Seedlings looking bad.

[stihgnobevoli]

Hi, im like 2 weeks into a dwc grow. i started the plants in soil for the first week while i finished getting my setup, plus i didnt have any other medium to start em in. anyway i transplanted into my setup checked the water levels to be 1/2" below the pots, turned it on.

after a couple days they started to look wilty so i checked the ph as best i could with the ph kit i have. I shoulda looked closer before i bought it, it only tests in the range of 6.8 - 8.2. anyway i lowered the ph by my best guess to be under 6.8. the ph went back up fairly quickly. i dont have nutes yet so in the meantime im using miracle gro. before anyone gives me some hassle about it, yes you can use MG in hydro people who dont grow weed do it all the time. back to the topic at hand. when i add the MG it lowers the ph to below 6.8 my best guess based on the colors on the chart its somewhere between 6.4 and 6.0. i need to get proper ph kit which i will soon, but most of the plants look to be suffering a N def, and a couple an MG def. obviously from the ph being off. i can deal with those they arent too bad. but this one is looking like overwatering, doesnt appear to be growing much either. the roots arent soaking in the solution and theres plenty of air. maybe one of you has had similar issues with dwc.

This one droppy



this one looks like N def much like some of the others.



a couple are growing just fine with a little nitrogen issues. they are all bagseed ive collected over the years, some sativa, some indica, some a mix. all exhibiting diff problems.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

i dont have nutes yet so in the meantime im using miracle gro. before anyone gives me some hassle about it, yes you can use MG in hydro people who dont grow weed do it all the time.

No. You can't.

You got 3 major problems...

1. Miracle grow is 100% ammonia or urea nitrogen. Not nitrate nitrogen. This is toxic to plants. With soil, microorganisms convert some ammonia/urea to nitrates. In hydro, this does not happen. = Ammonia toxicity

2. MG lacks calcium, sulfur, and magnesium.

3. Micros are whack...too much zinc and copper and not enough molybdenum.

Your plants will perform poorly or die unless you find some suitable hydro nutes.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

No. You can't.

You got 3 major problems...

1. Miracle grow is 100% ammonia or urea nitrogen. Not nitrate nitrogen. This is toxic to plants. With soil, microorganisms convert some ammonia/urea to nitrates. In hydro, this does not happen. = Ammonia toxicity

2. MG lacks calcium, sulfur, and magnesium.

3. Micros are whack...too much zinc and copper and not enough molybdenum.

Your plants will perform poorly or die unless you find some suitable hydro nutes.

i dont think u can use MG in hydro... all these other companies couldnt compete if it were true, and it apperently dosent work.

i thought they were just overwaterd with high-ph /tap.

id make sure you have enough DO(disolved oxygen) in your water/res, add an airstone, if you dont already have one. you know the fish bubblers. DO reduced the thriveabiility of the 'baddies' in the water(pythium rot etc.)

 

[stihgnobevoli]

yeah you can use it in hydro, but you need to supplement the things it doesnt have. i understand that im not planning on growing the whole grow like this, just for a week or so till i can get to the store. in the meantime im wondering why the plant (that one in particularly) looks so droopy like overwatering. i dont need any lecturing i just wanted to know if anyone knows what it is. its not a problem shared with any of the other plants in the system. the rest all lok like they are suffering from nitrogen def and mg def which i can understand as the ph is off and miracle gro doesnt have any mg.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

fixed with ca+mg.

 

[MynameStitch]

mg does not work in hydro, did a test with it and all it does it gunk up tuff and actually helps slime and alge growth thrive believe it or not.....

what is your water temps like?

Also how far is the water level away from the root zone?
Stop using the MG rinse the whole system out and get some hydro nutes......

 

[stihgnobevoli]

water is 1/2 to 1inch from bottom of pots i assume thats what you mean by rootzone. i cant get to the hydro store for a while its far from here and i dont drive. i just need to keep my plants alive till i can get some real nutes. i dont have any algae or slime building up i check everyday. roots are growing fine, tinted kinda green from the mir-gro. i dont know why epsom salts wouldnt work in hydro, seems to be working fine, i used chalk to get the calcium. they are doing better now than when i made this thread. the droopy one's leaves are almost all the way back to horizontal after only 2-3 days. all the ones that looked like they were suffering from nit def are greening back up. im not advanced like you all, this is my first hydro experiment. but i do know some basic gardening, i provide what the plants can use, and they use it. the rest trial and error.

 

[MynameStitch]

epsom salts would dilute some, but not sure what happens if used in hydro..... I am sure it would eventually dilute and work; you want to use liquid stuff, cause sometimes stuff that is a solid can gunk up pumps hoses and such.... so it's best stick to liquid when growing hydro.....

There is other stuff in chalk besides that, if you want to use calcium, use tap water add some tap to your mixture; the size they are you should not have any problem with issues......

 

[stihgnobevoli]

the psom salts dissolved all the way, i made sure i dissolved all of everything before i put it in the res, i dont like residues. what kinda epsom salt did you use? mine dissolved completely after just a few seconds of stirring. mine looks like little flakes, like cocaine...not that i would know what cocaine looks like but its little crystals. not the huge rock salt chunks i assume you've seen. theres no hoses to guns up, im doing dwc. thanks for the advice stitch, at least you didnt come off like some sort of professor know-it-all.

if i had a fert with nitrogen from nitrates it would be better for hydro right?

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

thats epsom salt alright. is this tap water your using? it could be ph related, mg wont do a whole grow but your just using it 'for now' ??need nutes, ok what are you going to get when you do go?

 

[MynameStitch]

mine looks like little flakes, like cocaine...not that i would know what cocaine looks like but its little crystals.

Sure ya don't thats what they all say!!!! jk!!

No problem man, I am not that type of a person who pushes aside and says I am right.... I am not a rude person unless someone pisses me off or gets on my bad side lol.

Ya, epsom salts would be good for hydro then.
But like DH has said, magneisum will only get ya so far, depending on what kind of nutes ya need he needs to know what you have access too, like hydro shop wise or garden shops.....

 

[stihgnobevoli]

according to something i read i think lucas or someone. im gonna get gh micro and bloom. apparently thats all i need for dwc.