high pressure sodium light?

Hey everyone! I switched my light source from a 22 watt circular fouorescent bulb to a 100 watt high pressure sodium bulb one week ago. Ever since then my biggest plant's leaves have turned slightly yellow between veins. The first pic below shows the plant before the 100watt hps bulb. The second shows one week after the 100watt hps bulb. Any ideas why this is happening? Or suggestions as to what I should do to solve the problem?

BEFORE:
[img=http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/3438/pdr0002jc5.th.jpg]
AFTER:
[img=http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/4491/pdr0023pm1.th.jpg]

are you growing bagseed? and are you using miracle grow nutes? it's not the light....I am thinkin it's your nutes if you are using any....what soil are you using?

im using scotts soil mixed with perlite. no nutes yet. but this just started happening when i switched the light source so i dont think itz a nute problem.

Are you in veg? HPS, as I understand it, is for flowering. Don't know if this would cause your issue, but worth considering?

its not your light I am sure of it...I use hps all the way through...give us some more details...how often do you water...how big is the pot and are you watering with tap water?...my next guess is the tapwater...solids in tapwater can lockout your nutes...it has happened to me....did you do a huge watering and not let the soil dry our completely? lemme know....and the one thing I can tell you is that this problem WILL NOT kill your plant as long as we get it fixed quick...I had two of mine do the same thing on my lat grow....too much water and shitty water on my part. this is what my plant looked like so you have a little re-assurance it will be alright...btw...the first pic is a healthy plant and the other pics are of the sick girl

honkeytown said:

its not your light I am sure of it...I use hps all the way through...give us some more details...how often do you water...how big is the pot and are you watering with tap water?...my next guess is the tapwater...solids in tapwater can lockout your nutes...it has happened to me....did you do a huge watering and not let the soil dry our completely? lemme know....and the one thing I can tell you is that this problem WILL NOT kill your plant as long as we get it fixed quick...I had two of mine do the same thing on my lat grow....too much water and shitty water on my part. this is what my plant looked like so you have a little re-assurance it will be alright...btw...the first pic is a healthy plant and the other pics are of the sick girl

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at 1st i was using distiled water then i ran out and started using tap water after i would let it sit fot 24 hours, thinking it would be just like distilled water after the 24 hour period. i started using this "distiled tap water" about the same time so maybe this is my problem.

i also water once a day when the soil gets dry. i water when the lights go out and my plant is in a good sized pot for its size. sorry for leaving out the detail. also light cycle is 20/4.

cant be from the light i just switch from 23w cfl to 150w hps and the plants are looking better.

any ideas honkeytown?

52millimeter said:

any ideas honkeytown?

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yes...when you let tapwater sit for 24 hours or whatever all you are doing is evaporating the chlorine from the water...some cities dont even use chlorine in their water so that is worthless in some places....so you are still left with all the minerals and pieces of shit in the water...evaporation wont do shit for that issue....when you watered with tapwater it locked out some nutes...I believe iron magnesium copper zinc....fuck I cant remember...but google it and do some research on tapwater and what nutrients the particles can lockout...you will get it fixed....I am almost sure that is the problem. lemme know what you find brolike I said I cant remember where i read about it or I would tell you

alright so durring this research period should i switch back to "real" distilled water or would you reccomend something better?

52millimeter said:

alright so durring this research period should i switch back to "real" distilled water or would you reccomend something better?

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to be honest with you I use tapwater myself....in the mean time you can flush flush flush with tapwater get the shit that has been sitting in there out...if you can buy distilled water for all of your plants then do it...if not the tapwater will do the trick I just hate to recommend it to ya. Plus if I was having a big issue with it I would probably go get some good water for the flush I will see what I can find for ya on it real quick

Do you have a soil ph meter also? I didn't see it mentioned.
I would go buy cheap distilled water, check ph, and make sure your plant has enough food. If you're not feeding it at all having the new light upped it's growth tremendously and it's needs for food and water. Go to a grow shop and get a quality nutrient for soil that contains all the micronutrients.

Only use half strength nutrients until the plant looks better.

Also I would flush the pot. Best way to do that for sure is to use a rubbermaid tub or something full of water (clean that you ph'd and let sit, or buy distilled water several gallons.)

You can slowly submerge the whole pot in the tub and let it completely fill every nook and cranny and it'll make sure there are no dead spots that don't take water normally. Then when the pot is submerged a couple inches below the water and air bubbles no longer come up for a minute or two then pull it out and let the water drain back to the large tub. Do that twice.
I always just use tap water for this that I've ph'd and let evaporate but you can buy a big jug of distilled water cheap or several gallons. Many stores have those water vending machines and if you bring your own gallon jugs it can be as cheap as 15 cents a gallon. You just need to ph it then and you're sure it's been filtered. The machine will say on it what process the water has been through.

That is also THE BEST way to water you plant every time during heavy flowering or heavy vegitative growth as long as your soil mix has good drainage. If not just do this a couple times per grow. Always let your pot go fairly dry before watering again. A little droop on the leaves and light weight to the pot is your indicator it's time to water again.

