What is wrong with my White Widow plants? PLEASE help.

I have (2) 2 week old white widow plants that were doing wonderful when I first transferred them into my hydro system after they sprouted. They did really well up until 3 days ago when I added nutes for the first time after the plants got their 3rd set of leaves. I used the GH Flora Series, 2.5ml of each. The next day when I went to turn my lights off, I noticed some browning on the leaf tips. On the 2nd day after adding the nutes, I changed out the water with a fresh gallon and also ran some GH FloraKleen through it for about 2 hours. I then dumped that water out and replaced with a fresh gallon. My ph is staying anywhere between 5.5-6.0. I am doing an 18-6 light cycle. I have 100 total CFL watts. Two lights are about 2-3 inches away and the other 3 lights are about 12 inches away. My plants are in Rapid Rooters sitting in net pots filled with Hydroton. I figured after flushing maybe that would make them look better. It did make them perk up a little more but I can't get the yellowing and browning to stop. What is going on? Please look at the pictures and give me some ideas. I don't want them to die! LOL

I'm no pro and I'm sure you'll get plenty of responses but I'd stop the nutes NOW until you hear from someone else... as far as I can see it's the only thing that could be doing that....

dude you nute burned it from the looks of it give it a good couple of cycles of water ph at like 6-6.5 with nothing else in it if your using tap water put it in a bottle and leave it with the cap off for a bit so all the chemicals evaporate then give it to your babies

I haven't added nutes since that one time and I flushed them all out 2 days after noticing the discoloring. I have changed the water twice since then actually. I am using distilled water. Should I just give it a few more days and wait and see what happens? Should the FloraKleen have gotten the nutes out of the growing medium? I appreciate the quick replies and the help!!

lol oh sorry i mis read what you posted.....r u using water bought from the store or are you distilling it like i said because store bought watrer soemtimes lacks nutrients the plant needs.. as for florakleen ive never used it personally to flush my plants so i wouldnt really know i usually use epsom salts for flusing.

No problem! Store bought water, guess that could be a problem?? My tap water is very hard so I hated to use that. Would it be more beneficial to use it anyway?

I would use distilled water, keep your ph where its been & lay off the nutes for another 2 or 3 weeks...Maybe even another flush..But def a nute burn since you ph is fine & I presume its too young to be experiencing nitrogen def.

It does look burnt, but if that already happened, the damaged growth won't recover. We need to look at the new growth to get an accurate indication.

I think I would raise the light a little and give a few days with a mild nutient solution and see what she says. distilled can actually leach nutrients out.

Thanks everyone. I am scared to add any nutrients at all even though it has crossed my mind to add way less and see what happens. I just don't want to fry them any more. When you say "mild nutrient solution" what do you have in mind? Or if I did let them sit for 2-3 weeks without adding anything, will they become nutrient deficient?

Also, when you say raise the lights, should I just turn the two off that are 2-3 inches away and only leave the 12 inch high ones running for now?

Personally Id lay off the nutes for at least a week or two only because even the new growth looks a bit pale...When you do start adding nutes again whenever you do decide to, you should deff do a light solution, maybe 1 quarter or half of what the bottle says...I personally do that regardless with new strains based on I have no idea how that particular strain will react, if its a light feeder or heavy....since there are soooooo many different WW variaties & wanna be WW strains out there now I couldnt comment on your particular version of the strain

Well I got the seeds from Nirvana Shop, so I would hope I have a legit strain. I think I will lay off the nutes and see what happens. I also may add some tap water in with my distilled. Thanks for the help! Once I add nutes again in a couple of weeks I will definitely be giving them 50-60% less than what the feed chart says.

Start low and work ur way up. Your plants was used to getting nothing. Then over night they got a lot. Thats a big shock to them. its always better to give them to little then to give them to much.

When you say "two weeks old" are you counting sprout time? In either case, these plants are really young and I agree with everyone else that you probably burned them with the nutes.

The only other possible thing I can think of is to check your water temp. If you're running your water hot (over 75F) and getting root rot, the symptoms on top of the plant will look like nute burn and all sorts of nute deficiencies at the same time.

I'd add 5ml/gal CalMag to the distilled water and then after the first signs of root or shoot growth, I'd add nutes to bring it up to 200 ppm (@.5 conversion) and leave it there for about 4-6 days, then if all looks well raise it by another 150-200ppm about every 4 days while watching for any signs of tip burn or leaf curl. Now that you've torched the first couple leaves, you'll need to go even slower than normal for a week or so.

You gotta go slow with tiny babies. You wouldn't just toss your toddler a big plate of steak & potatoes would you?

Also, even when the babies get older, Fluorescent lights don't provide enough energy to really run plants on a full strength nute mix like it says on the product label. Learn to read your plants more and the label less. Next time, dilute the nutes when you see that first sign of tip burn. If you'd done that instead of waiting another day, they wouldn't be so badly burned, but of course that's easy to say in hindsight.

The GH website says to start sprouts at 300-500ppm but they don't mention a conversion factor or what type of light source, so that isn't much help. Since these are sprouts, I'd assume they are using a .7 conversion meter to get those numbers. Call the company to make sure. If your meter uses a .5 conversion factor then your ppm numbers would be more like 200-350 for that first week. In either case, always watch for tip burn and immediately drop the nutes down a couple notches when you see it.

from my limited experience.... that is not light burn.... cut the nutes out for a week.... NO nutes!!!!! unless somebody on here calls me an idiot and I will gladly bow to his experience

often mild is better than none. especially if using ro or distilled. It's amazing how much they can take. I say give em a few days under mild conditions, quit waiting for the pot to boil, and they'll perk up.

By two weeks old I mean from the time I transferred them in to my hydro box. So technically they are closer to 3 weeks old if you count germination time. This is my first grow and I'm having trouble understanding the difference between a ppm meter and a TDS meter. I have a TDS meter and I know it is read as PPM but what is the difference in buying a $200 ppm meter as opposed to a $20 TDS meter? For example, when I use my TDS meter it reads 61. Is there a conversion I need to do?
i am on the fence about adding more nutes because it seems the overall consensus on here is split lol.

To answer your question about the temperature, it is 72-73 degrees.

very weird I also have a white widow plant at the same age that is doing this very same thing!! never added any nutes and I have used pure distilled at 6.5 ph on it.

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/524024-mg-defic-what.html

Pictures there, looks similar.

That is strange. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I just added nutes that one time. I guess it was too much for them even though it seems like I didn't add much at all. My ph has been consistent, the temperature is consistent, I have tended to them every single day like clockwork. It's frustrating. My ppm is very low because I have nothing but distilled water in there. I need to get my ppm up but I'm scared to feed them again. I have some new growth and as of now it looks okay and not burned. I think I'm gonna hold off for a few more days on trying nutes again! I also cut back the lights and am using the ones that are 12 inches away instead of the ones right on them. We will see.