What is your full set-up? lighting, nutes, water, your ppm/ec readings, how much air in rez, rez temps, condition of roots, how often are you flooding & how long?
600watt MH, 27gal res, ppm around 900, air stone on 24/7 in/res, roots look great plenty of white roots growth, flooding 15min every 4hrs i think im having PH issues been told i should be 5.3 to 5.8 instead of 5.8 to 6.3
Yeah I am not a hydro grower but I read alot on the forums and I was thinking your pH sounded high based on what I had read. Sounds like so much trouble to be a hydro grower... I love my water only organic soil... never have to pH just water and grow.
Ph isn't your problem. 5.3-5.8 is ideal but 6.3 isn't causing your problem. I would suggest running at least 3 large air stones in your rez. Also increase flood times to last longer. My flood pump is on for 20 min. than my very small drain pump takes another 30-40 min to drain the control bucket. Make sure the height of your control bucket is almost to the top of your net basket. Your ppm is a bit high for young plants, I'd knock that down to around 500 or so.
hydro is really quite simple i think the same about soil.. Measuring run off etc!.. Its about finding the system that suits you and your environment i tried nft and didnt get on with it now using a wilma big 4 with pebbles and it seems so much more forgiving.. I even run the drippers 24/7 without drippers (bare 6mm pipe) just sat on the pebbles Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I have never measured run off, flushed, pHd or any of that stuff. I literally water and watch. I never have to measure EC or PPMs, or do a res change or worry about water temps and mixing up fertilizers and stuff... I also have humidity issues in my part of the world and just pulling out my aero cloner for a couple weeks causes molds to start growing.
I see you need some help. I'm not sure if you have found the answer nor do I have time to read the whole thread to see, my time will be spent helping these plants. All I have done is looked at your pics and skim read the used nutes. I can tell your giving them too much calmag just from the pics. When you do this it jams up the abundant mineral and it uptakes none of it. Each mineral has a specific pathway in the plant and when one gets too many flowing through it you get a traffic jam of nutes which is knows as lock out. If I was you I would chill out on the calmag. I DON'T KNOW WHY EVERYONE MISINFORMS GROWERS THAT THEY NEED CALMAG WHEN THAT'S A BUNCH OF BS!! All you need is ANY base of your choice and manage it properly. Any good nute company and ALL mj specific nute companys have plenty of calmag in them and that is why they are tailored for freaking growing mj. I can't make it anymore clear. NO CALMAG ADDITIVE. ONLY A BASE. If you feel like you got your shit on lock then start using a bloom booster but ONLY after you have had success with only a base and know how to manage nutes properly. So a little more info on nute uptake. It is easier for a plant to assimilate nutrients if they are at a lower ppm. This does not mean you can get larger yields with lower ppm's because you CAN'T. You only have a better chance of success with less nutes. When nutes get locked up they still need to be available. it they're not (flushing) then the def will get worse. What needs done is lowering the ppm and allowing time for the plants to adjust. Once they look vigorous and your ph and ppm are relativity stable you can then try to raise the ppm and if you have a good environment then you'll be able to have healthy plants at a full dose of a base nute. If you're growing at half dose nutes and using additives, I ask why? You will have more of that mineral if you would be at a recommended dose. You can only get to a recommended dose by slowly allowing your plants to adjust. It gets tricky and is somewhat of a balancing. Additives should only be used if you have been growing at a full dose of nutes and are constantly seeing the same deficiencies, though usually the deficiencies are cause from abundance's... The minerals are always in the soup (test it if you don't believe me) its just the plants sometimes have trouble accessing them for one reason or another. Check out my healthy hydroponics ppm & ph thread. If you're serious about getting serious then you'll spend the time to read and read and read.
Nope it is exactly what I stated it is fluctuations in RH... Plenty of air flow. That's what mold does... you can have all the airflow in the world but if your RH spikes to 80%+ you're going to have mold growing shortly. It's not on the plants it just starts growing on surfaces in the room close to the aero cloner. Also I said it it only happens when I pull out my aero cloner (which adds about 5-10% RH to the room)... All other times no mold just beneficial fungi every now and then after I top dress.
and what kind of yields are you getting doing it that way? I have come to reAlise that ph isnt as crucial as its made out to be my last grow i did with a ph and ec meter that was totally knackered and it was well out and didnt make the slightest difference Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Lol Wow thoes are some bold statements, all i can say is i just got a new higher grade ph meter and See improvement already
PH is critical in hydro! You got lucky with your last grow, you might also be lucky with next grow(s). At some point when your luck runs out, you'll see how critical it is.
Yeah, i have to agree, PH was 90% of my problem realized this after talking with guys at hydro store and getting a new meter
Bizie - I like what you're saying here you are spot on the the ppm but the calmag thing needs some clarification. I found through trial and error that calmag is needed when using ro with the Lucas formula & probably with other nutes but cant back that up. I was having mg def. without the calmag due to using the ro or the lack of using gh grow or both. Once I started using the calmag I eliminated the mg def. I use it at a little more than 1/2 the recommended amount though & found that to be plenty. Jardin definitely needs to lower his ppm part of which is the calmag.
Guys have have to partially disagree.. I think its more of an issue when they are little girls but as a scrog grower i have a long veg period of up to 10 weeks and once there big all i do i ph everything i put in my tank to 5.8 and i dont check or worry about it after that until i top up or change the res.. I used to be all over the ph and really worry about it but over the last 3 years iv started to realise that as long as ya between 5 and 7 with big girls they will be fine and i dont get any issues with the wilma system maybe other systems its more crucial but for me my last crop was 628g bone dry off a 660 ballast.. One before that was 612 before that 619 I really do believe the bigger gains come from your environment such as constant temps humidity lighting etc than faffing about with ph fanatically.. That said when they are small i do give the ph more attention Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Ps i have been doing this for over 4 years now and my yields are reasonably consistent Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
PH IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM! Ph is critical in hydro but is not the cause of your problem. You soup is too strong, add ro to your rez, get it down around 400-500. then watch the ppm's if its going up in a few days it's still too strong, if it's going down it's too weak. Be careful getting help from the guys at the hydro store. it's a good idea to have 2 meters get a good Hanna (ebay).
Mate id flush em and then give them a few days on rhizotonic and nothing else and slowly reintroduce nutes 1/4 strengh to start Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum