New grow, plants look sick :(

Hey guys,
This is my first grow after 10 years of taking a break from it. This is an old aero setup I made years ago, 400w hps/mh setup, random bagseed, 3 weeks in, I'm poor so no fancy chemicals, using mg tomato, well water, and running 24/7 light and pump. Noticed my plants looking different 5 days ago, below are some pics of the 3 that have me worried...

Any input is welcomed and needed.

I'm growing in MG Tomato right now in soil. It's working very well so far. I suspect you have a pH problem, the water is lacking minerals (or too high in TDS), or MG isn't appropriate for that hydro(?) style of growing?

Past grows with the same setup and mg tomato done great, I have moved and we use well water from an underground well, I've tested it out of the tap at 6.4 and its been the same phone every test. No chlorine in the water etc. Never had any of the plants I grew show these symptoms. I think it's a N deficiency, but like I said been along time since I've grown. The growth rate seems to have slowed some also, but the roots are already touching water in the res.

looks like light getting in and start of root problems

Terry385 said:

looks like light getting in and start of root problems

Click to expand...

That was on my list, problem will be there tote and how to block the light out, setting up a cloning station beside this when it gets further along, all I can think to do is paint the tub black, outside of it of course, and I thought of painting the top white, but not sure if any of the paint will seep into res, a little water does get out beside the holes for the netted pots. All of them are started in rockwool and have clay pebbles in the pots to hold water.

DarkWizard021 said:

I have moved and we use well water from an underground well,

Click to expand...

Did you check the ppms? In soil, I can't grow with tap water that is too high in ppms. I mix RO and tap for 150ppm. Higher ppms might not be a problem, but at some point it would be in soil. I'm not familiar with hydro.

the light is getting in at holes where cut... i do one plant one 5 gal black bucket with lid and use a microbe brew tea for root health one plant one pound is the goal...
http://www.htgsupply.com/Category-Buckets-Reservoirs-Trays

Terry385 said:

the light is getting in at holes where cut... i do one plant one 5 gal black bucket with lid and use a microbe brew tea for root health one plant one pound is the goal...
http://www.htgsupply.com/Category-Buckets-Reservoirs-Trays

Click to expand...

Ur growing dwc tho right? Mine is an active pump setup, pump in bottom of res, passes water up to h pipe of 1/2 in pvc, and through mist heads in the pvc.
At a later point the roots will actually hang in the water while being misted above the water. When that happens growth normally explodes, noticeable differences about every 12 hours.

Back to the prob at hand. Any ideas on how to use current lid and block the light out? And should I paint the lid white? Or let it ride?

And I am considering using bat guano as a nutrient and see results, will let it go another 4 to 5 days before trying the guano tho.

az2000 said:

Did you check the ppms? In soil, I can't grow with tap water that is too high in ppms. I mix RO and tap for 150ppm. Higher ppms might not be a problem, but at some point it would be in soil. I'm not familiar with hydro.

Click to expand...

I don't have any testers, low budget pass at it this go around. Only tested ph of water from faucet and hose pipe before adding it

home depot black and white mylar may work to cover lid
yes i do dwc air pump with stones for bubbles

Terry385 said:

home depot black and white mylar may work to cover lid
yes i do dwc air pump with stones for bubbles
View attachment 3570998 View attachment 3570999

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Beautiful plants, I'm thinking of keeping a good girl in dwc for cloning, not sure if it's plausible yet, I will update this thread as I monitor this prob with the plants. Thank you for your input, much appreciated.

Today it seems no change in coloration after feeding last night, going to put the pump on timer in 3 hour blocks, and reduce light to 18/6 and see if there are any changes.

I have blacked out the res on the sides, and have an idea on the lid, to both block out light and reflect some back up to the plants, will be doing that later today.

If anyone has any input, or has had this type of discoloration before let me know.

Thank you to all that have replied, has been much help and I appreciate it.

Light cycle is changed to 18/6, watering every other hour for an hour, I think I have managed to seal the light out of the res, 8 gal of pH6.6 water from underground well, MG tomato plant food mixed at 1tbsp/gal.

I attached some pics from 10 min ago, each individual plant + all 4 plants at once.

Looking for some feedback and potential causes for the yellowing, which seems to have gotten worse on 3 and disappeared from the 4th plant.

Also done a complete clean of the res earlier, hopefully it will help, roots look great, no brown color anywhere.
Thanks guys

18/6 or 20/4 is better than 24/0, they need a rest. What is your light height from canopy? Also maybe try Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro it's a cheap but great line. Looks like nute burn or some kind of deficiency hard to say.

1 3/4 ft above the canopy, moved it earlier, was at about 1ft, want to make sure they aren't getting burnt.

Yeah 18 inches minimum or I'll get leaf margins curling up and burnin w/a 400. What are your temperatures make sure you have atleast a 10 degree variation or they lose those carbos through respiration rather than using em for tissue production. Hope they get healthy.

The room stays 74f constant, res is usually 77f constant, I have a fan moving air constantly, humidity normally around 62% varies very little. I'm worried I wasn't ferting enough before today there was about 8-10 gal in res, which had been ferted twice with 1tbsp/gal mix. I think they were neut starved.

Constant temperatures are bad for plants, it's science. Check the first post in this thread, great advice:


https://www.rollitup.org/t/uncle-bens-gardening-tweeks-and-pointers.267989/''

Sorry I grow in promix/sunshine so can't help with the nutes, don't do hydro.

Ty for the info, will get it set to regulate temp and see how it goes.

In the past few hours the plant I thought was the best looking, the leaves have started to curl upward on the edges, yellowing at the tips is not as prominent. The 2 lower fan leaves are dry and curling down. 1 plant looks to be normal now, coloring and all, but other 2 look like no change.

Put 2 pics of those lower leaves, any ideas?