phenotyper
- 851
- 63
Hey all,
Just wanted to pass this along as information that will potentially save another grower a lot of time. I switched to a sealed room that gets vented a few times a day. As soon as I put together my shiny new completely dialed lab, where I could control everything, things went south quickly. And, I personally had two grows before I understood what the problem was. TLDR: Incomplete combustion (and probably some VPD issues) caused my plants to look like hell, generally display overfed symptoms, calmag issues, etc. My humidity was 65% and Temp 78-82, Feed ppm around 650-700 (NaCl conversion).
Whenever I put my plants from veg to flower, they would all of the sudden look like hell. Symptoms manifested as over feeding, under feeding, cal mag issues, sulfur issues, general burnt, and unhappy plants. I had a couple of grows go completely south and I tried everything from reducing feed, increasing feed, increasing/decreasing calmag, modifying ph ranges, increasing relative humidity, etc. As a matter of fact, I just had a harvest with some of the lowest yield probably ever. Even worse, some plants can totally handle it (Alien OG looked pissed but did fine, compared to my bubba76 x motorbreath cross that looked like it went through the meat grinder within days of being in the room. Though, all plants look pissed to some degree).
So, after some investigation, I examined my natural gas burner. The flames were blue BUT I noticed there was a black residue on both of the burners (I have a Sentinel 2 burner setup on a controller), which can't be good. I think potentially the sulfur they add to the NG might be causing sulfur dioxide to be created, which is why my plants looked like a sulfur deficiency/lockout. I am a bit unsure about the sulfur level, but what I am sure of is that the burner was causing these issues. Within 24 hours of adding the lowest ppm co2 possible on my controller (350) and with a 15 minute vent cycle every 45-70 minutes, there should have been nearly no change in plant health (given the constant venting, etc), yet, when I came back 24 hours later, all of the plants looked visibly pissed off, and starting to show the symptoms I mention above. Now, I'm not sure if I am getting dirty gas, potentially from the pipes, or what's going on... but black on the burner is absolutely indicative of a larger issue... and if not a sulfur issue, probably some carbon monoxide in there poisoning everything.
So, if you're a sealed room grower who's had trouble since you obtained a natural gas or liquid propane co2 burner, I hope I can save you some time. Check your burner for residue! Make sure you're burning clean because you're hurting the plants, and most importantly, yourself.
Just wanted to pass this along as information that will potentially save another grower a lot of time. I switched to a sealed room that gets vented a few times a day. As soon as I put together my shiny new completely dialed lab, where I could control everything, things went south quickly. And, I personally had two grows before I understood what the problem was. TLDR: Incomplete combustion (and probably some VPD issues) caused my plants to look like hell, generally display overfed symptoms, calmag issues, etc. My humidity was 65% and Temp 78-82, Feed ppm around 650-700 (NaCl conversion).
Whenever I put my plants from veg to flower, they would all of the sudden look like hell. Symptoms manifested as over feeding, under feeding, cal mag issues, sulfur issues, general burnt, and unhappy plants. I had a couple of grows go completely south and I tried everything from reducing feed, increasing feed, increasing/decreasing calmag, modifying ph ranges, increasing relative humidity, etc. As a matter of fact, I just had a harvest with some of the lowest yield probably ever. Even worse, some plants can totally handle it (Alien OG looked pissed but did fine, compared to my bubba76 x motorbreath cross that looked like it went through the meat grinder within days of being in the room. Though, all plants look pissed to some degree).
So, after some investigation, I examined my natural gas burner. The flames were blue BUT I noticed there was a black residue on both of the burners (I have a Sentinel 2 burner setup on a controller), which can't be good. I think potentially the sulfur they add to the NG might be causing sulfur dioxide to be created, which is why my plants looked like a sulfur deficiency/lockout. I am a bit unsure about the sulfur level, but what I am sure of is that the burner was causing these issues. Within 24 hours of adding the lowest ppm co2 possible on my controller (350) and with a 15 minute vent cycle every 45-70 minutes, there should have been nearly no change in plant health (given the constant venting, etc), yet, when I came back 24 hours later, all of the plants looked visibly pissed off, and starting to show the symptoms I mention above. Now, I'm not sure if I am getting dirty gas, potentially from the pipes, or what's going on... but black on the burner is absolutely indicative of a larger issue... and if not a sulfur issue, probably some carbon monoxide in there poisoning everything.
So, if you're a sealed room grower who's had trouble since you obtained a natural gas or liquid propane co2 burner, I hope I can save you some time. Check your burner for residue! Make sure you're burning clean because you're hurting the plants, and most importantly, yourself.