Would really apprecaite some help here guys....

Basically I went to Spain for four days and left everything running as usual with my gf just keeping an eye on them really.

I have some in soil which are fine and 4 sweet tooth plants in an NFT tank. When I went away everything looked fine...........the thing is I have came back to a different room! I am 3 weeks into flowering and when I got back from holiday my 4 plants in the nft had drunk the tank dry!!
They had really grown well and I had nice large healthy dark green leaves but one of the plants had fallen onto its side due to the size.

Anyway, I re filled the tank with about 20 litres of Nutrient solution (ec 1.8 ph 6.2) and stood up the plant that had fallen down and started securing the plants so that they now cant fall.

I was quite happy with eveything as they still looked pretty good but 24 hours later they had drunk alot more nutrient solution and the ec was upto 2.4............this suggested to me that they wanted the water so I gave them one more bucket of just water the night before last and I though that would do the job and they would be happy again. (unfortunitely not !)

As of last night they are now wilting alot more and these once nice large healthy dark green leaves are now looking alot more lighter green (specially on top nearer the lights) and im just not to sure what I need to do to get them back to where they were before I left for Spain!

I have taken the lights up a bit more but they are now as high as they go and im using cool tubes anyway and dont think that heat is the problem!!

Any advise would be much appreciated.

THanks,

Should of stayed at home!

Rukus

It sounds like they are drinking more water than they are eating their food - rather than alternating between just water and a strong nute solution, give them water with a lesser EC instead.

As you probably know already, when the water level goes down and the EC stays the same - that's when you know that you have the optimum balance of nutes.

thanks for the reply m8.....the thing is I only added an extra bucket of water to the nutrient solution to bring down the ec.

should I just empty the tank completly and then re fill it again from fresh? im thinking that an ec of 1.4-1.6 should be ok but it is also the roots I am worried about as I have no spreader matt in there!!

If the EC has risen from 1.8 - 2.4 you have overfed, its dumping the extra nutes back in the res.

I would flush for a couple of days with plain water, then on the 3rd day start feeding again, start at 1.2EC and check it doesnt rise again.

Your plants are in a state of osmosis.

ok ill think ill try that, makes sense.....thanks mate.

Sorry to be a pain but what is osmosis?

bein a brain doner am I

I would do it differently as I would never flush with just plain water, I'd always use a weak solution of food and heres the reason why

A plant may be overferted but you dont know what elements the plant does or does not need. If you flush with just water an element that may have been locked out which the plant needs will not be there so you are doing more harm than good

So if you "flush" with a very mild feed, at least all elements will be there for the plant to take if need be but with it being weak it will not overfert

When a plant is overferted it is stressed so by starving it altogether for 2 days may just stress it even more

Thats how I see it and it makes sense to me

Owd

thanks owd....have read alot of your posts and respect yu opinion very much m8.

That makes sense to me anyway......maybe an ec of 1.2 would be ok then yes?

what about the roots too plz owd, should I be worrying about them or do you think it has nothing to do with that?

Just a bit worried cause I dont have a spreader mat and my friend mentioned about root lock and root rot !

I have a background of 0.8EC in my tapwater, thats the reason I flush with plain water.

If you have 'softer' water it may pay to put a little feed in to the 'flush', I used to do the same yself.

But you have overfed so be careful in future

ok thanks stealth. I have been sticking to the same preportions since ive been doing it but obviously where the tank had run out of nutrient solution completly. they must of just been dying for a drink !!

only worry I have now is the roots......!

How can I tell if I am getting root lock or root rot ?

just I have no spreader mat and this is something ive been worried about since I started this crop !

(school boy error really, cant believe I forgot it !!)

You'll know if you have root rot cos your roots will be brown and turning to mush or just shrivelling up

They may stink too

Owd

so owd do you think it is purely the fact that the water and the feed ran out that they are wilting so much.

I think I will know alot more by tonight when I see them but its just the fact that they wernt actually that bad when I got back.

Its been the last two days where they have gone pete tong really !