Thrips and/or spider mites
Definitely start first with the thorough pest investigation. If there was an outbreak, which could be a bigger problem. You definitely want to get that first if that was it. We would like to eliminate that first. Make sure you’re keeping up on your storage and calibration of your PH pen. If these fluctuate, even a little bit, they can affect the uptake of nutrients availability. PH pens are very helpful and very needy. Even high-quality pens can lose calibration fairly quickly. Keep a high-quality battery in there as well. The PPM meter should just be rinsed with water and dried So no buildup of nutrients on the electrode. But they do not require any storage. Right now, if you do not find any pest I would definitely change the order of your nutrient mixing And stay on top of your PH pen. They definitely send, even the most skilled scratching their heads from time to time with the readings. If I get anything weird, the first thing I do is recalibrate twice in a row. Then I like to doublecheck it with my tapwater, which is always been 7.0 for years. That’s not a guarantee, but it’s been my poor man back up for years. Just to test the accuracy of my calibration. I hope this is it, my friend wish you luck double check for pest first and let us Know
1 Like
Hopefully, you’ve got the same PH pen. After one or times through the calibration you’ll have it dialed. It’s easy. These pens do all the calibration. All we’re doing is putting the pen in the solutions in the right order to calibrate two different set points. If things don’t go right, you can always turn off the pen and start over. Only takes a few seconds to do that. If I ever question the calibration that I just did I just redo it. Takes no time. I’m still having big red flags about pH not changing for weeks and the big ppm drop. I believe that points to the reservoir being the culprit. Hopefully clete of Nutrients was your issue. But these pH pens are like an art form lol.
2 Likes
Top of leaf magnified:
Bottom of leaf magnified:
I’ve cleaned and calibrated my pH and EC pens. Here is my current situation.
Nutrient reservoir: pH=5.7, EC=750
Plant reservoir: pH=5.1, EC=810
My thoughts are to dilute my current reservoir with fresh RO water to lower EC to around 700. Then use this new nutrient solution to top off the DWC reservoirs (2 gallons down since yesterday). Finally test and adjust the DWC reservoir pH to 5.8.
Any advice or suggestions?
Thanks again!
1 Like
Start fresh with a new batch whenever you have issues. Far quicker solution. Definitely better for plants overall health. If that’s not possible and you need to prolong it, I would just add PH 5.8 water. And try to get the reservoir changed as quickly as possible.
1 Like
Again, I don’t wanna discredit the pest possibility. Definitely wanna rule that out. A better picture would definitely help. Or get yourself a better loop to be able to thoroughly investigate those inconsistencies on the leaf. It could just be deficiency and etc. Or it could be an active pest situation that needs to be addressed immediately
1 Like
I inspected several affected leaves with a jeweler’s loupe and could not find any critters.
1 Like
Work on getting that reservoir changed over. It will still take a few days to see any real changes after it’s changed to show improvements. Start looking at lightly affected leaves. Keep your eye on them. Within a few days, these issues should stop spreading. Are you seeing any of these things on newer leaf formation or only old growth leaf.
1 Like
What PPM should I make the new reservoir?
1 Like
You never wanna make drastic changes to your PPM. I would think you were just a little high raising the ppm almost 200 in 1 week. I don’t think 800 ppm is too much. But we have to slowly raise it up to those levels. I would feel comfortable at 700 and slowly go up in small Weekly increments.
1 Like
Newest leaves are only very slightly affected… or not at all.
1 Like
Awesome pay attention to those new leafs. Hopefully the old leaf will not get any worse. Keep vigilant on your scouting for pests. Consider getting a stronger loop if you are not clear on what you’re seeing. I really hope the nutrient lock out is the culprit. Much easier than any pest problem.
Get a good standard magnifying glass with large view area. Then get a 30x zoom and a 60x zoom. It’s hard to see things with the 60 zoom As it has a very limited view area. Start with the standard magnifying glass. Anything that looks like it needs more investigation. Go to the 30. And if you’re still not clear, go to the 60x zoom. It looks like you may already have these
Jeweler friend recommended this…
1 Like
Yes sir that should work well. The AC Infinty loop should work great. I saw these details looks good. I use my I phone it zooms really well. Better than the magnifying glass. You can see bigger areas in the phone. The loup will take more time as it limited view takes more time to view everything.
1 Like