PPK - Girls not looking so good. - Indoor Grows - Hydro - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums

tilopa · 03-09-2018, 10:01 PM

End of veg plants are looking real bad, lower half of plant leaves are yellowing and dying. See pics.

They're in coco coir with perlite, about 30% coco.

Feeder pump 3 mins on every 4 hours. I thought that interval would give them a good flush of fresh water/nutes.

6 inch gap.

I feel like they are not getting enough drainage and air to the roots. Coco really can hold water. But I figured such a small percent of coco plus the 4 hour interval would help with that. I chose coco because turface is expensive and has to be shipped, but I'll probably have to go back to it. I'm seriously thinking about using hydroton, that stuff will guarantee good drainage. Has anyone tried hydroton

And does anyone know how to test the drainability of a medium (forgot what D9 was calling this), the ability of a medium to drain well.

Desert Hydro · 03-09-2018, 10:50 PM

looks over watered to me but i could be wrong. i was overwatering in gravel perlite which i thought was next to impossible but i got root rot and stunted growth. i would start there

progro · 03-09-2018, 11:14 PM

Yeah overwatered mate. I’d say there’s a good lot of root rot going on there. You have to start off watering once a day or even less during veg just so the roots can spread and grow. Dumping water on them regularly early on will always fuck up no matter what the perlite/coco ratio is. People say “oh you can’t overwater in coco” and I say bullshit! Cannabis plants and the roots love oxygen. Airy mix and oxygenated reservoir. They should’ve started on one small feed a day or less until they were ready for more. You can always lift the pot and tell with coco. When it’s about 1/3 to 1/4 still moist then water again and gradually increase. By the time you’re into flower you can go for it most times. Feel sorry for you mate, I’ve done it too. Good learning curve and you’ll only get better for it.

Mr Blah · 03-10-2018, 09:45 PM

I second and third the overwatering. Cut way back if it is retaining the water.

OldMilwakee · 03-11-2018, 01:11 PM

Could be over dry + over watered.
Remove the yellowish part and focus on the main colas

Peace

tilopa · 03-12-2018, 12:13 AM

Yes, too much water, this is what I thought also. But the real problem is the medium, coco does not work well with ppk is seems. With coco I would only want to water once or twice a day, not every 2-4 hours like what is done with ppk.

I guess I need to go back to Turface. Has anyone tried Hydroton (marble sized clay balls). I would think that stuff will drain best, even better than Turface.

Also, do I need to worry at this point that the plants could have root disease, like Phytophthora, which would affect other plants in the system since they all share the same water resevoir? That would suck if I had to tear everything down and clean buckets and rez and start over.

oti$ · 03-12-2018, 12:37 AM

I've had great grows with 50/50 coco clay pebbles in ppks. I always started out hand watering the first week or so of veg then gradually increased the watering from once per day up to once every two hours lights on and once or twice in the dark period depending on how big the plants got. I never did make the jump to turface in my ppks and am not currently growing in any ppks, but have had some of my fastest growing plants and heaviest harvest in my chow mix (50/50 coco/cp) ppks. I'd let them dry out really good and start watering once a day to start and judging by the plant size, you'll be watering 3-4 times during lights on by mid flower. Good luck!

tilopa · 03-13-2018, 04:27 AM

Yeah, I'm going to try the 50/50 mix, that is what I've been thinking about from the beginning.

@oti$ - Do you remember what your feed cycle was when you where doing ppk with the 50/50 mix?

Thanks.

gmanwho · 03-13-2018, 03:18 PM

getting the water sced down will help that. let them dry out a little. cut back to maybe 20 second burst of water vs a longer feed but then again that will depend on your pump an how many buckets your feeding.

in my systems they seem to like the 6 hr or 4 hr feed interval when vegging works best, maybe even feed only when lights on. u want the roots to search an build.

once the roots are bigger, or into flower u can feed around the clock every 4 hrs, every 2 hrs , hour an half. ive even done every 60 min lights on only. as long as they are draining quickly. if water stands for awhile u gotta work your medium to drain better for next round. i even drilled drain holes in the upper plant bucket.

gotta get them to drain, an then you will see alot less problems. now late flower an roots thick will block drainage , but thats a different story..

oti$ · 03-13-2018, 04:25 PM

I dont think I ever fed more than twice daily during veg, maybe 3x if growing trees. I never had to water multiple time during lights off in flower as the coco held water pretty well. They'd get over watered if I continued watering every 2 hours when the lights were out. I never had a set watering schedule. I'd read the plants and adjust accordingly. As far as the length of each water cycle, I'd usually let the pump run for as long as it took to nearly fill a ball jar, which would give me a good flood in the 2 and 3 gallon top buckets I used. The time of each flood woukd depend on the size pump, how many sites and the upper container size. I hope that was helpful.

