New Grower My third attempt at hydroponics and first grow journal

[Tumbleweed59]

Hello my fellow AFN cana farmers! Today is day 53 of my grow and it is also my 59th birthday. It is also a sad day as one of my favorite music artists passed away. R.I.P. Aretha.

So the American Pie and the NLBB are doing just fine, at least with their growing. I noticed that my roots have begun to turn brown though there is no slime and no odor as before in my past crops. I am using Hydroguards Botanicare as suggested by @Mañ'O'Green for several weeks now, and use it with every weekly tank change. I top off once on the fourth or fifth day so as to keep the roots submerged in nutrient solution. My question is, is this normal? I am also adding frozen 1 gallon containers of water to the tanks to keep the temperature in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. Even though I am using advanced nutrients pH perfect I still check the pH daily as well as my ppm‘s, and I am always within range of where I need to be.

NLBB root ball

LST

Main cola

American Pie root ball

LST

Main cola

Fairly even canopies

So there are the pics for the two girls in the tent. Please let me know what you think of the roots and any suggestions you have for changing up what I am doing if necessary.
Thanks to @richykn for asking about the roots. It’s good to know that others can help pick up the ball when I drop it.

Now for the Jack Herer auto. She died. Why I don’t know. She was the third seed in a set of three that in all three cases did not grow. The first two sprouted a small taproot but did nothing else. This third one gave me hope that all was not lost. But for some reason she never matured beyond starting her third set of leaves and never growing any taller than she was when she was originally planted in the rockwool cube. The only nutrient that was used was Advanced nutrients voodoo juice. And that was very diluted. The temperature in the cabinet is no different than what was in the tent with the other two. 82 to 89°. The water level in the bucket was approximately 1/2 inch below the neck 82 to 89°. The water level in the bucket was approximately 1/2 inch below the net pot, enough for the bubbles to pop and spray water on the rockwool. The pH was at 5.8. And no other nutrients were in the water. So here are some pics that I hope can show enough that I can get some answers as to what might’ve went wrong.

Thanks in advance to everyone for your help.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hello my fellow AFN cana farmers! Today is day 53 of my grow and it is also my 59th birthday. It is also a sad day as one of my favorite music artists passed away. R.I.P. Aretha.

So the American Pie and the NLBB are doing just fine, at least with their growing. I noticed that my roots have begun to turn brown though there is no slime and no odor as before in my past crops. I am using Hydroguards Botanicare as suggested by @Mañ'O'Green for several weeks now, and use it with every weekly tank change. I top off once on the fourth or fifth day so as to keep the roots submerged in nutrient solution. My question is, is this normal? I am also adding frozen 1 gallon containers of water to the tanks to keep the temperature in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. Even though I am using advanced nutrients pH perfect I still check the pH daily as well as my ppm‘s, and I am always within range of where I need to be.

NLBB root ball
View attachment 941993 View attachment 941990 View attachment 941991

LST
View attachment 941992

Main cola
View attachment 941994

American Pie root ball
View attachment 942007
View attachment 942006 View attachment 942005

LST
View attachment 942008

Main cola
View attachment 942004

Fairly even canopies
View attachment 942009

So there are the pics for the two girls in the tent. Please let me know what you think of the roots and any suggestions you have for changing up what I am doing if necessary.
Thanks to @richykn for asking about the roots. It’s good to know that others can help pick up the ball when I drop it.

Now for the Jack Herer auto. She died. Why I don’t know. She was the third seed in a set of three that in all three cases did not grow. The first two sprouted a small taproot but did nothing else. This third one gave me hope that all was not lost. But for some reason she never matured beyond starting her third set of leaves and never growing any taller than she was when she was originally planted in the rockwool cube. The only nutrient that was used was Advanced nutrients voodoo juice. And that was very diluted. The temperature in the cabinet is no different than what was in the tent with the other two. 82 to 89°. The water level in the bucket was approximately 1/2 inch below the neck 82 to 89°. The water level in the bucket was approximately 1/2 inch below the net pot, enough for the bubbles to pop and spray water on the rockwool. The pH was at 5.8. And no other nutrients were in the water. So here are some pics that I hope can show enough that I can get some answers as to what might’ve went wrong.
View attachment 942022 View attachment 942023 View attachment 942024

Thanks in advance to everyone for your help.

