to give you the right stuff, what do you do? I bought my starter stuff at the local hydro store, there's tons of nute regiems, he suggests Wild Thing 3 part, but he negletics to mention the 'opptional additives' I got three plants growing in seperate setups and their super healthy but 'no' spectacular growth. I'm already at double strenght. I'm thinking opptional here means if you want growth, then I need both additives, yes, no? There's all kinds of tricks to get you to buy more but 3 parts should cover it, guess not, rip-off world. Then on top of it he sells me ph down, im sure i said our city tap water, trying to narrow down my growth problem, i look again and we need ph up for our tap water, do you think he'll exchange it? NFW, i didn't think so.
Damn... hate it when that happens. But in weak and puny defense of the store, they are in business to make money & nutes is one of their biggest margin items. Some specific answers: Three parts are plenty, all the other additives will never replace good technique. pH up / down, keep both on hand, one day you'll need it. Double strength nutes, that could be a danger. Give us the specifics of your setup - lights, grow medium, pH levels, environmental, feeding habits, more details about the nutrient regimen (never heard of Wild Thing). Hopefully we can help you sort it out. Back to your store problem - I sincerely believe in supporting my local merchants. I'm willing to pay more (than ordering online) so that I can have a local source of equipment and information when I need it. In exchange I expect no BS. Next time you're nearby, drop in and have a talk with that person & politely let them know how you feel. Tell them you're interested in being a long term customer but with no BS, and you need to be able to count on them to sustain that relationship. Then Keep an open mind, listen, & see if they can convince you they were right. Other than that, keep reading here, do your research, buy a few books, read some more. There's a thread on here of book reviews. I HIGH:LY recommend the Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green. Eventually you'll absorb enough knowledge base to sift out the BS from the real facts. Most important part, you've taken the first step by starting, congrats to you for that!!! Bestaluck to ya, will watch for more specifics on your grow.
If you are looking for a company that requires you to buy 86 different additives you're in luck, There is a company out there like that. I would just use the 3-part and add a booster in the last few weeks. I hate going into some shops cause all they want to do is over sell you stuff.
I would never use tap water. To many contaminants. And for nutes I would suggest Dutch Masters with the zone additive, It has served me well...Good Luck!
^The tap water is a no go? I considered that and said no-noway am I going to buy water too. If I can't get 'more' growth from ph balanced tap water, and the good nutes, then I quit. I used some of the ph down and nothing happened, that's pic 1, just lots of nutes for pic2 pic2-[/URL][/IMG] pic1- new at posting pics, which way works 1 or 2? try this pic2 pic1 Start small? ok. Started with a submirsible pump out of a small water fountain, as you see one pot on top of the other, cheap tuperware. That's it, the drain hole and the pump are alined together, lots of bubbles, so no airstone. All the plants are four mo's, flowering nicely, those are grow tubes up top and hps 350w for pic2. In pic2 the left plant is from dirt at 1mo old, the two on the right are from seed/rockwool. Wild Thing nutes are local, no where on the web. As you can see the two in dirt are small too, it's sisters are bigger. Olde School, I like your name/info, that's me, I'll only go so far with the new stuff, pls tell me my tap water is ok. Normal @ 6.0 (flat) I just gotta go up to 6.9-8.0, right? gd
Whats the PPM of your tap water? As long as it's not super high I see no reason to not use it. Is tap idle? NO. But it will work just fine.
^no, I mean 'NO'. You'll have to do some pretty fast talkin to get me to spend another min 50.00 cad, for a stu**d ppm meter. I'm still stumped on the difference between Nutes and Hydro nutes, but there's a big difference to the plant. Here's the three in pic1 the one was ok, just took 1mo to start to grow, the other two took a beating from reg nutes. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8289/7524470862_03c81a264f.jpg[IMG] wtf [IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8289/7524470862_03c81a264f.jpg
GD, tap water will work, especially if yours is at 6.0 out of the tap. Experienced growers (especially hydro growers) love reverse osmosis filters and rightfully so. The water is better and the yields are better. BUT - you can grow perfectly fine with tap water if (a) you can drink the water and (b) you don't go too strong on the nutes. Stay at 50% recommended strength formula, watch your pH, and you'll be fine. I'm not clear on the medium for the two pots in the tupperware. Is that dirt or rocks or what? Assuming from the description it's a small hydro setup. If that's the case, you want to keep your pH around 6.0, checked AFTER you mix your nutes (it can range between 5.5 to 6.1 with no serious ill effects). The pH for dirt grows is higher. Ideal pH of a well balanced soil is between 6.5 and 6.8, but you can let this fluctuate between 6.3 and 7.0 with no serious effects.
I water with tap only no nutrients added and never check PH, I'm so lazy it suits me best and I have time to browse the GC more often
Olde School that's me again, the two on the right pic1, from seed, and washed rocks from outside, the other was in rocks too but finally bought some clay pebbles, it's now in clay, the seedlings are still on 'my' rocks. So from your info im right on track, except the RO, If I spend like 100-200, will they grow like 'everyone' says they will/do? With everything the way it is, water, nutes, lights, explains why just normal growth? remember these plants are 4mo old already. Also i am noticing some burning so i'll back off the nutes to normal.
