Why so sad?

[Sage]

Could use a little diagnostic help here...

Problem: Drooping leaves, sad demenour, refuses to drink

Medium/grow method: Hydrococo (60% clay pebbles/40% coco) in 9 litre airpots, blumat drippers

Feed: and supplements used: Complete Remo line up PH'd to 6.2

water source: Tap water filtered through a whole house system, PH 7.4 EC 0.6 (very hard water area)

Strain/age: Sour Crinkle about 21 days old

light used: 250w Timber cobs, started at 100w and gradully dialed up to 200w, run 24/0

Climate: Temps are lowish, 22/23 and RH 58%-60%

Additional info: Her sister plant in the same pot and medium but Biotabs fed isn't drooping and looks happy, they were looking identical until about five days ago when the Remo fed girl started looking unhappy. She's not really drinking so I thought maybe she was overwatered and turned off the blumat for 12 hours. Didnt make much difference, so I then tried uppeing her feed strength (she's paler than the one fed on biotabs and the little spot on the leaf could be cal def?) and she looked happier for a day but then went back to drooping. Run-off ph is 6.2, exactly the same as the feed going in, and my ph soil meter says reads between 6.3 and 6.5. Don't know what's going on, any ideas? Heeeeeeeelp!

 

[Sage]

So I've done a little more trawling and I'm leaning towards a Magnesium def, seems that can induce the drooping leaves. Checked my local water company website and their water analysis has 266 ppm Calcium and only 5ppm Magnesium. I'm wondering if some epsom salts might be worth trying.

 

[Dudeski]

I would not be too worried about the single spot. The droopy leaf could be from over watering. How heavy is the pot?

 

[Dudeski]

What strength of feed is it getting? And forget about the first post, with coco it shouldn't be over watered.

 

[Sage]

@Dudeski I've never managed to overwater in coco yet, which is why I'm stumped on this one!

Feed strength is as per Remo's schedule, 1.5ml per litre of Grow, Micro, Magnifical, and Velokelp.

 

[Arthur]

Have you tested the run off? Am wondering if the medium pH has run amuk.

 

[Waira]

.... something at the root level might be the problem, and nute tinkering won;t help much if she's not taking up water and nutes,... with that ratio of pebb's to coco, I don't think that ph probe is reading well,.. is it an Accurate 8? ..if it's one of those skinny probe types, it's likely not accurate anyway,.... she's pale top to bottom, not sure what that can be specifically,besides something systemic,.. or more remotely, S defc.,... try a foliar spray of epsoms, 1tsp/qt, with a wetting agent, and get tops and bottoms of leaves,.. the wetting agent is a crucial part of effective foliat treatments, it helps coat and stick more evenly, instead of just beading up,.. more surface area covered = more absorbed! .... a root tonic may be helpful now too,... Oh, how much run-off are you doing? In coco, it should be 20+% generally, maybe more with your hard water,... test the EC of run-off and let us know,....

 

[Sage]

@Waira thanks for dropping by! The ph probe I have is one of the fat cone-shaped ones, no idea if it really works that well in coco with clay pebbles...! I'd already gone ahead and given her two epsom foliars and although she's still drooping the colour is maybe a little better (or maybe I'm kidding myself). I'm not doing any run-off, I read a ton of coco/blumat grows before starting this and majority said not too...then again my water does seem a little unusual so maybe that's the problem here. (then again, I've run the same medium in autopots and not had an issue)

I just tried some run off as you suggested and it's coming out at EC 1.4 which is pretty much what it's going in as.

 

[Sage]

So I'm happy to report that she seems to be on the mend, I gave her some epsom foliars, one a day, and after three days she was visibly better, perked up and started drinking again. Colour improved too. Hard to tell from the pics for some reason but you'll just have to trust me she looks a lot better in the flesh than she did. Thanks for everyone's help

Oh, she has red stems now but I think that's just the lowish temps....at least I hope it is!

 

[Waira]

- shweeeet! yes, the ppm's are fine, and ditto on the Blumats deal,... I thin k it was some S defc. kicking in mate,.. S can fade out pretty fast for availability under acidic conditions,... I'm not sure why S is missing in the hydro chart, it's not in others I see either- .. and in coco, you're in between these,... so, keep you pH over 6.0 in any case, my coco guru does at this stage as well,... well done mate!