Diagnosis & advice please

[sawmiller]

What is your experience level? 1st timer

[B]Your Equipment:[/B]
.1) Type and wattage of lights. CFL's - 3 above, 1 each side (5 total)
.2) Distance from tops? 4 inches
.3) Reflector type? homemade box lined with tinfoil
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? no, but 1 plant in 72 cu ft closet
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? circulation fan on for 15 mins, 8 times a day
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule? 5x23W ?kelvin, 18/6 schedule

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil peat beased potting compost from UK garden centre with 20% perlite
.8) Size of container. at present a 5 inch pot, transplanting up in stages as roots grow
.9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings? No - into same soiless mix, in 3 inch pot

Your nutrients and water:
10) Source of water? Tap - pH 6.8
11) Method of checking water ph. pH pen
12) Method of adjusting water ph. Not done so yet - water runoff is steady at 5.6
13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. Not yet used any fert (see below)
14) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering? Sits on capillary matting, water only
15) Any additives or tea's? None
16) Are your ph levels stable Stable
17) What is your ingoing water's ph? ...your runoff ph? In - 6.8 Runoff - 5.6
18) Do you foliar feed? No

[B]Your growroom:[/B]
19) Indoors or outdoors? Indoors
20) What size of closet, room or hut? 72 Cu Feet
21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? 25C, 55% ...With lights off? 22C, 50%
22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom? No

Your strain:
23) What strain are you growing? White Widow feminized
24) From seeds or clones? Seed
25) Is this an autoflower strain? No

The story so far (Tragedy or comedy....you decide)
Seed germinated well and grew fine. reached 4 pairs of leaves and I rinsed roots and attempted DWC in bubble bucket. Using 10% concentration of the chempak hydroponics nutes from my garden centre. Within 18 hours severe burning apeared on leaves....worse at the bottom of plant. Transplanted back to soil after 24 hours flushing in water in bubbler, worried my bubbler was in some way wrong.
Growth continued well but damaged leaves yellowed, withered and died. Dark green growth appeared from lower nodes and I topped the plant when 8 inches high.
Early fan leaves continue to yellow and then wither and I remove them when they get crispy. New growth from top is looking good, but now leaves at bottom are beginning to yellow, and some leaves showing brown, damaged areas at tips.
What do I do now?.....cut of top and try to root it, leaving growth at bottom to expand? Keep going? Start again? Run around house tearing hair out? Forget the whole idea and turn to strong liquor?
Photos of the poor little plant below

Please help...

sawmiller Reviewed by sawmiller on 08-18-2010. Diagnosis & advice please What is your experience level? 1st timer Your Equipment:B] .1) Type and wattage of lights. CFL's - 3 above, 1 each side (5 total) .2) Distance from tops? 4 inches .3) Reflector type? homemade box lined with tinfoil .4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? no, but 1 plant in 72 cu ft closet .5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? circulation fan on for 15 mins, 8 times a day .6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule? 5x23W ?kelvin, 18/6 schedule Rating: 5

[Rusty Trichome]

I'd get some proper nutrients, flush 'em well, keep the circulatuion fan on 24/7, and do not water from the bottom. (tiz a good way to develop root rot)

I'd let the rootball dry a bit, and slip it out of the container to check the roots. You should see healthy white-tipped roots. If you have brown or black roots, you'll have to either (carefully) trim the dead roots, take clones, or simply adjust watering and keep your fingers crossed. Likely I'd trim the roots and take at least one clone.

What's in the Chempack, and what's it's N-P-K?
Your runoff ph is low. Does your potting mix have any buffers in it? (is it pre-buffered?)
What are you using to check runoff ph?

[sawmiller]

Thanks for answering Mr. Trichome....but I'm afraid I can't answer most of your questions!
Chempak don't make this stuff any more so I can't get the info from their website (I threw the packaging away and keep the 2 part crystals in seperate jam jars!)
The compost doesn't say if it is buffered, but when I adjusted the water in to raise the pH by 0.5 points (with citric acid that I keep for winemaking - not ideal I know, but all I had) the water out kept the same pH so I guess the answer is yes. All the bag says, with undue confidence, is that I won't need to feed for 4 - 6 weeks. True for my flowers in the garden, but never having grown under lights before I am amazed at the growth rate and feel that the nutes in this compost may be used up quicker .
I check the pH with an electronic pen that I zeroed correctly with the 2 buffering solutions supplied.
I do have miracle-gro on the shelf that I use for my garden flowers (N-P-K = 24-8-16).
I kinda like your idea of taking a cutting and hoping for the best with what I have left. It's in its night phase at the moment but will take the pot off the capillary matting in the morning....and yes, when I repotted 2 days ago, a couple of the roots were going brown.
Now that's what I call experience...plant diagnosis across the Atlantic!

Thanks again for the help :thumbsup:

Sawmiller

[Rusty Trichome]

Keep a close eye on new growth, and let us know if anything changes for the worse.

[sawmiller]

Will do, and thanks....if you need any advice on carrots, parsnips or zucchini, just ask. I'm good at those!

[Rusty Trichome]

Any tips for growing pickles? Ours never come-out crispy nor dill tasting.
We're about to give-up and go back to Vlassic. (slightly modified refrigerator 'hydro' grow)

[sawmiller]

I can do this.....Hurrah:woohoo:

Like all cucurbits they need a soil rich in organic matter...best to prepare a small 1ftx1ftx1ft hole with lots of compost or manure; leave the top of this little 'pot' slightly raised. If you live in hot arid areas then regular water is essential....better to water the ground than splash on the leaves...if they receive water after a drought they may split. Keep the fruit off wet soil and away from slugs/snails etc. (on tiles or straw is good)
Pick only firm cucumbers of the right size, cutting cleanly from the plant. Wipe with a damp cloth to clean.
Boil 1tsp dill seeds in 1pint vinegar for 5 minutes, cover and allow to cool completely.
Place cucumbers in a bowl and cover liberally with salt...seriously, lots of salt: toss them around and leave in the fridge for 24 hrs.
Rinse the cucumbers with cold water, pat dry, arrange in large jar and cover with vinegar/dill seeds prepared earlier.
Switch your MJ plants to 12/12 cycle...when the buds are ready for harvest, your pickles will be ready to eat

They're great in potato salad (I can grow those too)

[GTMan2010]

if a little it of ALUM helps firm them up alot add it to the salt mixture at a value of 1 part Alum to 10 parts salt... you could also use cinnamon, mustard seed, bay leaves, allspice, dill seed, cloves, ginger, peppercorns, coriander, juniper berries, mace, and cardamom for other flavors. For a hotter mix, add some crushed hot peppers.