Newb here almost no vertical growth. Too short?

tripleJ said:

No way I can lower it. That's why I went the hydroguard route. The lowest I can get is 77F thw roots haven't complained however as you can see in the pics. Also they have 2 pumps (4 hoses on each bucket) But I guess those are the current limitations of this room. I have like 3 fans, but I can't afford a chiller. Some people might say it's a miracle I haven't gotten root rot but I'm just pouring in the hydroguard and beneficial bacteria. Also I see 2 new sets of leaves every day and vigorous side growth. If I add Armor Si you think I can overcome the heat?

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Air pumps raise temps as well. Be careful with temps I've have really nice plants that got root rot fast because I thought 76-78 degrees was cool because my plants were cool. Until they weren't, and then it's too late. Switch to coco and get the same results without the headache.

kratos015 said:

Unfortunately my experience with hydro is quite limited, so I never could have given this kind of advice. This very well could be the issue because everything else seems good from what I can tell.



That's quite a relief about the spots, furthermore it already sounds like you're quite capable of troubleshooting issues. Where is it you're living that it gets so hot in March?? I'm in Arizona and even out here it isn't that hot yet and we get 120+ degree weeks in summer. I suppose where you're living isn't what I'm most curious about, but your locations average RH? Have you looked into evaporative cooler/swamp coolers? You can DIY for a pretty reasonable price, and the main costs are from the startup as they use significantly less electricity than an AC does. The down sides to evap coolers is they only work reliably if humidity is 15% or lower, and they will add humidity to the room they are cooling. I highly recommend looking into one as it sounds perfect for your situation. If possible, avoid triggering flower until you get some form of cooling down. But if you can't, it is what it is.

What's important is that both your roots and foliage look gorgeous. If you can keep the roots and leaves looking that happy you will be just as happy come harvest.

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I live in Puerto Rico. the first week it was all a breezy 80-84F. By the second week of march we started getting 95F temps outdoor and 93F indoor. I was thinking of investing in a swamp cooler as soon as I had money. Also I have one of those portable ice making machines maybe I can turn that into a project

thenotsoesoteric said:

Air pumps raise temps as well. Be careful with temps I've have really nice plants that got root rot fast because I thought 76-78 degrees was cool because my plants were cool. Until they weren't, and then it's too late. Switch to coco and get the same results without the headache.

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I wanted to go coco first but I never found a good supplier so DWC became my easiest option. and I love it. Change the rez every 10 days fresh batch of nutes 8ml of hydroguard and 2ml of hydroguard on every bottle of PH'd water. No root rot issue so far and root growth has been amazing.

Im thinking since these are all mystery bagseed to give them 3 month veg or until one reaches 18".

tripleJ said:

I live in Puerto Rico. the first week it was all a breezy 80-84F. By the second week of march we started getting 95F temps outdoor and 93F indoor. I was thinking of investing in a swamp cooler as soon as I had money. Also I have one of those portable ice making machines maybe I can turn that into a project

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Definitely invest in one if you can, it will be an incredible investment for you if you have 15% or less humidity out there.

Under ideal conditions, it shouldn't take more than 2 months for a plant to reach 18".

Considering how hot things are for you already, things could be looking significantly worse.

Assuming you give the plant everything else it needs, your worst case scenario with constant 90-95 degree temps is airy buds and an increased likelyhood for hermaphroditism. If you can't avoid those temps, all you can do is help your plants deal with them as best as you can. Be sure to trim off any and all branches (branches, not fan leaves) that aren't receiving light as they are the first to hermie on you. Be vigilant looking for bananas come flower. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with those temps and bagseed it is quite likely you will be dealing with hermaphroditism in some way, shape, or form.

Ideally, temps excluded, the plant will be healthy and stress free overall and as a result won't be as likely to hermie on you. If you're unable to control temps, make sure you're 110% vigilant when looking for signs of sacks or bananas, especially on the bottom branches/branches that don't receive light.

The temps will for sure have a negative affect on your yield, but it is entirely possible to produce some quality flowers even with those temps. Your yields will suffer, yes, but the quality won't suffer nearly as bad as yields will as far as temps are concerned.

