hi guys
could really do with some ideas here as i'm all out of 'em and i need to save the rest of my head as i'm bashing that wall with it so much!!!!!
this is a bit of an epic so i hope you don't mind!
been growing a few years (10+) without any major problems cept the odd spider mite attack, but nothing serious.
for the last few years have been growing white widow and pot of gold in 8ft nft system under 3 x 600w sodiums.
i've one mum of pot of gold and one of white widow (replaced each year with grow on cuttings), which i take my cuttings from 6-8 weeks before they're needed in the table - depending how efficient i'm being at the time! (all veg in separate room)
i feed with canna aqua + PK in flower, and formulex in veg, keep PH in the early 6's
usually average about 0.8-0.9g/watt from the 600's i use which is ok
anyway, all was hunkydory until last year when i decided to give up and pursue other avenues.....
then had a lightbulb moment and realised that particular avenue was a dead end and had to start up again!
well, i'd never give up totally, so had couple of plants i could grow on as mum's and get cuttings from, but nothing to put in my tables immediately - so i took in cuttings from elsewhere ........
something i never normally do, but times and needs and all that......
and thats where the problems started!
In with the cuttings came a load of spider mite and a load of fungus gnats. The spider mite i've dealt with before, 2000 predators while they're still veggin, bosh! sorted!
The fungus gnats (i know they now are that - i was thinking thrips) i had had living around me before, i had my sticky traps up, and i thought that was enough and that they were pretty harmless - i couldn't of been more wrong!
this picture shows table currently, after 4wks 12/12, note yellowing leaves on top 2/3 of table. This is the start of my problem and i know from painful experience where its going to end up, the older leaves turn yellow, then brown, then die, then fall off - this happens over approx 7day period. Then the newer leaves start to go and finally end up as in this pic below...
the picture above (of a different crop) was taken just before cutting, after 8wks. But illustrates how the plants end up - brown dead leaves, weak and poorly developed.
One of my big problems is that when i plant the table, they have to stay there until they're finished 8wks later, so each time i try a problem solver, if it doesn't cure the problem then i have to wait until the 8wk period is up before trying something different.
i have had three failed crops now, the last returned me 0.1g/watt!
the problem, is NOT the following because we have been through these thoroughly :-
PH
nutrient
I have identified that we were infested with fungus gnats in the veg area which i am in the latter stages of getting to grips with - i've put sticky traps on every cutting and treat with gnat off every watering. This infestation seems to be the root of our problem, as the rockwool cubes were infested with gnats and gnat larvae in the veggin area. I assume that when they were put into flower, the damage that the gnats had caused to the roots caused the resulting discolouration and lose of leaves. When you look at the roots they are a very unhealthy brown colour.
Does anyone have any comments about that, my assumption?
This browning of the roots made me think that maybe the fungus gnats had let some wilt get into the plant and infect it.
They aren't infested any more, and the new cuttings coming through are gnat free
these two pics are of the plant where the symptons 1st showed themselves on the current table, this would be in the top left hand of the 1st pic
this last picture is of the right hand side of table when compared to 1st pic
What i would really like to know is why the plants on the left have started to turn yellow, and yet the ones on the right have not.
ALL these four plants came from a healthy veg room and could only of been infected by whatever when they were put into my table 4 weeks ago. The yellowing plant on the left took off so well that i thought problem had been solved, it easily would of returned 6oz+ - that is until it too turned!
Could the fungus gnats have been so devastating to a healthy mature plant's root system in 4 weeks?
If not, could the infection maybe spread through the nutrient solution?
Is it possible that the mums are infected, and would this also infect every cutting i take from said mum?
Sorry for long post, please ask any questions or offer any advice you like, i'm all ears!
I've read through a lot of stuff on this site, and your knowledge and experience is properly needed now!
could really do with some ideas here as i'm all out of 'em and i need to save the rest of my head as i'm bashing that wall with it so much!!!!!
this is a bit of an epic so i hope you don't mind!
been growing a few years (10+) without any major problems cept the odd spider mite attack, but nothing serious.
for the last few years have been growing white widow and pot of gold in 8ft nft system under 3 x 600w sodiums.
i've one mum of pot of gold and one of white widow (replaced each year with grow on cuttings), which i take my cuttings from 6-8 weeks before they're needed in the table - depending how efficient i'm being at the time! (all veg in separate room)
i feed with canna aqua + PK in flower, and formulex in veg, keep PH in the early 6's
usually average about 0.8-0.9g/watt from the 600's i use which is ok
anyway, all was hunkydory until last year when i decided to give up and pursue other avenues.....
then had a lightbulb moment and realised that particular avenue was a dead end and had to start up again!
well, i'd never give up totally, so had couple of plants i could grow on as mum's and get cuttings from, but nothing to put in my tables immediately - so i took in cuttings from elsewhere ........
something i never normally do, but times and needs and all that......
and thats where the problems started!
In with the cuttings came a load of spider mite and a load of fungus gnats. The spider mite i've dealt with before, 2000 predators while they're still veggin, bosh! sorted!
The fungus gnats (i know they now are that - i was thinking thrips) i had had living around me before, i had my sticky traps up, and i thought that was enough and that they were pretty harmless - i couldn't of been more wrong!
this picture shows table currently, after 4wks 12/12, note yellowing leaves on top 2/3 of table. This is the start of my problem and i know from painful experience where its going to end up, the older leaves turn yellow, then brown, then die, then fall off - this happens over approx 7day period. Then the newer leaves start to go and finally end up as in this pic below...
the picture above (of a different crop) was taken just before cutting, after 8wks. But illustrates how the plants end up - brown dead leaves, weak and poorly developed.
One of my big problems is that when i plant the table, they have to stay there until they're finished 8wks later, so each time i try a problem solver, if it doesn't cure the problem then i have to wait until the 8wk period is up before trying something different.
i have had three failed crops now, the last returned me 0.1g/watt!
the problem, is NOT the following because we have been through these thoroughly :-
PH
nutrient
I have identified that we were infested with fungus gnats in the veg area which i am in the latter stages of getting to grips with - i've put sticky traps on every cutting and treat with gnat off every watering. This infestation seems to be the root of our problem, as the rockwool cubes were infested with gnats and gnat larvae in the veggin area. I assume that when they were put into flower, the damage that the gnats had caused to the roots caused the resulting discolouration and lose of leaves. When you look at the roots they are a very unhealthy brown colour.
Does anyone have any comments about that, my assumption?
This browning of the roots made me think that maybe the fungus gnats had let some wilt get into the plant and infect it.
They aren't infested any more, and the new cuttings coming through are gnat free
these two pics are of the plant where the symptons 1st showed themselves on the current table, this would be in the top left hand of the 1st pic
this last picture is of the right hand side of table when compared to 1st pic
What i would really like to know is why the plants on the left have started to turn yellow, and yet the ones on the right have not.
ALL these four plants came from a healthy veg room and could only of been infected by whatever when they were put into my table 4 weeks ago. The yellowing plant on the left took off so well that i thought problem had been solved, it easily would of returned 6oz+ - that is until it too turned!
Could the fungus gnats have been so devastating to a healthy mature plant's root system in 4 weeks?
If not, could the infection maybe spread through the nutrient solution?
Is it possible that the mums are infected, and would this also infect every cutting i take from said mum?
Sorry for long post, please ask any questions or offer any advice you like, i'm all ears!
I've read through a lot of stuff on this site, and your knowledge and experience is properly needed now!