Noob... and I'm failing

[EZDoesIt]

First time grower. Growing in DWC. Here is the low down:

Strain: OG Kush Feminized Autoflower
Setup DWC in 5 Gal buckets
PH: maintained at 5.9 - 6.1
PPM: Currently 750
Water Temp: 68 F.
Tent Temp - average around 70ish
Humidity (dry) around 20% in my basement.
Nuitrenets: GH equal parts micro, grow, bloom + Calimagic


I was doing okay for a bit. Plants seemed happy. Then one day I saw what looked like some brown algae on the roots. Following some instructions online I gave them an H2O2 bath with a mixture of 1 cup of 3% H2O2 in 3 gallons of water. I gently messaged the roots to clear the algae from them. I have been adding 60 ml of H2O2 daily to the res since and stopped using the HydroGuard. Res capacity is at about 4 gallons.

But the girls just aren't happy as you can see. They look overwatered (has me puzzled as this is hydro) and I have really good O2 flow in the res. Some pics are below. Any insight much appreciated.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=72242&pictureid=1719967

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=72242&pictureid=1719966

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=72242&pictureid=1719965

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=72242&pictureid=1719964

 

[EZDoesIt]

Forgot to mention lighting..... 4 bulb 4 ft T5.

 

[king oscar]

The brown algae is tough I haven't had much luck with h2o2 or chlorine.

I use .05ml/gal of physan 20 in dwc, that's 1ml to 20 gallons. This should bring it back but it will take a while.

You're better off tossing these for some new clones if you don't see improvement in several days and use the physan as a preventative

 

[Speed of green]

i used to get root rot in my ez cloner, i know its not DWC but a few caps full of bleach and SM90 cleared it right up. the plants don't look too far gone, hopefully you can turn it around. good luck!

 

[EZDoesIt]

I'm going to give it a little longer to try to turn it around. After that I'm starting over. I also have some sideways curling of the leaf tips and you can tell from the overhead shot that there is some lightening between the vanes.
I've read everything I could on the topic from a mag/cal deficiency to tobacco mosaic virus (which there seems to be a lack of scientific evidence / documented cases that it can even infect cannabis but lots of growers sure seem to think so).

I don't have an electron microscope lying around so I'm just going to all a little more cal-mag and treat it as a deficiency. I have been going light on the dose. The feed schedule for cannabis seems to be half of what is on the bottle. I was adding half of that. (about 10 ML per 5 gallons). I also whipped up a low PPM cal/mag foliar spray that I hit them with when the light went out. I'll report the results in a couple of days.

Hoping I can turn it around. I don;t have a lot of time for problems considering these are autoflowers. they don't turn around soon I'm going to have to scrap and start over.

 

[Strawhatpirate]

I'm pretty knew to DWC so I could be wrong but for a 3 week old plant your ppm seems pretty high.

 

[Bongstar420]

Algea isn't typically a problem in its self. At the level you showed on the roots, its probably rot and will be a monster to beat. I believe the industry is passive about selling disease because its profitable for everyone but the flower grower.

If its truly just algea, eliminating light leaks in the root area will solve it. I've used algea as nutrients in soil and have had green algea blooms with no issue outside of the over watering part. Algea in hydro is more about suffocating the O2 diffusion to roots rather than poison. What I saw in your root is no where near a problem with algea.

 

[EZDoesIt]

Update

Update

So the plants are happier. As prior posters suggested I thought my PPMs were hig as well. But the plants were showing signs of deficiency in nitrogen and calcium. So I decided I had to do something - and I was going to treat what the plant was telling me it needed. I added 350 ppm of cal-mag to the solution.

Results:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=72294&pictureid=1721369

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=72294&pictureid=1721370

I also put together a nutrient calculator in excel. Right now I'm using equal parts GH micro, grow and bloom. Basically following an online feed schedule. But after I run the numbers in the calculator I'm seeing more P K then N. Next res change (tomorrow) I'll be changing that up as well. I'll end up using GH Micro, Bloom and CaliMagic and cutting out the grow.

The calculator I made has given me real insight. Now I can see exactly how much PPM I'm getting of every macro and micro nutrient based on the PPMs of the particular bottled nutrient I add to the solution.

...........the light bulb just light up and I think I'm getting dialed in. Also I've got a lot of new white roots and the brownish roots are still growing. They have a ton of new hairs actually. They never felt slimy and really feel woody - if I had to describe it. I've discontinued using the H202 and am back to using HydroGuard and blocking all the light I can. Time will tell.

Just kind of figuring this out as I go along...

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

DWC plants look droopy when there's either low DO or the roots are unable to uptake oxygen. I'd say the h202 bath or treatment afterward did some damage to the roots.

15 years running DWC with 8:16 Micro:Bloom... give or take a bit of extra water for each strain. Great base flowering mix. All it needs is about half a gram of epsom salt per gallon to adjust for different strains and their magnesium requirements. Some need up to a gram per gallon.

Search on here for the Lucas Formula and read up on how he recommends maintaining your reservoir. The natural pH swing is what makes things super simple and effective. Excellent stuff which has been quite helpful to me for many years now.

 

[EZDoesIt]

Just read his formula. Kind of where my thought process was going. I had alsoi intended to cut out the grow. One thing I did notice about it thought is it always is heavy on the P-K even during veg. Seems counter to the reading/research I've come across that indicate you want more N and less P-K during veg.

Using a 2-1 ratio for veg of GH Micro/Bloom and a total PPM of 600 in salts would arrive at:

Macros:

N PPM: 89
P PPM: 173
K PPM: 157

Micros:

Cal PPM: 89
Mag PPM: 52

.....and the rest of the PPMs in others not listed.

That seems more like a bloom formula at a glance. So I must be missing something. I'll ask that all forgive my ignorance and if you could please enlighten me. To me it seems like I would - at a minimum - want N about equal with P-K during a veg phase.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

You can add additional nitrogen for veg by using 9:16 micro:bloom. I grow short stocky plants with this mix. You may prefer a different mix for veg, depending on your particular setup.

The 1:2 micro:bloom mix, with added epsom, is the closest to a general flowering mix for cannabis as you can get. Grows decent cannabis and is easily tweaked for individual strains. Combining it with proper res management methods makes hydro very simple and very effective.

 

[EZDoesIt]

Easy and simple - that's what I'm after. Once I get a grow or two under my belt maybe I'll start playing with the numbers a bit more.

As of right now the plants have made a HUGE recovery. New growth is the perfect shade of green. No interveinal yellowing on new growth and some of the old growth that wasn't too bad is slowly recovering. The bottom leaves that had yellowed up pretty severely haven't made a recovery. But I was going to lollipop them at some point anyway So no huge loss. Biggest concern now is just how much yield the down time has cost me. With these being auto's I'm on a set clock - regardless of how things come along... Should have probably tried a photo-period for my first grow.

 

[EZDoesIt]

...........Last week I just started another 3 seeds in coco (same strain). I had expected these plants to die. So I was gearing up for attempt #2. Now with them seemingly loving life again I'll have another problem. In short time when the new seedlings are ready to come out of their solo cups and go into their permanent home (7 gal smart pots) I won't have enough room in the tent. I'll have to upgrade the space from a 2x4 footprint to a 4x4. That in turn will necessitate new lighting too. The 4 bulb T5 I have won't cut it in that big a space. Thinking a second 4 bulb T5 would cover the space sufficiently. Also wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get a 600 watt HPS hood setup. Seems 600 watt HPS and a 4x4 foot print are a pretty standard recipe. I like the T5s though. No heat problems to deal with. Have some decisions to make.