How am I doing? (1st timer) Advice is appreciated!

Hey guys, I have done a lot of reading on this great site and I decided to try it myself. I have 5 little seedlings of Blue Australian that are growing (5 days), but I was wondering if anyone with experience could give me tips on what I can change to make it better. Right now, I just have them in my grow pantry with a 125w CFL - blue spec (hanging) always running and a 200w CFL - red spec (standing) that I occasionally run when the weather's not too hot. The 125w hangs about 1/2"; from the seedlings. I have two thermometers; one has its sensor in the middle of the plants and the other is on the on the tray outside of the fanflow. I was, at first really worried about the temps, because it's hot around here (with 1st thermo reaching 90 degrees). So far, the 2nd thermo hasn't passed 87 (which it pretty rarely reaches). At night, I sometimes turn on the 200w, which has the temp hovering @ 85. The seedlings are all in rockwool (previously soaked in lemon water) and are now sitting in a plastic tray filled with bottled water. I try to keep the tray full, which reaches about up 1/6th of the rockwool. I am planning on sticking them into a drip-DWC hydro setup, but I won't have everything I need until this weekend. I seem to have a problem with the actual seedlings. Out of the 5, 4 of them are growing leaning to the side and not growing straight up. At first I thought it was because one light source was stronger than the other, but even without the second bulb, they seem to not want to straighten out. Is this normal? Should I be worried? Thanks in advance!

they will straighten out once they have gown roots out of the rockwool block.

Thanks for the laying my worries to rest NoDrama! My plants have been vegging since the 5th of July and seem to be doing okay. A a couple of questions though. How do you know if your plants are missing or are deficient in anything? It's almost been 20 days and I feel as though my plants are aren't as big as some of the other pictures I've seen. A picture's worth a thousand words so here are my new shots:









My other question is about the last picture. That is my largest plant and seems to be doing the best, but it now was some yellow spotting on that big leaf.



Anyone have ideas as to what that is? Thanks!

For 20 days that is pretty small, most of my plants will be 2-3 feet tall in 20 days. What nutrients are you using? Yellowing leaves many times indicates a lack of nitrogen. How do your roots look?

Sorry for the long delay. I've been out of town for a few days. I came back and my plants look even worse. They are all still very small. The largest is only 3 inches tall. The rest are even shorter and have begun to show signs of yellowing. One has little yellow spots on several of its leaves.





















I am using Fox Farms nutes @ 1/2 of the recommended amounts. I have a question about my ECC meter though. I got a "Nutradrip TDS II" off a guy on craigslist. It's in good condition, but with no instructions. He told me that whatever the readout gives me (double digit number) multiply that by 100 for the actual level. Is that number the ppm? For example, on the nute schedule, it says that week four should by "EC (2.1 - 2.3) PPM (1470 - 1610)." Which number should I be looking at? When I put in half the recommended dosage, the meter gives me a reading of 71. Does this mean that its 710 PPM and therefore the correct 1/2 dosage? Thanks for you help NoDrama, I owe you a smoke!

Edit: I also forgot to mention that none of the roots have spread out from the rockwool. I just don't understand what I am doing wrong!

bump for some help!

Anyone got any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

1st advice is look up the manual for your TDS meter on their website, you will be able to find it. Calibration might be in order. Though it sounds like you have it right on.

Second I would say you reevaluate your nutes and make sure your not missing anything or adding to little. Tweaking the nutes is key, thats why its hard for beginners to do hydro, its difficult to diagnose nute deficiencies when you havnt seen them. Im not a hydro guy I wish I could shed more light on it.

The one problem Iv been hearing about more and more on the hydro boards is res temperature. As the temp rises outside and in your room that in turns heats the res for the DWC. As water heats its less and less capable of holding oxygen, this warmer water will rob your plants of oxygen, stunting growth killing roots and promoting all sorts of problems.

Again, im sorry im not a hydro guy but I would def check the res temp. I think something is locking out your nutrients.

EDIT: I dont know if too much is wrong on second thought man, they look pretty green. New growth is a lighter color its not showing a huge deficiency. Dont jack it up like crazy, play with the nute level.

