a little problem

[arbogast]

Hi folks, I am a newbie and have a little problem.

Background...
Ebb and flow, watering about 15 minutes every two to three hours
GH nutrients, ppm is about 990
PH running around 6 pretty consistently
room temp avg around 83 maybe a bit higher sometimes
airflow, constant new outside air, 4" duct with small duct fan
fan on the plants
clay balls (forgot name) is the growing medium
light is HID 1kw, about two feet above
botanicare ebb and flow

OK, had two plants in wick system (I travel a bit...) and I got PH out of whack and burned them pretty good, were just going into flowering, enough to sex them, one was female, other male, trashed him, the female was damaged pretty bad, so got a cloning system and cloned some of her, it is aeroponic. Clones did very well, took eight and put in the ebb and flow, left about 10 in the cloner. They did very well for a few with a low ppm GH solution, about a week, like about 500, so I bumped it to about 1000, and they didnt react too well, first leaf tip burn and fringe, then curling, so dropped the ppm to about 250 and leached them good, then let that go a day or two and bumped to 500. They were still curling, but growing profusely, lots of lower veg, but leaves were/are still curling. Thought I was overwatering, which I was, had run them a few times for too long, over and hour, know better now, but now, no matter if I underwater or overwater, they are staying curled, and new leaf growth just curls up too, and weird things like leaf growth that is only one leaf, not three, and top leaves just come out and curl up and act weird. They are getting taller, but are still curled up pretty bad....

Not sure what to do with them....the clones in the cloner are fine, looking very good, in fact so big that will have to come out soon, roots systems much better and bigger than the ones I planted, and too big for the clear cover now, so they have to go somewhere and I am limited on space.

So, my question is, what to do? Trash the funky ones, start over with the better looking clones, and take the funky ones, trim them back, they would make great clones, they have tons of lower leaf growth I could trim back and clone them and have nice big clones with a 3/8" stem, and just plant the clones and start over....but if I am doing something wrong then I dont want to mess up the clones. This is a superskunk strain from Amsterdam, and I only had one seed do any good, and this is it, dont want to lose it....

They are about 6 inches high, maybe 7, and about two weeks out of the cloner, seems they should be bigger maybe...not sure, it is a low growing strain.

So, you geniuses, what do you think? Sorry no pics, my cam is trashed, and cell phone pics look like crap, too much light..

Arbogast

[arbogast]

By the way, light was closer before, about 18 inches or maybe a bit less, but it was not so close that it would make my hand hot to hold it at top of plants....room is a bit warm I know, and could switch to fluoro lights and it runs cooler, but they grow so good with the hid.....Arbo

[arbogast]

oops forgot to mention, running lights 24 hours

[arbogast]

OK here are some pics of what I am talking about. See the clones look good, but the others..........

[PharmaCan]

Your plants are re-vegging, because they were in flower when you cut/cloned them. Your clones should be doing the same thing now, or very soon. Revegging takes 2-3 weeks, then you'll start seeing normal growth again. Relax and enjoy the show, it's a cool metamorphosis.

PC :smokin:

[arbogast]

Hey thanks, do you think that the ones in the cloner will do the same thing, they are not reacting the same way, but are smaller, and I have been running them at about 250 ppm, but just bumped it to 500.

So, at what point would you suggest that I put them back to flowering?

Arbo

[arbogast]

Oh, sorry, I glossed over that part of your answer the first time around, the clones will start soon, cool. I was thinking of just seeing how big I could get them in the aeroponic cloner, just for kicks, the roots look great.

[arbogast]

Sorry to keep asking questions, but this is a learning experience.....so do you think that the initial tip burn and fringe burn, was that screwup or is that typical of reveg too? Would be good to know if my process screwed them or if that is just natural too.........you are right, it is a cool show, lots of weird looking stuff....I guess this is going to delay the time frame too.....better start with pre-flowering clones next time....but she was a goner, only way to save her...cool

[arbogast]

Gosh, I guess I will ask one more, I have been pussyfooting with nut and watering, so not sure what to do with a revegging plant, what ppm and watering schedule. Remember I am in those clay balls only, ebb and flow, and they dry out pretty fast. I put a little regular medium in two of them as an exeriement, just around the roots when starting them, and they are a little bigger, maybe they curled less, and I dont remember actually that they leaf tip and fringe burned....does the clay only make them run pretty dry? Thanks for any help...

