First Timer Grow

JillyBean, stick with soil for a grow or two, it has a much gentler learning curve because soil acts as a buffer. After just a few grows the quality and yield of your crop will increase greatly. Once you have made some mistakes and know how to read the signs of plant problems then you will be able to easily transition to any form of hydro without such a steep learning curve. Hydro has the potential to out grow soil, but even small mistakes in hydro can take a huge toll on yield and quality.

-GNS

Well here is a perfect example GNS,
This is Erica, she is about 2 1/2 weeks. A few of the leaves are drooping. Aurora1 and 2 are not drooping. is this a defiency? She is about the same distance from light (about 4 inches) as Aurora 2 as they are same age. Dont know what she is... "a mutt" only seed found in some decent weed. AGAIN... Hoping it is not ERIC.

I gave her same feedings as the others, same spraying and water. Prob if I was doing Hydro I would have killed her waiting for you plant doctors to diagnosis.

I dont know why people say hydro is so much harder.. as long as your nutes are good and you keep the air pump running in the res..
truth is soil has many problems as well, thats why there is hydro

Drooping can be caused by any number of things, including over or under watering, a ph problem, and heat stress; although it is not one of the main signs of nutrient deficiency. When looking for any problems with nutrients you will usually be seeing some sort of discoloration; leaves getting lighter in color, is often a lack of nitrogen, while an over fertilization will cause the leaf tips and edges to looks lighter in color, or burned.

My first suggestion for relieving the droop is to watch the stature of the plant over the next few days while not doing anything, if the plant slowly gets more perky then the issue was too much water. If the soil is already very dry then it might just need a little water.

You are seeing that not all strains of cannabis prefer the same treatment, and sometimes react very differently in the same environment. You will need to account for this if you plant to grow multiple strains in the future.

What does your watering and feeding schedule look like, and when was the last time that you watered and fed that particular plant?

-GNS

EDIT: Canibud, to keep your nutes at a good level in hydro you must be able to easily read the signs that the plants give. If you misdiagnose in hydro you can cause damage that the plant will either take weeks, or never recover from. I believe that starting in soil will improve the learning experience and the quality of the plant until they have enough experience to act quickly and correctly to fix plant problems. There are certainly a number of issues that soil brings, the worst being plant pests, but those are much more easily staved off than an incorrectly diagnosed ph problem.

Checked out your recent posts and it looks like your holding everything together =]

Ive been busy lately but finally have updated my grow log, you should check it out!

ahhh ya jinxed me I think... Here is aurora 2 she is a week behind aurora 1. a few of the bottom leaves are turning brown. Other than those few leaves I believe she looks healthy for a 3 weaker.

Meet Aurora 1 a 4 weeks old... same thing.. my other plant (Erica is no longer drooping and has no brown dryed up leaves)

They all were given nutes 1 1/2 weeks ago and reg water this past weekend. They are only watered once a week when soil is dry. Temp is 75 degrees day 66 to 69 night. 19/5 light. Light is about 3 to 4 inches away using T5 grow.

HELP. I know you will.... Thanks
Jill

Oh and they look wet cause I just spritz them

What kind of soil are they in? kinda looks like nutrient burn, if it is potting mix there may be food in the mix...

And ya, I mixed my nutes wrong the other day.. it only took about half hour and the bottom leaves drooped, the next day the droop went away but there are some burned tips.
they look like yours.. thats why im thinking nutrient burn

yup GNS you do have to be quick at diagnosing them.. problems happen much faster than in soil!

JillyBean, I didn't mean to jinx you, but it must have been nice to know what it was as soon as you saw it.

I think that Cani has got it right, it looks like over fertilization; are you still using 1/4 strength nutrients? If your soil has nutrients, and the problem doesn't get worse, then you will just need to water with plain water for two or three more waterings before using any nutes again.

What kind of water (tap, Brita filter, R.O.) are you using? It could be salt buildup in your soil. This is most often caused by 'hard' tap water, as it has a large amount of dissolved mineral salts. If you are using tap water, you need to purchase at least a basic filter. For the best water, buy a 3 or 5 gallon refillable container and use the stations located at most grocery stores to refill it with reverse osmosis water. You would use the next time they need to be watered to water very thoroughly, where you are getting at least 40% runoff through the bottom of your pots. This will help to wash out any built up mineral salts.

-GNS

Grow'N'Smoke said:

JillyBean, I didn't mean to jinx you, but it must have been nice to know what it was as soon as you saw it.

I think that Cani has got it right, it looks like over fertilization; are you still using 1/4 strength nutrients? If your soil has nutrients, and the problem doesn't get worse, then you will just need to water with plain water for two or three more waterings before using any nutes again.

What kind of water (tap, Brita filter, R.O.) are you using? It could be salt buildup in your soil. This is most often caused by 'hard' tap water, as it has a large amount of dissolved mineral salts. If you are using tap water, you need to purchase at least a basic filter. For the best water, buy a 3 or 5 gallon refillable container and use the stations located at most grocery stores to refill it with reverse osmosis water. You would use the next time they need to be watered to water very thoroughly, where you are getting at least 40% runoff through the bottom of your pots. This will help to wash out any built up mineral salts.

