1 week of destroying my plants? Help!

Hi guys,

I went on holiday for 10 days, set the timer for the light to be on 14 hours and off 10. I was hoping to let them veg while I was away and switch to 12-12 and bring them to flower when I got back.

When I get back, they are a mess.
What were very happy, green plants are now brown, crumbly and look like they are dying. The new growth is good though and the brown is only on parts of the plant.

I don't think they were getting enough light. One CFL hanging with a reflector hood horizontally, so the lower leaves prob weren't getting much light.
Water- my mum watered them twice with regular tap water while I was away.
No super ventilation either- so it's been a week of mistreating my babies.

Please help me with suggestions on what the cause is and what I can do to fix them.

I haven't picked up new lights, but will be adding a few vertical CFLs to help give them proper light everywhere and would like to shift to flower in the next couple of days. They are well overdue for flowering (2.5, nearly 3 months of veg).

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to help out!

don't switch until they are healed.

I did the same thing when I went on a cruise, but mine were in flower - mine was only 7 days, and looked worse than yours are now, just wait it out before you flower.

Thanks low.

What do you think the problem was? Not enough light reaching the leaves?

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Originally Posted by 1st timer

Thanks low.

What do you think the problem was? Not enough light reaching the leaves?

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Leaves look scorched to me. What are your temps?

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Originally Posted by drudown11

Leaves look scorched to me. What are your temps?

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I don't monitor temperatures permanently, but it's one CFL that doesn't produce any heat.
The room temperature is about 26 celcius day and 21 celcius night, which is between 80 and 70 farenheit.
I really don't think this is a heat related thing as they were doing completely fine before i went on holiday, with the exact same set up...

Any other ideas?

The things that changed when I went on holiday
1- they got 0 natural light- they were getting maybe 4 hours decent sunlight (not necessarily direct) everyday.

2- ventilation would have been not so great (it was in a closed room, but the room can fit a double bed and more, so not sure if this is actually a problem). No breeze at all, which they were getting a bit before.

3- Water was normal tap water (ph 7.4 maybe), but they were watered twice in the 10 days.

Really looking forward to thoughts guys- im going to the hydroponics store tomorrow to pick up CFL lights to help the bottom leaves as I don't think the 250W CFL is good enough.
If it's something else that the plant needs, would be great to find out soon, so I know what to buy to fix it!!

Hey 1st timer, sorry to hear about your issues. low_rider is right on target about letting the plants heal before moving to flower.

You may want to start removing the dying leaves. Pinch off the leaf mid stem and wait for the remaining stem to dry out on it's own before removing. It should come free with no resistance after a few days. If you have a lot of leaves to remove take some every few days and give the plant a chance to recover before more pruning.

One thing I didn't notice is what you were using, if anything, for nutes. I know Mirical Gro soil can get a little hot for plants so added nutes may have caused the burn.

Hope your plant comes back stronger than ever.

Thanks Built.
I'm taking both your advice- letting it recover before flower.
I just pinched off all leaves, most just crumbled in my hands and the ones that still have some life in them I left alone. The tips crumbled off but i'm leaving the half leaves on them for the plant to figure out what it wants to do with them- kill them off slowly or try to keep them alive. I will remove them if they dry in a couple of days as you said..

I think water might have been an issue too. My mum was watering them, but just with a watering can, so no run off, not much water. I can imagine they dried out a bit. That and poor lighting are the only causes I can think off.

I bought a 400W HPS today. So excited! It's up and running. Quite warm, but it's an open closet for the heat to dissipate and there's a 6inch fan on it, so hopefully all is ok. Hand test seems fine. Well wishers who have followed my grow and have saved my plants from my non green thumbs, I can imagine you are happy for me and the HPS :)

Regarding nutes- I have biobizz (the green all mix). it's organic i believe...
I'm giving them the 1ml per litre like the instructions say, as they are full sized quite large plants by now.
I have the both of the recommended flowering bio bizz nutes available for when i get into flowering.

I will give you an update on the plants in 5 days when I can see how they are recovering with the light and good water again, but if you can think of any other reasons for the plants going mental, please do let me know!

Thanks for your help everyone!

Sounds like you are doing your homework and figuring things out pretty well.

Hi guys,
Plants doing wonderfully.
Had to prune quite a few of the dead leaves, but new growth under the 400w HPS I feel is moving so much faster than the 250w CFL. Such a change.

Going to keep in veg till fully recovered, then switch nutes and lights and go into flower.
I have an auto flower that still hasn't flowered and its been 3 months. Maybe switching nutes will help.

FYI- 400w HPS is not too warm for an open-ish cupboard as long as there is a fan blowing directly on the light bulb to help dissipate heat.