Week 4
Week 4 presented an interesting challenge. When I made the swap from my T5 over to the Covert LED, my plants freaked out. I learned a lot this week though, specifically about stress and water.
Days 22-23
The first day of this week the plants looked great. They looked bigger and healthier every day, but I knew they were outgrowing this T5.
So, on day 23, I decided to switch over to the Covert LED. I was super excited, hoping to see
even more impressive growth by switching to a way more powerful light.
Within an hour or two of swapping my 150 Watt LED for the T5, my plants started wilting really badly. The two biggest plants were affected by the change the most.
Their leaves were super droopy, and they were balling up. I started panicking. The light was about 2 feet above my plants, but I immediately raised it all the way up to the ceiling.
The temperature had reached 86 degrees and humidity was down to 50%. It had gotten super hot and super dry. Interestingly enough, though, the smallest plant started to look healthier.
I asked around to see if anyone had any advice, and I was told that this was just stress from a new lighting source with much more power. The Covert LED is obviously brighter and more intense than the T5, and the plants are not used to this much light.
And, I had been using a spray bottle to this point to water. The media stayed moist for a while because the T5 didn't produce any heat. But, the Covert dried the media up right away and sucked all moisture out of the tent.
I gave the plants a good watering, saturating the media. Within a few hours, the plants had started to bounce back. At this point, I switched the photoperiod from 24 hours down to 18/6.
Days 24-25
I woke up on day 24 and the first thing I did was rush to check on my plants. My light turns off at 9am, so it was still on when I woke up.
Much to my pleasure, the plants looked much healthier.
Still noticeable wilting, and some discoloration, but the plants have uncurled, and look like they are going to make it.
Days 26-28
The plants older growth is still very droopy, and has become discolored. There is yellowing on the older leaves. But, the new growth on the plants looks to be healthy.
One thing this could be is a nitrogen deficiency. I do not suspect pH because I know the tap water I use comes out at about 6-6.5.
It could be a Nitrogen issue, but I am surprised they are already this hungry at such a young age, considering there is Nitrogen in the Ocean forest mix I have them in. Any chance they could already need liquid nutrients?
On an unrelated note, it may be time to transplant this Eleven Roses soon! I see roots popping out the bottom of the soil already.