New Hydro Grower - Need Help

[TheObserver]

Hey guys-

Apologize for the all CAPS in the post title. The situation may not be so dire but I do need assistance. I have never done a hydro grow and have been interested for a while. I have finally built my entire system and have launched my first hydro grow. I am trying out the Full Moon Sativa strain.

Right now I have 3 potential ladies who are in veg. They're young and small and about a week and a half old. They are having some problems with droopy leaves that look like they may be caused by over watering or oxygen deprivation but I do not understand how this could be.

I placed them in their final DWC-Bucket home a bit early as some have suggested. I have 2 airtsones at the bottom of the buckets running 24/7. The water is below the 6" net pot with the rockwool being snug in the middle of the net. So the total distance from the water to the bottom of the rockwool cube is about 3-4". They experienced no problems right away but the second day in the DWC I noticed that they began to droop. One plant particularly over the other. I have them on an 18 on/6 off light cycle with temps at about 72-76F during light and 60-62F during night. I am using a 600W MH light that's about 28-30" away. I have a more than sufficient fan to replace all the air in the space. I have began to lightly feed the plants on a Fox Farm schedule at quarter strength.
Big Bloom - 1/2 tsp /gal
Grow Big - 1/4 tsp/gal
Kangaroots - 1/4tsp/gal

My PH is between 5.9-6
My PPM is at about 400 total including the water.

Please see pictures below, the severity of damage goes in order. The last plant has not been placed into a DWC system for test purposes and is doing better than the other two but is growing slower. I am new and trying to do as much research as I possibly can. Any help is very-very appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 

[BuddroGreen]

First off, I think a 600w HID 28"-30" away is a little bit of a shock to them. I keep my 600w about 4'-5' (feet) away until they become acclimated to the brightness.

I don't feed any nutes until they have 3"-6" roots coming out of the clone dome, from what I'm seeing is that the light is too close & and nutes are shocking them. I would raise the light, and go only a couple of drops of nutes if any. They will grow with only water, rule of thumb is 2-3 sets of leaves before nutes.

I can clone, put them in a clone dome, with a 15 watt T8, only feed RO water (most bottled water) keep the temp at 75-77, and RH @ 70%-80% and two weeks later have 3"-6" roots out the bottom of rockwool. I then put them into buckets, raise the light to 4'-5' for a week or so, and only use 1/4 strength nutes at that point, until they become acclaimated to the light & nutes. Once they start to take off after a week or so, then you can lower light & and slowly up your nutes.

Also, try not to have more than a 10 degree difference between the light on & light off temps.

 

[TheObserver]

First off, I think a 600w HID 28"-30" away is a little bit of a shock to them. I keep my 600w about 4'-5' (feet) away until they become acclimated to the brightness.

I don't feed any nutes until they have 3"-6" roots coming out of the clone dome, from what I'm seeing is that the light is too close & and nutes are shocking them. I would raise the light, and go only a couple of drops of nutes if any. They will grow with only water, rule of thumb is 2-3 sets of leaves before nutes.

I can clone, put them in a clone dome, with a 15 watt T8, only feed RO water (most bottled water) keep the temp at 75-77, and RH @ 70%-80% and two weeks later have 3"-6" roots out the bottom of rockwool. I then put them into buckets, raise the light to 4'-5' for a week or so, and only use 1/4 strength nutes at that point, until they become acclaimated to the light & nutes. Once they start to take off after a week or so, then you can lower light & and slowly up your nutes.

Also, try not to have more than a 10 degree difference between the light on & light off temps.

Thanks for the thorough response, I appreciate it. This is a learning experience. I definitely rushed the ladies to get them in their final home. I have diluted the res and flushed the plants with water. I raised the light another foot and a half. After this they sprung back to life overnight! I'll take it easy on them and check back in.

Thanks

 

[BuddroGreen]

Thanks for the thorough response, I appreciate it. This is a learning experience. I definitely rushed the ladies to get them in their final home. I have diluted the res and flushed the plants with water. I raised the light another foot and a half. After this they sprung back to life overnight! I'll take it easy on them and check back in.

Thanks

Anytime man, you're doing a lot better than I did my first time

 

[TheObserver]

Anytime man, you're doing a lot better than I did my first time

Here is an update:

As of my last post, I have flushed the nets (with the cubes) with PH adjusted water and refilled the res with clean PH adjusted water. The plants sprang back to life overnight. They are good but not great. They went through a growth spurt, grew new leaves and overall are doing much better. However, you are all correct I rushed the nutes and the plants are still slightly droopy and exhibit signs of very minor nute burn. I think I flushed them at the right time, there is only one small spot on one leaf, on each plant. Each day they seem to be doing better but I think they are still hungry for more oxygen.

Will keep you updated.

-i

 

[latewood]

That was good advice above. Glad to see it worked out for you. One of the biggest grower traits necessary to be successful is: Patience.