First time hydro (SWC) help

[fully baked]

Hey there guys, I was wondering if any of the hydro gurus out there could be so kind to help me out with a little problem on my way to flowering.

I'm running one plant in a 2 gallon rubber bin turned bubbler. Then made a PVC screen inspired by some thread around here I read and have since begun weaving her in scrog style. She was originally in organic soil, but was transferred to the SWC around September 15th. She has since been well established in her little bubbler and has taken off in growth do to a few helpful heads over in the hydro area.

Here's a shot of the tub. It holds two gallons and has 2 10" air stones in it being aerated by 1 duel pump. I dunno how much air it pumps through, but there are sufficient bubbles.


She is under 5-23W CFL's and 1-13W CFL and the screen is 11" by 14", so I have roughly 128 watts of CFL's in 1.07 square feet of growing area.

When first transferred into the SWC, I had no ph meter, and no proper hydro nutes and she suffered. She became quite yellow and had nasty browning and yellowing leaves. Here she is then and getting progressively better...

9-15


9-26


10-5


10-12


I'm using filtered RO water from the store. Ph is at 7.6 before nutes. I used General Hydroponics standard, grow bloom and micro. I am giving the recommended values by the bottle for the bloom phase. I mixed the water with a 1:2:3 ratio (g,m,b) at full strength as I began the transition into flowering. Ph was 5.9 when mixed. It dropped down to 5.7 after 2 days and settled out at 5.6 on the third day. On the 6th day I added plain filtered water to raise the res levels (it was down to about half) and it settled out at 5.8. Since about 3 days after the res change out (happened on the 6th) she began getting yellow spots which have gotten bigger and have begun to turn brown.

Here's some pics of the spots under the lights...

one leaf beginning the browning...


Some yellowing spotters with nice growth next to it. These are on the fan leaves about 2-4 nodes down.



And a very mild one in the beginning stages.


Any other information I'm sure is available, just ask if it's needed and I'll let you know.

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to take a look at this decently long post and help me out. It's is greatly appreciated.

Tokin' for the good guys,
FB

edit:
How long has this problem been going on? 3 days
What system are you running? SWC
What STRAIN are you growing? Blueberry feminized by mDanzig
What was the establishing technique? Clone in organic soil. transferred to SWC
What is the age of your plants?Shit, 3 months onto however long it has been in the SWC. So about 4 months
How tall are the plants?The screen sits about 7-8 inches above the tub.
What PHASE are the plants in? Transition to flower
What Technique are you using?SCROG
What substrate/medium are you using?None, the plant sits directly in the water
What is the Water temperature? A little warm at 22 degrees C
What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy? My roots are discolored where they were in soil. The new roots are white. No slime
What Nutrient's are you using? How much of each if using multiple? GH grow, micro, and bloom. They are used at full strength in a 1:2:3 ratio. So 10 mL grow, 20 mL micro, and 30 mL bloom is put into my 2 gallon res.
What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using? I don't know
What is the pH of the "Tank"?5.8 atm
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equiptment? Yes calibrated before posting
When was your last watering?Last full change out was on the 6th. Problems began appearing on the 9th. The res was topped off with my plain water on the 12th. At that time it was 1/2 way down
What is your water temps?Still 22
When was your last feeding change? 6th
How often do you clean your system: example: Flush out water replace with clean water and nutrients? Complete change out with new water and new nutes, aside from the plain water addition halfway.
What size bulb are you using?5-23 W CFL's and 1 - 13W CFL
What is the distance to the canopy?2-4 inches
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)?I don't know
What is the canopy temperature?Don't know, but they're CFL's
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include flucutaion range)
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.) One inline fan pulling into the box. Relatively low air exchange, except the box is left open while the lights are on.
Is the fan blowing directly at plants?No, it's pulling air
Is your water HARD or SOFT?Soft, filtered RO nice water
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinchedno
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When?no
Are plant's infected with pest's no

Here's a link to the grow log...
FIRST TIME HYDRO VIRIGIN

 

[MEDUSA]

Add a 1/4 tsp epsom per gallon. You are getting a cal/mag problem, due to the RO water. You filter it out, but ya have to put it back in. Also, you have pests. Specifically....mites. Good luck with it.

MED/USA

 

[fully baked]

I'll add the epsom salts.