03-09-2018, 10:01 PM	#1
tilopa Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 61	PPK - Girls not looking so good. End of veg plants are looking real bad, lower half of plant leaves are yellowing and dying. See pics. They're in coco coir with perlite, about 30% coco. Feeder pump 3 mins on every 4 hours. I thought that interval would give them a good flush of fresh water/nutes. 6 inch gap. I feel like they are not getting enough drainage and air to the roots. Coco really can hold water. But I figured such a small percent of coco plus the 4 hour interval would help with that. I chose coco because turface is expensive and has to be shipped, but I'll probably have to go back to it. I'm seriously thinking about using hydroton, that stuff will guarantee good drainage. Has anyone tried hydroton And does anyone know how to test the drainability of a medium (forgot what D9 was calling this), the ability of a medium to drain well. Attached Thumbnails
	Quote

03-09-2018, 10:50 PM	#2
Desert Hydro Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 1,894	looks over watered to me but i could be wrong. i was overwatering in gravel perlite which i thought was next to impossible but i got root rot and stunted growth. i would start there
	Quote

03-09-2018, 11:14 PM	#3
progro Newbie Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 11	Yeah overwatered mate. I’d say there’s a good lot of root rot going on there. You have to start off watering once a day or even less during veg just so the roots can spread and grow. Dumping water on them regularly early on will always fuck up no matter what the perlite/coco ratio is. People say “oh you can’t overwater in coco” and I say bullshit! Cannabis plants and the roots love oxygen. Airy mix and oxygenated reservoir. They should’ve started on one small feed a day or less until they were ready for more. You can always lift the pot and tell with coco. When it’s about 1/3 to 1/4 still moist then water again and gradually increase. By the time you’re into flower you can go for it most times. Feel sorry for you mate, I’ve done it too. Good learning curve and you’ll only get better for it.
	Quote 1 members found this post helpful.

03-10-2018, 09:45 PM	#4
Mr Blah Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 744	I second and third the overwatering. Cut way back if it is retaining the water.
	Quote

03-11-2018, 01:11 PM	#5
OldMilwakee Newbie Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 2	Could be over dry + over watered. Remove the yellowish part and focus on the main colas Peace
	Quote

03-12-2018, 12:13 AM	#6
tilopa Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 61	Yes, too much water, this is what I thought also. But the real problem is the medium, coco does not work well with ppk is seems. With coco I would only want to water once or twice a day, not every 2-4 hours like what is done with ppk. I guess I need to go back to Turface. Has anyone tried Hydroton (marble sized clay balls). I would think that stuff will drain best, even better than Turface. Also, do I need to worry at this point that the plants could have root disease, like Phytophthora, which would affect other plants in the system since they all share the same water resevoir? That would suck if I had to tear everything down and clean buckets and rez and start over.
	Quote

03-12-2018, 12:37 AM	#7
oti$ Senior Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: north of hell, south of heaven Posts: 1,924	I've had great grows with 50/50 coco clay pebbles in ppks. I always started out hand watering the first week or so of veg then gradually increased the watering from once per day up to once every two hours lights on and once or twice in the dark period depending on how big the plants got. I never did make the jump to turface in my ppks and am not currently growing in any ppks, but have had some of my fastest growing plants and heaviest harvest in my chow mix (50/50 coco/cp) ppks. I'd let them dry out really good and start watering once a day to start and judging by the plant size, you'll be watering 3-4 times during lights on by mid flower. Good luck!
	Quote 2 members found this post helpful.

03-13-2018, 04:27 AM	#8
tilopa Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 61	Yeah, I'm going to try the 50/50 mix, that is what I've been thinking about from the beginning. @oti$ - Do you remember what your feed cycle was when you where doing ppk with the 50/50 mix? Thanks.
	Quote

03-13-2018, 03:18 PM	#9
gmanwho See most people just think im an asshole, but im not. That's just my style. Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: NE... Posts: 2,176	getting the water sced down will help that. let them dry out a little. cut back to maybe 20 second burst of water vs a longer feed but then again that will depend on your pump an how many buckets your feeding. in my systems they seem to like the 6 hr or 4 hr feed interval when vegging works best, maybe even feed only when lights on. u want the roots to search an build. once the roots are bigger, or into flower u can feed around the clock every 4 hrs, every 2 hrs , hour an half. ive even done every 60 min lights on only. as long as they are draining quickly. if water stands for awhile u gotta work your medium to drain better for next round. i even drilled drain holes in the upper plant bucket. gotta get them to drain, an then you will see alot less problems. now late flower an roots thick will block drainage , but thats a different story..
	Quote

03-13-2018, 04:25 PM	#10
oti$ Senior Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: north of hell, south of heaven Posts: 1,924	I dont think I ever fed more than twice daily during veg, maybe 3x if growing trees. I never had to water multiple time during lights off in flower as the coco held water pretty well. They'd get over watered if I continued watering every 2 hours when the lights were out. I never had a set watering schedule. I'd read the plants and adjust accordingly. As far as the length of each water cycle, I'd usually let the pump run for as long as it took to nearly fill a ball jar, which would give me a good flood in the 2 and 3 gallon top buckets I used. The time of each flood woukd depend on the size pump, how many sites and the upper container size. I hope that was helpful.
	Quote