First week of flowering CANT DIAGNOSE

[growNUBE]

hello, and thank you for wanting to help.. ive read a lot of the stickys before bothering, but would still like confirmation to ease my worries. I potted them in fox farm ocean forest. no nutes needed until about now ive heard. still have not fed anything, matter fact, only watered once in last 8 days since flowering started. i couldnt get to my plants as i was without transportation and they are not local to me. I am about to buy nutrients, but all the sudden, i see yellowing leaves at the bottom inside of my plants. also abnormally droopy leaves throughout. i also have not yet purchased a device to read my pH but that too comes tomorrow. They are under 1000w HPS and were doing JUST FINE until flowering. I understand nutes are a huge factor at this point of the game, but wanna make sure i know whats going on before i start dumping nutes on em. THEY'VE BEEN SOOO HEALTHY UNTIL NOW, i don't want anything to happen to em.
NOW FOR THE FUNNY PART.
its PRETTY RENEGADE:hubba: as it is my first grow. But as far as maintaining good heat, believe it or not, the portable stove burner method seems to keep a constant 72-74 degrees. a 5" fan oscelating on em to keep em from burning. Moving 760cfm of air for ten minutes every twelve hours. i rotate my plants every 2 days from back of freestanding foil light reflection curtain, to the open front end one spot at a time so to not burn them next to burner or on foilish insulation/reflection material used. (PICS INCLUDED)

Thanks again for any insight, criticism, ANYTHING!!!!! it IS my first grow after all, and i plan to only progress from here.

:afroweed:-The nUbe from a league of his own

 

[4u2sm0ke]

They loo very good and may i ask how the dark period is and if they have no light leaks? IMO...Flowerin nutes should have been started a week prior to flowering..you may find quite a few leafs yellow and die off as the plant is useing its resources..start with some flower nutes with a boost of "N" one time...they will be fine..take care and be safe

 

[growNUBE]

ABSOLUTELY DARK - no light leaks. A million thanks! Buying nutes and soil tester tomorrow, will keep posting updates.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I'd say they look good to...no worries other than feed them

 

[Alistair]

growNUBE, you said that you were getting a soil tester. A good pH meter that tests the pH of the soil directly is very expensive. Unless you put out a lot of money for one of those, it'll probably be inadequate. The cheap pronged soil pH meters that are commonly sold at nurseries are worthless; don't waste your time with those. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to get a digital pH meter that measures the pH of the watering solution. Ask the others, they'll tell you the same thing. The digital meters can be somewhat expensive, but they can be had for under $100.00. Mine is a Blue Lab, but it costs more than $200.00. Spending that much isn't necessary, though.

I agree with 4u; your plants look good. I think they look really good.

 

[BBFan]

:yeahthat: Good post Alistair!

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

the HANNA waterproof is prolly your best bang at $90....mine is always spot on.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I have a hanna it only tests ph, and it was only 45 bucks I think, but it reads to the hundredths (6.50)

And don't forget to get calibration solution if it doesn't come with your pen, been seeing that some lately...people not knowing they need that.

 

[growNUBE]

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!! thank you for everything. now, another question but his one's emergency status

I went in today, and one, ONLY ONE of my plants was wilted, BADLY... BONE DRY to the point that the soil was shrunk in around the pot it was in. Had probably gone 4 or 5 days without water. I went to water immediately cuz it was 6 mintues prior to dark time. WATER RAN RIGHT THROUGH THE POT...... the only way for me to get the root system any water, was to rough up the side walls of the bucket to kind of break up the "soil block".... then i probably overwatered them all, but they were all doing the same thing dryness wise. just runnin straight through them... i made sure to soak them, but am GREATLY CONCERNED. any suggestions, the leaves that wilted were all still VERY LUSH GREEN but WEAK!!!! couldnt support themselves at all. IM HOPING someone can tell me that this will correct itself. i tried to keep up on watering but NOW LESSON LEARNED... wont mess up THIS WAY again!

 

[legalize_freedom]

Hey Bud, they will be fine once they get a drink, in acouple hours they will be perked back up like normal. If they get bone dry like that(which they shouldn't, but I won't scold you for a lesson learned) it is better to water a little bit, wait 10 min and let it absorb, and then water a little bit, wait 10 water, wait etc, until your soil is evenly saturated. this also prevents getting pockets of dry soil, which will occur if you water all at once too fast. I always water about 1/2 wait 10 to 15 min, and then add the rest, but I don't ever let them get completely dry.

With the heater you are using I think you are going to have to pay close attention to your moisture levels, it would seem to me that the heater would pull more moisture from the air than normal. Do you have a meter to tell your RH? (relative humidity) that hotplate or whatever just sounds really dangerous to me to be using to keep your temps up, and it has to be drying out your air. Although you don't want too much humidity in the flower cycle...you still need some. I like to have my RH btwn. 40-60%

You are right in freaking out, but they will be back to normal in no time...just a little de-hydrated...good luck bud! I hope this helped.

 

[brandoom]

I suggest using the metal-pronged moisture reader, it's cheap enough and gives you a general idea as to where the water is at if you measure in different locations of the soil, and different heights.

I always had a hard time determining when to water, now all I have to do is figure out a solid Nute lineup. .


good luck, they should perk back up, just try to stay consistent on the watering. Takes some time to learn each plant, but once you get it down in becomes part of the 'rotation' so-to-speak.

 

[dman1234]

let the water run through, you should have holes in your pot and it
should sit in a tray or somthing, let it absorb water from the bottom
up for awhile, i only water my newly rooted clones from the bottom up
by soaking the pots they love it.

 

[BBFan]

No worries growNube! They're going to be just fine.

Legalize_Freedom gave great advice- when they get that dry the water will just run right through. Like he said- a little at a time and the soil will get damp and retain water. Great advice LF!

The droopiness is a loss of turgor pressure- but they spring back literally within the hour. Personally I hate watering right before lights out when in flower- if only because of RH. But sometimes you have to.

Good luck to you!