New Grower. Uneven plant growth and health

[RootsInWater]

First time grower. Of anything besides sunflowers 1 time 10 years ago. Went with a top fed DWC setup.

Using a 17 gallon tote with about 10 gallons of water - using 1/4 tsp per gallon “General Hydroponics” Flora series, micro, gro, bloom

2ml of hydroguard per gallon

Vivosun 210gph water pump with a manifold top feeding

Vivosun 160gph air pump with 2 Vivosun 4x2” stones

1200w (130w output) KOSCHEAL LED
About 18 inches away from plants

Started a seed on 1/1/2025 - really healthy seeming but producing lots of seed pods already on 2/5/2025 - removed

Started these other 4 on 1/15/2025

They were all doing what looked like really well but I think I upped the nutrients too soon on 2/1/2025 and noticed the burn so on 2/5/2025 I did a reservoir water change and swapped back to 1/4 tsp

I try to keep ph around 6 but seems to go to 7-7.5 everyday. I’m using tap water and live rural, and while it’s super clean to drink where I’m at and taste great, it definitely is hard water.

The reservoir is in a 4x6x10 closet running 18/6 for the light

Water pump, air pump, and oscillating fan run 24/7

I’ve been changing the water/nutrients weekly

The one marked #2, “special kush 1”, has taken the longest the whole time, to germinate, to poke up out of the soil, to fully open the seed and fall off, to do anything

#1 emerald OG, a seed from bud I got at the dispensary

#2 Special Kush 1 purchased from Royal Queen Seeds

These #1 and #2 are on the same side of reservoir

And #3 and #4 are on the other side of reservoir

#3 Emerald OG - from same bud as the other emerald OG plant(#1)

#4 OG Kush - free seed that came with any purchase from Royal queen seeds

First time posting here and first time growing. Just want to hear what you all have to say. I plan to learn, get better, get more equipment. I’ve put off learning this for too long, but I’m doing it now!

 

[Justlovetogrow]

My guess and it’s only a guess is to much light see the leaf edges curling up trying to get away from the light also humidity could be a touch low? With hydro all the magic happens below the plants how do the roots look? Always use half of what they tell u on nutrient bottles and go up from there little plants like that in dwc shouldn’t need to go over 1.0ec well they all my guesses trial and error my friend

 

[RootsInWater]

My guess and it’s only a guess is to much light see the leaf edges curling up trying to get away from the light also humidity could be a touch low? With hydro all the magic happens below the plants how do the roots look? Always use half of what they tell u on nutrient bottles and go up from there little plants like that in dwc shouldn’t need to go over 1.0ec well they all my guesses trial and error my friend

Hey thanks for the reply. I definitely get that it’s a trial and error process. I want to doubt the light just because it’s not much to begin with from what I’ve read, but I did consider that and have moved the light away from the smaller sick plants to see if that helps. The initial nutrient blend which was on the bottle at 1/4tsp/gal was seeming fine for 2 weeks, it was when I jumped to 1/2tsp, although the next step up was 1tsp I tried to move toward it. I still need to get tester for ec and humidity. I’ve only been monitoring PH. Roots look good to me based on research I’ve done.
I will upload the whole reservoir and how the inside and roots look soon.

 

[RootsInWater]

Hey thanks for the reply. I definitely get that it’s a trial and error process. I want to doubt the light just because it’s not much to begin with from what I’ve read, but I did consider that and have moved the light away from the smaller sick plants to see if that helps. The initial nutrient blend which was on the bottle at 1/4tsp/gal was seeming fine for 2 weeks, it was when I jumped to 1/2tsp, although the next step up was 1tsp I tried to move toward it. I still need to get tester for ec and humidity. I’ve only been monitoring PH. Roots look good to me based on research I’ve done.
I will upload the whole reservoir and how the inside and roots look soon.

My guess and it’s only a guess is to much light see the leaf edges curling up trying to get away from the light also humidity could be a touch low? With hydro all the magic happens below the plants how do the roots look? Always use half of what they tell u on nutrient bottles and go up from there little plants like that in dwc shouldn’t need to go over 1.0ec well they all my guesses trial and error my friend

These pics are in order relative to original post
#1

#2

#3

#4

pic to show distance of water to pot (3inches?)

 

[mstrpkl]

Out of curiosity, do you know what temperature your water runs all day? Warm water can cause root rot, and those roots look slightly brown and maybe a little slimey in those pictures.

Could just be the pictures causing illusion so i wanted to ask first lol

 

[Justlovetogrow]

I thought the same as mstrpkl roots look a touch brown and slimey do they smell a bit funky? some nutrients will stain your roots but they don’t look quite right

 

[RootsInWater]

Out of curiosity, do you know what temperature your water runs all day? Warm water can cause root rot, and those roots look slightly brown and maybe a little slimey in those pictures.

