Im losing my kush plants!! Possible PH or deficiency?

[Maxwell Murder]

i can see people telling your roommate it's easy to overwater rockwool but you guys have all that hydroton in there keepin oxygen and a nutrient mist in there. also i believe one of the plusses of rw in ebby flow is floodin the table every couple hours will push out old oxygen as the table floods then sucks in new oxygen and the tray drains. get your roommate on the program and get a res. tell him you wanna try it slowly building up from twice a day to 4, in a couple days 6 times when the lights are on. if he doesn't go for it then punch him, that'll work. hahaha

 

[Pirate]

yea, i wanted to set up the pump system and everything, but my freakin roomate and co-grower insists on hand watering them.

Not only that, we only water like twice a day during the light, WITH NO RUNOFF!!

He doesnt want to water more because we have been told by the hydro shop and other forums (marijuanapassion eek what a joke of a forum) that we should not water too much because it will make the medium soggy.

I knew we were not watering enough. I am gonna switch up the schedule.

How much solution should each plant get/ per feeding?

Right now they get about a cup or two per feeding, and like i said runoff is minimal, maybe 10%. The good news is that my runoff for my first hydro grow is a steady 5.9, but my kush plants are showing a 6.3 runoff.

A HUGE part of the problem (along with the gnats)

I water mine.....with the row rocks (like yours) in a flood tray that is 7 inches deep. The water floods up to 4 or 5 inches and the pots / plants sit in that solution for 10 to 15 minutes as the water slowly drains back to the rez. this happens every 3 hours when lights are on and ONE time when lights are off.

Tell you partner.........he's killing em !!

 

[Yes4Prop215]

so, to solve my problems

1) up waterings to 4-6 times a day, and this will stabilize the rockwool
2) up PH to 6.0
3) up nute strengh to 1300 ppms
4) kill all fungus gnats

 

[Yes4Prop215]

I am flushing the kush plants right now with straight PH balanced RO water, should i stop the flush and go back to nutes? Once again my roomate disagrees with me he wants to flush for another three days.

 

[Maxwell Murder]

you guys are in oaktown- throw a rock any direction you'll hit a hydro store, go get some clearex and follow the directions you can be feedin em again in a hour. hahah i still think you should punch him and take over man... you don't need to flush for 3 days... you guys have a hard strain to grow but it's worth it og and bubba are my faves.

 

[resinryder]

It's NOT the rockwool cubes. So don't blame them. It's the way you are using them. I do hate those rocks tho. When running in a real hydro set up, rockwool preforms great. Been using them for 7 years without problems. Your plants are hungry from the dilution. Back the CalMag down to 2ml/gallon of nute solution. You can have problems if it's too strong. Kinda like a overdose of sorts. If the girls need more CalMag, you will see yellowing on the tops of the new growth and can up it 1 ml/gallon more if needed.
I thought the Montery Garden Spray(spinosad) worked mainly on thrips. Gonna have to read my pamphlet on it for fungus gnats. I use Gnatrol at 2 teaspoons per gallon of nute solution and ph it between 5.6 to 5.9 and pour over the medium as you feed. Won't get them all but will put the hurt on em. BTW, the dead ones you are seeing in the run off are the adults which die off fairly quick. Not a long life span. It's the larva doing the damage in the root zone.
If you are gonna use the rockwool or coco cubes, dude you need a PPM/EC meter as long as you use any nute line, with the exception of truly organic nutes.. Both mediums require a defined ph range. Rockwool ph between 5.6 to 5.9 and coco 5.8 to 6.0 for best results that I've found.
In E&F systems the rockwool/coco is fed full strength nutes every feeding every 4 to 6 hours. By giving a diluted nute mix you are starving the plants. They do not store foods for later use.
Also, you will need to flush the cubes, rw and coco, once a month to wash away any "salts" buildup which will cause a lock out and ph problem if not done. I use Clearx at 15 to 30ml/gallon ph'ed at 5.6 to 5.9. Some don't care for clearx but I love the stuff.
Hope that helps a bit.

Pirate is correct-Tell your partner he's killing them.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea my partner is really stubborn about these things, he has experiance in soil but this is our first attempt at hydro.

im headed to the hydro store right now to get some clearex and something for the fungus gnats.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Ok, i bought some clearex and gnatrol.

The hydro shop guy told me to dilute the gnatrol to 20-40ml per gallon, water the plants with this solution and let them sit for 12 hours. Then flush with clearex PH balanced water. Then i can start normal nutes again?

Just want to run this by you guys before i do this.

 

[resinryder]

Flush the plants with the Clearx first.
Gnatrol can be used/added to your nute mix with NO PROBLEMS. PH as usual.
No need to put it in then flush it right out.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

ahhh i see. gnatrol looks like chocolate milk haha.

When i flush with clearex, how much runoff do i want? i just did a flush (they are in the dark right now) and my runoff was about 5-10%

 

[resinryder]

You do a flush that's 3 times the volume of the pot. If your pot is 1 gallon you run 3 gallons of water through it, and so on.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea thats what i thought, we are using RO water that costs like 1.29 a gallon so its kind of costly, i need to invest in a RO machine.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Heres a pic of a clone in my veg room that is seemingly showing the same traits, these guys arent infected with fungus gnats (at least i dont think they are)

What should i do to help this little guy?

 

[Yes4Prop215]

and heres a pic of my other grow, to show that i am not a complete idiot of a grower, these kush plants are just giving me a hard time!

 

[BONUS BAG]

im having the same problem im trying hydro for the first time an they look alot like that plant you have Y4P215,the plants that are in soil are looking fine.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Heres a pic of a clone in my veg room that is seemingly showing the same traits, these guys arent infected with fungus gnats (at least i dont think they are)

What should i do to help this little guy?

Switch to Lucas Formula. That's the GH 3-part you've been using. NO TEA!
Lucas Formula has all the nutrition you need.

If you want to add the calmag and other additives you can but it's a waste of time. The amount of time you spend trying to figure out which additive does what and at how much per what, you could have spent making sure your grow environment is great without you having to be there.

Lots cheaper in the long run to dial in your grow and not spend for all those additives. Would be nice to have that cash available though..... lotta other equipment I would buy

 

[Weedhound]

me too.,......like more additvies for a better yield.

 

[ECK06]

i would consistently put aerated ph'd water into the trays, seems like it your plants are lacking a bit of zinc, mainly because those fuckin gnats are eating your nutes, get all hydroton, repot the grodan or rockwool into all and only hydroton, the eggs are and pests can still live in the rockwool and eat away @ the roots.. your best best is fully switching over to rocks bro.. hope this helps.

 

[ECK06]

bk and og are both finicky, mainly the ogk is a bitch to grow, and has to be dialed in.. the bk i found is a lot easier to grow, keep you pH @ 5.5-5.8, lucas formula is super easy, KISS and it should work for you no problems..

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Do you feed your OG full strengh LF, which is the 8-16?