First time hydro grower issues - looking for guidance on White Widow AF from ILGM seedbank

Grow Mediums Hydroponics
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Hi! Been reading through the forum and this seem like by far the friendliest and most helpful place to ask questions.

I have been through 3 seedlings now that have “failed” no doubt due to my user error. I know soil is meant to be more forgiving, but my circumstances dictate that hydro is really where I want to be, so I’m more than happy to go through the trial and error.

Now on to the issue:

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Apologies for any problems with the photo. If I need to take another, no problem, please let me know.

So what I THINK I’m seeing is nute burn on the tips, discoloration from either needing more or fewer nutrients, possible over/under-wating, etc. Teeny tiny little white spots on the leaves (maybe salt deposits from nutes? I know they are not really visible in the photo).

Here is more information on my grow:

White Widow Auto from ILGM seedbank
Method: Hydroponics, specifically top drip in a GH Powergrower
Vessels: Powergrower
PH of Water, Solution, runoff (if Applicable): I alwyays shoot for 5.7-5.8, but I have never tested the water in the reservoir, so I should start doing that
PPM/TDS or EC of nutrient solution: 663ppm
Indoor
Mars Hydro 600w LED 32 in. away from plant
Temps: 70 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit all day and night
Humidity: 56% all the time
Ventilation system: Not yet, just a box fan and the passive vent holes in my 4x4 tent.
I have a humidifier available but don’t think I need it at the moment
Co2: Not yet
Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora Trio. I am shooting for a 600 or so ppm for the seedling, feeding half-strength (3 ml per 2.5 gallons of water, which is what the PowerGrower claims to hold)

This is the third week of the seedling being above ground, so I imagine it is stunted. Since I’ve never done a grow before, I have no idea. Comparing with photos and posts online just confuses me more because of the wide variety in quality of information online.

Any possible help or guidance would be hugely appreciated. I am happy to do homework, test things out, be patient, etc. Thank you again for your time!

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EDIT: I am running the Powergrower half hour on, half hour off all day. I am very unclear as to how often this thing should be running. I have mechanical timers that are divided into 30 minute increments.

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I would cut that in half, assuming you started out at 0ppm from your tap water. Nutrient Ppm levels should be around 200PPM at that stage.

I would recommend top feeding until the roots hit the water.

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Thank you. My water is 400 ppm coming out of the tap. Do I need to add this on TOP of the ppm of nutes I am adding in? So if I’m going for 200 ppm of nutes, should I then be looking for 600 or so final PPM measurement of the water?

Also, I will take your advice on the top feeding. Is it ok to gently move the clay pellets around to see where the roots are traveling to?

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If you have 200PPM coming out of the tap, and your mix up is 200 ppm, you should end up with 400. That’s ok. The nutrient part is what matters.

Yes move them gently, if you have to know. Lol

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You’ve already cleared up a major point of confusion for me, thank you.

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@nmgrower can you filter the water a bit? 400+ ppm is pretty rough for a seedling. No extra notes just adjust ph if you must use that water. Other wise during seedling stage no nutes really required. About 2 to 3rd leaves I get my ppm up to 400ppm. I had tons of issues with using tap water, as soon as I switched to RO it got allot easier. Its like starting with a clean slate.

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This is another thing that I’ve been wondering about. While the water is softened, it’s not RO. I think I might need to invest in that. Thank you.

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In plain water, regardless of the ppm there are no viable nutrients, and you’ll need to feed in hydro.

If they’re all unavailable for nutrients, it won’t affect the seedlings at all.

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If you do use RO water, you have to use cal-mag as both of them occur naturally in the water, are removed during the RO process.

In hydro, I would recommend adding it anyways.

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Sorry, did you say your tap water is 400 ppm! I would seriously consider stop using that and get a Reverse Osmosis system going! In the mean time buy RO water to get you through until you can get the RO setup. Thats super high! I consider 200 ppm the upper limit for liquid hydro and then you should be seeking an alternative. The primary reasons are … no headroom for food and you have no idea what those 400 ppm are without a water report. Others may have differing opinions?

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Wanted to reply yesterday but I was out of posts (new user).

Couldn’t agree more re: water, it’s a bummer. I have already contacted the people who did my water softener to come quote me on R/O. Honestly better for us to drink as well and we get to support a local biz in the meantime. While I wait for that, I am moving to distilled water from the store.

I decided to nuke that plant yesterday and start with a fresh seedling which will likely pop tomorrow. Thank you again to everyone who helped, and once I have this plant going a bit, I will update the thread with any progress.

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Sorry for your loss! Heads up distilled water has next to no mineral content! Everything you must provide to the plant. Which, in my mind, is actually a good thing because its a pretty blank slate. But if you arent using a really well balanced nute product and schedule, problems will be fast and obvious! Good idea to put in an RO system. Some if them take a long time to make water so do a bit of research before installing.

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It’s all part of the learning process, I can accept it!

Understood on the nutes. I’ve got a schedule from GH and I’ll be using a half strength mix with the seedling. I’m cautiously optimistic.

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Yeah go super easy with little plants especially in liquid hydro. They feed more efficiently than soil so the plant will let you know faster if its hungry.

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Just wanted to update: New seedling revealed cotyledons yesterday and my R/O system will be installed in the next couple of days.

The seedling is in a rapid rooter plug under a humidity dome I made by cutting a 2 liter bottle in half. That seems to really be pushing the early development of this seedling MUCH faster than it has gone for me in the past.

Back in a week or so once I have some growth.

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I wanted to update with something important that I learned from you folks that bears repeating: Check the PH of your “runoff,” or in the case of my system, check the ph of the bucket every couple of days. Thankfully my seedling has only been in the powergrower for a couple days, because when I checked the PH of the bucket today, it was 7.8. I cranked it back down to 5.6 and walked away thankful that I remembered your advice.

Also, as was mentioned earlier, if you are using distilled or R/O water, be sure to add plenty of calmag because those things won’t naturally be in the water.

EDIT: Also, the R/O system is now giving me 3 gallons of 10 ppm water every 6 hours. I’m very happy about this.

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Another update with a photo from today:

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Germinated on 5-26. I wonder if the discolored spots came from my own carelessness with pouring in the nutrient water over the clay pebbles. Maybe some splashed on the leaves? I was told that was the thing to do to wash away excess salt buildup. Been keeping an eye on PH twice a day. Always have to crank it down a bit.

Any feedback or confirmation on this would be great, and as always I thank you for your time.

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Today’s update: Moved the plant to a DWC bucket carefully. The ph seems to be changing MUCH slower than it was in the drip irrigation setup. That thing was giving me big ph fluctuations several times a day no matter how many times I would start over. Also, wanted to bump this thread to see if anyone had feedback on the image from my last post, what might be the issue, etc.

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She’s moving along great, just wanted to update that I am a sucker for gadgets, so I picked up a Bluelab auto-ph feeder and, I have to say, it’s nice not having to mess with it anymore. Been working great! I want to post a pic but I haven’t been able to upload here in days.

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