Help please, my clones are troubled

[thatnetworkguy]

I have a DWC/bubble bucket setup. I placed the clones (in rockwool), into the hydroton. The water level was at the bottom of the pots. 3 of the 4 were ok at first, one wilted instantly. Now a 2nd is showing signs of wilting, and the 1st is horribly wilted. I'm not sure whats wrong. The Ph is at 5.9.

[Green Supreme]

You can put a plastic bag over it to create a moist microclimate. This may bring it back from wilt. Perhaps wilt happened cuz you didn't harden them for the amount of light and /or heat. If they were used to floros and you put them direct under HID this may occur. May have wilted for other reasons just hard to tell with lmited inof and only one close up. Good luck. Peace GS

[The Cannarchist]

Make sure that the water is touching the bottom of the cube NOT the bottom of the pot.

And what GS said will help

[nuggdigger]

hmm..okay, the plant looks like it was healthy until it wilted. We don't know how much roots were sticking out of the bottom of the cube when transplanted however. The obvious signs are dryness, and we know this is rootrelated. So we must do whatever we can to manipulate the enviroment so its easier on the roots and plant. I don't think the plant is actively growing if it is wilting as the stomata would be closed, so we don't need to have it in direct light for the time being.Indirect light or weaklight is fine as long as the timing schedule is maintained. Darkness for recovery sure would not hurt if you are running yours lights all the time. We are trying to negate heat and stress. Covering or misting the clones may help relive some moisture loss. Really, if the roots are dry, we need to wet them. So go ahead and top water the cubes as thats where the roots are. I know that you are wanting to have the roots draw out after the bubbled water, but roots will not grow till the plants recover, and the water must be bubbled furously enough to make it up to the roots at the cube bottom. Perhaps you could raise your water level to the bottom of most of the roots till the plants recover, then let it drop slowly, drawing the roots out as it does. I suspect just bubbling at the bottom of the pots is not forcing the water up the roots enough. Also one needs to bubble fairly 'furiously' for this method. Cooler waters will also help ease stress, sometimes its amazing how dwc can heat up under the hid lights. The transition the roots have to make in going from a wet media like rockwool to a dry media like lecca is never an easy one for the roots to make. Hope the girls recover. What have you put in your dwc water for nutes and the ec?

peace

[thatnetworkguy]

Ok, I have a hood over the plant to give it a moist microclimate. I have raised the water up to make sure the rockwool was getting wet, and for good measure poured a bit of nutrient solution into the surrounding hydroton in each netpot.

Sound about right? Another plant was beginning to wilt too.

[thatnetworkguy]

I'm using a local nutrient brand, its just slightly stronger than GH nutes. My 0.5 conversion ppm meter reads 500 ppm, but my water is somewhat hard so it looks like theres more nutes than there actually is. I have 3 dual output airpumps in one 30-gallon reservoir, with 4 plants. The roots were just barely showing in the rockwool when I put them into the hydroton.

[Green Supreme]

Fingers crossed. Peace GS

[thatnetworkguy]

Id say the wilted one is a loss at this point, oh well. Raising the water level helped the others perk back up tho, so first speed bump hit with 1 casualty. Hopefully the rest of the grow goes smoothly.

[The Cannarchist]

Give her time.You'd be surprised how much of a beating they can take

[thatnetworkguy]

I pulled her out, and replaced her with a friends seedling. Its really just for kicks, I'm not sure it will survive the transplant from soil to hydro.

Thanks for your help!