New to DWC

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FMJ

FMJ

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Redid my res Friday night.... Went out on a limb and decided to up my ppm. I originally bought a 3 pack of nutes. 1 was for veg, 2 were for bloom. I mixed up nutes by their directions (with the cal mag and bioguard ) and the ppm came out to 820's....
My leaves have stopped "burning" .... But everybody kinda looks droopy to me.... Maybe it just needs more time to perk back up.....🤷‍♂️
Added 1/2 gallon of RO to top off today....that's it. Gonna redo the res every 4 -5 days I guess and see what happens. Will adjust depending on how they're looking and doing....
EDIT
I find it odd that only the big plant has the burnt looking leaves . The little one has the same droopy look , but no burn.....🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
 
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Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Redid my res Friday night.... Went out on a limb and decided to up my ppm. I originally bought a 3 pack of nutes. 1 was for veg, 2 were for bloom. I mixed up nutes by their directions (with the cal mag and bioguard ) and the ppm came out to 820's....
My leaves have stopped "burning" .... But everybody kinda looks droopy to me.... Maybe it just needs more time to perk back up.....🤷‍♂️
Added 1/2 gallon of RO to top off today....that's it. Gonna redo the res every 4 -5 days I guess and see what happens. Will adjust depending on how they're looking and doing....
Sounds like a good plan. If ya see some tips burning of clawing or shiny dark green leaves you know to back off a bit.

If it's getting close to lights out they tend to droop a lil or a fresh res change can do that if the temp was different than what was in there
 
FMJ

FMJ

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My lights came on at 7 pm... (Almost 3 hours ago) .... I put a room AC in my garage last night and my box only got up to 88.5°f when it normally goes up to 92 max... Humidity is at 70 right now... Usually fluctuate between 50-70%...
 
FMJ

FMJ

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Oh I'm using Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom at the same time.... I assumed I was supposed to bring that it came in a "kit" form for a complete cycle..... 🤷‍♂️
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Oh I'm using Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom at the same time.... I assumed I was supposed to bring that it came in a "kit" form for a complete cycle..... 🤷‍♂️
I would start watching for a possible nitrogen deficiency. If bottom leaves start to yellow a bit then we can look at changing that. I have never used those nutrients.
 
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FMJ

FMJ

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Been a few days.... Been busy..
Talked to manufacturer of the nutes I use. They sent me a feeding guide, and a host of other cool goodies...🥰🥰 With their food, I need to be at 1400+ ppm... MINIMUM..... (Using RO) .... I've been under feeding. My big plant damn near died. I was able to save it. This is what's left....☹☹ She has perked back up.... She also had a tad bit of root for I guess. Flushed with bioguard a few times. I think it's back on track to being a winner..... Not as lush as it once was , but at least it's still alive.....🤣🤣
 
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Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Been a few days.... Been busy..
Talked to manufacturer of the nutes I use. They sent me a feeding guide, and a host of other cool goodies...🥰🥰 With their food, I need to be at 1400+ ppm... MINIMUM..... (Using RO) .... I've been under feeding. My big plant damn near died. I was able to save it. This is what's left....☹☹ She has perked back up.... She also had a tad bit of root for I guess. Flushed with bioguard a few times. I think it's back on track to being a winner..... Not as lush as it once was , but at least it's still alive.....🤣🤣
Eeesh sounds to high to me 🤔 why are the plants all wet under lights on?
 
FMJ

FMJ

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Eeesh sounds to high to me 🤔 why are the plants all wet under lights on?
I foliar feed when the lights come on , to help with any deficiency.... Dries up with in minutes. No harm.... It's not hot in the box, and lights are more than 10" away.... Little plant has been loving it.....
 
FMJ

FMJ

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I think I'm going to transplant into a soil mix . This has been just a headache. Even following the manufacturers feed schedule, I get issues from time to time.... So sick of them being healthy one week and sick looking the next....
If transplant fails , I'm done.... Ill start back again the way I grow good.... 😡😡
 
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Roadblock

Roadblock

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Redid my res Friday night.... Went out on a limb and decided to up my ppm. I originally bought a 3 pack of nutes. 1 was for veg, 2 were for bloom. I mixed up nutes by their directions (with the cal mag and bioguard ) and the ppm came out to 820's....
My leaves have stopped "burning" .... But everybody kinda looks droopy to me.... Maybe it just needs more time to perk back up.....🤷‍♂️
Added 1/2 gallon of RO to top off today....that's it. Gonna redo the res every 4 -5 days I guess and see what happens. Will adjust depending on how they're looking and doing....
EDIT
I find it odd that only the big plant has the burnt looking leaves . The little one has the same droopy look , but no burn.....🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Probably because the bigger plant is transpiring at a faster rate and so will show problems first.

Hydroponics is only as good as your weakest link in the chain, you can have everything perfect except one element and they will grow and flower to that limitation.

When something is wrong most people jump to the nutrient solution when in the majority of cases its not the problem, its often one of the free elements, air water or temperature both ambient and root zone, if any of these are wrong or fluctuating too much causing a problem the plant will respond in many ways that are the same as nutrient deficiencies, so people mess with additives etc and compound the issues, if everything is right most all commercial feeds will grow quality weed, what is really going on is the plant is stressing in one of those areas which is causing nutrient lockout or a slight shock which then causes nutrient lockout, any kind of setback that stresses the plant will effect its metabolism.

I think the issues you are having is with air, temperature, or root zone not nutrients unless you have caused an imbalance in the nutrient mix with additives , just use a quality nutrient and nothing else, make sure your PH is right and fix whatever is wrong with you environment and you will do fine.