Gdonald, using plain tap water wouldn't explain that much of a difference. RO helps, but not that much. In your case something else is going on to stunt the plants. I don't understand the slow growth, 4 months old should be finished by now. Do you know what strain it is? If it was bag seed what did it taste like? Let me be sure I understand your lights - Growtube, that's (2) 40W 4' fluorescents? And a 350W high pressure sodium? Never seen a 350, is that an industrial light repurposed for growing? If it is HPS, and it is 350 watts, that should be more than enough light. Do you have them on 12 hours complete darkness? Clay pebbles is certainly the way to go if you're hydro / soil-less. The pump setup, is that a drip system, or how are they being fed? Not knowing exactly how it works, I'm wondering if you'd be better to put them in a net pot and a home made bubble bucket? Tell me more how it's set up, and if I don't think it's adequate, or could be causing your problems, I'll send you instructions on how to make one. You mentioned previously you were using a local brand of nutes, not sure if they were for dirt or hydro. Many "dirt" nutes are organic & won't work properly in a pure hydro system. There are many brands of hydro specific nutes on the market, one of the oldest and most well established is General Hydroponics Flora series. It's a 3-part regimen of grow, micronutrients, and bloom nutes that you change the formula of each one as the plant goes through its lifecycle (not as complicated as it sounds). You can get a starter pack of all three for about $35 - Amazon.com: General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro: Patio, Lawn & Garden In an earlier post, sounded like there could have been some confusion on pH, and that could explain a large part of your problem. Keep it high-5's to 6 and they should grow like crazy, even with 50% strength nutes. How has the temperature been in your grow area? Excess heat or cold? Human comfort range is ideal. Only other thing I can think of is insects. Spider mites especially are hard to detect and will seriously stunt your plants. Any outdoor influence or pets coming in and out? Get a magnifying glass and look at the undersides of the leaves. Look for tiny little specks that move. Then shoot them (or just let me know if you see any). I'm admittedly shotgunning here to try & cover all the bases, doesn't make sense. Answer all these questions & we'll see where we go next. Oh, about Hope2toke, he's a serious organic grower who can grow pot with things found in your pantry or refrigerator. Expert at his trade. If you decide to try dirt, look for his posts and he will have great ideas on how to grow organically. But that won't help you today. I'll check back tomorrow & see if we can figure this out.
Oh, is that a "dirt hydro"? Ok, not to worry been growing, successfully in dirt, for just about 2yrs. I came up with these individual setups on my own, been playing with hydro for over a yr, not much has worked. It's a drip/flow running with the lights at 12/12. Just ease of use, the small res needs to be topped once a day. I've been thinking it over, one of them could 'possibly' be a runt, the other 3 together, their mom was a bagseed weed, tallest plant, but not much substance, the only thing that stopped it was the root space. These are opposite in the hydro. I still think it's the food. Which brings us back to the hydro shop. Shoot them? Good thing there's no bugs, I got weeds though, like real weeds, just one or two, but can you tell me where they came from? That's ok, I just don't pull em. There was a male clone in the pic2, my first successful hydro test clone, he was bigger but not much. I'm wondering about the, keeping the roots in the dark, I've since covered them better. You asked alot of stuff, I hope im not confusing the situation, But yeah, I know this setup should work, well it does, there alive and super healthy, but 'no' hydro growth is bothersom. I might try again after the Wild Thing is gone.
I used to try to shove as much nutrient into the plants as they could take. Feed them till they burn then back off a little. Since then I have learned that less is more. I run my nutes at half strength and only apply them every other watering and my yields improved 25%. And don't fall for all the additives. Most are junk. Just a thought.
^I just flushed both of them and now running straight H2o same timing, thinking of adding each 3 parts separetly, I'll feel that out. But reading the no-name nutes it says adjust to 6.9Ph, and the main additive, mine is 6.0, Liquid Rock is mentioned in every recipe as 'opptional'. This is what i think i need to do, is get the PH up, and take it from there, and might sucker for the Liquid Rock.
No-name nutes pH'ed at 6.9 is definitely a dirt-only formula. Anything that is pure hydro (grow rocks / hydroton) should be at 6.0, maybe even lower. What is Liquid Rock? Is that a Calcium-magnesium additive for RO water?
Looking again I see soil/soilless, 6.9 PH, for Hydroponics they got, adjust to 7.9 PH. Don't know what's goung on there. The Liquid Rock is thier main additive, what's in it, don't know. They got a Bloom Bloom as well. Im now running straight H20 with no ill effects. Sounds like for this recommened stuff I need the PH up for sure.
Went to the store yesterday and 'they' make the Wild Thing and it's PH up to 7.9 first, yup I added two drops (wtf you need 1/2 liter for) to my res and she's just about dark blue 9.0. and now adding the nutes to bring it down again to 6.0. If this turns out to be the answer i'll shit, im sorry if this is something i missed, but hydro 'SUCKS'.
Anyone still there? I just read that too much H20 in the water will slow things down, yes/no? The three in one are now 6mo's old. One is starting to finish the two together are 1-2mo's away from finishing. This is a true drip, now with adjusted PH reg strength nutes, still healthy/bushy but short.