Hi guys,
My friend asked me to see if I could find out what is wrong with his plants, they look really bad.
He is using a 4x2x5' mdf box he built himself
600w Vipar B2X4 LED (he said it only uses 350w though?)
5" TD Silent with 6" Rhino Pro, STR controller, set on setting 3 of 5 (setting 5 actually puts temp up)
Small fan inside set 15 mins on / 15 mins off (because if he leaves it on longer his tempratures go up)
5 litre pots, with poor drainage I think but he wouldn't listen (about 10 small holes per pot)
Mixed garden lime mixed in to top inch of soil since problem began
He waters every 3-5 days when the top soil is dry 1" down
No feeding as they are autos and he wasn't going to start until week 5
But because of this he give a half strength cana grow with magne cal
Temps range from minimum of 20 celcius lights off to a maximum of 28 lights on
Temps are normally 22ish lights off, 26ish lights on
RH is between 35% and 65%, normally around 50%
The light is about 18 inches away from the tops
The air is only vented out of the box and into the room the box sits in
He has been leaving the window open in there and the temps are ok
We think that the problem is low ph, it seems very acidic (also causes calcuium, magnesium and nitrogen deff? and this looks like the problem).
Also he left the compost in his garage for about 6 months prior to starting which can make it more acidic too as it decomposes?
First he was using just tap water and not checking the ph.
Then when the yellowing and drooping of the lower leaves started he investigated it and got some strips.
The water comes out of the tap at about ph 6, and he lets it sit for atleast 24 hours.
But when watering with this ph 6 water, the run off was ph 4.5 - 5.2.
So he added some baking soda (not much) to the water to get it at about 7.5, which made the run off 5.5
He now has ph up and is using that instead but no matter (within reason) what his water is ph'd to his run off remains around 5.5 (even using off the scale over ph 9 water)
He attempted to flush one of the plants earlier this evening (top soil was quite dry) using ph 8 but was amazed that the run off was still 5.5, so he upped it to 9 ph and still the same (she had just had 15 litres of ph 8 water then 2 more at ph 9).
CRITICAL RAPIDO x 5 are 4 weeks old
These are looking very very sick, I couldn't believe it when he showed me them as they looked great when I last saw them. They are in westland multi/general purporse compost
ROYAL DWARF x 3 are 2 weeks old
These look ok except smaller than Rapidos were at same age
And one seems to have burnt tips on the first leaves but other than that they all look ok, FOR NOW
These are in the same soil but have some bio bizz all mix around the edge of the pot and at the bottom
He said he is pretty sure what his problem is but wanted me to get a second opinion.
Basically the compost was sat for about 6-7 months before using it and he thinks it became to acidic, hes read up on here all sorts of info about low ph causing calcium, magnesium and nitrogen defficincys and we both think he has all three but hes not sure what to do because ideally he would change the soil but he has read bad things about repotting autos and it stunts them bad? It is progressing more and more each day and hes pretty gutted tbh so I said I'd help.
He said he thinks he has two options, throw them out or repot them... Is this true and will repotting them be better than leaving them in this acid bath?
http://imgur.com/a/iNdxi
Pictures 1-5 are the critical rapidos, 6-8 are the royal dwarfs
Picture 5 shows a plant that did "something weird", he says the 2nd set of leaves were single fingered with no new growth so he pinched the stem slightly to force it to grow the other areas quicker and it kind of worked but it looks a bit of a mess I think. Plants 1-4 all have preflowers?
Cheers in advance guys, I will pass ALL info on to him... and if you can't tell it is his first grow.
Bert
My friend asked me to see if I could find out what is wrong with his plants, they look really bad.
He is using a 4x2x5' mdf box he built himself
600w Vipar B2X4 LED (he said it only uses 350w though?)
5" TD Silent with 6" Rhino Pro, STR controller, set on setting 3 of 5 (setting 5 actually puts temp up)
Small fan inside set 15 mins on / 15 mins off (because if he leaves it on longer his tempratures go up)
5 litre pots, with poor drainage I think but he wouldn't listen (about 10 small holes per pot)
Mixed garden lime mixed in to top inch of soil since problem began
He waters every 3-5 days when the top soil is dry 1" down
No feeding as they are autos and he wasn't going to start until week 5
But because of this he give a half strength cana grow with magne cal
Temps range from minimum of 20 celcius lights off to a maximum of 28 lights on
Temps are normally 22ish lights off, 26ish lights on
RH is between 35% and 65%, normally around 50%
The light is about 18 inches away from the tops
The air is only vented out of the box and into the room the box sits in
He has been leaving the window open in there and the temps are ok
We think that the problem is low ph, it seems very acidic (also causes calcuium, magnesium and nitrogen deff? and this looks like the problem).
Also he left the compost in his garage for about 6 months prior to starting which can make it more acidic too as it decomposes?
First he was using just tap water and not checking the ph.
Then when the yellowing and drooping of the lower leaves started he investigated it and got some strips.
The water comes out of the tap at about ph 6, and he lets it sit for atleast 24 hours.
But when watering with this ph 6 water, the run off was ph 4.5 - 5.2.
So he added some baking soda (not much) to the water to get it at about 7.5, which made the run off 5.5
He now has ph up and is using that instead but no matter (within reason) what his water is ph'd to his run off remains around 5.5 (even using off the scale over ph 9 water)
He attempted to flush one of the plants earlier this evening (top soil was quite dry) using ph 8 but was amazed that the run off was still 5.5, so he upped it to 9 ph and still the same (she had just had 15 litres of ph 8 water then 2 more at ph 9).
CRITICAL RAPIDO x 5 are 4 weeks old
These are looking very very sick, I couldn't believe it when he showed me them as they looked great when I last saw them. They are in westland multi/general purporse compost
ROYAL DWARF x 3 are 2 weeks old
These look ok except smaller than Rapidos were at same age
And one seems to have burnt tips on the first leaves but other than that they all look ok, FOR NOW
These are in the same soil but have some bio bizz all mix around the edge of the pot and at the bottom
He said he is pretty sure what his problem is but wanted me to get a second opinion.
Basically the compost was sat for about 6-7 months before using it and he thinks it became to acidic, hes read up on here all sorts of info about low ph causing calcium, magnesium and nitrogen defficincys and we both think he has all three but hes not sure what to do because ideally he would change the soil but he has read bad things about repotting autos and it stunts them bad? It is progressing more and more each day and hes pretty gutted tbh so I said I'd help.
He said he thinks he has two options, throw them out or repot them... Is this true and will repotting them be better than leaving them in this acid bath?
http://imgur.com/a/iNdxi
Pictures 1-5 are the critical rapidos, 6-8 are the royal dwarfs
Picture 5 shows a plant that did "something weird", he says the 2nd set of leaves were single fingered with no new growth so he pinched the stem slightly to force it to grow the other areas quicker and it kind of worked but it looks a bit of a mess I think. Plants 1-4 all have preflowers?
Cheers in advance guys, I will pass ALL info on to him... and if you can't tell it is his first grow.
Bert
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