Two Strains, One Res. Help Very Appreciated.

Hey guys this is my first medical grow. I have got a cheese and a NL (dinafem and g13, bot autoflowering) about 5 weeks old in a cooler bubbler. The plant on the right has been leggy and weak since it first came up, and now that I have switched to transitional nutes the curling, clawing, and overall mal-ease of the plant is becoming worse. There are a few leaves that are misshapen, pictures included. No herm tendencies thus far. It has been slightly curled all along, but I have been shooting to keep the other plant happy. Now I come to the gurus on here for any advice.

In a tent
400w HPS
435cfm fan
fan blowing on plants
temps get high, up to 86 yesterday
Sunleaves TDS meter (cant find what scale it uses) says ppm at 276, was at 348 after initial transitional feeding
Cutting Edge Solutions nutrients with 6ml calmag additive

Sorry about the light being on for pictures.
Not sure what is going on with this plant. Hoping someone here has some input for me. Thank you!

hmm.. some of your leaves are curling at the tips so that could be over water? try n stop water as much. marijuana is a weed and just grows man . give it random days to water , like once a weeek. but don't make it the same day every week either. change it up . make the plant think that it has to wait for water . other then that just keep back n watch that baby grow . also don't over neutriant it . just a couple times thats all man haha.

Hey thank you for the quick response. They are in a bubbler, so I haven't "watered" them since I planted. They just soak up whatever is available. My PPM meter is reading 276, which is low for a bloom/trans solution from what I read. But I know autos also take less nutes. I am having a hard time getting this girl dialed in.

Two or three leaves are turning "upside down." Stomata side is facing the hps.

Anyone able to help me out?

I would question the goodness of your TDS meter. I see what might be too much N combined with not enough K. Might, mind you. Are you mixing your nutes to the recommended strength? If not, to what percentage?

I've noticed that growing plants tend to push the pH up, requiring daily correction. Have you noticed a pH trend? Are you monitoring pH? cn

Thank you Cannabineer.

I was wondering about the TDS meter too, but just checked and it was calibrated to within 1 point of 1500.

Definitely not mixing to supplier specs, I mixed my 3 part at 1/3 strength. Haven't tried any higher than that yet, as the plant has looked so poorly throughout the grow I have been slowly ramping up the nutes.

For the first month and a half of the grow I had a Hanna meter I was using. Once I get the res down to 5.5 or so it seems to stay steady. I check it twice a day (with a dropper kit now since I dropped my meter in the res) and it never seems to have any noticeable shift. I replace what they drink every 2 days with de-chlorinated and PH'd water.

What are your water's initial ppm?

You've blown my best guesses out of the water, so to speak. One thing caught my eye: "replace". How often do you do a full res change? When was the most recent one? If the plant is drawing nutrients at a ratio other than supplied, you could have a buildup of the unwanted salts, with lockout and selective deficiency as a result.

My other long-shot suggestion concerns root health. Are your roots vigorous and free of slime? Could it be underaeration? That curl suggests "overwatering", which in hydro corresponds to poor aeration. Do you have and use peroxide? cn

My water has an initial ppm of 41 according to the meter. I do a full res change every week. Last done Saturday. I do throw in a frozen water bottle 2x a day to keep the water cool. The roots look good I believe. All white, no slime or smells in the cooler.

I have peroxide I bought for the girls, but as of yet I have not used it.



Thank you again for the assistance.

I concur ... root health looks peachy. All that sounds good ... "too good" to be a likely cause of distress imo. OK then, how about aeration ... what's your setup? cn

I have a Whisper 60 with two air lines. Each runs to what I would approximate to be a 1 1/2 x 3 inch cylindrical airstone. One stone underneath each plant, they get probably a 6-8 inch circle on the surface bubbling. Not roiling, but a steady stream of small bubbles.

The stones are probably the "weakest" link in the whole setup, guys at the hydro store where I got everything said they would be alright for my application, but who knows.

I looked up the pump, and it should be adequate. Your bubble pattern also sounds good. I don't think that's the problem, esp. with your good-looking roots.

So I conclude that i am out of good advice. Dang. cn

<edit>
I found this thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/333252-anyone-use-cutting-edge-solutions.html
and it says CES has no sulfur. i also looked up "sulfur deficiency" and found a chlorosis that looks like N or Mg lack, but goes from base to tips. It looks like what you have. So perhaps a sulfate booster would do good, like Epsom salts. Epsom is 10.0% Mg and 13.2% S.

I wonder if that could be it. cn

http://www.growweedeasy.com/sulfur-deficiency-cannabis

Hah, thank you anyways!

I decided three weeks in that one would just have to tough it out. Other plant is happy with the treament she's getting, so I'll stay the course and hope this one lasts long enough to produce some bud.

brotoplasm said:

Hah, thank you anyways!

I decided three weeks in that one would just have to tough it out. Other plant is happy with the treament she's getting, so I'll stay the course and hope this one lasts long enough to produce some bud.

Click to expand...

I'm curious what you think about the sulfur question. Do your CES nute bottles list a sulfur quantity? cn

I think you might be on to something. I have been delving deep into Jorge Cervantes Ultimate Bible, and I actually made a thread earlier on here inquiring about a possible sulfur deficiency from what I read.

Furthermore, only the Bloom portion of the CES nutes has sulfur (2.0%)

When I got home the plant looked (possibly?) slightly perkier than it has for the last week or so. I started the transitional feeding regime a few days ago. Obviously they are now getting a greater percentage of bloom nute to veg, perhaps the extra sulfur is helping her out? Been just about enough days to start seeing those results. I will keep an eye on the plant, and see if there are any further changes.

I am wagering that supplementing sulfur will do much good. It's not an especially mobile nutrient, so the improvement will be slow, even at high S levels. Weed likes about 100-120 ppm sulfur in hydro. cn

Right on.

I will do a little research tonight and pick up some grow quality Epsom tomorrow. Can't hurt to try.

Your time, advice and experience are all appreciated.

brotoplasm said:

Right on.

I will do a little research tonight and pick up some grow quality Epsom tomorrow. Can't hurt to try.

Your time, advice and experience are all appreciated.

Click to expand...

My pleasure. I bought the 5-pound bag at a drug store ... it's quite assuredly "grow quality". cn

Off to the drug store it is then!

Just for the record... Thank you canna for the help. I have been running the res with 2 tsp of Epsom and the plant has perked up dramatically. Looking much much better and budding like crazy.

Thank you sincerely for the help.