Help! About to throw in the towel

Alright heres the deal, Ive been growing for about a year in hydro (DWC) the first harvest was great, every once since has been getting worse and worse, yet I'm only "improving". Heres a quick rundown, Flower 8x10 room, 6" exhaust fan on a can filter, 2 1000w air cooled lights, avg light distance 24"-30", ph 5.8-6.0, temps 78-83 day, 68-70 night, VEG 1 6x8 room, 4" exhaust fan, no filter, 4" intake fan, light distance 5"-8", ph 5.8-6.0 temps 73-78 day, 65-68 night. Im using GH flora nutes at the ratio on the bottles, and RO water. I'm still getting slow/ no growth in veg or flower, leaves/stems look healthy, just no yield and SLOW growth, and for some reason i had a plant 4 weeks into flower dry up overnight, even though its thoroughly watered, and 2 of my veg plants wilted and dyed. Im frustrated and about to quit since it cost me more to grow my own than to buy, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks
Oh and just to exclude another thing, I clean my rooms weekly and my systems between every cycle

pics would help,maybe nute problems,ph,water temps.etc.

GoldenGanja13 said:

I think the lights too far away in flowering and too close in veg.
What about nutes, giving them anything with kelp ?

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How Close do you think they should be for the flowering lights? I forgot to mention my veg is a 400w cooltube. Im not sure about the kelp.

res temps are good too, the highest ive seen them is 74

have you flush and or clean out your unit between grows. drying up over night i seen this with real bad nut build up.
ppm,ph and somepic will help alot more

locohonkey said:

How Close do you think they should be for the flowering lights? I forgot to mention my veg is a 400w cooltube. Im not sure about the kelp.

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Your veg lights should be 12-15" away for the plants to get optimal results, 15 until they get nice and thick then 12 to bush them out.
As for flower I would be 15-18 away and 15 towards the end of cycle.

sounds like you're doing things right.. I really can't say why this would be happening. In general, following the bottle directions on the GH nutes should work, though that might be a bit strong of a mixture. I'm sure you're keeping your pH level around 5.5, correct?

Since you have the GH nutes, you should have the Flora Micro and Flora Bloom, yes??? Maybe try using the Lucas formula instead of using all 3 of the GH nutes, with a pH of 5.5 and see if that gets you any where. I grow DWC and that's what I use and it works great for me...

Still, using the 3 part GH nutes should be working for you... But, i think trying the Lucas formula is a decent suggestion...

Good luck to you.

One last thought: When you mix up your nutes, do you pour all 3 of the GH nutes in to the measuring cup and then add it to the water? Or do you measure them out separately and add to the water one at a time? It is VERY important that you do NOT mix all 3 together at once and then add to the water. This is a big no no... They must go in to the water separately, or else you'll get a form of nutrient lock up.

-S

PS
in case you don't know the lucas formula here it is:

8ml's/gal water Flora Micro
and
16ml's/gal water Flora Bloom
pH of 5.5 should be perfect.

I keep hoping so, I just might run out of money in the meantime. I'll post some pics of the 2 that just gave up in veg tomorro, my lights just shut off about 20 min ago

I do mix them separately, lol i even use a whisk to make sure they are mixed super good! Do you still do regular nute changes or do you keep adding to the res with lucas formula? I looked it up one time but never really researched it.

the best thing to do is a water change out aka flush the female out 50% of the dose and thing should get better. if not it's time to look over every thing you did and whats change from the 1st grow.

JTALO111 said:

the best thing to do is a water change out aka flush the female out 50% of the dose and thing should get better. if not it's time to look over every thing you did and whats change from the 1st grow.

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I've been trying to think of what has changed as well, the only differences are, new rooms, more airflow, more lighting, and I'm currently using RO water, the 1st one I only used RO water the first half then tap water.

Just puttin it out there but have you replaced your bulbs after each harvest? Because they start losing their power after so long, not exactly sure how long though

diet103 said:

Just puttin it out there but have you replaced your bulbs after each harvest? Because they start losing their power after so long, not exactly sure how long though

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My metal halide is an agrosun gold about 6mnths old and the sodiums are 2 hortilux bulbc 1 3mnth old 1 6mnth. Would they lose enough power that quick?

Is it possible it's something environmental? Paint? Plastic? Wherever you're drawing intake air from?

pinned said:

Is it possible it's something environmental? Paint? Plastic? Wherever you're drawing intake air from?

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Im really starting to think the area is cursed. But I am drawing air where I always have. Veg room is a finished room with paint and drywall, so I thought maybe some weird fume, so I started pumping air into the room. my flower room is just a blown up version of the first pandafilm/pvc tent i made just a few feet away. It would be fairly easy to run a fresh air intake outside, but I do live in colorado and Im afraid the cold air would hurt them. If its anything, I am setup in a basement? I dunno, I'm stumped.

lol, and just to add insult to injury, I have 2 friends that know NOTHING about growing, except what I have taught them. I even designed and built their systems, and they are getting awesome results!

locohonkey said:

I do mix them separately, lol i even use a whisk to make sure they are mixed super good! Do you still do regular nute changes or do you keep adding to the res with lucas formula? I looked it up one time but never really researched it.

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I change out my nutes about every 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks, I just add fresh water as the plants drink it. After 2 weeks, I drain out the reservoir, and mix up a fresh batch of nutes...easy..

This is just a possibility but you say the only thing thats changed is RO water....That makes me think Magnesium/Calcium deficiency...

http://www.planetnatural.com/cgi-bin/planetnatural/sensi-cal-grow

If you use RO water you may need to add some of that type of product into your 3-part mix....

Good luck broseph