Please Help! HPS Closet Grow Problems.

Please help!! I grow these plants in a closet that is 3 ' x 7' . The space is split in half, for veg and flower. I use a 430 hps . I exhaust the air into my room. The plants in the pics below are clones that i put into flower about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I had no problems with the mothers that just finished that i was growing since January... until the end. The buds got nice and big and even smelled pretty good until the last few weeks of flowering, They started to dry up and looked like the pics below. I was thinking maybe it was root bound. Or maybe the fert. i am using.
The clones below looked great pretty much till i put them into flower. I got a PH meter (really hard to find one of these in my area for some reason.. Pic's below.) recently, and although it's analog, it seems to be giving consistent results of ~ 7.0, so the pH is good (not great, but definitely shouldn't be causing them to die I would think). Does anyone know what the problem could be? I water them with tap water that i let sit for a few days. The soil is regular potting mix that i add Perlite to. I don t know what else to do. Any input would be great. The heat is regular at around 28°C. I mean they just don t look happy. I even flushed them last week. it s not just the old leaves, i have no pests. My fertilizer is just from the local WalMart, but looks pretty good (pics below), and I give it slightly less than the recommended dose generally every time I water, and as mentioned, I am using tap water that I let sit for a couple of days before use (to at least try to let some of the Cl evaporate/dissolve, and hopefully anything else in the tap water..)
I need help quick! like i said they looked great till 2 weeks ago or so. the other thing i noticed was the pots that they came out of seemed to have a salty looking build up around the inside edges. could it be the fert? i was giving them a quarter of the recommended dose every 3 or 4 days. The same as the mothers that i had no problems with until the last few weeks of there lives. Anyway sorry if i am rambling, I am just bummed out and really need some help.!! Thanks to anyone who replies...



Pics of the Plants:




Flowering Area:
Sorry for the image quality... The lights mess up my camera..


Ferts Used For Veg & Flowering:
Click for larger view



Pics of my (analog) PH Meter:

im guessing ur soil is too hot, you dont have temperature problems do you? give them a good flush, and use and R/O system or get distilled water, its a lot better than tap water.... but if u cant get that, let the tap water sit for a few days to let chlorine evaporate

make sure exuast is not getting back in the grow room, it could be due to the fact it doesnt have a constant supply of freash air. It could also be from PH to high, or over fert. if you cover all of these bases you should be alright.Make sure you have real good ventalation in the room, keep a fan on the plants at all times! exchange the air always! if its PH it can kill the babys in 3 days. keep us posted im curious to see what you figure out. Good luck!

yup i agree with him ^ try that

major nute burn....Flush if you havent already. Whats your feeding schedule. ive killed many plants like this stick to liquid hydro nutes. If you have no choice use half of what your using. If ur stuck buying nutes from home depot, lowes, or anyother coporate giant try to get natural based nutrients, like they sell kelp based nutrients at home depot. try to get a tds meter to check your solution.

I only feed once a day at about 50-70% of what the manufacturer recomends. I also keep a fan on the plants at all times and I run the air exchange 24hrs a day. I never use co2 because of the constant air exchange and I have some pretty healthy plants

First of all thanks for all the replies! It feels great to get some feedback on this.

bLunteDDDD said:

im guessing ur soil is too hot, you dont have temperature problems do you? give them a good flush, and use and R/O system or get distilled water, its a lot better than tap water.... but if u cant get that, let the tap water sit for a few days to let chlorine evaporate

Click to expand...

No temp probs, I let the water sit in milk jugs for 24 to 48 hours, and never had any problems with the mothers.

marc88101 said:

make sure exuast is not getting back in the grow room, it could be due to the fact it doesnt have a constant supply of freash air. It could also be from PH to high, or over fert. if you cover all of these bases you should be alright.Make sure you have real good ventalation in the room, keep a fan on the plants at all times! exchange the air always! if its PH it can kill the babys in 3 days. keep us posted im curious to see what you figure out. Good luck!

Click to expand...

I do have lots of air circulation in the grow space and i keep my window open all the time. and i keep the doors open a bit so they get some fresh air.
I am leaning towards over fert but i flushed them last week. I am not sure about the quality of my ph meter either. ould it be shock from having them under florescent bulbs (which they looked great) to the 430hps? ill keep ya posted thanks! ps... if it is over fert how many times should i flush them, i am worried about over watering, it is so hard to sit and watch, i feel like i should be doing something,

aintgottabhwd said:

major nute burn....Flush if you haven't already. Whats your feeding schedule. ive killed many plants like this stick to liquid hydro nutes. If you have no choice use half of what your using. If ur stuck buying nutes from home depot, lowes, or anyother coporate giant try to get natural based nutrients, like they sell kelp based nutrients at home depot. try to get a tds meter to check your solution.

Click to expand...

I flushed them last week and even transplanted to bigger pots. I really dont trust the ph meter i have or the ferts from walmart. I should mention the the mothers that just finished seemed to have a lot of leaves dry up and drop off too. the more i think about it the more i think it is the blooming fert....

marc88101 said:

View attachment 2142434I only feed once a day at about 50-70% of what the manufacturer recomends. I also keep a fan on the plants at all times and I run the air exchange 24hrs a day. I never use co2 because of the constant air exchange and I have some pretty healthy plants

Click to expand...

I am pretty confident my setup is good, the mothers that just finished looked great but i didn't know their sex so i grew them since January with no problems, until the end, witch is why i thought maybe root bound or over fert?. And now the clones are looking like death!


---

I just did some testing with my pH meter, and it gives me a very alkaline reading on everything i test..
Then I tried testing just straight water, and it gives a reading of ~ 6.8 -- the odd thing is that when I dump some Baking Soda into the water and stir, when I test it it gives me a reading of ~ 4

Your meter doesn't work if your reading is dropping after adding baking soda. Get some standards. You can order a meter online for pretty cheap. Just keep the electrode wet with pH=4 buffer (pH=7 buffer will slowly etch the glass and ruin the electrode).
I'm on a phone so I didn't get the best look at your pics, but it looks like pH burn, nute burn shouldn't be that bad that fast. Rootbind is a possibility as well.
If money is tight at least get pH strips.

MrEDuck said:

Your meter doesn't work if your reading is dropping after adding baking soda. Get some standards. You can order a meter online for pretty cheap. Just keep the electrode wet with pH=4 buffer (pH=7 buffer will slowly etch the glass and ruin the electrode).
I'm on a phone so I didn't get the best look at your pics, but it looks like pH burn, nute burn shouldn't be that bad that fast. Rootbind is a possibility as well.
If money is tight at least get pH strips.

Click to expand...

That was my thinking as well, fert burn shouldnt kill them so fast right?? I do have the soil test kits that you add water and soil in the vial and compare color. its hard to tell but if anything i would say the ph looked low. Tomorrow i am going to get a good digital meter. I transplanted them into bigger pots and did one flush about a week ago, they dont look any worse but they still dont look healthy. Just in case it is fert burn, should i be watering them everyday with straight water to flush the soil out?