lost cause?

[old guy]

I was given this alaskan ice. During the move the stalk was broken. I put a splint on it and it seems to have healed and once again it's solid. This was about 3 weeks ago. I now have the plant in a 5 gallon bucket with a air stone and have used Fox Farms Grow Big nutes in the water. I have checked the ph and try to keep it around 6.3. It just looks bad. Is there something I am missing? I am just trying to learn as I go and this site has a wealth of info but I just can't figure it out. I have changed out the water about every ten days or so and I have used tap water that I let sit for a day before moving to plant to it. I have a couple of plants in soil which my not look as nice as some I have seen here, but they are doing quite a bit better. I'm just not having as much luck with the the DWC set up.
I have this plant in a area that is 4ft wide about 4ft high and 2ft deep. the only lights i have in there are 8 4ft 40watt tubes. they are on 16 and off 8.
I have a room for flowering that is 4ft wide 5ft high and 2 ft wide that the potted plants are in now and not looking too bad for a noob.

 

[MynameStitch]

Damit I existed out my post!!!!!!!

Your pH swing looks like it's doing the worst problem, you are also using tap water that may be hard and hard to control the pH, that is why most people use RO water, easier and full control of how much you put in.

Are you just using fox farm nutes and nothing else?
What amount are you using?

Water temps can also cause problems

Can you also fill out the questions below? More info the better and correct answers you will get for your problems.

ARE YOU USING?

SOIL:

How long has this problem been going on?
What STRAIN are you growing?
What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?)
What is the age of your plants?
How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now?
How Tall are the plants?
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in?
What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc)
What size pots are you using? (Include how many subjects to pot)
What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using?(percentage of perlite, vermiculite...etc?)
What Nutrient's are you using?
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful*
How often are you feeding?
If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients?
What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect)
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used?
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"?
What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen?
How often are you watering?
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding?
What size bulb are you using?
What is the distance to the canopy?
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity)
What is the canopy temperature?
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)
Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ?
Is the fan blowing directly at plants?
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist?
Is your water HARD or SOFT?
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water?
Are you using water from a water softener?
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched?
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when?
Are plant's infected with pest's?


HYDROPONICS/Aero Ponics/Coco/Soiless/

How long has this problem been going on?
Are you growing in a PVC grow tent? (example: Hydrohut or any other non brand tents)
What system are you running? (DWC? Ebb flow? Aero? Water Farm? Flood Tables? and so on...)
What STRAIN are you growing?
What was the establishing technique? (Were the seed or clone?)
What is the age of your plants?
How long have they been in there mixture they are in now?(coco,soiless etc..)
How tall are the plants?
What PHASE are the plants in? (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in?
What Technique are you using?
What substrate/medium are you using?(Hydroton, RockWool etc.)
What is the Water temperature?
What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy?
What Nutrient's are you using?(If growing soiless)
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful*
How often are you feeding? (If using soiless)
How often are you giving nutrients? (If using soiless)
If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients?
What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect)
What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using?
What is the pH of the "Tank"?
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equiptment?
When was your last watering?
What is your water temps?
When was your last feeding change? (ie. grow-bloom-micro-additional)
How often do you clean your system: example: Flush out water replace with clean water and nutrients?
What size bulb are you using?
What is the distance to the canopy?
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)?
What is the canopy temperature?
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include flucutaion range)
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)
Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ?
Is the fan blowing directly at plants?
Is your water HARD or SOFT?
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water?
Are you using water from a water softener?
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When?
Are plant's infected with pest's

 

[old guy]

It looks like I need to spend some time on that list...I'll be back

 

[Ipsissimus]

take a pic of the roots too

 

[old guy]

HYDROPONICS/Aero Ponics/Coco/Soiless/

How long has this problem been going on? 3 weeks
Are you growing in a PVC grow tent? (example: Hydrohut or any other non brand tents) no
What system are you running? (DWC? Ebb flow? Aero? Water Farm? Flood Tables? and so on...) DWC
What STRAIN are you growing? Alaskian Ice
What was the establishing technique? (Were the seed or clone?) clone gift
What is the age of your plants? approx 3 months
How long have they been in there mixture they are in now?(coco,soiless etc..)3 months
How tall are the plants?12"
What PHASE are the plants in? (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? veg
What Technique are you using? not sure
What substrate/medium are you using?(Hydroton, RockWool etc.) hydroton
What is the Water temperature? 75
What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy? white
What Nutrient's are you using?(If growing soiless) fox farms grow big
How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful* label said 2-3 teaspoons per gallon
How often are you feeding? (If using soiless) i only feed when i change water- 10 days or so
How often are you giving nutrients? (If using soiless) only when water is changed
If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients?
What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect) following the label
What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using? I don't have a clue
What is the pH of the "Tank"? 6.5-7.0
Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equiptment? right now i can only check ph
When was your last watering?
What is your water temps? 75
When was your last feeding change? (ie. grow-bloom-micro-additional) never
How often do you clean your system: example: Flush out water replace with clean water and nutrients? 10 days
What size bulb are you using?8 40 watt 4ft
What is the distance to the canopy?4 inches
What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)? humidity runs 50-60
What is the canopy temperature? 75-80
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include flucutaion range) day 75 night i will have to check
What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.)240 cfm
Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ?intake is at lower left and apporx 8"x10" exhaust is at upper right. a small 8" fan to move air around inside
Is the fan blowing directly at plants? no
Is your water HARD or SOFT? soft
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? tap
Are you using water from a water softener?no
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched? pruned of really dead leaves
Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When? no
Are plant's infected with pest's none I can find
__________________

I gotta admit. this is a great hobby

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I used foxfarm nutes once, and I rember they are very hot. You can almost always assume that you should NOT follow the directions according to the label. In your situation without a ppm/ec meter I would play it by eye, let them ask for it, and go slow. PH 5.8 is best in DWC, it is ok to allow drift either up or down but you should try and keep it in check. 75 water temps may kick you in the butt sooner or later. Also, plants under flouros have even lower nutrient requirments due to less photosynthesis due to lower amounts of light. Overfeeding, PH, and fix your temps before its to late. She is savable.