Could just be the pictures causing illusion so i wanted to ask first lol

They are slightly brown from what I understand is nutrient stain and I felt them when I took those pics just now and they don’t feel slimy. I was worried of root rot when I first noticed the brown but they haven’t been slimy at all. It’s around 66-68 in the air and right now the water was 65.. I will be monitoring everything more but I would say those are the average everyday temps.

 

[Justlovetogrow]

They are slightly brown from what I understand is nutrient stain and I felt them when I took those pics just now and they don’t feel slimy. I was worried of root rot when I first noticed the brown but they haven’t been slimy at all. It’s around 66-68 in the air and right now the water was 65.. I will be monitoring everything more but I would say those are the average everyday temps.

The roots that are above water level are what they should look like bright white with little feeders everywhere I zoomed in on 1 pic they do look a bit funky man but if any rot on em they will smell shithouse so keep a nose out for that

 

[mstrpkl]

They are slightly brown from what I understand is nutrient stain and I felt them when I took those pics just now and they don’t feel slimy. I was worried of root rot when I first noticed the brown but they haven’t been slimy at all. It’s around 66-68 in the air and right now the water was 65.. I will be monitoring everything more but I would say those are the average everyday temps.

O sweet ok i think your water temps are good, as far as i know at least. Im a soil grower but iv done a lot of research on dwc and temps are the one thing that blocked me from using that method of growing lol

 

[RootsInWater]

They are slightly brown from what I understand is nutrient stain and I felt them when I took those pics just now and they don’t feel slimy. I was worried of root rot when I first noticed the brown but they haven’t been slimy at all. It’s around 66-68 in the air and right now the water was 65.. I will be monitoring everything more but I would say those are the average everyday temps.

The roots that are above water level are what they should look like bright white with little feeders everywhere I zoomed in on 1 pic they do look a bit funky man but if any rot on em they will smell shithouse so keep a nose out for that

I inspected a little deeper after your comments now and there were some small ones browner and broke off easy and sticking my nose into the tank there is a slight must smell. Just changed and cleaned the res yesterday. Those small pieces that broke off felt slimy like in comparison to the rest of the roots in there.

 

[Justlovetogrow]

I inspected a little deeper after your comments now and there were some small ones browner and broke off easy and sticking my nose into the tank there is a slight must smell. Just changed and cleaned the res yesterday. Those small pieces that broke off felt slimy like in comparison to the rest of the roots in there.

Need to get a hydro grower in here to give ya some proper advice on getting rid of it @FloridaMike I’m sure @Mikedin or @Captspaulding would know aswell @Dirtbag @GNick55 @Itscheese94 someone will help ya out

 

[GNick55]

Need to get a hydro grower in here to give ya some proper advice on getting rid of it @FloridaMike I’m sure @Mikedin or @Captspaulding would know aswell @Dirtbag @GNick55 @Itscheese94 someone will help ya out

i’ve never grown this way..
hang on as someone who knows will help out..

 

[Justlovetogrow]

i’ve never grown this way..
hang on as someone who knows will help out..

Yea I knew you was a soil guy just thought ya may know how to stop root rot h202 is all the advice I can give

 

[Florida_Mike]

What is the problem now? The plants looked like they did a
complete turn around from when they were fried crispy. The
roots look slightly brown, but not to bad. They should smell
musty & earthy but not funky, if that makes sense. When I
fried Betty Lous roots, they smelled like funky carrots that
were going bad.

I saw that you're using GH Flora Series & Hydro Guard, but
I saw no mention of Calmeg. It must be used with Flora
series as Mg is pathetically lacking in GH nutes. (I think
that they do it to get you to buy more of their products,
I use their Cal-Magic @ 2ml/gal). Calmag should be mixed
1st, then micro, grow, bloom in that order, if using Silica,
it goes in before Calmag slowly & let mix thoroughly
b4 adding the calmeg. (mix a few drops of each in a red
solo shot cup & you'll see why; it turns into a paste
within seconds)

treating with H2O2 is best way to kill the bad bacteria,
but it kills any good bacteria as well. From web:


To treat root rot with H₂O₂ in hydroponics, you’ll want to use food-grade hydrogen peroxide (29%-35%) diluted properly.

Recommended Strengths for Root Rot Treatment:​

• 29%-35% hydrogen peroxide:
  Mix at a rate of 3 mL per gallon of water in your reservoir.
  (This equals about 0.8 mL per liter.)
• If using 3% hydrogen peroxide (common pharmacy strength):
  Use 10 mL per gallon of water (about 2.5 mL per liter).

Me:
That is for treatment, not as a preventative measure, I've never used it b4.

