First Bubble Bucket Grow - Plant Problems

L

Lockem

Active Member
Just started my first grow and I'm having some problems with my plants. I over-watered them for the first two weeks and I think it stunted the growth... I removed my top-feed drip and lowered my water level and the plants shot up in about a week.

I did a water change two days ago and noticed some wilting/drooping leaves. I have no idea if this is too little nutrients, too many, or an environmental issue.

Info:

Area: 2.7' x 2.7' x 6' grow tent

Light: 260W QB (3500k) running 18" from plants at 50% (18/6 schedule)

Medium: 2 x 5 Gallon bubble buckets with a ton of bubbles, about 2.75 gallons of water in each bucket.

Water (base): 0 ppm RO

PH: PH'd to 5.6 after nutrients, PH went up to 6.0 the next day but seems to have stabilized at 5.8 after adjusting again

Nutrients: https://www.growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com/files/grow-weed-General-Hydroponics-nutrient-schedule.pdf (still running at week 1 levels due to over-watering)

Water Temp: 68F - 71F

RH: 40 - 60%

Pics:
20190518_205624.jpg 20190518_205609.jpg
 
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SCJedi

SCJedi

Well-Known Member
Sad plants singing a sad song.

A couple things that jump out at me. Can you define overwatering? In bubble buckets there really is no such thing.

Secondly, you note pH and ppm of base water but not of nutes solution. When you said you don't know if it's too little or too much, the peanut gallery can speak that nute table's language if we know the ppm or ec.

The key with buckets is to bring the bucket water right up to the bottom of the basket or within an inch. Top water til roots drop out oft he basket but make the roots fight for it. Once they get to that aerated water watch for things to explode.
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
Purpsmagurps said:
its just humidity fluctuation twists even I get those. keep the bubbles going and you will be fine.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, I have my humidifier on a timer with my light. I think I might invest in a better humidifier that can automatically keep humidity.
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
SCJedi said:
Sad plants singing a sad song.

A couple things that jump out at me. Can you define overwatering? In bubble buckets there really is no such thing.

Secondly, you note pH and ppm of base water but not of nutes solution. When you said you don't know if it's too little or too much, the peanut gallery can speak that nute table's language if we know the ppm or ec.

The key with buckets is to bring the bucket water right up to the bottom of the basket or within an inch. Top water til roots drop out oft he basket but make the roots fight for it. Once they get to that aerated water watch for things to explode.
Click to expand...
I had a top drip feed before the roots reached the water. Everything checked out for over-watering and removing the drip fixed it.

The nutrient solution PH is 5.8 and seems to have stabilized, 0.9 EC, 470 PPM / 500

The roots are a few inches in the water right now with about 2 inches between the net pot and water. They look healthy but slightly stained by the nutrients.
 
61falcon

61falcon

Well-Known Member
How often do you check your ppm & what is the temp of the water. I put frozen water bottles twice a day to keep water temp under 72°F (21°C). I am using the same size bubble buckets and same nutes. I am only using 2ml of each of the GH trio & 7.5ml calimagic in 10ltr (490ppm) water and change res 1 a week. I did find that the plant was drinking more than eating at day 20-27 so it took out some water and replaced with some fresh water with no nutes to lower the ppm.
Here is a great guide to see what is happening.
LEVEL,EC.PH.jpeg
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
That's a really handy chart. Just checked the PPM and PH this morning. The PPM is now 450 (down 20), PH was up to 6.0.

Here are some root pics and a pic of what I assume is nutrient burn...I think I'm going to do a full water (3 gallons) change / clean today and lower my nutrients, unless that's a bad idea.

Thanks for the help

root1.jpg root2.jpg tip burn.jpg
 
iceman2494

iceman2494

Well-Known Member
61falcon said:
How often do you check your ppm & what is the temp of the water. I put frozen water bottles twice a day to keep water temp under 72°F (21°C). I am using the same size bubble buckets and same nutes. I am only using 2ml of each of the GH trio & 7.5ml calimagic in 10ltr (490ppm) water and change res 1 a week. I did find that the plant was drinking more than eating at day 20-27 so it took out some water and replaced with some fresh water with no nutes to lower the ppm.
Here is a great guide to see what is happening.
View attachment 4335730
Click to expand...
Confused a little . This is my first dwc . I use the trio gh myself . I used tap since it was low ppm and I use gff (southern ag ) . My first mistake was using rapid start that yellowed my first set and after a res change it cleared up . I used 3 ml each of the trio . That brought my ppm up to 317 (140-150) from nutes . Ppm of tap water was 120 or so . I didn’t add any cal magic since the trio has cal in it . Noticed a tiny yellow spot I’m thinking from lack of mag . It’s only 2 weeks old . I could go two options . Another .5 of the trio or maybe 1 ml of cal mag . I’m in a 5 gal bucket so roughly a little over 4 gallons of water . I’m under 4 qb 132 so I know calmag is essential. My ph stays in the 5.8-6.0 range when it swings . Question I’m asking is do I add a low dose of cal magic (how much if so) or do I add a small amount more of the trio?
 