How do you know I have mites?? And more importantly what can I do about them...? I'll have to do some reading...

Thanks for the help,
FB

Edit: I just went and checked and saw some small black bugs crawling on the leaves. Dammit... Gonna do some reading.

 

[fully baked]

So I definitely have mites. Read up on floramite, so I went ahead and got some of that. In the meantime I might try the soap/nicotine/water mix to control the little buggers till it arrives. I have to go get epsom salts tomorrow too...

Thanks medusa...

Any other opinions, comments, or criticisms are welcomed and encouraged..

 

[fully baked]

bumping during busy hours....

 

[FreezerBoy]

GH flora grow is rather useless. It's the 0 in Lucas 0-8-16 formula. Further 0-8-16 is much stronger than most plants need (0-3-6 is stronger than mine need) while you're running 10-20-30. I'd try 0-5-10 and see what that gets you. If nothing else it will make your nutes last 3-4 times longer.

 

[Skipload]

I suggest spreading your plants out. They are packed tight, disease and pests take advantage of that.

 

[stinkyattic]

You need calmag, not epsom salts.
Your plants are crowded.
Your res is clear and needs to be lightproofed- tinfoil works fine for this.
You're supposed to check pH AFTER addition of your nutes. pH of RO water is of no consequence. It's the EC that matters. Your pH is correct though.
As the ladies grow, you may find that you need to make a larger tub with a larger bubbler. Keep an eye on that and be prepared. Also, a product like Cannazyme is quite helpful in a DWC/SWC system to prevent sloughed-off cells just rotting in the solution.

 

[fully baked]

FreezerBoy - I'll lighten up on the nutes next res changeout. And use the actual lucas formula this time...0-5-10 it is... WE're talking per gallon though right??

Skipload - I only have one plant. Can't spread it out.



Stinky attic - I added the epsom already. It's magnesium sulfate, so I at least have the magnesium in there. Gonna take freezerboys advice and switch up to the lucas formula next res changeout. The res is lightproof, that picture was just taken to get a look at the roots. It's actually duct taped up pretty well. I do check the pH afterwards. It's 5.8. Unfortunately, as this lady grows she has no more room to be put into a bigger tub. I'm one of those crazy micro growers with little area to expand. If you could go into the cannazyme that would be appreciated. I don't know what that is.

Here's the actual tub. Lightproofed at all.


Just want to make sure the leaf spotting is cal-mag and not something else.

I went ahead and dosed my lady down with a mixture to hopefully get rid of the mites. 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 drops dish detergent with no additives, and 1/4 cup epsom salts. I sprayed this all over the plants, coating the tops and bottoms of the leaves and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. I then rinsed it all off real well and dried her out before throwing her back under the lights. Hopefully these mites don't run rampant. I've never had to deal with them before.

Here's where I found the info about the spray I made... HERE - Kill your spidermites today!! I just upped the amount of epsom salts, cause I figured she needed it anyways...

Thanks for taking the time to help out,
FB

 

[stinkyattic]

You will be running Lucas with calmag, right? GOTTA have that calcium source. It's 100% necessary!!!
Cannazyme is just an enzyme that you add to the res to enable the breakdown of sloughed-off plant cells so you don't get root rot or slime from undesirable microorganisms. I have seen too many DWC type grows fail from root rot that could have been prevented not to suggest this.
Good luck, cool system!

 

[fully baked]

I will be changing to Lucas tonight. I don't have any calmag at the moment, so for now, she will have to do without it till I can get my hands on some. No go on the epsom salts for a magnesium source though??

I def don't want any root rot, so I will be looking into that enzyme your talking about. Right now I'm adding a little h202 to help out with keeping those roots nice and healthy. A cap full per gallon of water atm.

Thanks for the help stinky attic,
You're a good dude,
FB

 

[stinkyattic]

H2O2 i helpful for that too. Good.
Some people are fine running Epsom salts for magnesium; personally, I'll NEVER put it in my res or soil- I always use it as a foliar spray. That's just me. Individual results may vary.
BTW... I'm a chick!

 

[fully baked]

Got it. Foliar spray the salts, and ill look into some cal mag...

Sorry about the gender confusion. Hate to lump you into a category. Cause your one chill chick who knows her shit.

PS, lady growers are foxy