Master Kush, first time 200W MH/HPS DWC with AN nutrients

My two girls are 43 days old, it's been a bumpy road and I've faced heat stress, nutrient deficiencies, burned leaves. Now I've somewhat kept the ship afloat and wonder how the experts feel about my grow.

The setup is a 60x60x160 cm tent with a 30 liter reservoir that's filled up to 20 liters, 200W metal halide for veg and a 200W HPS for flowering, I got a cooltube reflector to combat heat production.

I'm using the basic Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect trio, gave Voodoo Juice for a few weeks at the start and have the Big Bud booster for now when it's flowering time. By now I'm feeding 80 mils of each of the trio and with the last reservoir change two days ago the pH is around 5,0.

I topped my plants some weeks back and have been applying LST training to one of them, letting the other girl grow by itself for now. Today I decided to trim the burned leaves and some of the small lower ones that I felt might get moldy if they come into contact with the hydro pellets or the Root!t cube, also hoping to increase the airflow and make the plants focus into developing in vertical growth, I kept away from trimming too much since this is my first grow so I will my excitement contained.

I'm going to be posting progress reports here at a regular basis. Feel free to throw advice or just outright tell me if I'm an idiot. Or both.

Here's how the root mass looks today.

If it were me, I'd research the proper pH needed for your type of grow...my inclination is a 5.0 pH is too low. They look a little hungry, but maybe it's a result of the pH, so that's where I'd start. Otherwise, they don't look too bad. Good luck.

CannaCountry said:

If it were me, I'd research the proper pH needed for your type of grow...my inclination is a 5.0 pH is too low. They look a little hungry, but maybe it's a result of the pH, so that's where I'd start. Otherwise, they don't look too bad. Good luck.

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i think you nailed it.....PH is way too low and its causing nutrient lockout.

Hydro 5.8-6.2 is the general rule, altho ive seen some as low as 5.5 and as high as 6.5 without issue....5.0 is too low regardless

As above, check that ph. Lowest i go is 5.5, if im feeding just water then about 5.7.

What do your nutrients say they have to be ph'd too for feeding?

Less is more most of the time remeber that when it comes to these plants

Okay so I addressed the pH issue and have adjusted the reservoir to 6,0. Fine tuning the level will have to wait until I get a proper pH meter, the stuff I have now is a basic aquarium pH test kit which can only tell within accuracy of 0,5 changes. I decided to document how the plants have progressed since the morning and even took some pictures with a measuring tape to show their rough dimensions.

Both of the plants are showing 4-5 flowering sites, which is a cool discovery for me since the other plant has just been topped. You can also see better how I have lightly defoliated the plants.

Kronicle420 said:

As above, check that ph. Lowest i go is 5.5, if im feeding just water then about 5.7.

What do your nutrients say they have to be ph'd too for feeding?

Less is more most of the time remeber that when it comes to these plants

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They're Advanced Nutrients brand, specifically made for growing weed so they work within the intended range that's best for this particular plant, or so I'd imagine and I might totally be talking out of my ass.

MF-Wizard said:

They're Advanced Nutrients brand, specifically made for growing weed so they work within the intended range that's best for this particular plant, or so I'd imagine and I might totally be talking out of my ass.

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Well AN also makes a pH up and down... They don’t look as bad as your camera is making them I’m thinking but it’s good you caught it early.

Mission report

The plants look happy, the new flowering sites have grown SPECTACULARLY since yesterday! Root mass is looking good as well.

I imagine that after the new flowering sites have grown out properly I'll start flowering, at this rate it'll probably be a week or so.

Question, should I trim off the older large leaves from the lower canopy on the LST training plant? I feel like it's a little too crowded and at flowering would appreciate the extra light and space

Status update

The girls look happy and are growing rapidly! The LST trained plant is looking like a nice bush, tomorrow I'll start to train the currently stretching flowering sites to grow upwards.

The root mass is BIIIIG and growing nicely too... But I wonder if there's nutrient deficiencies starting to form, the bigger plant is showing these brown spots on the older leaves.

The magnetic ballest messes with the pics,When light goes off take pics with your flash on.Looks to me you need some calmag but Im not familiar with the AN line.

myke said:

The magnetic ballest messes with the pics,When light goes off take pics with your flash on.Looks to me you need some calmag but Im not familiar with the AN line.

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Okay but isn't that bad for the plants to receive light after it's night time for them?

MF-Wizard said:

Okay but isn't that bad for the plants to receive light after it's night time for them?

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No,just doit right at lights off or just before.

CannaCountry said:

If it were me, I'd research the proper pH needed for your type of grow...my inclination is a 5.0 pH is too low. They look a little hungry, but maybe it's a result of the pH, so that's where I'd start. Otherwise, they don't look too bad. Good luck.

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pH shouldn't be lower than 5.5 and 5.7-5.8 is best in my experience.

MF-Wizard said:

Okay but isn't that bad for the plants to receive light after it's night time for them?

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Only if you are in flower and then turning on a light to snap a pic right after your lights go off won't change their hormonal profile.

myke said:

No,just doit right at lights off or just before.

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Well this is how they look lights out

You have a calcium deficit and they need N. I'm guessing you're locked out at a pH of 5.0.

Up your pH 5.6 to 5.8
Add Ca (I use CaliMagic from General Hydroponics)
If that doesn't fix them I'd consider changing nutrients. Advanced Nutrients have been sued for their labels not matching contents.

ok now lets see what happens with your new pH They should green up now.Do you have a ppm meter?We need to know how strong your solution is.

myke said:

ok now lets see what happens with your new pH They should green up now.Do you have a ppm meter?We need to know how strong your solution is.

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PPM is around 900-1000, pH is at 6,0 according to the water test kit.