What's wrong

I need some help here! Let me give you the history of these plants.

They are approximately 2 weeks old. The first time I gave them nutes, it was FloraNova Grow. There was a very small amount of nute burn, but not much. A few days ago I switched to GH MaxiGrow. However before that I noticed that the first set or serrated leaves were turning yellow. I thought this was a magnesium deficiency, so I put 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of Epsom Salt in the rez. This caused the ppm to jump to over 1100. The leaves that turned yellow started looking real bad, so I just took them off.

I then thinned the ppm by removing approximately half the water, and replacing. That dropped the ppm to around 700. I also noticed that my ph was below 5.0, so I though maybe this was lock out. So I raised it to six.

A day later I noticed that there was more nute burn, so I assumed that the nutes were still to strong. I then looked at the roots and noticed that they were brown (see picture), but it mostly washed off. But the plants were drooping like they had been overwatered.

Today I noticed that the leaves were continuing to yellow (one of the plants is yellowing faster than the other). So changed the solution, and added FloraNova Grow again instead of the GH MaxiGrow. I also placed the plants in a mild H2O2 solution and the roots mostly turned back to white almost immediately. I left them there for about half hour.

The plants continue to droop. So here are the conditions in the rez now.

14 gallons of solution at a PH of 6.0.
Approximately 400 ppm using FloraNova
40 ml of H2O2
Temp range of 64 F - 75 F
six airstones with a 35w 950 gph airpump.
Plants are held in by Neoprene inserts, no other media

Is there anything I missed? I don't have anything like Super Thrive, and it's a long drive to get anymore supplies. Do you think these plants have a decent chance of recovery? If so...how long do you think it will take to see new root, or leaf growth?

Thanks!

Drop those ppm's to 200 - 250.
Stop switching back and forth. Pick one nute program/combo and stick to it.
700 ppm's are APPROX. end of veg/beginning flower.
1100 ppm's are APPROX mid-flower.
Both of the above are strain dependent no doubt.
Everything else about your set up seems on point.

Thank you Flo Grow. I should mention that my water out of the tap ranges from 190 - 350 ppm, city water. What would you do if your water had that much ppm? I do have the option to use dehumidifier water, a ppm of almost 0. RO water is not an option, I just don't have the money to invest in one right now.

Does your local grocery store have a water machine ?
Or live close to walmart ? They have one too. Usually inside the store somewhere.
Cost around $1.50/gal
If you can get plenty of that dehumid water, then go that route.
PetCo and PetSmart sell a product called Amquel Plus. Costs about $12 for the 16oz bottle.
That bottle treats 950 gallons !
It gets rid of Chloramine, Ammonia, Nitrtites and Nitrates, etc.
My city water is not only 290+ ppm's but it's also treated with Chloramine.
Worst than Chlorine. Don't confuse the two !
CHLORAMINE = AMMONIA + CHLORINE. Extra ammonia molecule added.
Can't sit this stuff out in a open bucket and bubble for 24hrs ! Can't get rid of it that way.
Gotta be Amquel (or like product) or ACTIVATED carbon filter in a water treatment system.

Ouch! $1.50 a gallon may not sound like much, but that would cost me $22.50 just to fill my rez each week. I think I'll go the route of the dehumidifier. I actually started out with that about a month ago, but someone said that it was bad due to bacteria. I'm sure it's nothing that H2O2 can't handle. Only problem with the dehumidifier is that it takes a while to build up 15 gallons of it. I'm also going to test a Brita water filter's ppm before and after filtration. Thank you for your help.

Try a water and Ice store, thats what I have been doing it did cost me 9 bucks to fill 25 gallons but the PPM was at 15 from the water and Ice store's R/O..

Flo Grow said:

It would behoove anyone that intends to do hydro for an extended period of time, to invest in a R/O water system from say Lowes or Home Depot.

Click to expand...

True dat! I'm only on week 2 and filling up 5 water jugs loading them up in the truck , then carrying them into the house, it does become a pain in the ass..I plan on buying one pretty soon.

I don't have the money for a R/O system right now, so I broke down and bought some distilled water. It was under a dollar per gallon so not that big a deal if I only change the solution once every two weeks. I also read that the PH can drift quite a bit with water that has very low ppm to start with, so I mixed two gallons of tap water with the distilled water to stabilize it a little. I used something similar to that Amquel Plus to remove the chlorine/Chloramine on those two gallons. I thinking that I should also get some calcium and magnesium with those two gallons.

I then adjusted the PH and nutes in 5 gallon buckets using an air pump and one of those disk stones to mix the solution. I finally got the solution to a PH of 6.0 and a ppm of 208. We'll see if these plants recover or not.

Any idea how long it should take them to come out of shock and start growing again? The leaves have a little burn on the tips, and about a third of the bottom leaves have yellowed starting from the tips. They also droop like in the picture. One of them has bottom leaves that have almost completely yellowed.

Just keep everything as stable as possible.
Hard to say when they will bounce back, but they will/should.

in 5 gallon res can someone say brita!!!!

I mixed it in 5 gallon buckets, but the rez is 18 gallons. BTW...the brita sucks, it hardly removes any of the dissolved solids, complete waste of time. I'll just buy distilled water until I buy a water distilling machine.

The BEST water purification systems use some kind of ACTIVATED carbon.
Even removes Chloramine, Chlorine and other BS in city water.
Check Lowes or Home Depot.
They're not all that expensive.
Even the whole house models.

I dont really understand what the discussion is here softeners, ro/di systems etc. Ive grown with tap water 400- 500 ppm plus from the faucet for the longest time. The droopy and malnourished plants in the pix should be chalked up to a PH problem and or over/under watering.

Droopy and saggy leaves only account to one thing that i have found in growing period! Over or under watering. Yup its true and u will find this in DWC especially in seedlings and freshly cut clones. I have found that certain strains like to be soaked in water like a straw and some like to be placed in water so they can sip when they want too same goes for feeding. Some strains cant get enuff food and some cant take much food. But it all goes hand in hand with PH and knowing what ur particular strain likes. Keep ur PH as close to 5.8 as u can and play with ur water and ppm levels. Ur plant leaves will either stretch to the lamp or sag depending on whether ur giveing to much water or not and keeping ur PH solid and consistentcy will show u how much ur plant likes to eat during this time. Good luck. Hope this helps. Peace.

Thank you for the help guys, especially Flo Grow. + Rep to all.

What worked was using distilled water and lowering the ppm to between 200-250. Today I noticed that three out of the four have started growing again. The fourth one, which is also the one that had the most damage, looks healthier and the leaves perked up. It may have also started growing again, but not so much that I can be 100% sure. Either way, I have a replacement germinated just in case. If it's not needed, I might just sex it and use it for clones if it's a female.