5 gal hydro help!!!

[iceman515]

My Plant Has Been Growing For About 5 Weeks Now. I Have The Lights On 24/0 And I Water4 Hours On 4 Hours Off. I Also Have The Nutrients At About 1/2 Strength. I Have Florescent Lights 4 Inches Above The Top Of The Plant. I've Been Having Good Droth Lately But The Leaves Are Starting To Droop Again. Please Help

Also I have 2 cfls one blue one red. 85 watts a piece. 4200 lumens a piece. both on 24/0. I had put those lights 2 close to the plant after about 3 weeks in. It stopped growing and leaves turned brown. Moved the lights to about 4-5 inches away and about 1 1/2 weeks later started to grow again. Germinated it in a rock wool cube then transplanted in cube to medium. Hope that helps. thanks for all the quick help!!!!!

 

[choking_victim]

that looks tiny, tiny, tiny for 5 weeks.
drop the nutes down to 1/4.
keep fluros there.
I'm not sure about drip systems, maybe look in the info charts they show on the site.
how many fluros or cfl's do you have, with how many lumens?

that's nute burn by the way..
drop your nutes or lower watering.

 

[Growdude]

Yes I agree with Choking victim, drop the nutes.

 

[dj_destroyer]

your plant IS really small so I have a strong feeling that the nutes isnt the problem here. Plants will handle and adjust to nute burn... your plant not growing however is another story.

How many CFLs do you have? and how many lumens?
when you say theyre gettin water for 4 hours and then not... how is that working. because drip systems are normally on for like 5 minutes every 20 minutes or something.

pictures would be nice

check out my grow journal for a nice hydro set up

 

[Growdude]

I see by looking closer to the pics your using a Waterfarm,
Did you start it from seed in there or did you transplant it there?

The reason I ask is you need some established roots when you transplant because the drip ring is so big it will miss your roots.

From my experience plants dont adjust to nute burn unless its very minor and the plant is still growing to outgrow it.
Otherwise they die.

Get a PPM meter and use it to mix your nutes, allways go small and work up, its much better to be under than over.
At that stage I would be at ~ 250 PPM, Less and it would be fine. Once the plants are bigger I would up it in stages 600, 900, 1200-1500 max.

 

[iceman515]

Also I have 2 cfls one blue one red. 85 watts a piece. 4200 lumens a piece. both on 24/0. I had put those lights 2 close to the plant after about 3 weeks in. It stopped growing and leaves turned brown. Moved the lights to about 4-5 inches away and about 1 1/2 weeks later started to grow again. Germinated it in a rock wool cube then transplanted in cube to medium. Hope that helps. thanks for all the quick help!!!!!

 

[j99jm]

Stop feeding and use plain water ph'd a 6.0... you're burning the crap out of that thing. Flush it out withplain ph'd water, flourescent lights won't cause your plant to stop growing, they hardly put out any heat...
At 5 weeks that thing should be 2 feet tall already.

 

[sweetnug]

You need a ppm meter!!!!! How many times have you changed the water? Whats the warter temp?

 

[iceman515]

Ok i miscalculated the plant is 2 days from being 4 weeks old. This seed was germinated as of the 7th. Water temp is about 75 degrees. Just canged out the water and flushed the plant with fresh water. How long till i should add nutrients?

 

[sweetnug]

Water temp needs to be 60-70. The most biological activity is within 60-65. You should add a low nutrient solution, it is better to flush with a low ppm solution then just water. If you can start a new one that would be ideal, I done think you'll get anything but slow growth and waste of light and time start over and you'll be fine.

 

[iceman515]

Here it is a day later. Looking better already.

 

[sweetnug]

Looks better. Good job man. Keep that water changed and the ppm and ph good and you will reap the benefits. I have 5 of those buckets and they are great

 

[dj_destroyer]

if you plan on getting a PPM meter... might as well invest that extra few bucks to get PPT (parts per thousand meter). You can be much more accurate.

If you would like to be EVEN MORE ACURATE, an EC meter would be best. You need to keep in mind that PPM/T meters are TDS (total dissolved solids) meters and are always a calculated value; unlike an EC (electrical conductivity) which is directly measured. This is why many prefer using an EC meter for measuring nutrient concentration versus a TDS meter, it is simply more acurate.

Also, remember to measure the pH which is just as important!

 

[Scrog]

Ummm... PPM > PPT for accuracy... its like getting a scale that measures to the hundredth, rather than the nearest tenth.

Thus thousandths, then millionths... more accurate in turn.

If you want to be accurate, get the more decimal places. What usually changes is you max range. Generally the more accurate, the lower the max range is. But the max range on a PPM meter is more than enough for any hydro setup. PPT meters will allow for up to 10.00 PPT readings, we don't need 10,000 PPM killing our sprouts.



Buy a PPM meter and in most cases you won't pay more.

"When in doubt flush it out" w/o a meter, you're doing good by flushing them regularly.

 

[dj_destroyer]

i think theyre fairly close in accuracy then, just a different scale. The range on the meters also don't need to be huge as were only working with very little amounts of fertilizers.

You would want your range to cover 100-2000 PPM or 01.00-20.00 PPT

1437 PPM = 14.37 PPT so it really is just a different scale. so go for whichever is cheaper.

But in all cases, an EC meter is best.

 

[Scrog]

just to clarify, 1437 PPM = 1.44 (Rounded) PPT

Hence why if you're aiming for ~100 -200 for weak ferts, that extra decimal can help. on eBay, both models can be found for the same price too.

 

[G-SUS]

I run Water Farms as well.

It seems to me that you are over watering. 4 hours on and 4 hours off seems like to much at once.

In veg, I keep my light on 24 hours a day. The watering schedule is as folows:

1/2 hour of watering at each feeding time:

6AM
10AM
2PM
6PM
10PM
2AM

Try that an you will see some results. You plant is drying out for parts of the day and then water logged the rest.

When using water farms, you should take two cups from the resevior and water the plant directly for the first two weeks one time every other day on top of the regular feedings. It helps but is not necessary.

I have may tips for using water farms. Maybe one day I will post them all.

 

[iceman515]

Actually that schedule has worked well now that i flushed the plant and scaled down the nutes. My next question is when do i swich to flowering light sched? and when do i add more nutes?

 

[G-SUS]

Actually that schedule has worked well now that i flushed the plant and scaled down the nutes. My next question is when do i swich to flowering light sched? and when do i add more nutes?

I switch mine over at about 1' 6" in height.

You add more nutes when you see your plant reacting positively to the levels it is currently at. Bump up the levels SLOWLY. You can alway add more.

What nutrient line are you using?

I still think you are watering too much. From rooted clone to turn over to 12/12 it takes me 3-4 weeks. At 3-4 weeks mine are at 1' 6" - 2'.

 

[iceman515]

Gen Hydro. Bloom micro and gro. The guy at the hydro store said that you cant really over water with the clay medium. Because the way the drip water falls through the clay it aerates the roots. He had said as long as the nutes arent too high i could water as long as the lights were on and it wouldn't hurt it. But with a longer water sched. more nutes get to the roots in one day and that is what my problem was at the beginning of this post.