Help Please, First DWC and I think problem is overwatering

Thats exactly what im thinking. My roots are only bout an inch out of the rapid rooters. The thing is most of that root growth has been since i have moved them into the system and under the 400 waters. I wish when I first popped my seeds I would have bought a couple of decent cfl's because the lil 24" 13wat fluro light from wally that was labeled grow light just didnt do it. It caused major streaching from the begining. I think thats why the roots didnt grow much untill I put them in the system under the 400 waters

well - what i would do is either pick the plants up so the cubes are OUT of the water (or lower the water level - same thing), and only the root coming out the bottom is going into the water, OR break the cubes open and peel the plant out of it and try to get it to sit up in the hydroton so all the roots are in the water...

DWC is great because once you fix the problem it will snap back to cool really fast...it will take a day or so before you see some vertical growth once you figure this out.

You know It would really be nice If people would read the whole thred instead of jumping in on the last page and spouting out a bunch of info thats already been posted.....

As far as the light issue. I use the back of my hand and put them under the light. If your hand is fairly warm then you are too close just raise the light till the temp in comfortable where the tops of the plants are. I keep mine at about 15 to 18 inches away. However I have an aircooled reflector and all lights are a little different. As far as the air I think 2 airstones is a great idea. That is what I do I even have them on different pumps. One reason is that the extra air IMO helps with res temps and if one air pump goes to crap the other one will still supply oxygen to the roots. I think you are figuring it out and soon you will see an improvement. Peace.

autotek500 said:

You know It would really be nice If people would read the whole thred instead of jumping in on the last page and spouting out a bunch of info thats already been posted.....

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is this directed at me?? you dont think i read the whole thread?? it shows up all on one page for me...its not like i clicked on last page and started posting some shit like babyboi...

you had the right idea, to lower the water level... but didnt explain why it might be beneficial, or give any other advice - and after you said it everyone is telling him the nute strength is too much, which i doubt is the problem...

so SORRY for jumping in later and re-affirming what you said when i saw that is was not going in the right direction... didnt mean to piss in your corn flakes.

I would'nt compare my worst enemy to that idiot....Did'nt direct anything at you specifically. I did explain that I thought it was a lack of oxygen in the previous post....the comment was directed at the repeats that were useless and uninformative...I appreciate the reconfirmation...just trying to stop some of the nonsense Bro...he's asking for help not a bunch of random info...we can all work together to come up with a solution ...no harm no foul on your part...

Great guys I appriciate all the help so far but I need some more unfortunatly
Since I lowered the levels yesterday I thought I would go in today and the plants would be looking alot more healthy. I was wrong they r worse.

1. The plants r still very droopy which is kinda expected because I didnt think they would turn perfect in one day, but I think they might be a lil bit more droopy than before.

2. The leaves r very droopy like i said but the very tips of them r curling up.

3. Some of the leaves r starting to feel a lil crunchy like around the edges and towards the tip more

4. Some of the tips r starting to show a lil bit of discolor. Some tips look like they r defantly turning yellow and some other tips look like they r turning a musty yellow tan look

I have posted more pictures, Sorry that they r not the best pictures as they r from my blackberry.
Also remember that I have placed water levels right below net pots and there r 1 - 1.5" of hydroton on bottom of pots before rapid rooter cube.
Also I thought that maybe the leaves were getting crunchy like because the lights were too close, so I just backed them off some.
Ph has been checked evry day and is kept between 5.5 - 6.0
The room temps stay between 75 - 80 F.
I am using GH 3 part Flora series nutes and the bottle said to use 1/4 tsp
which is about 1.5ml for cuttings and seedlings
I used less to make sure I didnt fry them. I used 1ml per gal
The rapid rooter cubes r starting to look very dry so I know that they r not flooded with water like before

Please anyone I need help!! I just cant seem to figure out what the hell is going wrong. I keep making sure Im doing everything right but my plants r showing differant and I cant afford to loose them as we all know how much seeds are. Any input is greatly appriciated!!