 

[old guy]

I'm gonna work on the ph and temps. I am going to have to pick up a tester or two it looks like. Thanks Guys

 

[ubet28]

I f you get ph in check and feed low low nutes like 400 to 600 PPM She should come out of it.

PH needs to be 5.8 water temp needs to be around 68 and ambient temp needs to be 77.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Dump the nutes that are in it as they've been damaged. Can't sit at a pH of 7 without that happening.

5.8 is not a good pH to start with and would recommend starting around 5.2. If you're not topping off your bucket twice a day, you may want to start at around 5.4 since the pH will drop too low.

 

[ubet28]

Dump the nutes that are in it as they've been damaged. Can't sit at a pH of 7 without that happening.

5.8 is not a good pH to start with and would recommend starting around 5.2. If you're not topping off your bucket twice a day, you may want to start at around 5.4 since the pH will drop too low.

Why would you say 5.2 or 5.4. At most 5.5 after that you locking other nutes out. Also you say his PH will drop i can almost bet the PH is gonna go up.

You can take whoever advice you want but a ph of 5.2 is gonna cause you more problems then good. I would say by looking at the plants your ph is swinging up around .5 to 1.0 point a day. If you set it at 5.8 and let it drift .5 and adjust. Also use low PPM since you cant tell what the PPM i would mix 1 ml per gallon for a week or so she will come out of it.

 

[old guy]

I can see a few more things i have to get so I'm not guessing at the levels.
Thanks again for taking the time and giving me some direction

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Why would you say 5.2 or 5.4. At most 5.5 after that you locking other nutes out. Also you say his PH will drop i can almost bet the PH is gonna go up.

Sorry but a swing from 5.2 to 6.0-6.1 and then back down to 5.2 will give you waaay better results. You'll want the 6.0-6.1 between days 20-30, depending on the strain, as it initially forms the buds. (you won't get that yellowing of mag lockout) After that you'll want to drop it back down around 5.2 and let it drift up again.

All this 5.8 b.s. started after OG and CW went down. Before then it had already been flame warred out and the results were in that 5.2 is the better starting point. Argue all ya want, I'll not budge on that as I've seen the difference.


The only time I wouldn't start with 5.2 is when my top-off schedule isn't often enough to keep the pH from crashing too low. I top off twice a day so I set it at 5.2 for a new flower run and go from there.

 

[ubet28]

Sorry but a swing from 5.2 to 6.0-6.1 and then back down to 5.2 will give you waaay better results. You'll want the 6.0-6.1 between days 20-30, depending on the strain, as it initially forms the buds. (you won't get that yellowing of mag lockout) After that you'll want to drop it back down around 5.2 and let it drift up again.

All this 5.8 b.s. started after OG and CW went down. Before then it had already been flame warred out and the results were in that 5.2 is the better starting point. Argue all ya want, I'll not budge on that as I've seen the difference.


The only time I wouldn't start with 5.2 is when my top-off schedule isn't often enough to keep the pH from crashing too low. I top off twice a day so I set it at 5.2 for a new flower run and go from there.

I will try it out and see for myself next bloom run. I don't want to go changing things around now.

 

[old guy]

Ok, I am right in the ballpark with water temps and ambient temp. 65 for the bucket water and 78 ambient. I changed the water and cut back on the Big Bloom. I got the PH down to 5.4. I still am fine tuning that.
My one burning question is, How often do I add the Nutes? Only when I change the water? Daily?

 

[ubet28]

Ok, I am right in the ballpark with water temps and ambient temp. 65 for the bucket water and 78 ambient. I changed the water and cut back on the Big Bloom. I got the PH down to 5.4. I still am fine tuning that.
My one burning question is, How often do I add the Nutes? Only when I change the water? Daily?

I change me res out weekly proably over kill but i would rather spend a little extra in nutes and have fresh water all the time. As far as how often to add nutes do it when you change res out. If that's weekly or every couple of weeks

I add water daily if the pH needs adjusted i adjust. My water comes out of the tap at 200 ppm and pH 6.0. I still run it threw my R/O again, over kill with water that is 200 PPM. I just want to know that whats in my res is in there cause i put there.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

How often do I add the Nutes? Only when I change the water? Daily?

Depends on if you have a ppm/EC meter or not. If you can't test the strength of the solution, use the simple res management method written up by Lucas.

Using a 10 gal res as an example:

Mix 10 gallons of nutrient solution and pH appropriately. (For this method you definitely want 5.2-5.4) Set aside 10 gallons of RO and use that to top off your reservoir once or twice a day. When those gallons are gone, dump the res and mix a fresh batch. (you can also just count the number of gallons for the add-back, of course)


If you have a tds/EC meter then you'll want to keep it within 1300-1400ppm if your meter is a .7 conversion meter. If it's a .5 like mine you'll want 850-1000ppm. When your pH goes up and you need to adjust it lower, use nutes first to come close to your target ppm. If you can't add any more nutes, add some pH down.

 

[old guy]

Thanks once more, I gotta get me something more accurate then this trying to match colors when checking the PH. I have gotten the PH down below 6.0. I ordered a tester so I'll feel better about level. I changed the water and cut back on the Grow Big. Maybe I'm optimistic but I think she's perking up. It's only been a couple of days but...there is hope!