root zone temp issue?

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oldfogey8

Very grouchy and ornery today…
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i have been figthing nute lockout on my buckeye purple for almost it's entire life. i thought i had it under control after i started to ph the water and bring it up around 6.6. seems it has reverted and i was thinking maybe my problem is root zone temperature. it was ok but as i have lifted the lights up got the other monster plants in the tent, it seems to have returned and even the monsters are looking a little locked out now. i am guessing the root zone temps are getting lower as i raise the lights farther from the pots. my plants are in the basement and it has been a pretty cold winter. any thoughts?
 
What is the temp? Cold temps will cause lockout.
Are they sitting on concrete? If they are I would put a piece of foam insulation down on the floor.
 
i have them up off the concrete on cookie cooling racks. the entire tent is on a foam carpet pad but the temp under the lights is about 73. the pots feel coolish. trying a heating pad on low for the purple for a bit...

thanks duck...
 
73 will not cause lockout
 
i am thinking my pots are not 73. i will try to see if the temp probe from my thermometer will give me a temperature...
 
Place temp probe underneath pots.

Are you running your lights at night? This would help if you did.
 
still running the lights 24/7. a bit hesitant to flip them f they are not healthy yet...
 
If the air temp is 73f then I would bet the floor is much cooler. I have found that my plants are happiest when my temps are about 75-78f at the top of the canopy. It is quite easy for the heat to be leached out of the soil through the floor. I would get a meat thermometer and stick down into the pots to see what the actual soil temps are. Also, I would be sure to keep my water temp about 70f if the soil temp is lower than 65f. I would also aerate my water well before using it so that there is ample oxygen going into the soil.
 
this has been a really weird grow for me. i have not really had any problems in my last 2 grows. my first one i screwed up and let some damprid foul the runoff water that the plants soaked up but that was me being stupid. this grow has been a battle. i thought growing was pretty easy and carefree and i hope it returns to being that way. thanks for all the helpful suggestions. i guess it is good to learn from this.
 
Mr Fogey, have you given hydro a try? Soilless frustrated me to the point where I wasn't even having fun anymore. I went back to hydro (which I had done well with in the past) and now I'm reinvigorated with this whole passion!

That's my only thoughts at this point. :D

I know, I know....I'm turning into "that guy". lol!

Good luck sorting this out! :aok:
 
I am nowhere near frustrated enough to give up. Just a bit humbled. This is my only real hobby and feast or famine, I enjoy it. Thanks for the encouraging words.
 
Growing MJ is nowhere near as easy as many people think it would be. It has a long learning curve that is full of either trials and frustrations or lots of good help from more experienced growers. Either way, you will learn all of the ins and outs of growing MJ that are spaced along the learning curve. While you seem to be taking the harder road, you are still learning what works and what doesn't. You have already learned the biggest lesson; growing MJ is not as carefree and easy as it would seem. :)

The biggest thing I have learned is that while MJ is a very "need specific" plant that wants its environment to be just so to get the best out of it, it is also a very hardy and determined to grow plant. It takes a while to learn what it wants and needs, and that is where the phrase "dialing in the grow" comes from as we all have to dial in our grows to the right environmental factors for that plant. :)
 
i have a pretty good relationship with plants. i have a couple of poinsettia plants that are more than a decade old and a christmas cactus that i remember from my grandmothers house when i was a boy(more than 40 year ago). this is the first i have had an issue that i could not figure out. i appreciate all the help that mp has been. i really think the root error(pun intended) was the root zone temp. the buckeye purple i had so much of a problem with is actually looking happy now. i have it vegging in my furnace room where it is nice and warm. the new leaves are looking darker green and it looks to have grown more in the past 4 days than it had in the past few weeks. thanks again for everyones help. i am still the grasshopper unable to snatch the pebble from the masters palm...
 

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