Beginner Hydro grower, help needed

[SmknWhiteWidow]

thanks, the liquid seaweed stuff was something that the lady at the hydro store strongly suggested and said we could use at any point because it wasn't a nute exactly and was more of a light growth hormone. we will use some pH down to get the distilled water exactly where we need. all the seedlings have roots coming through the bottom of the cubes. we took the dome off after all the seedlings sprouted so we don't have to worry about that, we also were able to get the plants a lot closer to the light without it. i really appreciate your input hemp godess

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would be leery of any additives--I have to tell you that many people who work in hydro stores do not know $hit from shinola and have never actually grown anything hydro, much less mj.

I think it sounds like the starter cubes are ready to go into the rockwool. Look at the label on the seaweed stuff and see if there are any nutes in it.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

will do, ill just not use the seaweed stuff and not risk it. doesn't sound like it will help THAT much anyways. i'll get some pictures up tonight when we get the cubes into the rockwool

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

threw up some pictures of the babies in their new rock wool homes. we put 4 White Berry into rockwool as well as 4 Arjan's Haze. the others will either get theirs soon or be put into soil. i'm excited to see how they do in the next few days.

 

[Growdude]

Well you asked for advice, I would not have put them in that big rockwool cube and let he plants root well in a 1 " cube, the reason is that now you will have to grow them out bigger before you plant them in the waterfarm, your going to want alot of roots coming out of the cube before you plant them in the waterfarm.

The water farm is meant to have hydroton as its medium.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

right on, i hear ya. We'll just keep them in the rock wool until a good amount of roots come out of the bottom. We just noticed a bunch of roots already poking through the little plugs and thought we were sapposed to put them into rockwool next. We don't really have a time constraint so leaving them in the rockwool a little longer isn't a big problem. thanks for stopping in grow dude. i appreciate it.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

one more thing..how often should we be watering these little guys..ive heard to let them dry out a decent amount before adding more water..i just dont want to let them dry out to much, but i also dont want to be over watering them. I also wanted some input on how far away to keep the plants from the t5 light..it looks like they are strecthing just a little so i moved them a little closer ( about 3-4 inches away from the bulbs). Is that too close or will that be ok..Thanks again everyone

 

[Growdude]

2-4 inches is good the closer the better if they take it.

And putting the 4 " cube in the hydroton shouldnt be a problem.

You sound like you know how much to water by what you sayed
Its always a matter of not too much.

Just watch your plants they will droop when over or underwatered
Just note if the cube is soaked or dry.
Plants perk up fast when underwatered.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

Well it looks like it's happening again. After a few weeks under the T5 light, the plants growth have slowed down completely and are even yellowing. I have no idea what we could be doing wrong. We water after the cubes have dried out with distilled water and keep at a safe distance from the light so that they will not burn up. We have roots coming through all the cubes but the plant growth has stopped. Does anyone have any idea what we could do to save these plants?? Any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

[blownupnostril]

whats nutes are you using? any? let us know

 

[Growdude]

Have you given them anything?
Have you tested the PH of the run off/out water?

Look a bit yellow, if you havent been adding any nutes and your PH is good try adding some very light nutes, say 150 -200 ppm. and give it some time to see if some new growth appears and looks to have some color.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

Haven't tested the run-off Ph but the only thing we've given them is the liquid seaweed stuff that the lady at the hydro store said was safe to give them at any step because it didn't have nutes and was just a growth hormone. We only used that once for watering and havent used it after that. do u recommend using our hydro nutes right now or what?? thanks again...

 

[Growdude]

Whats the name of this seaweed extract?
is it Nitrozime?

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

Its called Liquid Seaweed by maxicrop...it says the total nitrogen is 0.1% and that it is derived from Ascophyllum whatever that means..I stopped using it so I hope that was part of the problem.. I also bought some stuff to flush the plants so ill see how they look later tonight
(ill post pics later too) I bought a TDS meter from the local hydro store but for some reason I cant get it to work, so tonight I am going to nute with the GH nutues according to the GH feeding schedule..BTW the TDS meter I got is called Milwaukee T75 paid $80 for it which is a little steep..might be taking it back and just might buy one online they are much cheaper..i just dont want to wait for it to ship here because i want to start adding nutes ASAP..thanks for the help everyone....any input is appreciated

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

So we gave them a flushing solution and flushed out the plants, after 24 hours the leaves have begun to develop new growth which is green. maybe they can be saved after all. We bought a ppm meter but it doesn't turn on so we have to exchange it for a new one. when we get that we will add some nutes slowly to see how the plants react. Growdude or anyone, do you think the plants are ready to be transplanted into the waterfarm yet?? I took some pictures of the flushing solution as well as the plants and a pic of one of the soil plants for comparison. happy growing.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

We put the plants into the waterfarm a few nights ago and have seen pretty good results. we have the ppm set at around 350 and they seem to take it well. Most of the plants look very healthy, a few though look like they need some help. We have had the plants going with the water level at right about the roots for about a week. How soon should our first water change be?? also, when do you think we should add a higher dose of nutes? i put up some pics from the water farm plants along with some of the soil plants. Notice how one of the water farm plants is drooping a bit and another looks a bit thin and less developed. any ideas what could cause this?? thanks for stoppin in.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

here are the rest of the pictures. a few from the soil as well. also, we have the plants under the 1000 watt MH light now with the light being around 2 and a half feet off the plants.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I still think that you have a pH problem. It is absolutely critical that you keep you pH within certain parameters. So, what is your pH? Hydro and soil need a different pH.

Start your nutes out really low and slowly raise them if the plant is doing okay. Do not go by the concentrations on the GH bottles. It is too hot for many strains.

 

[Growdude]

How often are you running the timer?

And you say the water level is at the roots, your water level should never be higher than the inner bucket, I keep it about 6-8 " in each bucket by adjusting the controller buckets float.

Wait for them to grow out some before uping the nutes. How long have they been in the waterfarm?

Glad they look to be bouncing back.

 

[SmknWhiteWidow]

Thanks for the reply. our roots aren't through the buckets yet, how high should we keep the water then? 6-8" off the bottom seems low, should we keep it a bit higher until the roots come through the buckets? When we test the pH should we do so while its running through the buckets or should we only be testing the pH of the distilled water before we add it? By the way, you were telling us about reverse osmosis water, does that work well? and where do you go to get that? thanks again...