And, again, all that being said, your plants are looking really good my man. The roots and leaves look incredibly healthy and as long as you maintain that then everything else will follow suit!

kratos015 said:

Definitely invest in one if you can, it will be an incredible investment for you if you have 15% or less humidity out there.

Under ideal conditions, it shouldn't take more than 2 months for a plant to reach 18".

Considering how hot things are for you already, things could be looking significantly worse.

Assuming you give the plant everything else it needs, your worst case scenario with constant 90-95 degree temps is airy buds and an increased likelyhood for hermaphroditism. If you can't avoid those temps, all you can do is help your plants deal with them as best as you can. Be sure to trim off any and all branches (branches, not fan leaves) that aren't receiving light as they are the first to hermie on you. Be vigilant looking for bananas come flower. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with those temps and bagseed it is quite likely you will be dealing with hermaphroditism in some way, shape, or form.

Ideally, temps excluded, the plant will be healthy and stress free overall and as a result won't be as likely to hermie on you. If you're unable to control temps, make sure you're 110% vigilant when looking for signs of sacks or bananas, especially on the bottom branches/branches that don't receive light.

The temps will for sure have a negative affect on your yield, but it is entirely possible to produce some quality flowers even with those temps. Your yields will suffer, yes, but the quality won't suffer nearly as bad as yields will as far as temps are concerned.

And, again, all that being said, your plants are looking really good my man. The roots and leaves look incredibly healthy and as long as you maintain that then everything else will follow suit!

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Thanks! This is a test grow for my grow environment. I'd rather kill of hermies if it comes to that than to lose a crop of quality strains that I shelled off money for (that woul've hurt more). So either way I'm glad that Temp seems like my only culprit. Humidity here gets to the 70's but I also have a dehumidifier so I don't think humidity will be an issue. I'm also gonna have to stock up on PLENTY of hydroguard and bennies! Probably add Armor Si to the next grow and GH equivalent of Voodoo Juice. RN all I'm using to test is GH Flora Trio, Micro, Grow and Bloom. Nothing else except the hydroguard. Im want to keep it simple. My tap at 147ppm (which fortunately after the filtration is just calmag) and I'm following the growweedeasy dwc schedule with some minor adjustments. Have had no problems until 1 1/2 that I noticed how hot everything was getting. I mean everything. But maria took out most of the trees so heatwaves are expected. Gonna add little by little these additives on the next grow to see the differences.

Well moved them to another room that had a broken ceiling fan and an AC. I got the AC to half work. All in all air temp 88F now every degree counts but at least it lowered the rez temps to 72F. We'll see how they do in the next couple of days.

I could be wrong but they just don't look like heat stressed plants to me.
Genetics ... lighting (too close or intense lighting keeps plants short) ... there's more than just your temps that could be doing this.

drsaltzman said:

I could be wrong but they just don't look like heat stressed plants to me.
Genetics ... lighting (too close or intense lighting keeps plants short) ... there's more than just your temps that could be doing this.

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yeah they're from "local cuts" random bagseed from different parts of the island so potentially each one of them is a different strain. I'm keeping the lights at 18" and oddly enough the 3 week old is the tallest at 7". While the 5 week olds just like to grow to the side non stop and only 5.5" (the 3 week old was 5.5" before it finished its second week. They have looked healthy from day one no signs of heat stress. Only one incident where I left all of them at 6.9 for 3 days but they recovered. Just in case I finished moving them to the half working AC room and figured out a way to vent hot air and 86-88F not bad could be better. Here's some updates the new room is between 86-88F

3 week old 7" tall:




5 week old's (left and back)


If I might add growing these reminds me of growing and Alaskan Thunder clone in my back yard in april 2015. Slow painful and it took 8 months to grow 10 inches in veg it just didn't like the heat. Temps were 98F and 80% humidity on a good day with that old outdoor grow. That Alaskan mustve hated me lmao

Also tbh I'm more focusing on this chart for my DWC instead of humidity maybe that's the problem? I just focus staying on the green as my temp fluctuates.

drsaltzman said:

I could be wrong but they just don't look like heat stressed plants to me.
Genetics ... lighting (too close or intense lighting keeps plants short) ... there's more than just your temps that could be doing this.

