My plants look like crap

[Linus]

I was waiting for the trichomes to turn amber. The longer I wait, the browner the plants become. I wanted tight, dense buds, like from the dispensary. Instead, all I am getting is giant trichs that look like crap. The potency should be around 24% but I think is only 12 - 14%.

Also, the entire plant and buds turned brown!
What did I do wrong?

Answers to basic questions:
Approx 48" tall
Mickey Kush (2) Gorrila Glue #4 (4)
4 months old (bud 5 weeks)
Clones
3/4+ Smooth River Gravel medium on 4' x 8' table
(2) 1000w HPS lamps
Ebb and Flow system
Home and Garden system nutes (all recommended) @ approx 1100 - 1500 ppm)
pH: 6.0 - 6.5
Feed 4x per day flood and drain
Ventelation set to vent @ 80 degrees (F)
2 floor fans for breeze
temp day 75 - 80 degrees
no odor control - just vent thru roof.
LST training (horiz along string) as they got close to the light

 

[oldfogey8]

i had my last grow look pretty dead towards the end of flowering. i am pretty sure my issue was from nute lockout. did your ph get out of control at some point? your plants also look a lot like my first grow where my soil got contaminated with a salt. all the leaves died. maybe the roots dried out or are dead. i'd just chop them and see how they smoke.

 

[Linus]

pH was maintained at 6.0 - 6.8 thru the entire grow. I used the standard grow chart from Home and Garden and stuck to their schedule 4 week veg, 6 week flowering. I am thinking phosphate lack? or trace manganese?

 

[Rosebud]

Can you take a picture with the lights off so we can see the natural color? I am an organic dirt grower so i don't know much about ph. No bugs that you can see? The first picture you posted looks good. How long in flower are you?

 

[Growdude]

I never go above 5.8 ph in ebb n flo.
How often do you flush out the sys and change nutes?

 

[oldfogey8]

Looking at the House and Garden website, their nutrient calculator says to adjust the ph to between 5.7 and 5.9 (kinda like growdude is saying). So 6.0-6.8 would be a bit alkaline and is prolly causing mute lockout.

 

[PlantWhisperer]

Ppm way too high for sick stressed out plants. Long term nute lock out. Next round cut nutes and water frequecy in half. Change reservoirs every 14 days. Leave about 20 percent of old solution in reservoir each change. Ph 5.8 veg 6.0 preflower 6.2 flower. Happy Gardening! Dont get discouraged! Important: For success 60% genetics 25% environment %15 type of food/fertilizer

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Like others have mentioned, your pH is way too high for hydro. For hydro, I usually start out about 5.5 and let it drift up to about 6.0. Over 6.0 and under 5.5, you are pretty much locking out most nutrients.

You also need your ventilation to run all the time. Plants need a continual supply of fresh air for proper photosynthesis. So, you should have an exhaust fan running all the time to insure a continual supply of CO2.

I also see you noted that these plants are 4 months old, but have only been budding for 5 weeks? Is that correct? If so, the plants simply have not been in flowering long enough. Virtually all strains take 8-12 weeks to flower. Some longer, but very very few shorter than 8 weeks.

And IMO, environment counts far more than 25%. Without a good growing environment, even the best genetics in the world are not going to do well.