COCO COIR Drooping pale leaves

[RbigbirdM]

Lights, 2 350w led lights with them set on the 200w brightness, Strain all hybrids, growing in coco using GH trio with cal mag Hi everyone I was having trouble with some plants who up to this point have been very healthy until recently I noticed they were drooping more than usual and I dont believe it's from overwatering. They hadn't been watered for about a day when it started happening they are in 5 gal fabric pots. 2 larger plants that are still in veg until I figure out what's wrong and 7 plants that are around 3 weeks old in 1g fabric pots happend around the time I changed my lights out I changed my one large led light to two medium size ones they are "2000" watt lights with 3 100w brightness increments. so I thought that it was a issue with light intensity because the leaves were started to turn pale and a few tips were curling down along with the new growth getting some slight browning on the tips and I didnt think it was from nutrients so i moved my lights up to about 25" above the larger plants and 35" above the smaller plants and there hasn't really been a change after 2 days leaves are still drooping constantly only slightly raising through the day there growth has even slowed down. They are in a basement with fresh air coming it at a steady pace with the room being heated to 68-73° F not supplementing c02 but the room stays at around 4-500 ppm and around 70-75%RH has a wall mounted oscillating fan that blows across the top of all the plants. I noticed some purple spots on several top leaves but I just thought I over sprayed some water with nutrients in it and got some on the leaves since then the spots have turned from purple to more brown again not sure if it's related or if getting drops of water with nutrients can even stain leaves. On the smaller plants mainly but even on the larger plants the newer leaves look kinda ruffled they dont really have the smooth look that they usually do with one small plant getting small brown spots different than the purple ish spots on the larger plants. I know I'm I'm probably forgetting lots of stuff but if anyone has some idea of what it is I would greatly appreciated it. Thanks.

[ChadWestport]

I noticed some purple spots on several top leaves but I just thought I over sprayed some water with nutrients in it and got some on the leaves since then the spots have turned from purple to more brown again not sure if it's related or if getting drops of water with nutrients can even stain leaves.

man, its hard to read that without paragraphs and spacing. could be me and my old eyes, its hard... but I did see the above part because my first thought went to "does he use a foliar spray?"

Yes, if you foliar feed with nutrients or oils, you want to do it when the lights are off and will be off for some time. With oil, lensing can occur and that can burn the leaves but with nutrients, it can leave salt burns on the leaf. As the water evaporates, the salts remain on the leaf surface and it will likely cause a burn.

Your humidity seems a bit high. Do you Ph your water that you feed?

[RbigbirdM]

man, its hard to read that without paragraphs and spacing. could be me and my old eyes, its hard... but I did see the above part because my first thought went to "does he use a foliar spray?"

Yes, if you foliar feed with nutrients or oils, you want to do it when the lights are off and will be off for some time. With oil, lensing can occur and that can burn the leaves but with nutrients, it can leave salt burns on the leaf. As the water evaporates, the salts remain on the leaf surface and it will likely cause a burn.

Your humidity seems a bit high. Do you Ph your water that you feed?

Ya sorry on my phone and I'm outside in the snow so kinda just trying to type as fast as I can. I dont foliar feed, I just used a sprayer to water with, and I think I accidentally dripped some on a few leaves. I figured it was something like that.

I know my humidity is a little high, I'm working on a solution to solve it, and yes I ph, I usually try to stay in between 5.8- 6.1 on the water I give, I dont have a soil ph meter tho. I didnt change anything but the lights when I started having problems, not sure if it's just coincidence or if it's related.

[ChadWestport]

I understand that. The light stuff was buried in the middle.

There definitely can be an adjustment period when it comes to intensity and spectrum. In that case, I would prefer to under-power the new light as opposed to over-power the new light and give the plants a short period to ramp up to the new strength of the light.

In general, the plants do look a little light in color, so they would likely need some nutrition and if you are giving it nutrition, you may have a Ph lock-out in the root zone.

[RbigbirdM]

I understand that. The light stuff was buried in the middle.