Thanks for the tips speedhabit.

Do you know what kind of water temps I should be aiming for? I just checked my temp and it was 80 degs F. Would nute def cause little tiny plants like I have? NoDrama mentioned 2 - 3 foot plants, while mine are barely 2 - 3 inches! Thanks.

You need to research this, its somewhere on here in the hydro department...

Come on now...that only took me 2 seconds, you want the res temp at 68 deg, yeah thats cool, but it also holds oxygen, your plant is suffocating.

Im back from holiday! There is the problem right there. you don't have any roots to get the nutrients out of the water yet, make sure the reservoir has airpumps providing lots of bubbles to it. Make sure the temperature of the water isn't going above 70 degrees F. Once the roots start growing out of the bottom of the net pots and into the water you will notice drastic growth, up to an inch a day.


Just reread your last post, 80 degree water cannot hold much oxygen, with no o2 your plants roots will surely rot and die, for this endeavor to succeed you MUST cool that water to under 70. once you do that things will take off.

Heh, sorry speedhabit. I'm new to this forum thing.

70 degs? That is more than 10 degrees lower than the ambient temp of my apt! I have no idea how to do that, but at least I have a goal now. Thanks!

Do a search for reservoir cooler/chiller

idk



keep smoke a live

NoDrama said:

For 20 days that is pretty small, most of my plants will be 2-3 feet tall in 20 days. What nutrients are you using? Yellowing leaves many times indicates a lack of nitrogen. How do your roots look?

Click to expand...

wow not to be bogush or anything but 2-3 feet in 20 days now thats stretched his are nice and small wich is actually better and damn man i give u rpops for doin a first time grow as a hydro man that shits crazy keep me posted on urt plant +rep

Thanks for the kind words, Noob!

Update: So I've been trying to control my res temps and it seems to be working. Thanks for setting me on the right track guys! I've been using frozen water bottles directly in the res, but I am hoping for a more stable system when I get my cab built.

The plants are still pretty small. My largest is almost 4 inches;. They are all looking better with perkier leaves and stems. I am curious as to why my largest and smallest plants have full, broad leaves while my two other plants have skinny ones. Is that normal variation?

I have also addressed the nute problem by going full strength. I just changed the res yesterday and it seems to have helped already. I did lose one plant though. It just shriveled up and died. I thought it was doing nicely too. I am hoping for at least a couple of females from my remaining ones.

Also, I can't seem to spurt the root growth. They are still barely out of the rockwool and it's been a month now. Do you think it just the nute/heat problem?

Pix:



One concern about that last pic. At the top of the rockwool cube I can see some green growth. I am guessing that it's mold. Should I be worried? Do I need to do something? Thanks.

Update:

Crap, so I went full strength with my nute regiment and for the first few days everything seemed to be working out great. Last night I noticed some some of browning occurring on my higher leaves. Then today, when I got home from work I noticed more browning on my top leaves. Is this nute burn? It is only happening on my largest plant and seems to be getting worse.

I am using 3 tsp of Big Bloom:1 tbls of Big Grow per gallon. My last res flush I had them at 1/2 strength and they were showing N def. I also added some Dr. Hornby's Taranula and Piranha that a friend gave me. Any ideas?

Here's a picture:

Bump for some help!

looks like a PH problem to me

Hey Noob,

If it's a pH problem then I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have a pH meter and I check the levels all the time (2 - 3 times per day). I also have some Mad Farmer "Get Down" and keep my pH around 5.4 - 6.5. It shoots up throughout the day so I aim for a lower pH.

I have been keeping the temps a little cooler @ 75 degs. My TDS has floated around 1500 - 1400 ppm. In my previous post I was worried about nute burn, but I'm thinking that doesn't sound right.

I am still losing my bottom leaves. Then are slowly turning yellow from the edges and falling off. It takes about 4 - 5 days to turn from a green left to a dead one. From what I read that sounds like nute deficiency, right? There is new growth sprouting from those nodes though, so maybe it's just natural leaf loss?

Day 35 and my tallest is now 4.25 inches. I'll post new pix on Sunday when I change the res.