(EDIT POSTED WRONG PHOTOS) Mars Hydro SP 3000 hang height? Light stress? Help me not ruin my first otherwise good grow!

EDIT: Sorry! Last two photos were the wrong plants!! Fixed it… Nature’s Living Soil autoflower concentrate and girl flower power, Fox Farms Strawberry Fields and Happy Frog, molasses, kelp, worm castings, myco… ILGM Northern Lights (left) and Blue Dream (right), both autos.

I realized I had better start a new thread. This is a continuation of a thread ( Droopy seedling— too much water? Or something more sinister? Help! - #13 by Tinymight_Autoflowerer ), but it is actually sort of a new topic.

I noticed some light stress on these otherwise almost perfect plants (I think I did underwater a little). I then raised the light. I think I raised it several times. Yesterday, I noticed the NL on the left “praying” and worshipping the light. I understand this is a good thing. However, I was still freaked about the light damage they sustained, because the BD was still looking kind of droopy, so I raised the light more. They are no longer praying. It’s at about 20-22" now. The manual says 12-18" for flower, so I thought I was safe!

Any advice would be great. I suppose 19.5" would be safe, but should I wait until they get a little more into flower now? I’m paranoid and can’t tell what is legacy damage and what would be new.

Here they were praying yesterday… (above actually)

This is from this morning. I’ve been giving them about 1/2 gallon each every two days, but maybe it needs to be daily. It’s supersoil, so I avoid runoff. They seem thirsty, though. And there is the legacy light damage and droopiness, but it’s hard to tell what’s what.

Any advice? Leave them alone until they perk up, and then put the light back to 19.5" or even closer?

Thanks!!

Also, when can I defoliate some of the very lowest growth for better airflow? Is it too late? Too early? I don’t mean lollipop, but maybe an extremely conservative lollipop.

21 days into flower and 42 days into flower. Then the last one to strip down all the leaves is 2 weeks before chop.

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Wow! Okay, thanks! I will give that a shot! Sounds simple enough.

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I do autos the sane as photos and it works out rather well. Lighting is a huge factor on having good buds too. What kinda light u got and how big a space

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I’m seeing the beginnings of N toxicity with the narrow leaves, dark color and drooping/clawing: that’s not excess light. I see it in most pics. @Covertgrower what say you pardner?

You’re kind of in a position where you need to see what the salt levels are in your root zone.

Well yes and no, but would be good to know what light they are under.

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@Myfriendis410 @Mark0427 Woops, sorry! I lost one of my drafts.

It’s a Mars Hydro SP 3000. I was following the guidelines in the manual, which were the same as for the TS 1000 or whatever the 100 watt square one is. I used that previously.

Now I’m in a 2x4 tent with the SP 3000, about 20-22" above the tallest bits, which should be a safe distance.

I was wondering about nitrogen too but thought it must be from the light. :frowning: I’ll try to get a pH reading from the runoff, if that’s what you’re meaning/recommending. I don’t know how I always seem to mess something up! The reason I assumed the light is because the tips were a little yellow and upturned, and then the curling down.

I wouldn’t say that. Plants get out of your control and need to be reined in. You should get a runoff test using a TDS meter (PPM). This will tell us what the salt concentration is.

As to lights; high intensity will cause plants to respire more quickly, along with RH and temp. There is a chart that shows temp/RH nominals for different stages of plant life which can also be helpful.

@Myfriendis410 Yikes! Okay, thanks. I’m not sure I can get the humidity dialed in like that with the temp. I’m pretty much always running like 80-85F and 45% humidity. Can’t change that much in the winter, or it will cause mold issues. I use a humidifier just to get the 45%. I could possibly cool it down in the tent but I don’t think much! In the summer it sometimes gets hotter but still stays around 80-85F except for really hot days, and I try to adjust lighting schedule. I also have flowering and vegetating plants in the same tent at the same time often. That’s okay if these temp/humidities are okay (I use domes for seedlings), but if I need to get the humidity above 45%, that could be hard and might be too high for those flowering. On the other hand, it is sometimes 60% in the summer, very occasionally higher.

And I don’t have a TDS meter. :confused: I was told they aren’t necessary for supersoil growing. I was even told I didn’t need to pH my water, or could use tap water… but I use r/o water and minimal pH up if I can help it. It’s supposed to be water-only supersoil, but I do still add cal-mag, clean kelp, and in flower, the Nature’s Living Soil Girl Flower Power with a little unsulphured blackstrap molasses.

Still probably all kinds of potential hurdles here, despite my grows having improved some!

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I would agree there’s some nitrogen excess. You mentioned being in super soil? Beneficial bacteria keep everything balanced, that’s why they mentioned not having to PH, or use a TDS. I still recommend to ph, and check TDS going in. Super soil, when it has the proper microbiodome, it pretty much keeps itself in check.
Growers that have been doing this some time, add additional bacteria, and fungi to keep things in check.

@MidwestGuy @Mrcrabs and @Budbrother are organic growers and can give more input if needed.

@Covertgrower Thank you! Yep, supersoil. Not supposed to need to add anything, but I have been anyway, so maybe it’s me messing it up. I do add myco pretty much every water (just a little), and cal-mag. I usually use the clean kelp as well. It seems to take all of that before my pH meter can even read my water. And then I sometimes add a little flowering support with molasses as well (Girl Flower Power)

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Update, looking a lot better today. Yesterday they were both pretty droopy (not enough water previously I think).


Northern Lights still looks like it has a love/hate relationship with the light intensity but is looking good?


Blue Dream is looking much better but still has the droop in some leaf tips that made me think light stress and others think nitrogen toxicity. There was also some underwatering involved in my efforts to not overwater.

I think you might overwatering them just a bit, try every 4 days instead of two, but a good way of learning how much water your plants are drinking in each stage, is to give them one liter of Ph water and our it in the drain pan and how long it takes the water to disappear is about how long your plants are drinking the water inside the dirt. Let them dry out more and refresh your watering methods, cause drooping can be overwatering, and the droop looks almost the same as if they never had any water, so don’t drown your roots, which can easily be done. but you have multiple plants under one Led light maybe and your lights either not as strong as rated, are sir they might be too far from the canopy to make the plant feed. The stronger your lights the better your plants will feed, drink, grow!

Now many, even myself made the overwateringmistake with my first led grow. Have you tried the back of hand method with your light yet sir?
I used a lux meter off the Google play store on my smartphone to help measure my light height, to be honest. But PPFD\DLI should be more than 500 - 700 for optimum plant growth in a
8-12 intervals of light :bulb:. 20%-30% DLI is what you want, so adjust your light height to get those numbers and you will see a big difference!

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Why 2 posts for same thing.

Watering is wrong. Makes plant droopy. To much or to little.

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What size is your plant pot size 3 gallons, should be 1-4 liters of water in veg only, in flower after first two weeks in 3 gallon, plant should be just starting to drink 4 liters which is a full gallon after the light flip. By the end of flower in a 3 gallon, plant might max out 2 full gallons just much more often doing flowering time, last two weeks should be at least a gallon every day until you see the remaining fan leaves start using what nitrogen left in the roots .

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