Need some help figuring out whats going on please!

Hey everyone,

This is my first grow, well second if you count the 8 plants I fried by switching them to an HPS from CFLs without proper ventilation. I currently have 23 plants growing in a pretty tight space. They are in a 15" X 18" X 22" (H x W x D) cubby in a closet. I have an intake and exhaust fan setup on opposite sides of the cubby opening. Also I have a homemade C02 generator (see yeast, sugar, and water) with a tube running up to the top of the cubby because c02 is denser than air. I am using Promix soil as is, with nothing added. Also they are under 4 50w cfls (i think thats the wattage...) for now. The plants are about 3 weeks old, counting from germination.

I live in a remoteish area and its hard to get a lot of things here. Also, the tap water is unusable. Not only is it not potable, but its ph is around 8.4 So I have been using RO water with no sodium. After the second week I started mixing in a bat guano product, called Fulvibat, that contains very low amounts of the Macronutrients along with hulmic and fulvic acids and some micronutrients, such as P, Fe, and Mg.

I have been having trouble measuring the pH of the plants because the only tester I can find are paper strips and I am not sure how to use that with the soil. Also, due to the lack of resources here, I used some recycling to create all the pot the plants are in. I have real pots for once they get bigger, but for now they are all in different size cans and plastic bottles.

So only some of the plants seem to be effected by this problem and Its hard to narrow down the problem with so many different factors.
Im not sure if I have given enough info, so please ask questions and I will answer them as well as I can. Thank you for reading this and I look forward to getting advice from someone, seeing as I am unable to tell anyone what I am doing.. haha

oh yea and I have a bigger space that I am almost finished setting up that I want to do a ScrOG in with a 400w HPS.

View attachment 2159876

Oh yea and the second photo is also of a double stalked plant that I didn't top... I just noticed that it had split into to main stems... looks pretty cool hah

I would say over-watering and/or poor drainage.

yes..........drowned.

The problem is the you have no buffering in ur RO. I use it too. When u DO add ferts it will fall into very acidic levels as there are no minerals (Calcium, magnesium for eg) to buffer the nutes.

Your water is too soft. It the tap water is so hard (lots of Calcium) then I would mix it with the RO, about 30%, just to include Ca and Mg. You will need to buy some PH drops if ur not going to buy a digital pen.

Remember not to overwater or overfeed small plants. Always check the wight of the pot b4 watering !!

I would agree about the RO if you were using hydro (in which case you would use a 'soft water' fertilizer), but you're not. Over-watered, plain and simple. Roots are starved of oxygen.

Thanks for the responses. Ok, so then should I just let them dry out more before I water them next? And when I water should I do it till theres run off? All my containers have holes in the bottom. When I transplan them should I mix more perlite/vermiculite into the promix for better drainage? Thanks again

How rare is that double stalked one and does that mean I should top it or something??

You need to ph ur water. This will be fun when using distilled without buffering it !!!

lahadaextranjera said:

You need to ph ur water. This will be fun when using distilled without buffering it !!!

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ha..ha... what do you mean? I did test my runoff and got 6.8, or something near that color... ha

Anymore suggestions?

Thanks

sMACkaddict said:

ha..ha... what do you mean? I did test my runoff and got 6.8, or something near that color... ha

Anymore suggestions?

Thanks

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Yes, when u stop drowning the plants get ready for Mg/Ca def due to RO water. That is my suggestion and you will see what I mean in a few weeks time. Maybe less.

Ma wee grannie used to put the old leftover milk into her rose garden and they looked the dogs bollocks I wonder why?

lahadaextranjera said:

Yes, when u stop drowning the plants get ready for Mg/Ca def due to RO water. That is my suggestion and you will see what I mean in a few weeks time. Maybe less.

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Ok, i appreciate your vagueness.. Here i have a picture of the water im using and it says theres calcium and stuff... Does that help? I would appreciate a little help instead of prophecy if possible...

sorry about it being sideways...

lahadaextranjera said:

I live in a remoteish area and its hard to get a lot of things here. Also, the tap water is unusable. Not only is it not potable, but its ph is around 8.4 So I have been using RO water with no sodium.

This is the picture you have of the water?? Even if u were adding Mg & Ca then it wouldn't be absorbed in wet soil. Stop drowning the plants means wait until the pot is light (but without the soil contracting). If u are using RO then you need to learn a bit about water, such as EC levels and water being TOO soft.

All I can say is that my albums pics of my first grow look considerably different to urs so if I can help you, then im more than happy to.

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I've done a fair amount of reading and learning, well a lot more than that, and I thought I was doing pretty well with the watering. Maybe I have been under watering.. thats not a possibility is it? Maybe it is a humidity issue? Maybe they aren't drying out fast enough? In that case should I add perlite to my soil(premix) for when I transplant next?
I appreciate the help, thank you

The only thing I can say from that label is that there is a lot more Ca than Mg. Don't forget that if Ca and Mg are not in equal parts then one will lock the other out. More3 Ca in this case points to a Mg def later on.

The thing is, you said u use RO, as in a machine we attach to our water inlet pipe. You're buying this water and it has minerals in it so it isn't RO. What is it?

Aside from that, we dont know the ppm/EC of it so it prob is too soft. I think you need to check this. There is Mg and Ca in ferts ( which are designed for the main market who uses tap water). This is why the hydro and RO users are aware of the water EC a lot more.

What I do is 2 things:

I either add 30% tap water (old, sitting for 2 days) to my RO. This brings the Ec up from 0.0 to 0.2 ( 200ppm)

or

I use mononutrients from Canna and I add EQUALLY Mg and Ca using my EC digital meter.


Firstly, practice better watering, such as drying out and watering with a small run-off. Only start with 1/4 strength nutes and work up.


Hope this helps !!!

lahadaextranjera said:

The thing is, you said u use RO, as in a machine we attach to our water inlet pipe. You're buying this water and it has minerals in it so it isn't RO. What is it?

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Hmmmmm... well I said it was RO water because in the description of how the water is filtered it says reverse osmosis... but it also says a couple other processes... Its bottled water from the area, it was one of the only brands I could find with no sodium in it. I read sodium could build up fast and cause salt lockout or some sort of issue. I could add a picture of the whole label if that would help?

And I have to buy an EC digital meter to measure PPM? shit.. hopefully I can find that, its been such a mission to find anything I need here...

Yes it does help, I appreciate it man. I haven't had anyone I could ask these questions to for security reasons so this is very helpful.

I think you should have a look on Ebay. You can contact the seller b4 purchasing anything and to make sure u don't get feedback for it. I've done this in the past.

The water u r buying is prob between 150-220 ppm so this should be fine for now. Too much water in the pot is prob stopping the nutes being absorbed so as it dries out it should recover.

Next, once dry, perhaps check the roots to see if you can re-pot it.

haha whoops, well "man" can be gender generic I think... sorry if I offended you!

I just assumed someone with a almost naked chick as their avatar was just some horny guy... and the old adage never fails to be true...