1200w HID Flood&Drain SCRoG w/ fem seeds

Try just adding 1 tablespoon of pH down and see where it settles, the perfect pH range for pot is 5.8-6.0. I had the same issue with my NLxBB and once i got the pH up around 6.0 they really picked up. It took an hour or so to level out but it tended to stay that way for a while. I even had mine at 6.3 for a while and it stayed healthy as...

It looks like you are getting a lot of evaporation so there would be a buildup of salts happening with that too which would also be affecting your pH. Give it a good flush with just freshwater pH'd to 6-6.2 and then start with the nutes again...hope it helps

i flush at the end of every week for 1 day(4 feedings), adding nutes the next day.
my ppm went from 1800 on tuesday when i added nutes, down to where it is now at 600.
is this because theyre eating? or because its all getting left to buildup on my lava rocks, causing my problems?
ill flush a day early, tomorrow, let them feed on clean water for 2 days this time, and take note of how the ppm/ph fluctuates

can i hurt my plants by feeding them straight water for say a week or so?
maybe i just have to flush with clean water for an extended amount of time?
could turning my lights down to 300 or 400 help aswell?

update on the clones!

everyone has turned up and are rooting away!

BBxNL clones on top, and BlueDream clones on the bottom

i flush at the end of every week for 1 day(4 feedings), adding nutes the next day.
my ppm went from 1800 on tuesday when i added nutes, down to where it is now at 600.
is this because theyre eating? or because its all getting left to buildup on my lava rocks, causing my problems?
ill flush a day early, tomorrow, let them feed on clean water for 2 days this time, and take note of how the ppm/ph fluctuates

can i hurt my plants by feeding them straight water for say a week or so?
maybe i just have to flush with clean water for an extended amount of time?
could turning my lights down to 300 or 400 help aswell?

more bad curling and deficiencies

Nice work on the clones man, hope they all root up nicely for you

As for your ppm's dropping, I would say yes that your plants are feeding as the ppm is dropping. Are you finding your pH going up as your ppm drops? This would be good if it is. If your pH is dropping then there is something going on and id suspect a build up of salts.
Ive never used flood and drain mate but i would say that flushing for longer than what you are will probably hurt them more than help. Ive only ever flushed for 20 mins tops but i use a hempy style setup. When you flush do you leave them to soak in the water or do you let it drain out straight away? Letting them soak for 20 mins and then draining should work and then let it keep flushing and draining straight out. Sorry i cant be of more help mate, but id say it is something to do with the pH.

Also meant to say too that it may be your lava rock causing pH swings as lava rock can contain heavy metals which cause lock outs and a build up of salts. Depends where the rock has come from as to what it would contain. Most are inert but some can contain heavy metals. Unfortunately there isnt much you can do if it does contain them once they are being used. Flushing wont really help in that case as the metals will stay in the rock. I'm very much leaning towards pH being the issue and locking out vital nutrients.

yes my ph goes up as my ppm continually drops.

one of my flood trays fills up for 15 min, and then completely drains in another 15min.
where the other tray(the big bushy healthy tray), fills for 15 min, but takes another 90min to completely drain. (this is the first morning ive actually seen how long it takes to fully drain. now that i have, it seems extremely excessive. but theyre way healthier than the other side, which floods and drains normally, so maybe the longer drain is a good thing?

both trays are ran from the same pump, with a "Y" splitter and flow valves for control. both trays fill at exactly the same speed, reaching exactly the same level in both trays. However drain at completely different rates.
how would i go about making my drain time longer on the problem tray?

thanks for all your support man! and know that the questions i ask arent exactly directed at you, so dont feel bad if you dont have the answer haha.
im just throwing them out there in case anyone wants to put in their 2 cents.
its nice just to be able to talk to someone about my grow!

the problem is without a doubt ph, and the swinging that thats going on, but im at a loss on how to get it under control.

Ok mate well your plants are feeding pretty heavily which is good

Im at a loss as to how to keep your pH from swinging. My problem turned out that i wasnt leaving the nute mix for long enough before adding the pH down and was over correcting it, but mine was going up not down. My only suggestion is to just add plain fresh water to your res each day to keep the pH around 5.6-5.8 which is more ideal. Once you get below that you will be locking out K, Ca, Fe and Mn which are essential nutrients for plant growth. Worst part is, if you're adding calmag then the calcium starts to inhibit mg uptake as the pH is low and the plants cant take up enough of the Ca to balance it out. My only other suggestion which seemed to help me was to add a circulating pump to your res to keep it constantly moving and in solution. It seemed to help mine the most. I just added a small aquarium pump and it kept my pH pretty steady for a few days...

Im more than happy to help mate I have a bit of chemistry background but even that doesnt help sometimes lol. Really hope we can get it sorted out for you hey, nothing worse than seeing it happening and not being able to fix it. Hopefully someone else that uses flood and drain and lava rocks can chime in!!

i think you've gotten confused!
my ph is going up! and i keep adjusting it back down, like you.
and I do have two small aquarium pumps in the reservoir circulating the mix. one down at the bottom,
and the other has a 3" attachment that pushes the mix around in the upper half of the reservoir.
both on different sides but pointing in a clockwise-flow motion(if you catch my drift) ahaha pun intended!

i could definitely be locking out nutes by over adjusting, and then letting it rise back up to high.
i think im going to start adjusting twice a day, instead of just in the mornings, and see if that makes a difference.
i was just trying to get them to be more self-maintained. so i really only had to "checkup" on them or make an adjustment 2-3 times a week at the most.
now thats kinda seeming a bit unrealistic haha.

