Help! Leaves curling up and discoloring on baby seedling

[drzin978]

Hey all, here's what I'm dealing with right now:

-Symptoms of the problem: the big leaves on the seedling are curling up and turning a dark blackish color

-Age of the plant: a few weeks

-Medium used (soil/coco/hydro if hydro what type): a rock wool cube inside a hydroton basket

-Size of the pots: 5 gallon bucket with a small less than 1 gallon basket

-Temperature Day/night: 91 F/77 F

-Humidity levels:~18% during the day ~45% during the night

-Type of feeding (brand etc..): General Hydroponics, I mixed up the grow, micro, bloom, and root booster according to the side of the box for seedlings

-Watering frequency (quantity and how often): about 3 fl oz's 2 or 3 times a day

-Last EC's used: ~240 ppm (110 of it was there before I added nutrients)

-PH: ~6.8 I realize this is high, I thought it was lower but when I modify the pH with lemon juice, it goes back after a little while

-Light Power: 150 Watt

-Type of light (LED, HPS, CFL...): HPS

-Distance from the plant: about 10 inches

-Size of the room: 18 inches by 18 inches by 5.5 feet

-Ventilation system: a large box fan on top of the room

Basically I am very concerned that the bigger leaves are curling up. I think I waited too long to feed this girl (only started a few days ago). Now the baby leaf is all shriveled up and yellow, and the tips of the bigger leaves are curling back and dark. It looks like this:

I'm not sure if its too much nutrients, too few nutrients, too high a temperature during the day, or what! I could really use some help- if this plant dies I will not have enough time between now and when I move out of this apartment to bring a plant to maturity. So I'll have to wait 2 or 3 months to grow again. While temperatures will be lower then, I'd like to try and bring some kind of a crop in for the summer. Please help!

[Ghost Grower]

Hey all, here's what I'm dealing with right now:

-Symptoms of the problem: the big leaves on the seedling are curling up and turning a dark blackish color

-Temperature Day/night: 91 F/77 F

-Humidity levels:~18% during the day ~45% during the night

-PH: ~6.8 I realize this is high, I thought it was lower but when I modify the pH with lemon juice, it goes back after a little while

Please help!

Hey man,

Your problem is here, too low humidity, too hot temperature, and too high PH. Be careful with the nutrients too.

At this stage you must be at high humidity (70%+), and your temp at the top of the plant have to be at max 82°F (28°C).

Those two things are enough to burn the leaves.

I'll recommend you to add a humidifier and a fan inside the room if you don't have any.

The extractor have to be strong enough to remove the air from the tent a few times per minute.

About the PH it's too high, you must be around PH 5.5.

Hope it helps.

-Peace.

[drzin978]

Well I've raised the light, and I have the room very well ventilated. I think raising the light is the best thing I can do to control temp. Otherwise for humidity, i have a humidifier going all the time and I mist the plant with a spray bottle, and use a humidity dome when it is especially dry. I've also brought down my pH. Hopefully this all works- do you think this plant is too far gone? I really value your input shadow grower.

[Dust]

hello man i think like ghost it is something with the overall values of the room it looks like she had some very hot days to me perhaps a little burnt, but i'm sure if you treat her with love she will bounce back how is she going since you asked?

[drzin978]

This plant is dead now. I think my room is just too hot- I have AC in another room down the hall but I can't air condition the room its in. The grow box itself is probably too small to properly dissipate the heat from the HPS light. It is at least 10 degrees hotter inside the box than in the outside room. My plan is to wait until the fall when things are cooler, and maybe to use a CFL light instead of my HPS light for the initial stages of growth. I may also invest in a dripper pump or something to feed the plant while its roots are still developing to be long enough for DWC.

For now though, my grow attempts are on hiatus as I need to wait for cooler temperatures, and I plan to move at the end of the summer so its too late to start a plant now (I'll be out of my current digs in about 2 months).

I want to invest in a proper tent setup (I probably should have spent my money on one of these to begin with). I'll need to work with what I have for the forseeable future though. I'll be back when I try again!