UC problem run... help me homies!!

guyonthecouch · Aug 7, 2012

What's up farmers. I'm having a problem with my girls this run and the symptoms seem to tell me that the mix is too hot, but I've flushed, I've cut back... I don't know what the problem is. I've ran this strain at least 4 times before and I haven't changed anything in the mix or the strength.

specifics:
DIY UC, 6 sites under 4 - 600s. AC and dedicated chiller. Water temps 66, air is 84 w lights on a 72 with lights off. 3 weeks into flower plus like a day.

mix: RO water, 90 PPM out of the filter. zone - 2ml/g, calmag - 3ml/g, 4 ml/g sweet, 5 ml/g ginormous, 3 ml/g H&G-A, 3 ml/g H&G -B. mix comes in at about 540 ppm and 6.4 PH. PH down to 5.8. Roots are lookin fine although the girls have had slow growth since they been in flower and root masses aren't as big as I would expect at 3 weeks. They have been stunted maybe?

This ram horn shit on the new growth started about a week ago. Most the leaves are pretty dark so I thought for sure it was too strong but some of the leaves on two of the girls (lower leaves) are yellow with some rust looking spots on the middle. I tried first to cut back the nutes by dumping some and adding back plain RO. left that for a day, didn't see anything positive as far as changes so I flushed with sledgehammer (ran bottle directions 5 ml/g for 1 hour then change water). Added back the nutes mix (this was two days ago) and still looking unhappy. Am I wrong to think this is pointing to a overfert situation? Should I flush longer?

gonna a try some pics here..

tipper619sd · Aug 8, 2012

I would like to say too much nutes is the issue. In the undercurrent I have seen that less nutes helps out big time. I would cut the nutes back in half and see what happens or just have it run on phd water for a week and see if you dont get growth back. I had a very hard time my first run so possibly it could be to over nutes. Was my problem .

guyonthecouch · Aug 8, 2012

heres some more

mack 10 · Aug 8, 2012

umm, one looks N and Calcium def , too much and not enough.the other(ram's horn) poss N overdose. Looks like a pH prob caused some lock ups/out's. I'd go with a light base nutes only. no additives. Give them a week an hopefully they will of improved? try an keep it simple's. mack.

mack 10 · Aug 8, 2012

i've just checked your new pic's. Def claw, which is borderline overdose. but no burnt tips, so its a fine line. try 1/4 strength and go from there? Mack.

guyonthecouch · Aug 8, 2012

thanks for the inputs. if you put them on a light base mix for a week and they do come out of it after basically not growing for a week, do you just let them go a week longer on the total flowering time for that run? so does a normally 8 week strain now take 9 if they stall out for a week?

RollinEndough · Aug 8, 2012

You should be around 500ppm/1.0EC, but skip the CalMag as it's your source of too much Nitrogen. You're using 3x maximum strength doggy, who told you to put in 3ml/gal? Smack 'em.

guyonthecouch · Aug 8, 2012

on the calmag, I started using it at that strength shortly after I went to RO water. My water is city and when they went to their summer mix, I had issues so I switched to RO. I was told that they up the chlorine in the water for the summer and that's what causes issues around here in the summer (other than the crazy heat). Most of my info I've read on various posts here but sometimes there is conflicting info on how much nutes, what kinds of nutes and whatever. Clearly tho, some people on here know what they doin and they demonstrate that clearly with photographic evidence! I think i read a while back on one of desert squirells threads about the best nute profiles for the uc, to use 2 ml/g of calmag with ro. I think i started there a few grows ago, then went up to 3 ml/g when i thought there was a sign of mag def. from there, i just always try to takes notes throughout the run and not change anything from a sucessful run if possible. I will say for sure that I am still learning even though I've had five runs before this one in this same uc system. four of them were this strain (Death Star). I can say that I've realize that no matter how many sucessful runs you have, you don't know shit until you've had problems and learned to deal with them. in other words, you don't really learn shit from sucessful grows where all goes right. i cut the nutes back to 300 last night just by dumping and adding back ro. was going to see whats what tonight and go from there. i also turned by ballasts back down to 600 from the super lumen setting i usually run at (i think it equals like 660 watts or so so nothing major there, just thought i would try to baby these hoes hahaaa)

So what is the current known best target levels then for calmag per gallon with ro? Would you cut it back to 1 ml/gal? I'm worried that this run is going to be shit for yield since they have basically not stretched like they do during the first few weeks and the roots are like half the size they should be right now for this strain. It's like they basically stayed almost the same height but did obviously transition to flower during that time. What I dont know is can you make that time back up by leaving them going longer (like 10 weeks instead of 8 like they normally go) or do you just still take them around the same time and just lose all that growth/weight from when they did nothing for weeks.. does anyone know? my guess is that based on the trichs, they would still be "done" at the same time they normally would be but they just smaller. is that right?

sorry for these noob questions but my freind that helped me get going with hyrdo moved to cali and we dont talk about this on the phone... kind of a lot of shit to figure out even with these boards. thanks cats.

guyonthecouch · Aug 8, 2012

so rollinendough, from where you're standin, 1 ml/g of calmag is probably the maximum to use in the uc?

mack 10 · Aug 8, 2012

RollinEndough said:
You should be around 500ppm/1.0EC, but skip the CalMag as it's your source of too much Nitrogen. You're using 3x maximum strength doggy, who told you to put in 3ml/gal? Smack 'em.

makes total sense. too much Ccalmag causing all the probs. Great post. If you can get some fresh clones i think they will grow quicker and much better harvest than saving your current plants, will only add a couple of extra weeks, or you can flush them then start feeding at low strength.Good luck which ever way you go. mack.

RollinEndough · Aug 8, 2012

guyonthecouch said:
so rollinendough, from where you're standin, 1 ml/g of calmag is probably the maximum to use in the uc?

In most cases, yes. I would skip it for now though. My tap water comes out similar in ppm and I can complete a harvest without it.

guyonthecouch · Aug 10, 2012

quick update. Followed the advise given and swapped with straight RO, added zone at 1 ml/gal and H&G A&B at 2 ml/gal each. No calmag. That gave me a PPM of 240 with a PH of 6.9. Dropped the PH to 5.8 and just left them alone. Also turned off the valve on the top-up tank so I could see exactly what they are doing. It's been about 48 hours and I'll say that they do look a bit better. They have been drinking some and I can notice some definite bud growth and crystal formation so that's good. Seem a tad lighter green and all but one have a less downward curl to them. one thing tho, the PH dropped from 5.8 to 5.6 within about 12 hours (i usually don't worry about that), but this morning, it had dropped from 5.6 to 4.9. I will say I had to use a bit more PH down to get them in the 5.8 range since there was so little nutes in the water. I don't see any signs of root issues (other than the roots are smaller than usual for being almost 4 weeks in). Has me a bit concerned but I'll just swap the rez again tonight with the low strengh base only.

hopefully they are back to bein happy by sunday so I can get back on track with my feeding schedule. kind of a pain in the dick! thanks for the help and I'll throw up some updated photos later tonight or tomorrow.. thanks homies

guyonthecouch · Aug 11, 2012

updated pics from last night

guyonthecouch · Aug 11, 2012

not sure they're looking THAT much better. but i think a bit and they are definetley growing now so i think they are coming out of it.

guyonthecouch · Aug 23, 2012

lookin much better now. They were on the super weak mix for a little more than a week, then swapped for a slightly hotter mix, about 420 ppm with RO. They aren't very big but at least they are chunkin up a bit. thanks for the suggestions, homies