FIRST POST - The tops of my plants are hurting.

[grobart]

I think this might be my first post. Although I've been reading icmag for roughly two years.

The tops of my Sweet Kush #3 seeds are looking like they do in the pictures. I have no idea what's going on with them. I've been growing for a long time; mostly reading and observing but never posting. What the hell is wrong with them?

I just loaded them from the small sprouting cabinet to the larger stealth cabinet to veg and then flower about a week ago.

In case the pics are screwy, the tops of the plants look like they're rotting or melting or gooshy or something and the new tender leaves are yellow and stupid looking.

Thanks

Hydroponics
How long has this problem been going on? Just noticed it today
What system are you running? DWC with Hydroton
What STRAIN are you growing? XYZ Sweet Kush #3
What was the establishing technique? Seed
What is the age of your plants? 18 days
How tall are the plants? 6 inches
What PHASE are the plants in? Early Veg
What Technique are you using? DWC
What substrate/medium are you using? Hydroton
What is the Water temperature? 23 Celcius
What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy? White healthy
What Nutrient's are you using? How much of each if using multiple? GH FloraNova Grow (900ppm); SM-90(100ppm); Calmag+ (75ppm); Pro Tekt (75ppm)
What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using? PPM is 1100
What is the pH of the "Tank"? 5.5
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equiptment? Absolutely, calibrate weekly
When was your last watering? No Res Change for one week; add RO Water as needed
When was your last feeding change? (ie. grow-bloom-micro-additional) 1 week
How often do you clean your system: example: Every two weeks
What size bulb are you using? Five 26 Watt CFL, but a 250MH is hooked up and on standby
What is the distance to the canopy? 5 inches
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)? 45 – 55%
What is the canopy temperature? 80 - 82
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include flucutaion range) 80 /82 – 75/78
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.) 100CFM Panasonic Fan constantly running; 150CFM exhaust fan on timer when lights on.
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? No
Is your water HARD or SOFT? Reverse Osmosis
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water?
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched I ain’t touched it
Have any pest chemicals been used? Shot each one with Sharpshooter (with proper ratio) 18 hours ago
Are plant's infected with pests? I have fungus gnats flying around, but I don’t see them in the cabinet.

I know less than nothing about web page design. I tried to add images form my gallery but the site fucked me and said there were urls in it - DUH, the webpage was from my icmag gallery. Please check there for pictures of the problem

 

[stinkyattic]

To be honest the damage shown is not what I would expect given the conditions described. Your ppm seems pretty steep for young plants, but I see no tip-burn. Instead, you've got damage to the newest, softest tissue of the new growth, and spotting like K def on the better developed fans. I am not convinced that the damage and high ppm are unrealted, thoguh.
So tell me- the hydroton you are using... was it fresh out of the bag? And if it was, how did you prepare it for use with your plants?

 

[grobart]

Hey:

Thanks for the response and interest.

The hydroton is reused. I rinsed it and cleaned it with a very low ratio of bleach (I don't remember exactly, but it was less than 1/4 cup of bleach for a whole bathtub of water) to a whole tub of water. Threw the hydroton in, agitated it and then rinsed about four tubfulls worth of fresh water through it.

As I was doing more research, I'm beginning to think it's a boron deficiency. Stitch has some pictures that appear to be similar on his sick plants guide. The symptoms of the tender new growth looking the way it does appears to mimic mine.

Bart

 

[stinkyattic]

I'm not terribly familiar with that specific deficiency; however, you should be aware that it's rare to get a TRUE deficiency of metals- in 99% of the cases I've ever seen, it's actually an issue of a lock-out due to some factor not being optimized- and in most of THOSE cases, it's an issue of a pH problem.

So riddle me this: When you rinsed the hydroton of its bleach bath, did you, as a final rinse step, soak it for a good solid day or more in water that you'd adjusted to a pH of about 6.0? That's important.

If you have a bottle of GH Micro, make up a ~1/2 strength solution and use that as a foliar feed- GO EASY- bypassing the root zone entirely- until you discover the reason you are having problems to begin with. I'm leaning towards improper pH of your medium- there are slight OTHER deficiency/lockout signs on that plant in the pic; K and Mg. Foliar app of a micro supplement will buy you some time until your system settles into a correct pH.

Oh btw... Stitch is a chick

 

[grobart]

Stinky, thanks for the help. Sorry for the slow response. I've been busy. I fixed the problem. It was pH. The pH was at about 7.8. I hadn't used my pH meter for a while and forgot to recalibrate it. I also, pursuant to your instructions, and common sense I should have used in the first place, re-rinsed all of the hydroton.

I didn't lose a single plant... the pH screwed leaves have now been dwarfed by explosive healthy new growth.

Just goes to show that everyone makes newb mistakes once in a while.

Thanks again for the help and good looking out on Stitch's gender. I was unaware - although I do know for sure that DG is female.