What is wrong with my plants?

Hi everyone!

What is up with my plants? They are getting fed Ec 0.8-1.2. Ph 6.0 under 600 umols light. 60 percent rh 80F under led.

Grown hydroponically in pure perlite. Fed daily.

See pictures attached of the plants and the roots. Could it be root bound? About 8 weeks old.

Thanks for any help!

How do the roots smell like? Guessing root rot

Porky101 said:

What is up with my plants? They are getting fed Ec 0.8-1.2. Ph 6.0 under 600 umols light. 60 percent rh 80F under led.

Grown hydroponically in pure perlite. Fed daily.

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I never tried a pure perlite grow. It's obvious basic requirements are missing. Try repotting in a different medium (eg. add some coco or soil).

To me it just looks like it grew and you didn’t increase feed accordingly
Also moving outside increases feed required as well

Agree with above just adding in the pic atleast , that appears to be a pretty small pot imo for an outdoor run. Thats gonna take alot of attention imo

I think with straight perlite you'd want the drain hole a couple inches up the side of the pot, ala hempy bucket, not right on the bottom like a normal nursery pot. That's the only way I've ever seen people grow in just perlite, I don't know if it holds enough moisture on its own without a reservoir...

weedstoner420 said:

I think with straight perlite you'd want the drain hole a couple inches up the side of the pot, ala hempy bucket, not right on the bottom like a normal nursery pot. That's the only way I've ever seen people grow in just perlite, I don't know if it holds enough moisture on its own without a reservoir...

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Exactly what I was thinking. You can do 100% perlite no problem in a hempy bucket, but without the 2 inch reservoir at the bottom, the roots dry out and starve the plant. In a nursery pot, no bueno.

The roots smell good. Like fresh carrots....

The pot is usually sitting in about a half inch of water, drinks it food then I water again.

Here is a picture of some healthier ones.... Grown next to the one pictured above. You can see the nitrogen accumulation near the edges as they are darker compared to the middle of the leaves.

Algie is on the tables so that's not harming the plants atall. It looks bad but it's not I don't believe.


Maybe I'm not feeding enough? I shall try a higher feed and test what works.

Porky101 said:

Maybe I'm not feeding enough? I shall try a higher feed and test what works.

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You could try a foliar feed on a few plants and see how that works as well. That way if they don't like more nutes you don't stress all your plants out.

It’s probably rootbound.

Somebody already beat me to it ( it should have been set up as a hempy ) with a shallow reservoir so roots will be feeding from it . Drain to waste.

Your container will not hold any feed . A hempy bucket with full perlite would work instead of standard plastic pot with gaping holes at bottom.