Any DWC type system has got to be right to work as it should otherwise it will fail, a failure is any reduction of potential all the way to death, for guys that get it first time and have no problems they were lucky having good water and a climate in balance, for others you got to cover every base of your environment from intake temperature to air circulation, rate of temperature change etc, its easy to get frustrated when something is wrong as they will take about 2 wks to recover and fire up if you fix the issue, this time delay makes people keep changing the cure and they chase their tail and give up on it, but it is worth dialing it in and getting it right, when its right DWC powers like nothing else..
 
Kampbe1l

Kampbe1l

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you don't have to transplant, or abandon your DWC grow - why not instead take cuttings of this DWC grow, and stick that into soil? in the meantime, persist with this DWC, and you will have 2 backups in a couple of weeks - established clones and these clones into soil grow. there is space for those cuttings, to propagate into clones in your setup.

also, if you don't persist with this DWC, you won't crack this nut. a word of encouragement, the plants are showing you're getting close. i think you've been mucking around with nutrients (high PPM) and pH, i don't like those dramatic fluctuations.

it's my humble opinion, i've just started with a DIY DWC bucket, and largely left alone (because I have soil grows to tend), it seems to be travelling okay. I change the reservior every 10 to 14 days, starting with weak nutrient PPM levels and keeping the pH about 5.8 level, while it was in seedling and now early juvenile growth phase. i haven't bothered topping up the reservior during the changes. I probably should pay more attention to all these finer details.

i got a TDS meter, Canna Aqua Vega A + B, pH meter, pH buffer solutions....i thought DWC is not a fuss, just increase the strength of the nutrients as she grows. Check all the plant - leaves, roots, stems, etc - for how she is responding.

keeping it real, and back to your point. on the one hand, i repeat, i reckon the plants are showing that you're not far off, getting this DWC right. you recovered from earlier 'mishaps', and only a month ago, was going strong. on the other hand, DWC is considered the 'easier' hydroponic grow, not to discourage.

KISS - keep it simple.. Humbly, slow down, control your eagerness, break it all down. You can do it!

EDIT01 - P.S. a transplant is dangerous, no?
 
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FMJ

FMJ

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My pH drops from 5.8 to 4 over night , every night..... What is up with that ? That's what has been my problem the whole time.....
 
Kampbe1l

Kampbe1l

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what's the temp of the nutrient solution?

others here might have a good suggestion, but i'm scratching my head as to how it drops so much overnight. evaporation doesn't come into the equation...

such dramatic fluctations in pH couldn't be great for the plant, but yet the plant are doing well considering this pH fluctuation...
 
threatco

threatco

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what's the temp of the nutrient solution?

others here might have a good suggestion, but i'm scratching my head as to how it drops so much overnight. evaporation doesn't come into the equation...

such dramatic fluctations in pH couldn't be great for the plant, but yet the plant are doing well considering this pH fluctuation...

I would be suspect of the ph testing device.
 
FMJ

FMJ

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I thought about that... But I test with an electronic meter and check that with the old fashioned pH water test/drops kit .. yellow stick is reading correct.
Box tops lately have been high during the day with no lights on. Average about 92/93..... It's HOT here..... When the lights come on, temps slowly go down to lower/mid 80's.... They are sucking down about a half gallon of water a day.
I'm using fox farms 3 part hydro food pack. My 3.5 gallon resevoir's don't like the "grow big" brown stuff , so I only use about 1/4 of what it calls for. According to the fox farm rep I talk to , that's fine and a lot of people do that or just don't use it at all.... (It clings to everything and piles up at the bottom of res....
Well, my babies are kinda screwed now. I'm out of pH up, already topped off with fresh RO but my pH didn't ride up enough. Bush plant is at 5.4 and the tall one is only at 5..... Work slowed down to where I'm barely bringing home a check at all....☹️ This grow might have just been fir nothing but a learning experience with no prize at the end....🤔☹️☹️ Not sure what I'm gonna do cuz Friday is too far away to try holding out....
And the bush is just starting to bud.... 🤬
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I thought about that... But I test with an electronic meter and check that with the old fashioned pH water test/drops kit .. yellow stick is reading correct.
Box tops lately have been high during the day with no lights on. Average about 92/93..... It's HOT here..... When the lights come on, temps slowly go down to lower/mid 80's.... They are sucking down about a half gallon of water a day.
I'm using fox farms 3 part hydro food pack. My 3.5 gallon resevoir's don't like the "grow big" brown stuff , so I only use about 1/4 of what it calls for. According to the fox farm rep I talk to , that's fine and a lot of people do that or just don't use it at all.... (It clings to everything and piles up at the bottom of res....
Well, my babies are kinda screwed now. I'm out of pH up, already topped off with fresh RO but my pH didn't ride up enough. Bush plant is at 5.4 and the tall one is only at 5..... Work slowed down to where I'm barely bringing home a check at all....☹️ This grow might have just been fir nothing but a learning experience with no prize at the end....🤔☹️☹️ Not sure what I'm gonna do cuz Friday is too far away to try holding out....
And the bush is just starting to bud.... 🤬
In a pinch use baking soda until you can get more. Start Ro then add 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Then add nutrients and ph down as needed.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I think all your problems come from lack of buffer.

What's your tap water ph and ppm?
 
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FMJ

FMJ

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I use RO water. My tap water is 7.2 pH and 257 ppm..... 🤔🤔 I can add tap water to boost the pH ! Right ?
 
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