What about the rest of the stuff? The Sm-90, Roots Excel, Drip Clean, & Photo Plus? Just continue to give them the same through about the 2nd week of flower, & then drop the roots excel? Are u using the rapid start, diamond nectar, or flora blend too? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Drip Clean and SM-90 I use all the way from seedling to flush at the end of flower.. great products.. only those two aren't on GH's chart. You can look, but the FloraBlend, Diamond Nectar, and Rapid Start(I use Root Excellerator instead) get dropped out at different times during flower. Here is the drain to waste SIMPLE chart.. just uses the base nutrients and KoolBloom with Floralicious Plus. Same thing as the expert, just doesn't use all the bottles. Might be easier for ya to follow this one starting off and add the other bottles in later once you are comfortable growing cannabis this way.
You get buildup because of exactly what I said, and you just said the same thing. Frequent waterings to wash out salts. You think the reason for sufficient runoff in coco is to get more nutrients to the roots? No, its to remove salts after the plant has used the nutrients up, as in any hydroponic setup besides dwc. Look at it this way. If someone uses calmag, etc etc throughout 30-60 days of veg with NO flushing, the coco is building up a super buffer, and once that buffer is full, it locks out other nutrients. Go look at a periodic table and you will see why cal blocks other nutes. Why would you flush during flower and not veg? That is only caring about half the grow cycle and that makes no sense at all. That only increases the chance of high ppm and salt buildups during flower. Oh, and nitpicking about over watering during seedling stage is silly. I never even remotely suggested that, but since you brought it up: No, you still cannot over water COCO. Its physically impossible (google cation exchange for coco before you make blind accusations). You CAN upset a young and weak root system with too much water too quickly, but the air to water ratio never changes in fresh coco. Drowning a seedling is not the same as too much water in coco coir, which is impossible. You can put 1 gallon of coco in 2 gallons of water and the air/water ratio is still the same. You say you let pots dry out before watering, even only a day, and you wonder why you get salt and ppm buildup, and then when someone gives you friendly advice you take offense? haha ok. Do a side by side before you discredit information mate.
Okay Iron, so when i feed today, should I run some 1/4 strength base nutes through until i get the PPM's of the runoff down, & then feed a normal feed? Bcuz i just checked the girls and the misty kush has some bad nute burn going on. I'm honestly about to give up on the other girl bcuz she is a runt and just isnt developing, & im not going to keep wasting nutes on her. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
If I do run the 1/4 strength nutes through, what ratio do you suggest, & what should I try to get the ppm's down to? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Your rite iron cause if I don't let some dry up a bit then they get that rotten smell and that ain't no good
You aren't reading or something.. I dunno? I don't get salt build up in veg even when skipping a day cause the pots are too heavy. You can most definitely overwater coco if the root systems are developed enough. This is all information I've gathered thru trial and error of actually growing this way. Sorry if you don't agree. The salt buildup in flower happens with only some plants.. fed every day.. I couldn't figure it out. I was watering gallons and gallons thru 5 gallon pots erryday and it was still rising.. only when I switched to watering half the amount twice a day did the runoff stay in check. I didn't see where you mentioned doing that? Didn't see where anyone mentioned that at all.. I was always under the impression 1 feeding a day was good enough. But I guess with my big lights and big plants, more is needed. I really had no idea til I got my ppm and really started to figure out what's goin on. So the skinny is I have no build up in veg at all.. even skipping days.. all the way thru the 2-3 week of flower, then the runoff starts to rise.... no matter how much I was watering at once. So then I started watering twice.. once at lights on and once again after half the lights cycle is over. Now it's 600ppm in the runoff, exactly what I put in every time I check them. Only takes about a 1/2-3/4 gallon to get them to leak now rather than 1 or 1.25 gallons all at once. No one in here suggested that. Are you saying you did? Or already had all that figured out?
Ya not letting them dry out is the fastest way to get root rot ever.. that's the funky smell and no white roots to be found. Let it dry out and the roots are so white and shiny bright. Even across the top of the pots, you will see roots erryware. When over watering, the roots will be stringy and lackluster with a brown tint to them. If you cant tell by looking at the plants, It's super easy to tell when looking at the roots cause they will look like ass. And the purple stems... easiest way to cure a case of the purple stems is to let it dry up a bit before watering. Just another way the plant is telling you to back off on frequency and also the amount you water at once. Having 50-60% runoff is not beneficial whatsoever... just a huge waste. 10-15% is good to go. Just enough so I can read the runoff in the tray with my ppm pen.
Yep. Run 1/4 strength veg nutrients til you get runoff. Wait til there is no more runoff, read the ppm, and discard. Then immediately water again with early veg nutrients .. 4-5-1. You won't have to use as much water to get it to have runoff.. cut the amount you first watered in half. Read the ppm.. it should be much lower and closer to what you are putting in. Then just wait til its lighter again and water until runoff again with early veg nutrients or 4ml Gro -5ml Micro -1ml Bloom. That's exactly how you rinse a plant, moniter the ppm, and correct the problem. Remember, it's all In the ppm, the solution is already known to work, it's your watering practices that need to be adjusted for the runoff to match what's goin in.
Here's a perfect example.. this big ole gal is in veg.. and hates to be watered everyday.. it turns south so fast.... but now that I'm watering less, look at her.. thriving. Haven't watered it in 2 days and look at the top of the pot.. white roots poking right out of the top of the pot. You have to be able to tell when the plant needs water and when it doesn't. Watering everyday in coco, before the root system is developed is asking for root rot and other overwatering problems. Y'all can believe me or not. I really don't care. Since I started watering less in veg rather than force feeding them, the growth has been explosive. On the other hand, watering more frequently in flower once the ppm starts to rise has proven to be the missing link for me and no salt build up within the medium. So less frequent in veg, more frequent in flower.