lostinspace
Active Member
Hey all, thanks for checking this out. I got four plants in a DWC system that are about 9-10 weeks into flower, and the buds never seem to be finishing. About a month ago, the nutes (GH 3part) got pretty high (800ppm), and a tiny bit of burn showed with slightly curling tips, so I flushed and dropped the level to 500ppm. Ever since, the girls have only really been drinking water. I've been chasing the level down by adding water, but the ppm always rises as water drops (pH has been hard to balance too). At this point, they're at 200ppm - and still rising. They drink about 0.3-0.4 gallons of water a day, but they just don't want the nutes.
The buds aren't growing at all; they never really plumped up at all (two strains, AK47 and Matanuska). They got sticky and lots of trichs, but the trichs never changed from clear. Only about 6-12 buds are big enough to dry down to gram-sized, the rest (everywhere!) are smaller and popcorn-y. I use a 600w HPS light. The leaves have never shown any problems, except for the slight burn mentioned above, and never turned yellow. These girls look very strong, but there has been no real progress since about week 5.
I have a few theories on the problem. First of all, they're pretty large plants and are crammed into a 4x4x7' tent. The fan can only go across the tops, but the exhaust system is very strong, and pulls air up from below through the canopy, so I doubt it's air flow. The temps are usually around 77F, and never more than 82. The AKs have gotten very sloppy in the stem, though - they fall over on their own and have to be supported. The Matas are still strong. So I don't know if the tent is a problem.
Perhaps it's bubble flow. I have a 900cfm pump running 4 large stones, one under each plant's roots. They flow huge, but the roots cover them completely; I always guessed that it's still doing its job, but who knows.
Or perhaps some system shock stopped progress. The water is ultra-clean Colorado mountain water, 70ppm/7.0pH. The pH has been making me chase it, but it's never slid lower than 5.1 or higher than 6.7. It's usually between 5.7 and 6.1, but it's been taking more and more additives to keep it there; I seem to add something every two days.
One more theory: right before the nutes were their highest, I started using FloraNectar, the sugar/molasses stuff. I used 5ml per gallon, but I definitely think it choked them - right after that, I noticed the ppms were rising badly, and started the flushing and dropping. Also, when I flushed, the water looked and smelled just like the FloraNectar. Could that have jammed up the works?
I can't seem to find anything about this anywhere, and was wondering if anyone else has ever seen anything like this? Thanks in advance for all replies!
The buds aren't growing at all; they never really plumped up at all (two strains, AK47 and Matanuska). They got sticky and lots of trichs, but the trichs never changed from clear. Only about 6-12 buds are big enough to dry down to gram-sized, the rest (everywhere!) are smaller and popcorn-y. I use a 600w HPS light. The leaves have never shown any problems, except for the slight burn mentioned above, and never turned yellow. These girls look very strong, but there has been no real progress since about week 5.
I have a few theories on the problem. First of all, they're pretty large plants and are crammed into a 4x4x7' tent. The fan can only go across the tops, but the exhaust system is very strong, and pulls air up from below through the canopy, so I doubt it's air flow. The temps are usually around 77F, and never more than 82. The AKs have gotten very sloppy in the stem, though - they fall over on their own and have to be supported. The Matas are still strong. So I don't know if the tent is a problem.
Perhaps it's bubble flow. I have a 900cfm pump running 4 large stones, one under each plant's roots. They flow huge, but the roots cover them completely; I always guessed that it's still doing its job, but who knows.
Or perhaps some system shock stopped progress. The water is ultra-clean Colorado mountain water, 70ppm/7.0pH. The pH has been making me chase it, but it's never slid lower than 5.1 or higher than 6.7. It's usually between 5.7 and 6.1, but it's been taking more and more additives to keep it there; I seem to add something every two days.
One more theory: right before the nutes were their highest, I started using FloraNectar, the sugar/molasses stuff. I used 5ml per gallon, but I definitely think it choked them - right after that, I noticed the ppms were rising badly, and started the flushing and dropping. Also, when I flushed, the water looked and smelled just like the FloraNectar. Could that have jammed up the works?
I can't seem to find anything about this anywhere, and was wondering if anyone else has ever seen anything like this? Thanks in advance for all replies!