i remember looking at the site from my phone the other day. This is the first time, that I know of at least, where I've butt posted on a forum. Very strange.
For people that use powder nutes: When I mix a new solution to add to the reservoir I try to prevent any nute sediment from pouring into the reservoir. I believe that sediments fall in or nutes fall out of solution so when the H20 in the reservoir gets really low my TDS samples are being altered vs when I take a sample from a full reservoir. During this grow I've noticed high TDS whenever the water dropped to a certain level. Because I'm growing scrog this time I could not completely clean the reservoir. (couldnt move the plant out of the way.)
If your tds figure is getting higher it means it's too high so add water to bring it down a bit lower than it was previously
Let's assume there were 3-4 gallons in the reservoir. The TDS remained at a constant 630. Once the water level drop down to one gallon left and I took a reading the TDS went up to 700. I'll add a image of why I think nute sediment is getting sucked into my sample at that level. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
At a guess I would say that you have probably damaged the roots letting the waterline drop that low and it's caused the plant to take up a weaker solution
Trial an error is the best way to learn anything some stuff/info people relay is what happens or happened to them.
Trail and error is one way to learn. the problem is for every lesson learned you incur and error. This can lead to very sick or dead plants. Another way to learn is by other people's trail and errors. This is usually a better way because you don't need to harm your plants just to learn something new. If you are implying that this whole idea is being taught just because it works for me then no, that is incorrect. Yes it works for me and if others do it the same way it will obviously work for them too. But it's also mathematically and scientifically sound
Ok so my ppm goes up in a week from 300-350 so i should instead of a water change jus add water till it goes back to 300ppm? An moniter the water level an when the plant takes up as many gallons as the res then the water needs a change? Meaning my res is a 5gal bucket, i only need to fill to 3gals cuz of the net pot. When my plant takes up 9gals of water/nutes mix is when i change it out? Or should i stick to changeing it every week?
You are far better off checking your ppm daily instead of weekly, but if it's gone up by just 50ppm through the whole week then you probably aren't far off anyway. If it wwent up from 300 then it would make sense to drop it down to a bit under 300 as that has proven to be too high. 300 is very low by any standard though, how old are the plants? I believe if you are using a good balanced nutrient that is tailored for marijuana you don't need to refresh your res until you have used 3 times the amount that your res holds. So yes, if your res is 3 gallons, then once the plant has taken up 9 gallons the remaining solution could becoming unbalanced and therefore refreshing it could be worth doing. Obviously topping up with water and nutrients whenever it's needed Changing it every week may still need to happen, it depends on how quickly the plant takes up the solution. A large healthy plant can easily take up 20 gallons in 1 week
Phrases like osmotic balance, priceless. If you don't know about this then hydro isn't for you or you need to read more. The plant and water need to be in balance. When the water is out of balance then the plant struggles to take in food. If the plant is saturated with nutes then there is a reverse pressure on the water, as in the plant is resisting the intake of nutes and by association water as well. When the plant lacks nutes then there is a pressure that forces the plant to take in mostly nutes and a bit of water, usually resulting in nutrient burn. When you find that balance then the plant doesn't struggle in getting what it needs. Thanks OP I haven't done any growing in some time but I feel more confident after reading this.
Well as if u didnt notice your my goto guy for info LOL. Anyway heres the story on this plants age all i can say is its too old to still be in veg phase i would say about 2-3months now. I took the clone from a sick plant like almost dieing but it was worth it to practice on cuz it was a goner anyway u know. But i brought it back to life an it was worth it to me cuz its a good strain but i dont know what one its either Jock Harer or Northern Lights. I can take some more pics when i get home shes doin good now, i wanna do some LST on her ti see if i can get her wider an hopefully taller. Thanks for the info ill keep in touch.
Has it has any big stresses recently? A 2 month old plant that is only taking up a solution of about 300 ppm is quite unusual. double that figure would be where I would guess
Not a big one, but when i went from tha 2" net pot to tha bigger 6" one i did losse a few roots. Man if u saw the plants i took the clone from anyone else would have never wasted their time at all. My girl strted em then they got choked out by top soil wit nothing in it mixed wit fox farms soil anyway the only part that was any good was the top. My girl was gonn throw em out so i took tha clones an out of 6 only this one made it. It was awhile before it started to even take ferts an the water wasnt PHed to 5.5-6.0 so yea tha first month was rough. So i say 2 months old cuz thats when everything got corrected an she really started to take off u know. It was a real trial an error thing for me cuz i got like 8 aquariums running that i also take care of along with a bunch of other hobbies. My time was at a minimum but now im in here fully an im tryin to really make a go at this for a few years to see the outcome an of course smoke some saweeeeeeeeeeet mmmmmmm mmmmmmm goood! Buds u know LOL. In terms of the 300ppm that could be becuse ive been doin the res change every week as i read somewhere. Everytime i did it tho i was wondering if it could go longer an would that be better cuz how much microbes can build up in a week then i kill em wit a change.
I don't really know why it's recommended to refresh the rreservoir so often. I suspect it is from people having the ppm too high and as the days tick by the remaining solution becomes stronger and stronger until the plant starts to struggle and show signs of illness. At this point many people think they should refresh their res. But all they needed to do is add water to bring the ppm down to the correct strength. I have allowed plants to take up 4 times the volume of the res before refreshing with no visible problems, but I think that might be pushing it, especially if your chosen nutrient isn't well suited to marijuana. I top up my reservoirs before the waterline has dropped by 4". Any more than that and I would be worried that some roots may dry out
I cant even touch this LOL cuz then i would be a hipocrite, all i can say is i tried everything u told me an had worked for me! But u think its just a coincedent that 2 on tha same forum ws doin tha same "Wasteing Nutes" by throwin them out every week an still havin a hard time. Or u think we read it or heard it somewheres an jus ran wit it. LOL
Aside from the other post, i got a new problem/question. The city has started to use a higher PH for the water so its more chemicles i guess for them to mix in anyway now my TDS on my tap is 300+ an thats what i recently adjusted my res water to with nutes, so now when i doa res change its gonna be 600+TDS should this be lowered before addin my nutes? (I would have to look up how) or will my plant be fine.
You should do a search for your county's water survey , it's public info and should be easily found online. What you need to know about are the dissolved solids amounts of the primary nutrients. Ie. Nitrogen phosphorus and potassium. It should tell you the average amounts of each per volume. Also note the micro nutrients levels as well like calcium magnesium, chlorine, etc. Once you know this you should be able to better find that sweet spot. How much more veg nutrients to give is going to depend on the N.P.K. content in the original water.
For example as I do not live in New York, I did a search for new York water analysis. This is a link the the pdf download. http://nyc.gov/dep/2013waterquality