EC rising, pH dropping. I know it's not feeding properly; what do I do?

H

hermm

Member
(DWC, Photoperiod)

My plants look bad, most of the sugar leaf is yellow except for around the bud sites. 28 days into flower i STARTED to see the most problems, then I went away for 3 days and came back to a nightmare. Looks like it’s still holding up a week later at day 35 but it’s lost it’s smell considerably... I also noticed the EC rising and pH dropping, apparently this means it’s not taking nutrients. The res was considerably dirty with roots floating around, I did a full day flush at 0.1 EC and it still rose. Just added a low amount of nutrients bumped EC to 0.6 and it’s still rising.

What should I do? Should I rise or drop EC? 0.6 Already seems so low.

I just don’t get why it’s rising even at levels like 0.1. For reference my other plant fed completely fine at 1.2 and dropped to 0.9 in a few days with normal pH fluctuations, normal water level drops. Both sprouted the same day but they are different strains.

Should I throw it out and focus on my good plant, or should I just ride the last half out ?

It’s my first grow so go easy on me fellas, thanks.
 
H

hermm

Member
I see the problem, don't know what to do though? I tried to flush and it still rising at 0.1, seems unnatural
 
Dilago

Dilago

Well-Known Member
I'd toss the water and refresh it with pH 5.8 and Ec 1.5. Flushing plants without a medium with only water is not a good idea if you ask me!
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
hermm said:
(DWC, Photoperiod)

My plants look bad, most of the sugar leaf is yellow except for around the bud sites. 28 days into flower i STARTED to see the most problems, then I went away for 3 days and came back to a nightmare. Looks like it’s still holding up a week later at day 35 but it’s lost it’s smell considerably... I also noticed the EC rising and pH dropping, apparently this means it’s not taking nutrients. The res was considerably dirty with roots floating around, I did a full day flush at 0.1 EC and it still rose. Just added a low amount of nutrients bumped EC to 0.6 and it’s still rising.

What should I do? Should I rise or drop EC? 0.6 Already seems so low.

I just don’t get why it’s rising even at levels like 0.1. For reference my other plant fed completely fine at 1.2 and dropped to 0.9 in a few days with normal pH fluctuations, normal water level drops. Both sprouted the same day but they are different strains.

Should I throw it out and focus on my good plant, or should I just ride the last half out ?

It’s my first grow so go easy on me fellas, thanks.
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You could have bacterial contamination. That's another reason pH keeps falling. I'd suggest cleaning your res and sanitizing it with Chlorine or a quaternary ammonium compound. You'll need to clean and sanitize your pumps, lines and everything. Then refill a bit on the lighter feed side and see if it begins uptake. I'd also treat for root rot. I used pool shock when I ran NFT rails you can search here for amounts. It's Calcium Hypochlorite you want.

Also what is the temperature of your reservoir. You need to keep it in the 60s and low 70s. The warmer the res the less oxygen and the more pathogens.
Best of of luck sorting this out.
 
H

hermm

Member
curious2garden said:
You could have bacterial contamination. That's another reason pH keeps falling. I'd suggest cleaning your res and sanitizing it with Chlorine or a quaternary ammonium compound. You'll need to clean and sanitize your pumps, lines and everything. Then refill a bit on the lighter feed side and see if it begins uptake. I'd also treat for root rot. I used pool shock when I ran NFT rails you can search here for amounts. It's Calcium Hypochlorite you want.

Also what is the temperature of your reservoir. You need to keep it in the 60s and low 70s. The warmer the res the less oxygen and the more pathogens.
Best of of luck sorting this out.
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You probably are right about bacteria because I have another res exactly same feeding that's doing fine.. I have a new setup for next grow that I hope to adress pH drifting and res temp. I cleaned the res with H202 before I flushed and now I have it at 5.8 1.5 EC. Going to see if that feeds. If not I'm debating just running the next 2 week with my fingers crossed lmao

It's my first grow and I made a ton of mistakes, I'm like 4 months into the same grow getting so impatient...
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
hermm said:
You probably are right about bacteria because I have another res exactly same feeding that's doing fine.. I have a new setup for next grow that I hope to adress pH drifting and res temp. I cleaned the res with H202 before I flushed and now I have it at 5.8 1.5 EC. Going to see if that feeds. If not I'm debating just running the next 2 week with my fingers crossed lmao

It's my first grow and I made a ton of mistakes, I'm like 4 months into the same grow getting so impatient...
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You expect to see pH drift upwards not downwards. H2O2 is inadequate unless you used roughly 8% H2O2 and 6 hours of contact time. I'd encourage you to use chlorine and re-clean, even if you only have 6% household bleach (sodium hypochlorite), and you have to get the pumps lines and everything. You also need to treat the reservoir with chlorine and you need it in the reservoir to support the roots.

I always use tap water in my reservoir to kill bacteria. At roughly 4mg/l or a little less it doesn't hurt your plants and is even drinkable.
 
H

hermm

Member
rkymtnman said:
i'd keep it going. you'll learn from trying to help it recover.

do you use anything to prevent root rot?
like curious said, pool shock is good and cheap. especially if your water temps are high
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Im planning to grab UC roots for my next grow, im not growing without it... I was using some drywall shit to seal a hole in the res that got moldy maybe its linked to that? I did notice there was a lot of root material floating around which might've been choking the plant, I switched my system to an air stone roots seem to like it more but still not feeding...

like you said I'm learning cheers.!
 
H

hermm

Member
rkymtnman said:
if you are still at 1.5 EC, drop that in half. a plant that is struggling doesn't need that high of an EC
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thanks man, I'll do a full res clean and try to drop those nutes. I think I'll flush for the last week just to be safe. It worries me that it stopped smelling but I took some pictures to watch the growth. If it herms I just get lifetime seeds off my first grow how can I be mad at that ?
 
H

hermm

Member
70's natureboy said:
My plants hate 1.5 ec. They can handle 1.2 but I stay around 1 ec. What are your temps?
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My biggest mistake was feeding them the recommended amount. The shit I bought is cheap. I don't wanna hate on any company on these forums but I can't even find a proper hydro feeding chart. Bottle says "4ml per litre EVERY week of plants life". I know for a fact if I fed a 60ml of this in veg it would die. I'm cleaning the res/tubes with h202 today and buying better nutrients to try next grow and follow an actual chart... The funny thing is these nutrients are cheap, yet it's recommended you use all 3 the whole grow at a ridiculous amount. I would've been done all 3 bottles halfway through the grow had I followed that rule.

I know the stuff is cheap because it doesn't handle pH fluctuations for even an hour.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
hermm said:
My biggest mistake was feeding them the recommended amount. The shit I bought is cheap. I don't wanna hate on any company on these forums but I can't even find a proper hydro feeding chart. Bottle says "4ml per litre EVERY week of plants life". I know for a fact if I fed a 60ml of this in veg it would die. I'm cleaning the res/tubes with h202 today and buying better nutrients to try next grow and follow an actual chart... The funny thing is these nutrients are cheap, yet it's recommended you use all 3 the whole grow at a ridiculous amount. I would've been done all 3 bottles halfway through the grow had I followed that rule.

I know the stuff is cheap because it doesn't handle pH fluctuations for even an hour.
Click to expand...
nute companies want to make money.
 
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