You definitely need a good tds pen when growing in hydro (I recommend
Blue Lab). I would also highly recommend an RO filter if your budget can
swing it. Others I'm sure will disagree, but if you know exactly what is in
your water & nutrient mix, it makes diagnosing and fixing problems much
much easier. There shouldn't be any problems though, as long as you
follow the feeding chart (with some tweeks of course). *Flora series, when
mixed as per the chart and starting w/ 0ppm water, it comes out way lower
in ppm's than their chart says it will

 

[Justlovetogrow]

What is the problem now? The plants looked like they did a
complete turn around from when they were fried crispy. The
roots look slightly brown, but not to bad. They should smell
musty & earthy but not funky, if that makes sense. When I
fried Betty Lous roots, they smelled like funky carrots that
were going bad.

I saw that you're using GH Flora Series & Hydro Guard, but
I saw no mention of Calmeg. It must be used with Flora
series as Mg is pathetically lacking in GH nutes. (I think
that they do it to get you to buy more of their products,
I use their Cal-Magic @ 2ml/gal). Calmag should be mixed
1st, then micro, grow, bloom in that order, if using Silica,
it goes in before Calmag slowly & let mix thoroughly
b4 adding the calmeg. (mix a few drops of each in a red
solo shot cup & you'll see why; it turns into a paste
within seconds)

treating with H2O2 is best way to kill the bad bacteria,
but it kills any good bacteria as well. From web:


To treat root rot with H₂O₂ in hydroponics, you’ll want to use food-grade hydrogen peroxide (29%-35%) diluted properly.

Recommended Strengths for Root Rot Treatment:​

• 29%-35% hydrogen peroxide:
  Mix at a rate of 3 mL per gallon of water in your reservoir.
  (This equals about 0.8 mL per liter.)
• If using 3% hydrogen peroxide (common pharmacy strength):
  Use 10 mL per gallon of water (about 2.5 mL per liter).

Me:
That is for treatment, not as a preventative measure, I've never used it b4.

You definitely need a good tds pen when growing in hydro (I recommend
Blue Lab). I would also highly recommend an RO filter if your budget can
swing it. Others I'm sure will disagree, but if you know exactly what is in
your water & nutrient mix, it makes diagnosing and fixing problems much
much easier. There shouldn't be any problems though, as long as you
follow the feeding chart (with some tweeks of course). *Flora series, when
mixed as per the chart and starting w/ 0ppm water, it comes out way lower
in ppm's than their chart says it will

See Floridamike for the win

 

[Effn.new.guy]

I second the Mag deficiency diagnosis. I had a whole tent looking like that until I did some research and found out that I needed to add, what seemed like massive amounts to me (2.5 tsp./gal) of Epsom salt to my RO water. Everything is looking green and healthy now. The deficiency chart that was posted in one of the threads really helps a lot. I think @Galgrows has it.

 

[RootsInWater]

@Justlovetogrow @FloridaMike @Effn.new.guy

Thank you all for the replies. There is 100% some root rot going on. I removed what I could comfortably get out. Still plenty of white strong roots though.Time to find out how it goes. I also had no idea about the calimagic and have it on the way now.

I will definitely be putting your comments into consideration here and seeing what I can do. Since ive started, these plants have dealt with many changes. I’ve sealed my reservoir from light a couple times(took me a bit to find reflective foil tape) , adjusted water level up closer to the pots, adjusting lighting, tried upping nutrients etc.

I’ll post an update in a week or so. Thank you all again I really appreciate the info and suggestions!

 

[RootsInWater]

@Justlovetogrow @FloridaMike @mstrpkl
The 2 plants up front that came from dispensary bud turned out to be auto flowers, so they are both budding now.

Got calimagic, changed water and cleaned everything, pulled A LOT of roots out, been putting like 20-30ml of hydroguard a day, added another air pump with 2 more smaller stones, added another light. Total output should be about 260w led (listed as 1200w lights each with output listed as 130w each)

TDS has been about 400 and ec about .82

Temps fluctuate from 67-73 depending on the day

 

[RootsInWater]

I am going to add a smaller $20 T5 light from harbor freight in the middle, suggested by a buddy who used to grow years ago. Thank you guys. Will update more the biggest plant is the OG kush seed from royal queen so I’m hopeful on how that one turns out. That special kush in the back left is still small but it’s alive and rooting I never did a peroxide wash. Just cleaned and removed what I could, it was a lot, wasn’t sure if I killed them all from it, but obviously not, and started overdosing hydroguard

 

[RootsInWater]

Here is the whole room, going forward I think I want to do individual 5 gal buckets for each plant, I just want the least likely for a leak as this is 10 gallons of water, upstairs. I’ll acquire more over time. So far, I’m happy.