Germination problems/sickness ?

[EvilScotsman]

Yeah so, obvious issues are
Don't pre germ the seeds. That's what grow cubes are for. Just put the seed in pointed side up at 15mm deep.
To deep and they'll get stuck and die. Too shallow and they pop up with the shell on.
Any position other than pointy side up can result in either.

Secondly. Pete pellets are an aquired skill, as is rock wool. Root riots come wet so you just stick the seed in and go.

Thirdly, Gotta empty that res mate. There are people I speak to in here that can go A full grow without doing it but
I can't recommend strongly enough that you empty it every 7-10 days.
If the res is too big and still full then just refill it with less to keep the waste down. The less you've got in it, the more easily you'll be able to see the ppm shift while the plants feed. It's about 100ppm per week of veg that they need to be happy.
The amount of people I see sticking seedlings in 500ppm for a 200L res' and adamant that it can't be the nutes cos the ppm is staying stable is unreal.

The lighter the feed, the easier it is to keep them sweet.

If the tips go yellow you up the micro nutes.
If the bottoms go yellow you up the Base nutes.
Brown rusty patches and you up the calmag.

If the ppm of the res rises the nutes are too strong so add water. .if it drops a lot then add more nutes.
Ideally if it's dropping a little from day to day then it's perfect.

If you keep the ph right. Going in at 5.8 for veg and 6.3 for bloom and adjust it accordingly only once it reaches either end. Then there's literally nothing else you should ever need to know about nutes.
Nothing else can go wrong in that department if you stick to those rules and use sm90 at 0.3m/L every feed.

Hope that's helpful bud

 

[drnkenmnky]

Damn , one off the worst weeks in my life.
My ph meter fell deep in the water and its broken. (chinese one)
Bought batteries for the one that a friend gave me, seems that milwaukee is also not working.

So i'm guessing al my plants will die. Even the big ones.
Well in the meantime i'm setting up my other tent for regular soil plants. And i'll only water the plants with a bit of RO water. Only bits to see what they do.

Anyway i want this DWC thing working so won't give up.
If all plants are dead in some days. I'll start cleaning everything.
And i'll order the sm90 for my next grow. Because it won't make it in time to me probably. ( with the new years eve thing etc post will be delayed )

I have 2 big air pumps + 2 stones in each box.
7boxes in total. About 140L of water.

I must admit that i didn't refreshed the water since 3weeks. Maybe if i had done this , things would turn out better.
Anyway , it's quite a hassle , so i hope your sm90 trick will help in the future. My plan was only changing water 2times during the whole grow.

And indeed, autoflowers are very delicate when it's about nutrients. Learned this the hard way previous times.

Also maintained a ph within 6-6.5 , so next time i'll lower it a bit more.
Pain in the ass tough to ph RO water.. It shifts so quickly because it has no ppm's in it.
Now what i did was :
mostly RO + bit of regular water for ppm's. ( combined it gave 100ppm)
With the nutes now its 150ppm.
This hasn't changed because only 4small roots in total are touching the res.

I also bought a kind of sponge pot for germination today. Putted one seed in the hole and gave it RO water that was ph'ed. Just as a small test.( got alot of mixed seeds from a friend). Maybe that is easier to keep it moisty and i maybe will see it easier that way.
If that fails to i'll try the rockwool in a while when it arrives.

Do you put those pots directly under light when germinating?
( in my tent , my led lights are giving the heat) , without i need to turn on the heater.

Also a question:
When they pop up , how long untill you put them in the reservoir ?
How far should the distance be between the downside of the pot & the water level?
Should i place the pots under hydroton or above or in it?
The downside of my netpot was always wet from the bubblings. This seems good.

And i also have a waterfall in each reservoir for extra Oxygen

I think you hit the nail with the sm90..
I watered the seedlings always with res water.
And after that they mostly died. Maybe not because to wet or to dry , probably just because of the bacteria in the reservoir..

 

[Mr Green Fingers]

I always like to keep my ph on the lower side in Veg - 5.8 - 6.0 but in flower I like to aim for 6.5 on a res change and then let it drift down as it seems to drop alot in flower as drinking more.
Also when I knock up my nutrient mix I set the ph 0.6 lower then the number I want as the oxygen in the water from the airstones makes it rise by that amount for my set up whichever brand of nutes I use.
I have been putting my seedling in the res under lights as soon as it sprouts but I keep lights high!
I keep the water level about the level of the bottom of the net pot to start with so the bubbles wet the hydrotron which should mean you don't need to top feed, trust me the roots will find that water! Then I drop it to about an inch below the net pot once roots hit the res.
As ES said, don't overfeed especially with autos as they don't need a lot!
When I germinate personally I keep the seeds in darkness, I have the seeds in the Rockwool cube in a tupaware box wrapped in a towel and then placed on a router for heat, once sprouted I place in the net pot and wait for roots to hit the res, normally a couple days!

 

[drnkenmnky]

Yes indeed , remarked it too that ph goes up because of the oxygen ! Atleast that's a good sign
I never grew with leds so , distance is a bit difficult for now. I have it on 60cm height. ( spectrabox 362w real output)
Thanks alot for al the replies !
I'm looking for the sm90 atm but can't order it online.. Is there something with the same effects that i can buy?
Shops located in US don't ship it to me or in the shops in EU it's taken out of it.

 

[EvilScotsman]

In any form of hydro, coco pots or the most complicated of recirc systems, the ph should naturally go up In veg then down in bloom. If it doesnt your nutes are wrong.

Just spotted, try "hydroguard" monkey man. That's the only other product I know I can recommend.

 

[drnkenmnky]

In any form of hydro, coco pots or the most complicated of recirc systems, the ph should naturally go up In veg then down in bloom. If it doesnt your nutes are wrong.

Just spotted, try "hydroguard" monkey man. That's the only other product I know I can recommend.

There are some differences between sm90 & hydroguard i've read.
I want full sterilisation like you mentioned
Just found this :
https://www.onestopgrowshop.co.uk/products/pythoff-1-litre
For now this resembles the most to sm90

 

[Mr Green Fingers]

If you want sterile mate then look into Silver Bullet roots but it is peroxide based so will kill any bacteria they add to nutes also so you need to find nutes which are compatible, I know because I'm currently using it as I had some root rot issues earlier in my grow due to my mistake
All Shogun nutes work with it apart from a few things in the Sumo active boost
https://www.growell.co.uk/pest-control-plant-health/disease-control/silver-bullet-roots.html

 

[drnkenmnky]

I ordered the pythoff already last night.
That one is also not so strong as your peroxide. So might suit me better ( less chance of failing )

I'm looking for a cheap heated propagator as well.
Anyone has a recommendation ? Something that helps in giving not to much / less water for the early stage.

 

[drnkenmnky]

So i stopped but letted the plants in it because examinations and not much time.
Anyway i took them out now and wanted to see the roots. Is this rootrot ?