DWC Leaves pointing down, advice welcome (2 Week Veg)

[RogerDee]

Hi again ILMG member and mentor!

I have noticed today that my ladies have their leaves pointing down more than usual. They are on a 18/6 cycle under a 250w HPS 12" from the plants.

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The lower leaves are damaged from this weekend mess up with top-feed overwatering and nutes burn. I am keeping a steady PH of 5.7 and EC is .55, light on temps 75~78 lights off 68~70. Rez is steady at 66* +/-1. RH is ~55%.

I have this video of my tank and air supply for you to see. Also the chiller return water makes some bubbles that especially favor the biggest girl atm.

Since turning off the top-feed the root system have really started to get out of the net pot, just the smaller ladies seems to be low on root but overnight they more than double.

Thanks everyone for the help so far! I think they’b be dead by now without your precious recommendation.

[PurpNGold74]

They look slightly overwatered. See how they droop like underwatering but the stems are sturdy and rigid? How far is ur water level from the net pot?

And let me tag some hydroers. I know nothing jon snow… @Myfriendis410 @Bogleg @kettle @peachfuzz

[Myfriendis410]

I would raise the light fixture as they could be heat stressed (air temp is not canopy temp, FYI) so you might bump that up to 18" or so.

If you took this picture close to lights on or off, the plant postures itself ahead of darkness and in anticipation of lights on.

As @PurpNGold74 asked: how far down is your rez with respect to the bottom of the net basket? It should be around 2".

[RogerDee]

Wow, good point on the canopy temp. I feel stupid for not even thinking about it! I’ll move my temp/rh meter on top of rez and see how high I should go with the light. My guess is I’m much likely hitting 85-90+ that close of the light. Also I guess proper ventilation accross the ladies will help the heat of the lamp get away ?!

Yes I took this picture about half an hour before night time, but this morning they looked just as sad.

Also as I went to measure water level I was surprised to see it higher than it usually is; I had less than 1" between water and pots bottom. Turns out my chiller pump outfeed the filler pump and the whole chiller reserve (about 10liter) was now in the rez. I have some work to do to balance water in/out to be equal, damn chiller have a non priming pump so I have to feed it with the rez water. Might invest in a chiller especially made for these purpose.

With water back in the chiller tank I now have 1.5" between water and net pots. I’ll drain some today.

Really thankful of the time you guys take to read and respond to my post. Hope one day I’ll be able to teach other people all the good things I learned

[PurpNGold74]

Hope one day I’ll be able to teach other people all the good things I learned

This and bud porn is all we ask.

[RogerDee]

I will start my Grow Thread soon, right now it would just be me posting my problem and waiting anxiously for knowledgeable poeple to chime in lol.

These ladies are Glookies by Barney’s Farm and from what I’ve seen they like to grow big and wide. Flowering seems so far ahead!

[PurpNGold74]

Its relatively no time at all! Especially in hydro. Before u know it, ull be smelling that sweet sweet uptown funk. But by all means start ur journal on up. Its an invaluable spot to keep all the lessons u learn and a progress report. Nothing like looking back a year from now and seeing ur own personal growth

[RogerDee]

I’m thinking of getting 2 300w Mars Hydro LED panel to replace my 250w HPS for the Veg part, and maybe use a LED and the HPS when flowering. I did get a good price on my 250w hps but right away the Mars Hydro 300W is under 100$ each on amazon.

[GoneFission]

At that stage my light is 18-24 inches above the girls.

[PurpNGold74]

If ur gonna drop more change on lights… make sure its what u want. Blurples grow weed but not the best… at $200 id drop on the hlg 135. Wont be ALOT of light. But it will be a noticable upgrade.

[RogerDee]

Yeah by the time I posted this and did some shopping I realized I was in for some good $$ for effective led setup. I finally ordered a Kingbrite 480w dimmable panel with lm301h led. Should be a bit overkill for my 3x3 tent but will give me room to grow. Its twice the hlg 135 price but 3-4× the power. I was a bit too fast to pull the trigger on the 250w hps.

2 girls out of 3 are doing fantastic, 3rd one has pretty much stopped growing. Will start my grow thread tomorrow!

[PurpNGold74]

Dont forget my tags!

[RogerDee]

@PurpNGold74 @Myfriendis410
So I have these 2 girls that still have their leaves down for the last 2 day looking overwatered.Pardon the Camera screenshot. I did not really care about it yesterday as all parameter was still looking fine and thought I’d give them a day but today they still have their sad faces. Rez water is 10 days old, .5 of EC (250ppm) and rez temps still steady at 65. Canopy RH 50-55 and temps 75-78. 16 days into veg.

I have checked and confirmed water level are still 2" below net pot, upgraded my air supply yesterday for better coverage of the roots.

The only thing I really changed is the chiller install 2 days ago: I have the return line 2-3" over water level so it rush the water as it return to the tank. Rush might not be the right word for it, that’s where my English skills end lol. A better word to describe it is the water is really turbulent. So I went ahead and put the return line under water level so the only thing shaking up the water is the bubble.

[Myfriendis410]

65F is too low and likely the problem.

[RogerDee]

Lower leaves have spots what am I missing

79F is not good at all. You need to be ideally at 65F. I don’t think using anything like Hydroguard would make a difference at that temp. Invest in a chiller.

Isn’t it the temps you suggested me for my water rez?

[Myfriendis410]

Was that the water temp? Sorry; you’re good. I thought that was your ambient.

If you look at them an hour or so before or after lights out/on the plant will change it’s posture in anticipation of the light change. I think your plants are fine.

Taco’ing is an early indication of a root issue but if the rez smells fine and it’s not slimy then all is good. Plants dedicate an enormous amount of effort to develop roots as well and will slow down and stall while this is going on. Ultimately you should end up with a root ball about the size of a basketball.

[RogerDee]

Yes I edited the post to make it clearer

[PurpNGold74]

So did they ever perk up? Sorry about the hiatus

[RogerDee]

@PurpNGold74 Yes! They looked sad for about 4 days and I did top and fim them on the 3rd day. By friday they were looking much healthier!

They are now under the 480W led pannel for the last 4 days (32" light height) and show incredible overnight grow. I also started LST 4 days ago and they respond well, also started to get a nice smell to them. The 450ppm tank is looking to be a little bit too high for them right now but it’s minimal.

Contemplating the idea of ditching the LST I do and install my scrog net and use it for lst.

Also added another humidifier outside the tent as I was hardly keeping up with the smaller one inside.
I think they look great!

[PurpNGold74]

Bend em to ur will!!! And good to see ur chugging along. Happy plants. N 450 maybe a tad high for now. But in a week or two theyll demand it. Especially with those lights.