1st hydro HELP PLEASE

[Bradencoolman]

always used soil until talked it up with the local hydro guy and talked me into getting 2 4x3 flood treys + ress 1 600w hps and 1 1000w hps. its the 3rd week and plants are not looking like they should for three weeks.they are in 6" rockwool cubes and feed 10 min everyday humidity 45-60 % and temp. 72-77...... please give me advice and feedback

 

[SmokesLikeBob]

Pics would be helpful...
Hard to identify a problem without seeing the plants...But how's your pH?

 

[massah]

only feeding for 10 minutes a day? That doesn't seem right...ive never grown in hydro and that seems way wrong to me...

 

[Bradencoolman]

heres the pics
http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m638/bj9293/

 

[massah]

soo...only feeding 10mins/day? arn't flood drain systems suppose to do that about every hour?

Whats your PH at(like the other dude said)? Should be as close to 5.8 as you can get it in your reservoir...you also want to keep your reservoir under 65F or your PH will change much quicker on you.

 

[massah]

also have you ever changed out the water/nutes in your reservoir? Those plants look seriously fucked...

 

[drgreentm]

dude you need to give better info! how are we supposed to give a educated guess on something that we have no idea how you are handling your room? first off here are a few ?'s for you to answer.
1.whats the ph of the water at (as stated before 2 times now)
2.what is your nutrient strength at
3.what nutes you using
4.what specific light are you using (the 600 or 1000)
5.how far are the plants from the light
6.are your lights cooled.
7.3 weeks what exactly (veg/bloom)
8.water temps
we will start there but your plants look to me like they are eating themselves/starving to death. thats my best guess with the info/pics provided.

 

[MrEDuck]

On scale of sated to hungry those plants are subsaharan African children. 10mins of watering per day isn't cutting it. You need to have more waterings per day. I have very little experience with F&D so I'm not sure what the frequency and duration should be except for more. How dry does the rockwool get?
If it's still moist enough right before being watered it could be you just need a higher nutrient concentration. I have a feeling you need to feed more often with a stronger nuts solution. Those plants are really yellow.

 

[Rickybobby0007]

That whole setup is a hot mess! You need to go out right now and buy a big bag of Hydroton and fill that tray (hopefully covering all those HUGE rockwool cubes) Set your timer to flood and drain that table every 8 hours.

Rockwool cubes are not meant to be a growing medium!!! Its is a seed/clone starter. You got some reading to do

 

[Rickybobby0007]

This is video series will cover everything on a flood and drain (room building.. etc)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOTnI34vCc&feature=related

 

[RavenMochi]

On scale of sated to hungry those plants are subsaharan African children. 10mins of watering per day isn't cutting it. You need to have more waterings per day. I have very little experience with F&D so I'm not sure what the frequency and duration should be except for more. How dry does the rockwool get?
If it's still moist enough right before being watered it could be you just need a higher nutrient concentration. I have a feeling you need to feed more often with a stronger nuts solution. Those plants are really yellow.

†LOL† I was going to say they could use some nitrogen, but that description was just so much better in every way...

 

[Ogcurse]

this makes me sad to see :[ Before growing Marijuana, especially using hydroponics, you need to have your facts and knowledge in order, There is a lot more to it than soil growing!

Also as stated above, Rockwool is not a growing medium. It is a seed/clone starter.
I don't have a lot of knowledge with F/D systems. But i know they aren't getting enough water, or nutes. Those poor plants are starving man!! you gotta take care of your babys :]

You should try a RDWC system. Its one of the easiest and most efficient hydroponic systems imo.

 

[Bradencoolman]

thank you everyone for all the feed back i F***ed The Sh** outa these feel like a complete noob starting over waste of time energy and stress.

 

[drgreentm]

i have to respectfully disagree with the statements that RW is not used to grow in, i do it all the time and if i was to take my op back to sog tables i would run nothing but 4x4x4 RW blocks they are so easy for me to use now with some fine tweaking to my tables. i grate the bottom of the tray to lift the block up off the tray to allow the blocks to drain faster so i flood my blocks up to 4x a day. it can be a hart starting medium for a noob and i wouldn't recommend it for somebody just starting out but it can be done without a doubt. here are a few pics of my ladies that where vegged in RW cubes for 3 weeks. the last pic is the simple adjustment to my tray i made with 2 bucks (cloning trays in the bottom).

@bradencoolman get those blocks up off the tray with some plastic rapid rooter cloning trays and start watering 2-3x a day. you still haven't answered any ?'s though i would like to know what is going on you may be able to fix the problem but the plants may take longer and more work then you want to do. your system could kick ass if you get it down but you just have to keep at it and tell us whats going on so we can help you figure out what happened so next time your not making the same mistakes twice. i would love to help you out but giving up is no way to go about it.

 

[hellraizer30]

Ive got to add something here! Flooding once a day with plant that size is fine even if its for just 10min
Rockwool is like a sponge! What you have is sub standard levels of feeding! Your npk levels are jacked
Up and im guessing your plant are most deffenatly ph locked up! Did you prep those growdan block?
And for god sakes whats the ph of your water? Drgreentm hit you with ? We need to know?

 

[dadio161]

I would flush these plants for a few hours and then let them dry a bit. I would then make a new batch of nutes using 5ml of Grow , Micro , and Bloom per gallon. PH the water. Using these 6" blocks , it is okay to water once a day for 15 minutes. I would also get some Panda Block Covers to keep algea out. You can look at my signatures as I also grow in Rockwool Blocks with no other medium. The only thing I have changed this new crop is that I am now stacking a 4" block on top of a 6" Block.

 

[John Jacob]

^^ Agree with the hydroton.. Once the roots out grow that MASSIVE rockwool blocks you have there they're going to dried up by the light.. Also I'm going to make an educated guess and say you cant flood drain with those big rockwools theyre most likely absorbing too much water and not enough oxygen is getting to the roots. Thats why it looks like your leaves are curling down and under like claws its a good hint of overwatering, they yellowing is most likely caused by the drowing again not enough O2..

If you want a more accurate response answer all of drgreen's questions above, and also check this.. When your pump turns on are your rockwool cubes already still wet? my guess is they are, 10 min a day they're probably floating after 5min and begging for mercy for the other 5,

I'm sure all of the responses didnt mean to sound harsh but you got some serious issues with the setup and we're tryin to save what you got

Good luck homie!

 

[Slivers]

That whole setup is a hot mess! You need to go out right now and buy a big bag of Hydroton and fill that tray (hopefully covering all those HUGE rockwool cubes) Set your timer to flood and drain that table every 8 hours.

Rockwool cubes are not meant to be a growing medium!!! Its is a seed/clone starter. You got some reading to do

This is good advice.

 

[kushnotbush]

I agree with the above that you can indeed grow in those blocks of rockwool, I also think that what dadio suggests with running a 4 inch on top of the 6 inch is the way to go in this setup for future reference. IME I would recommend cutting your watering length down to like 2 mins or so really just enough so that the water fills the very bottom of the tray but no more. If your vegging I would recommend watering 3 times a day like this, once when the lights are coming on and then another at the 7 hr mark of lights on, then once more at the 13th hr of lights on. When you transition to flower add another feed in that schedule evenly spaced but make sure to leave about 2 hours of lights on at your last feed. I would also get some panda film or rockwool covers over your blocks to keep the algae off of them, just make sure that the cubes can still breath.
The things I have suggested will not work for you if your environment is not dialed in and you don't have your water/nutes in line. Also make sure your res temps are in check because your using a pump which can add some heat to your water. Good luck and happy growing.
KnB