I am returning to growing after a 15 year hiatus and am realizing I have forgotten a lot. I am having problems getting going here. My problem is that my seedling is barely growing and the leaves are turning yellow.
I am running a DIY Waterfarm with a controller. I am running on tap water (7.7 ph and 75-100 ppm) with GH Flora series using the Lucas formula (no Grow just Micro and Bloom).
I started out running the lower 0-5-10 Lucas formula which yielded a 1090 ppm in my water. I now realize that was too much for a seedling and I diluted it to 450ppm around 24 hours ago. I am also noticing that my ph keeps climbing to 6.5. I’ll lower it to 5.5 but the next day it’s back up to 6.5.How much of a problem is that and why won’t it stay where I set it? Preformatted text
Most strains are going to struggle going in to systems that small. In the future I would hand water until you have at least three nodes showing with a real set of leaves.
Most will argue, but the Lucas formula was designed for flowering first and foremost. One can veg with it but it is not ideal. At that size all that was really needed was properly PHed water.
I’d still say that is too high. Closer to 250 would be better at that size but it may be too late for that one. Chances are the roots have been burned causing some rot.
As an experiment mix up your nutes and put them in something to store for a couple of days lid open. The PH should drop [that is normal for new nutes] and if they do not the clay was not cleaned quite enough which is causing the PH to rise. If it does rise, then something is off about your tap water and I would change over to some local drinking water if you can obtain that in 5 gallon jugs.
What are you using to drop the PH currently?
EDIT also, you want to remove that paper from the cube b 4 going in to the system. It can and will cause rot.
Thanks for the feedback LED! I’m not sure what I was thinking feeding them full strength nutes so early.
I put them in the system so soon because my last seedlings dried out and died over night in my propagation dome and its vents were closed. I figured that couldn’t happen in my system because of the constant drip.
So what’s your schedule so far as nutes and growing area are concerned? Work keeps me away for a large chunk of the day a lot so I am trying to keep things low maintenance.
I’d recommend using another rock wool block. This one should do the trick and all you have to do is put the 1" cube in this.
Once your seedlings are throwing a good amount of roots all you need to do is put it in the water farm and they should thrive. Once the seedlings sprout, I remove any type of dome in fact I don’t use them except in super dry conditions like Colorado. Those 3x3’s are normally good for three days once soaked in the early stages, and by the time they need watering every day you are in your water farm.
@OG1969 I believe has my start to finish recipe’s for GH food. Hopefully he can post that info for ya.
If you want to make it even easier on the food, lots are having great success using Mega Crop.
They have a free sample offer on their site, and one of their admin’s is on this site for help if you have issues with it. I believe it dissolves quite easily and would most likely work well with a water farm type setup. I do not have much experience with it myself, but I am running it on my breed room 2 and so far the plants seem to like it.
Curious why you would choose hydro over soil if you want low maintenance? Even more important is the fact that soil is more forgiving which could be important if you spend long hours at work with minimal time to garden.
When I used to grow before, I grew Hydro and it was really simple. While I would check on the plants most every day, I rarely had to adjust anything. No over or under watering to worry about. With a big reservoir I wouldn’t touch the water for weeks.
I’m not saying it is but soil just seemed harder to me. Plus from the standpoint of stealth, instead of hauling dirt in and out of the house, I would just turn on the spigot to fill and then empty down the drain.
I’m just having problems now because I thought I remembered everything and rather than research it all again I just started. I guess you could say I knew enough to be dangerous.
I had great luck with DWC the one time I tried it using Highgrade’s method. The extra equipment needed and eventual need for an RO filter kept me from continuing, despite the excellent results.
With RO water you are starting with zero ppm so the added minerals and or bad stuff in the water is eliminated , you have more control over ph and the food.
My GH feed program goes like this.
Veg- from the time the seed breaks ground this is what they get fed.
7ml grow
5 ml micro
2.5ml bloom
1/4 tspn epsom salt
Transition first two weeks in flower.
5ml each grow, micro, bloom and 1/4teaspoon epsom salt.
Flower after two weeks 2ml grow, 5ml micro, 8ml bloom and 3ml liquid koolbloom drop the epsom.
Last two weeks
2.5ml micro7ml bloom drop everything else. Measurements are all per gallon of water. Peace OG
@OG1969 I understand the benefits of RO water. I was just curious why Ray felt he was eventually going to need it when he had excellent results without it.
My tap water was a pain in the ass to get dialed in. Chlorine levels are always on the high end. So allowing mass amounts of water to gas off and then adjust ph and ppm’s would have been easier to use RO filtered water Also with DWC you can use a lot of water once you are dialed in.
I don’t think that was the case since he used the word need and said it was one of the reasons he went back to soil.
I would also disagree with that. While it is certainly fine or even admirable to do so, you don’t have to. Sometimes things are good enough for some people.
I only challenge that point because in my return to growing I have seen a lot of people confusing ideal or optimal as needs or requirements. Just one example… I was told more than a couple times that I need a 1000W light in my 3x3 tent because my 400W. I grew with a 400W light in a 3x3 closet before just fine.
That’s just one example I encountered. My point is that you dont need to ring out every last ounce of potential to be successful. In fact, some of us non-commercial, light weight smokers growing only for ourselves don’t want the increased yields that come with that.
