everything was going great then the claws came out!

[noobiewithadoobie]

Everything has been going great until a week or so ago. the majority of my tops which were developing quite nicely have started to shrink and curl under. I have a top feed rockwool hydro system and use flora nova bloom and floralicious plus. The bloom is mixed at 1 tsp per gallon of water and floralicious @ 1 tsp per 5 gallons. 400w hps, exhaust fan runs constantly. small fan blowing on bulb to avoid heat problems. the first pics show the
tops of the plants directly under the hood and the others are from the perimeter. The strain is strawberry cough. The budsites on most of the plants seen to be forming nicely and trichomes are visible but the buds are not getting super fluffy and full. This just may be a time issue and they just need more of it to fully develop. but the middle tops are worrying me because of the curling. I have never checked the ph as everything has been growing wonderfully. I have replaced the nutrient solution with plain water for a flush as of 30 mins ago. I know everyone says you must monitor ph closely and I am in the works of getting a meter to do so. Any thoughts on what is going on here? My last (first) grow was soil and ended up being a hermie, overwatered, over fertilized, seedy, craphole of a grow. The hydro attempt this round has really made me think this is the way to go and it kills me to see the lovely tops and buds sites start to have this happen this late in the game. Probably have around 3-4 weeks of flowering left at my best rookie estimate. Thaks to anyone who can help!

 

[Rockster]

Well you are in hydro so a ph meter(and ppm meter) is absolutely essential as if you don't know if thats out,sorting out problems is totally impossible really as you are in the dark with something you should know the exact value of.

If funds are a problem a cheap litmus/universal indicator test can be bought for £5/$10 or thereabouts and will do the job fine.

Although the pics are with hps illumination they do look very dark green?

Are they?

 

[massproducer]

yeah bro you really need at the very least a ph meter and you really should have a tds meter, because even flushing really does nothing if you are flushing at the wrong or an unknown ph... Judging by the pics it looks like too much nitrogen

 

[mendo local]

looks like they are reverting back to veg.

 

[noobiewithadoobie]

Although the pics are with hps illumination they do look very dark green?

Are they?[/quote]

Their color looks fine. nothing really different from the beginning

 

[Alistair]

Get your pH, TDS, and whatever else that needs monitoring zeroed in properly, and then maybe your plants will perk up in health. I know nothing about hydro, but that's my guess.

 

[andy52]

you are in a quandry without a ph meter.you can get by without a tds,but not the ph.to me the ph is the one most important factor in hydro.

 

[brushybill]

you can get a ph test kit at any aquarium supply , make sure you are in the 5.5-6.2 range, i like to stay around 6.0 for flowering, without a tds meter you need to change out your nutrient solution every week to ten days, don't add nutrient solution to your res in between changes, just plain water to top off between reservoir changes.
good luck:farm:

 

[andy52]

in hydro you should not get above 5.8

 

[Rockster]

I'm sorry thats not quite correct Andy as 5.8 to 6.2 is the generally accepted sweet spot for canna.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

For hydro, I like to keep my pH between about 5.5 and 5.8. When your pH gets out of whack, your plants are usually getting too much of some stuff and not enough of others. Here is a link to a chart showing nutrient uptake at different pH levels.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1833&d=1141100090

The pH level is so important that if you have not had problems before, you have probably just been lucky. I recommend a decent digital meter. The drops are hard to use and not very accurate. If you use nutes that have any color at all to them, you cannot get a good reading.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm sorry thats not quite correct Andy as 5.8 to 6.2 is the generally accepted sweet spot for canna.

Well, I'm with Andy on this. If you are running hydro, you are locking out a lot of nutrients if you are running between 5.8 and 6.2.

 

[Rockster]

Well, I'm with Andy on this. If you are running hydro, you are locking out a lot of nutrients if you are running between 5.8 and 6.2.

Oh please do tell Hemp Goddess what I'm locking out in that ph as I get the highest yields in that range and have grown either side of it by ph 0.5.

 

[noobiewithadoobie]

I am definitely going to get the ph meter. If I can straighten the ph out should I begin to see the plants regain some vigor and begin to develop as they were before? How long for the recovery? Thanks to everyone who has responded. you have been very helpful.

 

[GeoffTheMess]

hey can use an aquarium pH test kit for soil or no?

 

[Rockster]

If its for testing water it'll be no good for soil but ok to measure your runoff with.

If you are gonna ph test your soil cheapo ones are worse than no meter as they are so inaccurate so get the best you can afford for peace of mind.

 

[noobiewithadoobie]

just a thought. If my timer is shot for my light, and it stays on constantly, could this be the cause? Not sure if this is the case but I will be investigating to see. Just a thought.......

 

[Hick]

just a thought. If my timer is shot for my light, and it stays on constantly, could this be the cause? Not sure if this is the case but I will be investigating to see. Just a thought.......

looks like they are reverting back to veg.

 

[noobiewithadoobie]

So I figured it out. It seems my suspicions were right. The timer for my light was malfunctioning and the lights were staying on 24-7. I have purchased a new timer and fixed the problem. My question is now, will they recover? They are smelling wonderful and there are trichomes on all of the leaves except the tops which seem to be reverting back as you will notice in the pictures from my previous post. Anyone had this happen to them before and ended up with a successful harvest?
They have probably had 24 hrs of light for at least a week or so. Any help would be great!

 

[INTHEDES]

YES, your top center pic. clearly shows a flowering plant reverting back to veg(single blade,funny lookin leaf,ita veggin again).Dont you just love the misconceptions,and minor bickering,and for what,lol DRAMA