[PharmaCan]

I would keep the nutes at 1/4 - 1/2 strength until the re-vegging is finished and then bump them up to whatever level you want to veg with. You're just kind of in a holding pattern until the re-vegging is done, so don't stress too much about the nute regimen until then.

As far as what you think might have been nute burn, it quite possibly was. But, at this point, it's not going to affect anything as long as the clones are still doing ok. When I make clones, I use only Clonex in the solution while the cuttings are in the cloner, then B1 when I first put them in coco. Depending on the plants, after 2-3 days I will start them on 1/4 nutes for 4-5 days then up to 1/2 nutes. I suppose I could be more aggressive and still get good results, but I'm not doing a commercial grow and a few days longer here or there just doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have healthy plants and few problems then have the bud a few days sooner.

I've never grown in hydrotron, but there are a lot of threads in the hydro section about hydrotron and you can probably find everything you need to know by reading/asking questions in the hydro section.

Enjoy your grow. :thumbsup:

PC :smokin:

[arbogast]

Your plants are re-vegging, because they were in flower when you cut/cloned them. Your clones should be doing the same thing now, or very soon. Revegging takes 2-3 weeks, then you'll start seeing normal growth again. Relax and enjoy the show, it's a cool metamorphosis.

PC :smokin:
Thanks for the advice a while back, five of the ladies are about ready now, I will send you some pics if you like, but dont know how to send direct on here, or maybe this is direct, anyway, thanks!

[stinkyattic]

If you see better results from the plants that you have given a bit of moisture-retaining medium, that would indicate that you can add another flood cycle to your daily flood/drain schedule.

[arbogast]

OK, cool, on these I have/had been flooding about every three hours, is that too much? After they were up and going well and into bloom I was using Gen Hydro nuts at about 1500 to 1600...and they came out pretty good, but the buds are not that tight and they are a bit stretched out, not really tight like stuff I have bought before, but I think that in the last stages I had the lights a bit high, and also had some temp fluctuation due to where they are, some too low temps, probably ranging 60 to 85 F over a days time, I will have all that under control next time, sheesh, a lot to learn and control here....

[stinkyattic]

Lights too high and too much N will cause stretching.
That's quite a stiff nute solution. Did you see tip scorch?
85'F isn't outrageous, but 60'F is getting on the low side. Try to keep temp differences less thatn 15 degrees apart.
Do you have some sort of aerator in your reservoir? That's a good thing to stick in there, even a cheap aquarium air stone and pump.

[arbogast]

Well, I was/am using the GH nuts and going by their suggestions, so dont know about N on that, but the clones were from a female that was going down from a PH problem, so when i cloned them, they had to reveg, so they got a bit taller than I would have like before I put them into flower again, but I have a feeling that those temp fluc's might have impacted the flowering maybe, but also, I was feeding about every two hours, would that impact it? I didnt see any tip scorch at all, they just ate it up far as I can tell. It was like 1450 1500 mostly, unless water was down (I am gone some, so it fluctuates a bit up and down..) so it would creep up some with evaporation. I am using some old hand me down lights, maybe they are not as strong as they look, they are 1000 watt halides....but there are two for four plants.

I have big aerator in there, and 3 by four botanicare tray and 45 gallon botanicare res.

I dont know, the buds just dont have a lot of bulk to them it seems like.....if I am flushing now, will I get any more bulk do you think?


Thanks!!

[stinkyattic]

Flowering under halides you don't get the sort of bulk/density that you would under HPS. It's simply a matter of the spectrum. The blue halide light encourages squat vegetative growth, while the red sodium light encourages bud mass.

[arbogast]

Duh, I am an imbecile....here is the light I am using...

430 Watt Philips Son Agro HPS Bulb


This 430 Watt Philips Son Agro HPS light bulb has a 30% increased blue spectrum in addition to the red/orange spectrum needed for fruiting, flowering and budding. The Son Agro lamp offers the benefits of a Metal Halide and HPS lamp since it combines the two spectrums. The Son Agro is ideal for growing vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes. The 430 Son Agro light bulb can be used with a 400 or 430 Watt HPS ballast.

Is that ok, should I change?