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Thank you. All this crap in this thread....and no one is addressing light concentration. Dial the lights back.

Sgt.Sly said:

Thank you. All this crap in this thread....and no one is addressing light concentration. Dial the lights back.

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You suggest 24" or 30"? They're currently 18" away cuz it was what the manufacturer suggested.

I went and read more. I amend my statement. At 18" with your wattage your prolly good. Heat and high humid temps are likely your enemies here as stated by a few already.

Sgt.Sly said:

I went and read more. I amend my statement. At 18" with your wattage your prolly good. Heat and high humid temps are likely your enemies here as stated by a few already.

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Thanks I'm still applying all of the advice lol
Well I raised the lights 24" just in case. Changed the grow room to an entirely different space the AC barely works but at it's max setting it's able to keep the temp at 86-88F
Reservoir temp 75-77
40% humidity.

I'm gonna give it a couple of days see what happens. At this point it's the best I can do and be patient. At least the leaves have no signs of heat stress or any more spotting the plants seem happy.

tripleJ said:

Thanks I'm still applying all of the advice lol
Well I raised the lights 24" just in case. Changed the grow room to an entirely different space the AC barely works but at it's max setting it's able to keep the temp at 86-88F
Reservoir temp 75-77
40% humidity.

I'm gonna give it a couple of days see what happens. At this point it's the best I can do and be patient. At least the leaves have no signs of heat stress or any more spotting the plants seem happy.

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You need to try and get those reservoir temps down. The warmer the temp the less the oxygen. Cooler temps hold more oxygen. Freeze some small water bottles and drop those in. That's what I did to keep the temps down without a chiller. I'd be worried about root rot showing up with temps that high.

xtsho said:

You need to try and get those reservoir temps down. The warmer the temp the less the oxygen. Cooler temps hold more oxygen. Freeze some small water bottles and drop those in. That's what I did to keep the temps down without a chiller. I'd be worried about root rot showing up with temps that high.

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Hydroguard, Hydroguard, Hydroguard. It hasn't failed me at all. Those roots don't mind the temps at all. Even if it's to top off the rez with PH water. I make sure I hydroguard everything. Honestly beneficial bacteria in my opinion is a better route in the tropics. As long as I make sure that all the water I use has hydroguard from the start im not worried.

Sgt.Sly said:

Thank you. All this crap in this thread....and no one is addressing light concentration. Dial the lights back.

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Sgt.Sly said:

I went and read more. I amend my statement. At 18" with your wattage your prolly good. Heat and high humid temps are likely your enemies here as stated by a few already.

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I gotta say Sarge next time stick to your guns lol
you were right about light concentration. Dialed the lights back I got nice vertical growth again even at 92F. Everything back on track! You are the man. THANK YOU!!! It seems this bagseed prefers 24" over 18"

I feel I failed to take into account that im using two 600w and with 2 closer is not necessarily better

I have some bubba kush that grows really squat like that when in veg but stretches out during the flowering stage.

Another update of the ladies. Week 5 and Week 7. At this point with this heat I'm just more focused on finishing a grow in hydro from start to finish than to worry about yields. While raising the lights helped considerably, they're not streching vertically as fast as they could but I have a strong feeling this bagseed is just a short strain.

dragnit said:

I have some bubba kush that grows really squat like that when in veg but stretches out during the flowering stage.

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I'm praying that I accidentally got some good slow growing kush strain like that lol. And like I was saying I have a strong feeling it's the bagseed (though I'm not in denial that my temps aren't helping AT ALL!), because no matter what happens the vertical growth maybe slow but the horizontal growth is HUGE everyday and so is root growth. That's what leads me to believe it's more the strain. I think if I was having growth problems it wouldn't grow much horizontally either. But even if they have gained only .2 or .3 inches of vertical growth in a day, bushiness/horizontal growth still streches MUCH MORE. All in all asides from the scars of that PH lockout from the broken meter they look healthy to me. I think I could be doing worse for my first hydro grow lol.

Those plants almost look like they were topped. Like I said though they will stretch 1 1/2 times during flower.