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Deforced

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Can anyone help please?
Right guys, I'm running iws flood and drain 60/40 coco claypebbles mix. I've never had a problem when growing other strains but this time I've tried a strain that I've never grew before in this system, my leaves were starting to fade and go like a lime green in colour, I thought maybe it was a lockout at first so I flushed through with plain ph water and starting a low dose, nothing happened. So I moved onto step two by dimming my lights down to 300w from 600w, nothing changed!
My temprature is sitting just nice at 25/26c. I was on two floods a day and now I've dropped back to one flood a day, what I have noticed (which I can't get my head around) they start to perk up before the flood is introduced, i can't say they perknup to where they look 100% but they look alot better then soon as its flooded about 5 plants in the system droop like crazy and a few other droop but perk up a few hours after. But so many of the plants stay drooping, I don't know how I can be overwatering because I've flooded 3times a day before on a different strain and this timer has a 24hr schedule and with it being a system you should atleast be flooding 1 time a day on the timer so that it's automated, so what shall I do? It seems like when I let them get dryish they start to come alive abit more??? Any help would be appreciated, im really baffled. Ph is at 5.8 letting it drift to 6.2. Ive now upped the feeds to 4times a day and see if there is any change. I lifted some of the pots out of the system and the roots are lovely and white and are huge so the roots are doing really well. I will attach some photos of all the plants. Thanks
 
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mysticepipedon

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That second pic is showing potassium (K) issues. I can't say whether it's lockout, pH or an actual deficiency. Ca, Mg, P and N can all interfere with K.

I don't know dick about flood and drain, so I will now back out of the way.
 
2Bad

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That second pic is showing potassium (K) issues. I can't say whether it's lockout, pH or an actual deficiency. Ca, Mg, P and N can all interfere with K.

I don't know dick about flood and drain, so I will now back out of the way.
Mystic is onto something check your runoff if possible
 
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Right thanks for your input guys, I checked my runoff the other day and it came out the exact same as it went in so I'm still baffled. I honestly don't know where else I could be going wrong?
 
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Right thanks for your input guys, I checked my runoff the other day and it came out the exact same as it went in so I'm still baffled. I honestly don't know where else I could be going wrong?
Could be lockout then.. I was told I got lockout when I bumped my light percent up to fast . So im sure there's more ways to get lockout
 
Deforced

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Could be lockout then.. I was told I got lockout when I bumped my light percent up to fast . So im sure there's more ways to get lockout
Right ok, I don't actually know what to do next. Put yourself in my position right now what would you do? I'm in two minds weather to run a hose pipe over every pot and flush them all through, whats your thoughts on this?
 
tobh

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this is the difficulty with using coco in a f&d setup, bet you have a shit ton of salt build up in the media. Before doing anything drastic, do a slurry test. Depending on the results of the slurry test, then you might consider extensive flushing with 1/4 strength nutrient solution. You don't want to run straight water through the media as you'll cause an osmotic condition in the roots which causes cells to rupture due to uptaking too much water too fast, effectively creating even more severe issues.

edit: this is predominantly why coco growers prefer top feed. f&d doesn't effectively flush all the media so salt buildup occurs above the flood line in the media.
 
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Was literally just going to tag @tobh lmfao!!!! he helped me with my lockout.. Aye tobh is it ok to water ph water every other watering in my next grow..it seems fine ive been doing it with my clones prolly should of dm'd you but fuggit
 
tobh

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Was literally just going to tag @tobh lmfao!!!! he helped me with my lockout.. Aye tobh is it ok to water ph water every other watering in my next grow..it seems fine ive been doing it with my clones prolly should of dm'd you but fuggit
you'll have to refresh my memory on your grow specs. you shouldn't ever water an inert media like coco, peat, rockwool, perlite, etc with straight water. Clones are different in that they don't have established root zones yet, and they're literally cannibalizing themselves to stay alive until they throw roots. if one must flush, a 1/4 strength nutrient solution applied at 3x-5x media volume should be adequate to get runoff equal to input, then immediately followed up with a full strength feed to get things set back to kosher.
 
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Thanks for the feedback dude, I'll see what I can do. I might struggle with a slurry test but I can do a normal runoff test maybe?
 
tobh

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Thanks for the feedback dude, I'll see what I can do. I might struggle with a slurry test but I can do a normal runoff test maybe?
you can, yeah. use your standard strength nutrient solution and run it through the top of one of the containers, then check the runoff. dollar to donuts it's going to be substantially higher than your input.

for a slurry test, it's pretty simple. take sample from the top inch or two of all your containers and mix the samples together. then, in the same container as the samples, add just enough distilled water to make a soupy consistency slurry. you don't want it like a mud tea nor do you want it pasty, it needs to be a good fluid consistency. let it sit and stir it occasionally for about 15 minutes, then test the EC. that'll give you a good idea of what's happening in media.
 
Deforced

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you can, yeah. use your standard strength nutrient solution and run it through the top of one of the containers, then check the runoff. dollar to donuts it's going to be substantially higher than your input.

for a slurry test, it's pretty simple. take sample from the top inch or two of all your containers and mix the samples together. then, in the same container as the samples, add just enough distilled water to make a soupy consistency slurry. you don't want it like a mud tea nor do you want it pasty, it needs to be a good fluid consistency. let it sit and stir it occasionally for about 15 minutes, then test the EC. that'll give you a good idea of what's happening in media.
Ok thanks for this I really appreciate it. Do both ways give the same results? Or is one better than the other? Thanks
 
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Right I've done my test of runoff ppm and ec, I pushed 0.5 ec and 6.0ph through and its coming back out at 0.8 and 6.3ph. There is a bit of salt on the top of each pot so I'm in two minds to flush the cap out of them even though the readings aren't crazy and start my normal feeding straight after? Or after the flush would you leave it a couple of days before introducing full strength feed again?
 
tobh

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yeah, that's a bit drastic of a rise imo for the EC. flush the shit outta em until you're getting identical readings in and out, then hit em with a normal feeding. you should be right on the money after that. maybe make it a weekly habit to do a top feed as well just to knock down all the salt that might be built up.
 
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Thanks ill do just that. I appreciate your help here. To combat this saltbuild up on my next run I'm wondering about using biobizz nutrients which are fully organic and say that they can be used in hydroponic too? Any feedback on this? Thanks
 
tobh

tobh

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personally i wouldn't run organic in coco. i just don't think it's worth the hassle. if you're dead set on staying in a f&d setup, change medias to something a bit more conducive to that style of growing, or switch to top feed DTW and be on track to a much better experience. plus side of switching to top feed is you won't have to worry about getting drain tables since you already have the flood equipment with drains.

if you wanted to get super adventurous you could do like @Dirtbag and get yourself a UV sterilizer and do a top feed recirculating DTW setup. That's just additional cost though.
 

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