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6" RW no growth, cubes not draining
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When I said drip dry I just meant u till it stops dripping, your just trying to replace what's in there with your solution, a heavy/frequent top feed will work, one watering won't work. In a recirculating system it takes a couple hours for everything to adjust and level out so probably a day or two in your situation. More is better
A tiny bit of green Algee won't hurt anything, and that's all you can really do is cover the blocks like you have done. Scrape it off if it bothers you
6.3ph puts you out of range for some nutrients but no it's not that bad IF that was your only problem but you have a combo of things going on so it's certainly contributing to the problem
Those girls aren't looking great but they can still make a comeback if babied.
You don't have a feed system for 72 plants? What's your game plan here moving forward? Were you just gonna hand water these every day and check runnoff every day?
Basically yeah i'm gonna have to do it the manual route until this cycle is done. I have an irrigation system outlined and planned but I had a deadline to get started on this cycle and there were time overruns with building the room due to a bunch of factors so I didn't have time to install it before I started. Not ideal but it is what it is. It's in the basement where I live so i'm here every day anyway and I work from home.
I just top fed them 1.5L + 1.5L for each cube. I went through the room and fed them all 1.5L which was a ton of runoff, then cycled back and did them all again. So about 30 mins apart. I'm going to do another 1.5L feed again in about 5 hours. Then i'll do another one when I wake up 8 hours after that and continue that cycle until they bounce back (hopefully).
James Howlett
Member
I'm not trying to offend anyone but feeding those plants multiple times per day at this point is ridiculous. One good feeding with decent runoff will reset the medium just fine. No need to keep drowning them.
Like I said in my first post, water once with a balanced solution and let them dry until you see roots on the bottom.
They're already overwatered and that's why they're wilting so hard. The yellowing is from feeding with low strength under HID lights.
I run basically the exact same setup in veg so I'm speaking purely from experience.
With the veg recipe I provided you'll never go wrong.
Like I said in my first post, water once with a balanced solution and let them dry until you see roots on the bottom.
They're already overwatered and that's why they're wilting so hard. The yellowing is from feeding with low strength under HID lights.
I run basically the exact same setup in veg so I'm speaking purely from experience.
With the veg recipe I provided you'll never go wrong.
I have little experience with cubes. I have a buddy who kills it with cubes, they only water when the cubes are light
The wilting is definitely over water. You shouldn't be multi feeding rockwoool that's oversaturated, just gunna make your problem worse. You need to get that water out of the cubes to get to a normal feed cycle. I personally only flood my cubes once a day. And if they are really light. Watering by weight is how I do things, soil wise or cube wise.
No offence taken at all. There are probably a few ways to solve it, but the way I suggest is essentially like dwc supplying the roots with oxygen through water and stabilizing the cube with food/ph/oxygen.. Rockwool that size with no roots in it will take weeks to dry , and a good flood through the rockwool also pulls fresh air in with it so frequent flooding in This situation is best imo. No doubt it would be easier if it had a feed system but I believe it will fix his problems on all fronts. I've done it before and it worked for me.
Only on a cannabis grow forum can people have a civil debate lol.
Good news is about half of these girls are looking better already. Probably a combination of the foliar feeding I did, backing off the light intensity and a good flood of higher nutes today.
The other half are lagging behind but I think it may be the difference in strains. I have 2 strains going here but unfortunately the clones I was given were mixed without any labels. I wasn't very impressed about that but not much I could do about it. One of them is supposed to be very distinct looking a couple of weeks into flower but until then I will probably be in the dark, at least until I get these all back to health and mature a bit.
I'm going to take the PH inside a couple of cubes tomorrow morning and see where i'm at. If it's drifted back up over 6 i'll probably flood them again.
I know they visually look wilted but the leaves are actually pretty dry and crisp, especially towards the bottom. Is it possible to have dry leaves from overwatering? I didn't think that was the case. I think this is more of a nute/o2 deficiency.
In regards to watering by weight, if a cube is say 5lbs soaking wet, at which weight would you feed if everything were in order? 2.5? 2? Just curious.
Good news is about half of these girls are looking better already. Probably a combination of the foliar feeding I did, backing off the light intensity and a good flood of higher nutes today.
The other half are lagging behind but I think it may be the difference in strains. I have 2 strains going here but unfortunately the clones I was given were mixed without any labels. I wasn't very impressed about that but not much I could do about it. One of them is supposed to be very distinct looking a couple of weeks into flower but until then I will probably be in the dark, at least until I get these all back to health and mature a bit.
I'm going to take the PH inside a couple of cubes tomorrow morning and see where i'm at. If it's drifted back up over 6 i'll probably flood them again.
I know they visually look wilted but the leaves are actually pretty dry and crisp, especially towards the bottom. Is it possible to have dry leaves from overwatering? I didn't think that was the case. I think this is more of a nute/o2 deficiency.
In regards to watering by weight, if a cube is say 5lbs soaking wet, at which weight would you feed if everything were in order? 2.5? 2? Just curious.
This is why I stick with coco, it should be easy to tell the weight difference. How much experience do you have growing? I always try to start new growers on soil or coco if they have the ability to follow instructions . The biggest problem people have in growing is making rash decisions. I need this or that more water, overreacting has gotten you in this predicament. Also if you are buying clones you better get prepared to fight spidermites, aphids and pm.I always tell people worry about pheno hunt and a mother/ clone room before you worry about going into production. Nothing worse than having a bug, and mildew infested crop you shouldn't sell or smoke.especially when you have thousands of dollars invested.
