i noticed there's about 2 inches where there are bare roots not getting any water or not being in the water, could this be part of the problem? The other roots are huge and inside the reservoir.

I know there is a lull period when flowering starts where nothing seems to happen, is this a 4-week wait usually?

Fever

Click to expand...

Just checking, but you know not to mix actual nutrients together? OK to mix them in the water... but not actually straight together.

a lull period? Flowering should begin right away unless you're forcing them. If you're forcing them, then depending on the age when you force them you could wait anything from a just a few days to 4 weeks. 4 weeks if you flower from seedling... so you might as well veg 24/0 and they'll pre-flower in 4 weeks anyway and be much stronger plants for it. If they've veg'ed for a few weeks first this takes the waiting time down. So long as your environment is good you shouldn't have to wait as long as 4 weeks to see sex.

Fever829 said:

Sorry another Aerogarden specific question - should I have my pump turned off at when the plant is in darkness? I leave my pump running 24-7.

I do not have an airstone installed yet, i got the pump but the stone is in the mail.

Click to expand...

leave the pump on. Only turn it off for 10 minutes before you want to check stuff like pH. The o2 bubbles can knock off digital meter readings.

Sorry what I meant was, a lull period from when they show sex, I've got white hairs all over like crazy, but then I was told there is about a 4 week wait before I start to see bud... This is a random seed, I was told its a sativa for sure, so expect 9-12 more weeks from when they start to flower until finishing.

OK.... Riddle me this.
The Aerogarden's water reservoir only goes so high, the water level that is. I have a huge root cluster growing just above the water line The only way these roots are going to get water is from the pump. But the pump only provides a small trickle of water to one side of the root cluster. I am wondering if i should lower the plant, removing the bracket holding it on and submersing this root cluster. If the root cluster is not getting water then its not doing its job. It looks like a large golf ball sitting just above the water.

I've attached some other pictures. These pics were taken in absolute darkness using the camera flash. Notice the water level pictures, it may be hard to see but there is about a 1.5 inch gap between the water level and the top of the plant..... you can see the root cluster above the waterline. Should this root cluster be pushed down into the water?

Edit: **Pictures 5 and 9 show the wilting best.

Edit #2 - What you dont see is a large CFL in a hanging light fixture with a metal bowl, white coating on inside, that provides the top lights. There is a front large CFL on the left side, and a mid sized CFL hanging to the right (orange safety lamp) .. all those are 2700 Kalvin temp, 2000 lumens each. On the far left is the aerogarden 3 light system providing 68w total in 3 CFLs at full spectrum 6000 Kalvin temp.

I posted pictures..... nobody?
Do you think i should take the plant outside for the sunlight in daytime? Where I live i get LOTS of hard sun..... bright and hot and full of life. I can take her outside for periods of time without problem.. is this a good idea?