Yes i know ppms were way too?high, ive been flushing by hand,seeing alot of improvement, i should clarfy, my PH meter was cheap, chinese, and i believe not calibrated with proper solutions, i got a new Milwaukee one, the old one was way off, i was reffering the the burn id see on seedlings with no nutrient present in the water, i believe the PH was way off and it was causing the burn,either because ph was too high or too low
thing is tho where im the tap water is pretty much neutral and i cant really see your water being massively different and that shouldnt really cause a problem being as tho 6.5 is really the top end of acceptable Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Swap from rockwool next time round to root riots or them coco cubes that ya soak and they expand Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Having a higher amount of any mineral in the solution does not mean that specific mineral is more available, it is scientifically proven. As long as its in the soup and the ph is on the plant can access it. Was lucas formula designed to work with calmag? If so then okay, if not then you're messing with what someone has taken many years to get right. If you're having more success with the calmag, that could be so but you cant conclusively say that it's the calmag additive that fixed your problem. Most of the time the calmag is only helping people because their ppm is too high and adding the calmag forces you to have a lower ppm of base nutrients. It does get confusing, I know. But I also know that I've been doing this for almost 8yrs now and I have used every additive in the book and use to swear by the calmag too. It doesn't come down to any sort of additive. Its strain, environment, and base nutrient management, that's it. Once you get that you can try out some additives but you shouldn't ever NEED them. If you ever feel you NEED a additive then you're not managing your base correctly.
The Lucas formula suggests using ro water. The great thing for me with Lucas & ro is that I almost never have to adjust ph. I believe that the ro filtering removes some minerals that can cause deficiencies, mostly mg. So in using ro and then further reducing some minerals by not using the gh grow, mg deficiencies are common. I dont think the calmag should be necessary for growers not using ro or distilled water as long as they are using all parts of their choice of nutes. I diagnosed mg def. on my earlier grows, did some research, added the calmag and no longer had mg def. symptoms. Then worked on lowering the amount used to about half what they recommend to keep ppm's lower and still no mg def. systoms. So, yes I can say that the calmag definitively solved my problem.
Older girls are improving every day, still trying to keep a stable and appropriate PH with seedlings, one is drooping the other seems fine, they are in a mixture of Distilled and spring water, the big girls have Tap and distilled mixed at about 15 galons, been flushing, only added 2ml of dynagro yesterday to begin bringing up nutrients to the appropriate level. The "distilled" water at the store isnt steam distilled, it says its been De-Ionized and serves distilled water purposes, thats why ive been mixing it with spring/tap, i was wondering if the deionizd water is affecting the salinity of the H20 and the cationic exchange between the roots and stem shoots of the plant?
Changed out seedlings water, 50PPM in distilled water, they are perking up nice, small one is recovering well
Plants are on the up swing, slowly raising PPMs, keeping PH meter well calibrated, made a little video update...... http://youtu.be/LcrG9HL4gs4
Ok brochacho. Go get some GH FloraKlean and flush your medium .. Flush your hydroton and rock wool cube with Ph adjusted FloraKlean.. After the medium and Hydroton have been rinsed to assure there is no salts build up in either source. Now for your Nutrient solution and rez..Hydrogen peroxide at max strength. Sanitize your lines and rez and eqipment to assure no hidden light leaks or oxygen difficiencies are culprit in nutrient lock out. That is what it looks like to me. Ph fluxuations and not enough oxygen in nutrient solution. Rememer your hydro grow is only as good as the water.. RO.. Ph ed plus proper ratio of cal mag suppliment. That is all baisic canna 101. What is happening with your roots will often times tell you what is wrong with up top, visa versa is true as well. Algie could be affecting the uptake of nitrogen, hope you dont have pitium..thats a B word. Every hydro grower cringes when the P word is mentioned.. good luck and good growing.
Using a additive for a deficiency when you're not even running a full dose of nutes is poor nutrient management. Lucas formula was designed for cannabis with r/o water then I see no need for you to customize a custom formula. Your management with it just has been off. Keep using your calmag that is fine but I am just saying that for the record it is unnecessary. I too used it for many years with ro and every nute company you can think of. Deficiencies can often be caused from other problems rather then the actual lack of the mineral itself. Unavailability and deficiencies are not cause from the same thing. If you have the mineral in the water then it is available but it does not mean the plant can use it. It also does not mean that by adding more of that specific mineral you will be able to force the plant to uptake it. It could be possible that you're just currently maintaining your garden better. It probably has nothing to do with the extra cal and mag. A higher amount of any one certain mineral is often more problematic then a complete balanced diet of all required minerals. Most nute manufactures nutrients are made with the intention of being applied with reverse osmosis water so your r/o stripping the needed magnesium is just more internet misinformation. The mag that a r/o filter removes has a larger molecular structure then what plants are able to uptake. These larger molecules cause more of a nutrient blockage rather then supplementation.