Two things I see: The first root picture; if you look at where the side branching starts about 3 or 4 inches below the net pot. That is an indication that the water level is dropping 3 or 4 inches below the net pot. This is too much fluctuation in the water level and causes a lot of stress on the plant. You need a top off system to keep the water level consistent. The plant that died has dampened off This is usually caused by too wet too warm where the plant comes out of the sponge. A lot of different pathogens can cause this.Clean the grow space and all tools, pots etc... well with bleach. Try to let the seedlings dry out a little between waterings until the roots are in the reservoir then let the sponge dry out completely.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

ps you might want to remove the picture with your finger prints showing if you live where this activity is not allowed.

 

[richykn]

@Tumbleweed59 happy birthday to you mate , hope you have a good one .

As for the roots they look great in size but they are looking a bit dark Is this how they normally look? , mine look dark after a Res change and they get stained by the nutes ,then they usually look cleaner after a couple days once they have had a drink , looks like the lst paid off for u bro and you have a nice even canopy , good luck with your grow mate

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Tumbleweed59 happy birthday to you mate , hope you have a good one .

As for the roots they look great in size but they are looking a bit dark Is this how they normally look? , mine look dark after a Res change and they get stained by the nutes ,then they usually look cleaner after a couple days once they have had a drink , looks like the lst paid off for u bro and you have a nice even canopy , good luck with your grow mate

I think he is using a fermented tea - hence brown roots.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

ps you might want to remove the picture with your finger prints showing if you live where this activity is not allowed.

Thanks Man. I was only able to remove the big picture in the post but I can’t get rid of the small picture in the attachment file section.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

I have only been topping off my tank once a week mostly because I knew the plants would drink at least that much but apparently I need to do it more often. I am using 18 gallon tanks with 10 gallons of H2O. I read somewhere that it was good to let at least an inch or two of the roots be exposed to the open air before going into the water. Where I read this I cannot remember. And with what you wrote @Mañ'O'Green that has been the wrong thing to do. So now my water level is about a half inch below the net pots with the addition of 2 1/2 more gallons. Would that be about right?
My roots do get darker after a tank change because I use pH perfect micro @richykn. But I thought that it was permanent staining.
As for fermented tea I could see staining but I do not use it unless it is something that is beneficial.

Thanks for the info gentlemen! I really do appreciate it!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Thanks Man. I was only able to remove the big picture in the post but I can’t get rid of the small picture in the attachment file section.

You can ask any of the Admins to remove it.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Once the roots are well into the reservoir adjust the water level down to 1/2" to 1" below the net pot and turn off any top feed. The idea is to let the top of the plant where it comes out of the hydroton to dry out and remain dry. This will prevent "crown rot". After that you want the level of the water to remain constant. If the level drops in the reservoir two undesirable things are happening: One, the top portion of the roots once dried will stop being able to uptake nutrients even when rehydrated. Lateral roots die and put organic material in to the reservoir. Second the nutrient strength can fluctuate wildly when the plant is uptaking more water than nutrients. This causes a lot of stress that is easily avoided with a float valve and top off tank. Aerate the top off water and mix with nutrients at about 1/4 of the strength you are running in the reservoir that week. This will keep the nutrients in the reservoir about the strength you started with. You may need to adjust this a little but 1/4 strength worked well for me.

 

[Tumbleweed59]

Thanks. You are a plethora of information! I should probably look online but it seems some of the online information has not been quite correct. Would a regular ball cock style float valve for a toilet work. I was a maintenance man for almost 10 years and have worked with hundreds of them. I could rig one to work with a top off tank. What I am going to do is take a half inch dowel and use it to mark off the depth of each gallon for each tank when I change them out in two days so I know exactly what I’ve got in there until I do a float valve set up. That should help with what I need to top off the tank until then.