Ha ha ha shit sorry man, i was thinking it kept dropping to 5.2 lol. So you are having the same issues i was. My res usually settled at about 6.4 so i was leaving it for a day and slowly adjusting back to around 5.9-6.0 and that seemed to work well. pH has to be adjusted slowly as a 0.1 point shift is 10 times lower/higher than what it was and any more than 0.2 point difference at any time can cause major stress and i'd say thats what the issue is. So if you left it completely without adjusting what does it sit on? Sorry cant be arsed going back to find out? If its around 6.4 then try adjusting down 0.2 per day to get to around 5.9-6 and then only add small amounts of pH down (mixed in RO water) twice a day to try keep it around 6. A pH of 6 will still maintain good uptake of nutrients. It sounds like your system wants to equalise around 6 or slightly higher. I had mine sit at 6.4 when i went away for a week and it lowered itself to 6 while i was gone! I was also adding about 8L (i had 35L in the res) in the middle of the week and it barely changed the pH at all so maybe try that too

i gave them 6ml of ph down into my freshly changed reservoir at 250ppm of last weeks nutes
and it brought the ph down from 6.3 to 5.7.
the ph prior to the res change was 5.9.

i have noticed them perking up a little bit, since ive had the ph up and steady between 5.8 and 6.0,
so ill keep it keep it here and we'll see! things are looking better! its been about 4-5 feedings

on another note, i keep seeing you say, "mix ph down with RO water."
do you mean premix like half gallon of RO water in a separate jug with the ph down, and then add to the res?
because ive just been shaking the bottle, and syringing the phdown out with a "Food Injector", and straight into the res, no premixing. could this also be contributing to my problems?

Awesome news mate here's hoping it fixes the problems for you now!!

And yep definitely mix the pH down into a seperate water bottle or jug and add slowly to the required pH. Adding straight to the res can cause it to come out of solution and change species which causes salt buildup

So happy to hear they've picked up man, i reckon if you can keep the res to around 5.9-6 you'll be sweet

i decided to throw on the screen today, however im still debating whether to FIM them or leave them whole...

new growth is uncurling, and everyone is perked up and growing fast again!, but the damage was detrimental;.. i know that both the nlxbb's will be lacking in quality and quantity among the others, seeing as how there isnt one fan leaf still intact and untouched. everything got fried
but ill still get something out of them, and im also going to take a couple more clones and stick them outside just to get as much as i can.

the last clones i took are banging away! exept one, of course a nlxbb, showing deficiencies. but the other is perfect so idk. lets see if she'll correct herself.
how long should i keep the saran wrap over the tub??






rep for you, sir!
thankyou so much for helping me fix my problem!
it was definitely a combination of several things haha,
but i think the main thing was over-adjusting my ph.

Unreal dude, they look heaps better hey no worries with the help too, i received some great help from people on here so the least i can do is help out others, im just glad we worked it out now rather than later and cheers for the rep too man

Don't be too disheartened mate, mine went through a rough patch and still came out close to the best NLxBB ive grown give them time, they'll appreciate you fixing the problem as you can see already!

Is the saran wrap to keep in moisture for the clones? If so i usually take my lid off as soon as i see roots so they fan harden off and dry out before watering again. Hope the other NLxBB clone pulls through too mate

Onwards and upwards hey, cant wait to see those babies in full flower!!!

im glad too!
hey, anytime bro!

they definitely seem to be greening up. i just wish i could repair the damage

nd yeah.
but oh ok, so its past-time! i thought i was supposed to leave it on for like the first week or something.

nd me neither! especially the NLxBB that im gonna stick outdoors!!
there's just something about an outdoor plant..idk.... majestic

Ah no need to worry about the damage mate, it wont repair but the rest of the plant will pick up the slack in no time

Really depends on how strong the light is as to if you take it off completely though mate, my clones are rooted under an 18w fluoro light so they dont dry out as quickly. In saying that though i was still watering them every day once they did root but id say that was due to the hot weather keeping them very warm too. For the first few days you can just take it off for a few hours to get them used to it and then take it off completely after 5 or so days and they should be sweet. Give them a misting every day from then on with some freshwater and canna rhizotonic, that stuff works wonders

I'm the same with outdoor plants too, love watching them grow in the great outdoors. They seem to give off a really earthy sort of smell too...mmm yum

Also meant to say dude, if you want to see a master of the art of scrog check out my mate Flowamastas thread! Some serious bud porn in there too

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/570843-flowamastas-methodology-how-grow-monster.html

i just have them on the floor, in the green tucker tub. so about 5' down and 2' over from the 600w MH.
i took the cover off last night,
only to come in this morning and find the two NL's wilted and limp but the two bluedreams were still happy!
so ill take more clones today, and try again. doing what you said, taking the cover off an hour at a time.
i think it was too fast, and it dried them out bad.

ive been through that thread several times haha, and still find myself revisiting it.
he knows his shit!

Ah shit sorry man, I assumed you had them under a different light. 600w can be way too strong for them hey. I use a single T8 fluro from a company falled Hagen and they are life glo bulbs. Ive never seen clones root up so fast before too! 5 days for my last NLxBB

Ha ha ha lol yeah Flowa is ridiculous with his grows, fully blows me out

even being that far away?
i have a 4bulb t-5 i could put on them..