Without getting into specifics, the clones were quarantined and treated for 4 days before before being introduced to the room and the room itself was treated as well. There's no more risk in having these clones as there would be sprouting from seed and getting an in-house infestation. That risk always exists no matter what the circumstance. I know where they came from and that grower is extremely diligent with their environment.
With all due respect, you admitted you don't have any experience in cubes so you're not offering anything helpful or knowledgeable in regards to the topic of this thread.
With all due respect, you admitted you don't have any experience in cubes so you're not offering anything helpful or knowledgeable in regards to the topic of this thread.
With cubes, take a dry cube feel the weight of that, take a wet cube feel the weight there. When its going from wet to dry youll notice a weight difference. Id feed when they almost feel like how they do out of the package maybe a little bit heavier.
Method, what ever course you take keep the inside of the cube stabilized. And do not wait for it to dry out because it will literally take 2 -3 weeks. If you want the cube dry use a moist cube or paper towel to draw the water from the cube and continue with normal feedings. It seems most people answering here are giving advise for a healthy plant.
Packer also gave some good advise, it may not be what you wanted to hear but it's good advise and something to think about. The guy was good enough to take the time to write it so it's worth reading, that's how we all learn. But you do have two ways to fix your problem here and I'm sure both will work well for you so just remember to keep the cube stable, doesn't matter how you acomplish it, as long as you do.
Yes the leaves can get crispy when overwatered or nutrients are locked up. The stoma shuts and production has come to a halt.
Packer also gave some good advise, it may not be what you wanted to hear but it's good advise and something to think about. The guy was good enough to take the time to write it so it's worth reading, that's how we all learn. But you do have two ways to fix your problem here and I'm sure both will work well for you so just remember to keep the cube stable, doesn't matter how you acomplish it, as long as you do.
Yes the leaves can get crispy when overwatered or nutrients are locked up. The stoma shuts and production has come to a halt.
I let the cubes dry out for 5 days and the plants were near death. Dry, brittle, yellowing. I had to do something to get some moisture back into the plants and restabilize the PH and nutes. Your recommendation here would only further my problem.
Since I started foliar feeding and gave them a heavy dosing of feed, the plants have started to recover.
It may look visually like they are overwatered and wilting but if you could have felt the leaves they are bone dry.
I only reacted to what he said the way I did because it just isn't on topic for the thread and telling me to use soil or coco offers no help or solution to my current situation. I appreciate people giving their 2 cents but I see people all the time just bashing a different growing method because it isn't what they use. Every medium/technique has it's horror stories and drawbacks. I have grown in soil several times. It's much easier but I want to learn how to grow in rw/hydro because I have a long term plan/setup in mind using this technique. The only way to learn is to try, make mistakes and build knowledge. This community is a great resource but it annoys me when people just drop into threads and say 'see, this is why I swear by coco/soil/dwc/nft/etc.
The issue with trying to wick out moisture is it doesn't make much difference at all. I'd say these cubes are retaining 750ml-1L of water. Some paper towel isn't going to make a dent in that. Putting another moist cube underneath helps for sure, but I don't have nearly 72 extra cubes laying around and once they absorb the moisture from one of my active growing cubes, they are soaked and can maybe do 1 more cube before they have to be left to dry for a week. It just isn't feasible.
The only thing that seemed to work a bit was slinging the water out of them gently. It's what i'll have to do if these retain moisture for too long again.
The plants look much better today so i'm on the road to recovery. I think i've identified what caused this mess in the first place so I should be able to baby them back to health now.
I didn't say use soil or coco, I said that's what I recommend for new growers. I only recommend coco to new growers who can follow instructions. I started in hydroton failed miserably, but I at least finished the crop. Soil is alot more forgiving. With no experience hydro especially recirulating hydro is challenging.
We are trying to help you, you are not getting it less is more. You have to let clones root through irrelevant of the medium. Growing is growing medium is less important than general knowledge of growing. Overwatering is the most common newbie mistake. Don't be so sensitive.I was set on hydro when I first started also. Your first crop most likely won't be anything you want to smoke, mine wasn't.
Either way good luck, I hope you crush it.
I understand less is more but there was major issues with these plants and the condition was worsening so I was forced to try to correct the ph and nute issues in the cubes. If you're suggesting that I should have just kept not feeding them I don't quite understand what you think that would have accomplished outside of killing these plants completely. I was watching them die.
I am not just doing what people tell me on this board truthfully. I am taking in all information and making my own choices based on knowledge shared here, other resources and research I do. People on here are giving conflicting info but i'm more inclined to believe what James Howlett is saying because it aligns with what i'm seeing by researching elsewhere and asking other growers with specific knowledge in rw cubes.
I am not just doing what people tell me on this board truthfully. I am taking in all information and making my own choices based on knowledge shared here, other resources and research I do. People on here are giving conflicting info but i'm more inclined to believe what James Howlett is saying because it aligns with what i'm seeing by researching elsewhere and asking other growers with specific knowledge in rw cubes.
Like I said hope you kill it, no hate here buddy.
I'm not trying to give you conflicting info because I'm going off experience since all I run really is rockwool.