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rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Lockem said:
and lower my nutrients, unless that's a bad idea
Click to expand...
that's the only thing i see as a possible problem. 0.9 is pretty high IMO for a plant that size. but i don't see any tip burn (yet).

how much EC is it dropping each day?
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
rkymtnman said:
that's the only thing i see as a possible problem. 0.9 is pretty high IMO for a plant that size. but i don't see any tip burn (yet).

how much EC is it dropping each day?
Click to expand...
I've been checking my ppm using the 500 scale, so 500 ppm = 1.0 EC

I've only seen about a 20 ppm drop per day.

Also, is that not nutrient burn on the tip of the big leaf on the bottom closest in the pic? https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/tip-burn-jpg.4335851/
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Lockem said:
I've been checking my ppm using the 500 scale, so 500 ppm = 1.0 EC

I've only seen about a 20 ppm drop per day.

Also, is that not nutrient burn on the tip of the big leaf on the bottom closest in the pic? https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/tip-burn-jpg.4335851/
Click to expand...
i just zoomed in on that pic. if you look at the smaller leaf above the one you are talking about i can see a bit of discoloration. so yeah, lower your EC to maybe 0.5

and just as a fyi, the really big bottom leaves i usually don't care too much about. they sometimes do weird things. the new growth is what i'm concerned with.

here is my rough EC chart:
0.3 seedling
0.6 veg
1.2 bloom
0.6 end of bloom
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
I did a full water change with 3.25 gallons and sprayed the buckets down with some diluted H2O2.

0.5 EC (2ml ea of GH flora series, 8ml of CalMag)
PH down from 5.9 -> 5.6 with 4 drops

I'll update back here in a couple of days unless things go downhill quick. Thanks for the help!

20190519_104506_2.jpg 20190519_104736_2.jpg
 
61falcon

61falcon

Well-Known Member
iceman2494 said:
Confused a little . This is my first dwc . I use the trio gh myself . I used tap since it was low ppm and I use gff (southern ag ) . My first mistake was using rapid start that yellowed my first set and after a res change it cleared up . I used 3 ml each of the trio . That brought my ppm up to 317 (140-150) from nutes . Ppm of tap water was 120 or so . I didn’t add any cal magic since the trio has cal in it . Noticed a tiny yellow spot I’m thinking from lack of mag . It’s only 2 weeks old . I could go two options . Another .5 of the trio or maybe 1 ml of cal mag . I’m in a 5 gal bucket so roughly a little over 4 gallons of water . I’m under 4 qb 132 so I know calmag is essential. My ph stays in the 5.8-6.0 range when it swings . Question I’m asking is do I add a low dose of cal magic (how much if so) or do I add a small amount more of the trio?
Click to expand...
Your roots are looking good. I didn’t start any nutes until I had 3 nodes. I only started with 80 ppm tap water with a bit of mycorrhizal and rhizotonic with 1/2ml per ltr calimagic. Now that your roots are out of the net make sure your water level is a few inches below the net and let the roots travel to the exploding air bubbles. I am also using the qb132’s. I am following this as a guide for ppm & ppfd for my 1st grow.http://fluence.science/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/High-PPFD-Cultivation-Guide-9.27.16.pdf. Do you have a grow journal going. Mine is in my signature if you want to check it out.
 
L

Lockem

Active Member
61falcon said:
What is your water temp? I PH down mine to 5.8 and let it drift to 6.0
Click to expand...
It bounces between 68F - 71F, my PH normally rises overnight after a water change from 5.6 -> 6.1, but then it seems to stabilize at 5.8 - 5.9 after 1 or 2 adjustments.

That guide looks really helpful... I guess I should invest in a light meter to adjust it accurately too.
 
61falcon

61falcon

Well-Known Member
Lockem said:
It bounces between 68F - 71F, my PH normally rises overnight after a water change from 5.6 -> 6.1, but then it seems to stabilize at 5.8 - 5.9 after 1 or 2 adjustments.

That guide looks really helpful... I guess I should invest in a light meter to adjust it accurately too.
Click to expand...
Yeah a light meter Is a great tool for $50. I have a lx1330b. Up to day 23 I had my qb’s 132’s dimmed all the way to 102 watts at 60” above and that gave me 115ppfd or 7660 lux. Day 23 I lowered the lights to 40” for 240 ppfd (17000lux). I am currently on day 34 and have light at 20” and have turned up watts and have 500 ppfd/35100 lux.
 
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L

Lockem

Active Member
61falcon said:
Yeah a light meter Is a great tool for $50. I have a lx1330b. Up to day 23 I had my qb’s 132’s dimmed all the way to 102 watts at 60” above and that gave me 115ppfd or 7660 lux. Day 23 I lowered the lights to 40” for 240 ppfd (17000lux). I am currently on day 34 and have light at 20” and have turned up watts and have 500 ppfd/35100 lux.
Click to expand...
Just checked my lux (with a phone app for now), my lights running 24" away @ 50% was about 25k lux.

The plants still look like they're in rough shape. I lowered my lights to 30% or about 15k lux. Do you recommend lower or higher for my plant size?

Also, looks like the plants drank some water. The ppm and ph were the same this morning (250 ppm, 5.8 PH) so I guess that's good.
 
61falcon

61falcon

Well-Known Member
I would give it 48 hours and see how they respond to the less intense light now that you have lowered the lux. Looks like you have sorted the Nute side of things. Less is more in dwc
 
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