How close are the lights now???....

i think you may have backed the water down too far... try to make it so the water is just below the bottom of the cubes... dont let the cubes go underwater, but try to get the taproot that comes out the bottom of the cube to be the only thing in the water... also, you could mist them with water on the top if they are getting crunchy... that means they are drying out, or the lights are too close, (or both)... you could spray the cubes too to keep them moist, but not sopping wet...

I think my lights r about 3 - 4ft above the lights but I would lean more towards the 3ft or maybe a lil closer from what I remember.
Im about to go back to the house and check them again so ill get the exact measurment here in a lil bit

BloodShot420 said:

i think you may have backed the water down too far... try to make it so the water is just below the bottom of the cubes... dont let the cubes go underwater, but try to get the taproot that comes out the bottom of the cube to be the only thing in the water... also, you could mist them with water on the top if they are getting crunchy... that means they are drying out, or the lights are too close, (or both)... you could spray the cubes too to keep them moist, but not sopping wet...

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i think you may have backed the water down too far

I was thinking that I might have done the same thing but I wasnt too sure.

...try to make it so the water is just below the bottom of the cubes... dont let the cubes go underwater, but try to get the taproot that comes out the bottom of the cube to be the only thing in the water...

Thats exactly what I tryed do the first time but the cubes just seemed to wick up too much water

also, you could mist them with water on the top if they are getting crunchy...

Thats exactly what I was thinking and I did do this allready when I checked the as the cubes just seemed to be to dry. I figure I guess it would be better if I just backed the water levels down enough that the cubes didnt get any water and I could just top feed them by hand a couple times a day, just enough to keep the cubes moist as this is how I watered them for the first 2.5 wks untill I put them in the DWC system. Then as soon as the roots showed through the bottom of the net pots I could stop as the system would be opperating as its supposed to.

I think the lights were too close also like you said, but I raised them.
The thing is do you guys think that the problem is not enough water now or what? I figured that if the cubes were gettin dry n crunchy that the plants would start to perk up since they were underoxygenated, but they didnt. Like I said it seems like they got worst allmost. lol

It's gonna take 2 or 3 days for them to perk up just like bloodshot said keep them moist and if you mist the leaves make sure to turn off the lights until the leaves dry, to prevent burning........

Ok guys just got back from checkin them and I raised the lights a lil bit more. I think I might see signs of them starting to recover from the lack of oxygen. The only thing I am really noticing now is the tips of the leaves are very dry and crunchy. If I were to touch them they would crack and crumble.

Anyone got a solution for this problem and what causes this to happen?
I was guessin this was tip burn from the lights being to close but I could be wrong.
All input is appriciated!!!

i would guess thats because you dropped the water too far and let it dry out completely while the lights may have been too close... if you keep them misted, and let only the roots get the water, and dont touch them they may recover.

Dammage from lack of oxy. the dammaged leaves won't get better but shouldn't get any worse....you should notice a big difference in the new growth .......

Ok but the droopyness will get better correct? Even the leaves that just have the damaged crispy tips should still perk back up right?

Yeah they should stand up or flatten out some but the new leaves should sprout and lay down without drooping...........it will just take a little time...just dont let them dry out , you may need to manually water once a day until they recover then go back to normal operation....

Ok guys. I just wanted to thank you guys AutoTek and Bloodshot.
If it wasnt for ppl like you guys everyone would have to learn the hard way. You guys been a great help and its appriciated very much.
Also thanks to anyone else who helped.

I will be keepin you guys updated on how things r goin with them so if you could check in every so often just in case I kick myself in my ass again. lol

Thanks again guys!

No problem dude ...just got off a thred with a guy that argued with every thing anybody told him .......it's nice to get a thanks once in a while ...I'll check back soon Bro

lol - your lucky i'm slightly sick and have this crazy cough and cant smoke for a while... otherwise i would just be sitting around melting into my couch like normal

its all good though - it should work out for you...