-GNS

Click to expand...

Thanks, last night I watered with plain water even though I only water on saturdays. I was looking for food grade hydrogen peroxide to help give O2 while drowning the babies but couldnt find. Tellin ya, NJ sucks for this kind of thing. Gotta order everything on line. I pay a ton for S&H! I use tap that has been left out for at least 5 days (even my pritzer bottle) We dont have real hard water but not soft either. Will see about those stations. I bought a ph tester plus I have test strips (for the pool) PH tester says High (8.7) but test strip said right on the money. I tend to believe the strips.

I actually used even less than 1/4 strength and so far only gave only once it will be 2 weeks this sat.

Thanks, will update soon with BETTER pictures ... I hope
Jill

Leaving your water out for any number of days will do nothing to reduce the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids.) As for living in NJ, just wait, having just decriminalized the market will expand very rapidly and you won't have to order from the internet anymore. Did you purchase calibration fluid for the tester? If the tester is properly calibrated then you have just found out what is causing your burned leaf tips. pH is very important, even in soil. It controls how available any nutrients, when present, are to your plants.
The pH scale represents the acid to alkaline balance of any fluid, 1 being completely acidic and 14 being completely alkaline, each number indicating a ten-fold increase in alkalinity. The suggested range for growing cannabis in soil is between 6.5 and 7; this means that your water, if truly at 8.7, is 100 times more alkaline than suggested. As you get to a pH over 8.0 your plants start to lose the ability to absorb important nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, while also allowing excessive absorption of ammonium. With your pH so basic, not allowing absorption of the two main vegetative nutrients, you just compound the chances of toxic salt buildup already present due to hard water. Once again my solution is to begin using R/O water, as pure water is always at a pH of 7.0, and R/O water is very close to pure.

It seems that every possible cause of the problem that you are currently having can be solved by improving your water source. Thank you for the invaluable experience gained wile teaching.

-GNS

Looking really good man=)

Thanks. I have flushed all of them and added some hydrogen peroxide to water to help with O2 since I didn't want to drown them. I added some ph down to water but need to wait another day to use since tap. Looking for RO water but no luck yet. TOLD YA I HATE NJ. Stressing the next few days. Son having surgery wednesday so won't be home for 3+ days. Hope the hubby will suck it up and spritz them and check light placement.

Hope to get some pics tomorrow. Looking good except for few brown Leaves.

Thanks for your support
Jill

ok.. bout to scream. I can find NO RO water in this area. I got some PH down and brought my water WAY LOW to help bring 8.4 way down. Ive got them down to about 7.5 one is 7.8 but affraid I am downing the little girl (she is my smallest) It appears the new leaves are healthy but tips of many are brown. How long will it take to see a difference? Here are my pics today. big one is aurora 1 she is the healthiest. the other too are both a week or so behind. Im using T5 lights so there is not much heat so they dont dry out very quick.

Hope you guys have good news cause Im sweatin' this one.

Thanks,
Jill

I wonder.. did you soak and rinse the hydroton thats on the top of the soil? you need to get that ph in range, needs to be less than seven or the plant cant get the nutes.
also I would just use an aquarium air pump and stone in your water to keep the oxygen up
keep note of what you do in a book or calendar, the buffer that soil creates slows down the effects of what you do.. when things start to look wrong go back a few days and see if anything may have triggered it.
I would let them dry out a bit then flush them with water, and ph closer to six

canibud said:

I wonder.. did you soak and rinse the hydroton thats on the top of the soil? you need to get that ph in range, needs to be less than seven or the plant cant get the nutes.
also I would just use an aquarium air pump and stone in your water to keep the oxygen up
keep note of what you do in a book or calendar, the buffer that soil creates slows down the effects of what you do.. when things start to look wrong go back a few days and see if anything may have triggered it.
I would let them dry out a bit then flush them with water, and ph closer to six

Click to expand...

Holy crap canibud! No I did not rinse them. I just spend 1/2 hour picking them all out. T5 lights dont put a lot of heat to dry them out quickly.

After giving them <5ph water to compensate for 8.5 ) this afternoon, THEY ARE FREAKING BACK UP TO 8+ AGAIN! More leaves are getting brown They need CPR STAT!
Im ready to puke!
Jill aka puke-girl

canibud... and what is "stone in your water" mean i get the air pump idea

By stone I mean an air stone, it plugs on the end of the line from the pump and makes little bubbles, like a fish tank
I would mix up the nutes in batches, maybe 20-30L, keep the air stone in it and water/feed out of that, they do like consistency
Dont worry they will come back just as strong,
how is the drainage... I have never used grow bags, does the bottom get a chance to dry or does the soil stay moist?
Let the hydroton soak a day or so and give it a few rinses in some ph balanced water, and I would pour lots of water threw the soil let it run out the bottom for a bit ( the bathtub works good )
give them a good flush, then back to the feed schedule....hmm what were you feeding them again?

i got sum auroras 4 weeks into flowering lookin amazing