There definitely can be an adjustment period when it comes to intensity and spectrum. In that case, I would prefer to under-power the new light as opposed to over-power the new light and give the plants a short period to ramp up to the new strength of the light.

In general, the plants do look a little light in color, so they would likely need some nutrition and if you are giving it nutrition, you may have a Ph lock-out in the root zone.

Ok thank you. What could be the reason for the small plants leaves to suddenly look all ruffled and spiky like in some of the photos? One of them even has some leaves twisting. Thanks again.

[ChadWestport]

Sometimes you will see leaf twisting if the Ph is off in the root zone. Sometimes russet mites or even root aphids can cause leaf twisting. Light intensity will usually cause the leave to taco shape or get lighter, but your plants have a uniform color to them, its not just the top part that is light.

Its hard to say, but combined with the color of the leaves as mentioned above, it could lean more towards a Ph issue in the root zone. The issue could have been building for some time and now you are seeing the symptoms and the light switch could be coincidental after all. Many variables.

[Matriumcauthon]

I have to add in, they look and sound like the same issues my plants were going through when I ran into ph issues and nute lockout

[gbauto]

The first thing that stands out to me is your room temps are too low.
Leds work best when your room temps are in the low 80's.
This will create nutrient uptake/deficiency issues.
Also, can you give us some info on your feed ec and ph?

[RbigbirdM]

The first thing that stands out to me is your room temps are too low.
Leds work best when your room temps are in the low 80's.
This will create nutrient uptake/deficiency issues.
Also, can you give us some info on your feed ec and ph?

I use tap water that is at 32ppm out of the faucet, around 40-45ppm after running through a carbon filter, it then usually sets out for a day or so. After that I use the GH flora trio, cal mag, and the GH ph up dn set.

I mix it according to the chart on this website, I then ph after mixing between 5.8-6.1, ppm now at around 440-450, (for big plants) I then water until I have a little run off. My lights are on a 20-4 not sure if I should move to 18-6.

I haven't found a good way to try and test soil ph, everyone says testing run off doesnt work, but I do it anyway, always around 6.0 and around 180-200 ppm. Again I have no idea if testing ph and ppm of run off works or not, (someone said to make sure ppm goes down everytime).

Oh and I mix about 10% worm castings with my coco because I had some that was just going to go bad. Would adding worm casting provide any benefit or no? I'm new to all this stuff, I know it's a lot to try and grow this much as a first time grower, but I tend to learn best by just taking on something challenging, and try my best to diagnose as I go. Thanks.

[ChadWestport]

From that description, everything sounds on point, by the textbook. 20-4 or 18-6, neither will be dramatically different results.

Gbauto had mentioned temperature, if the root zone stays too cold, it will not use as much water and will require less frequent waterings. Have you seen / noticed any of that lately?

[RbigbirdM]

From that description, everything sounds on point, by the textbook. 20-4 or 18-6, neither will be dramatically different results.

Gbauto had mentioned temperature, if the root zone stays too cold, it will not use as much water and will require less frequent waterings. Have you seen / noticed any of that lately?

No I hadn't really noticed anything like that. Although I have raised my room temps to 79° is that hot enough or would it be better to go higher? Not sure if it matters much but all my plants are indica dominant.

I think i have it figured out, i kinda ruled out ph problems due to how they have grown fine until now, and how all the plants started having problems at once, when they arent fed from the same nutrient mix.

The only thing that changed around that time was my lights, my mistake is I'm using a lux meter, I now know lux meters aren't accurate for leds. I set them to the same lux value as my previous led lights but I guess since the spectrum is different they read differently, didnt know.

these lights are stronger than I initially thought. After setting my light level higher my plants are already looking much better. Should my lux meter still work fine for setting light height, as long as I know what lux values it reads these lights at?

Thanks for anyone that replied with any ideas, really appreciate it.Koop

[ChadWestport]

Good to know it was our initial thought and the problem is on the way out. Good job man, enjoy the journey!