You can fill the tub with nutrients to the correct amount and it's like a manual ebb and flow in that it completely wets the soil and then when it drains it pulls fresh oxygen in. It also prevents salt buildups if you flush twice that way. You can do all your plants with the same tub if the tub is large enough and has lots of water to dilute the crap it's flushing out of the soil, but if the tub is smaller then let the plants drain into another container and check ph of the good dip tub between plants if you're doing a lot of them. You can do the soak as long as 15 minutes if you really want to be sure you're getting a full flush or if your soil is very compacted or poor soil and absorbs water slowly. If it is slow absorbtion bad soil with bad drainage a little bit of soap in the water (natural without antibacterials) will make the water wetter and let it get in hard areas much better.

It is a bit messy when lots of soil and pearlite floats out of the top of the pots but that's ok, it's worth it. If your mix is very light or the plants haven't begun to fill the container with roots then you have to dip really slowly so the dirt doesn't all just float out instantly.


Also make sure your temperatures in the grow space didn't skyrocket when the new light was put in. You need to check it after it's run for many hours with the door closed and check it fast before having the doors open for a while cools it back down. Don't sit there fussing over the plants and jerking off and then look at the temp. Check temperatures at the top and bottom of the plant, it can be a huge difference if it's a tall plant and cabinet.

I wish I knew who to credit for this watering method but I think it was dr. greenbudgenes or something like that. It was one of the very successful old timers with proof to back it up. Anyway you will see an AMAZING change for the better and when the plant is healthy and you do this then growth will be greatly sped up provided all the other conditions are good.

honkeytown said:

to be honest with you I use tapwater myself....in the mean time you can flush flush flush with tapwater get the shit that has been sitting in there out...if you can buy distilled water for all of your plants then do it...if not the tapwater will do the trick I just hate to recommend it to ya. Plus if I was having a big issue with it I would probably go get some good water for the flush I will see what I can find for ya on it real quick

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alright thanks. i only have 3 plants so the distilled water aint a big deal to buy.

OregonMeds said:

Do you have a soil ph meter also? I didn't see it mentioned.
I would go buy cheap distilled water, check ph, and make sure your plant has enough food. If you're not feeding it at all having the new light upped it's growth tremendously and it's needs for food and water. Go to a grow shop and get a quality nutrient for soil that contains all the micronutrients.

Only use half strength nutrients until the plant looks better.

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i dont have a ph tester. where do i buy a cheap one and what are some names of grow shops bicause i dont know any around here.

I edited my post up there and added more info in case you missed the edit.

Cheap soil testers and water droplet kits are available at places like lowes, home depot, grow shops, and any big department store that has a real decent sized plant department. Or ebay but you don't have time to wait for that. Cheapest water test kit is that type that's a little container of test liquid and an enpty vial. Often that's packaged with some ph up and ph down bottles. Don't use ones for hot tubs or pools use ones designed for plants.. If the soil ph is way off that also locks up the nutrient absorbtion. Search here on "dolomite lime" if a good flush doesn't fix it enough. Also some good nutrients from a grow shop will have ph buffers in them that will help greatly over department store grade plant food. Talk to them and if you see they are knowledgable they'll help you find the right stuff, just never mention the type of plant, say it's a tomato plant.




The soil meter looks like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Indoor-Outdoor-Soil-pH-Moisture-and-Light-Meter_W0QQitemZ320274342607QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320274342607&_trkparms=72%3A552%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

If the link doesn't work it's ebay item number 320274342607

Honkeytowns explanations make the most sense of anything I've heard or read so far. My shit looked just like the 2nd pic, leaves all curled down. Then they curled UP. Go figger! They survived just fine, and are 3 weeks into flower.

could this ever happen because of too much water?

that basically is also what I have been saying...if you are flushing then tapwater will not hurt your plants but if you are overwatering and then letting all the crap sit in your soil till it is dry then you are gonna be screwed...overwatering believe it or not can be resolved by flushing. if you dont have enough drainage the tapwater will harm your plants....I had a plant recently that was all fucked up and the soil wouldnt drain...so I flushed everytime I watered and added h202 and she turned out fine....did this for about two months...I should have replanted her in some good soil but due to flowering i decided against it.

honkeytown said:

that basically is also what I have been saying...if you are flushing then tapwater will not hurt your plants but if you are overwatering and then letting all the crap sit in your soil till it is dry then you are gonna be screwed...overwatering believe it or not can be resolved by flushing. if you dont have enough drainage the tapwater will harm your plants....I had a plant recently that was all fucked up and the soil wouldnt drain...so I flushed everytime I watered and added h202 and she turned out fine....did this for about two months...I should have replanted her in some good soil but due to flowering i decided against it.

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sorry i ment light. or heat. not water? could it ever happen because of light? and also, after i flush, how long should it take to re-green?