in case i didn't mention this already. none of these numbers are set in stone.. strain, lighting, air exchange, temps and other variables will play a role in how much or little your plants can take. a plant under 1000 watts of HPS will take down more food than the same plant under 100 watts of CFL. a plant in newly transplanted soil may not need as much nutes as a plant that's been in the same soil for weeks/months. so.. play around with the numbers, and see how they react. too little is definately better than too much.. your goal is to end up with a yellowing mess of leaves at the end of flowering.. harvesting a plant with dark green leaves looks real pretty but is full of nutes and salts and will effect the taste and quality after drying/curing.
nice thread, I was totally just asking AW about this and stumbled on this sticky. always better to read first and ask questions later huh?
Just wondering if anyone has used Technaflora nutrients? This will be my first hydro grow and i'm thinking of picking up this kit. Any thoughts?
hey man.. i'm not a big hydro guy but that seems like a lot of stuff to run, especially for your first try. I'd do a search for "lucas formula" and try that out till your comfortable. just my humble .02
i guess that's the European way of doing it? as i stated in the thread, this was copied from Mandala seed co website.
question for you guys.. august said you dont really need to test the pH of the soil before(i believe thats what he said) so all you really need to check is the pH of the water youre adding as well as the water+nute solution? or should the pH of the soil be checked occassionally? if so will muddying up the water with pH neutral water give an accurate reading on a digital pH meter? or is the soil test kit the only way to do it. same question for EC.. if i put some soil with distilled water will i be able to test the EC this way to make sure the values arent totally skewed?
thank you lol..maybe im blind but ive been wondering what type of soil to use for quite a while now... Is there a certain brand of nutes anyone can recommend? or can i go to a local place with garden supplies and find some good soil and nutes...
Anybody know if dyno grow is a good liquid fertilizer, they have a grow, and bloom fertilizer. Anybody have any experience using this brand. and how often should i fertilize if i do use this fertilizer. I am growing on soil
you need to test the runoff to get soil PH. and sure it's always good to check the PH of your dirt... personally i don't because it's a pain in the ass lol i'm real careful to flush often and not overfeed to really worry about the PH of the soil. i use fox farm "Ocean Forest" soil and botinacare nutrients.. it does pretty well for me and i plan on sticking with it for a while. never heard of that brand.. and man how often do you fert? not trying to be rude but read the thread that we're posting in, and it pretty much spells it all out.
thanx for the response, just wondering if anybody used it before but i will look elsewhere for some good ferts
I've been using DynaGro, DynaBloom, and Pro-Tek . It was highly recommended to me, it's a highly regarded fertilizer that's been in the industry for years, and it's one of the few that is still a one part solution. People don't like using DynaGro becuase they don't promote themselves for the Canna industry. They also think because it's a one part solution they would get better results from other companies that have 2-3 parts with additives. I've learned over the years less is better. I believe sometimes they're selling you extras you don't need. I really enjoyed this article and hearing Mandala Seeds recommendations. Nice to hear a recommendation that is opposite from most fertilizer companies.
PowerZone I would follow the recommendations in the beginning of the article. I think they're better than the instructions on the bottle. This all depends on how old your plants are? Seedlings, Clones ?? You'll need to start with a mild solution 2 a week and work up to every other day. Make sure you water them on the days you don't fertilize and don't over water or over fertilize ! Less is always better
thanks man, i am planning to get a mother going so i will be using clones. I am buying a brita filter to lower the EC level of my tap water. I dont have a EC tester, so i am just going to careful to not over fert and keep the feedings at aroung 6.0 pH and maybe down to 5.7 during flowering. But what ratio have you used for the dyna grow, i was going to mix 2.0ml/liter of water and go from their.
1. A Brita filter is a good idea; it removes the cholorine, but won't lower your EC (That's OK, a little extra calcium and magnesium is OK...) 2. Google HM Digital - They make an inexpensive PPM meter 3. When fertilizing a PPM meter is good to use until you learn the different stengths you're working with.... 4. Accprding to the bottle, 2-5ml is recommeded dosage for hydroponics usage... 5. I would follow the receipe for maitenance if using SOIL ! 1/4-1/2tsp per gallon. 6. Seedlings start with a low PPM 1/4tsp gallon 1-2 week with daily waterings
Very informative thread! I have access to an unlimited supply of distilled water. My general understanding is that distilled h20 has a lower ph. Is it ok to use distilled water all the time? And, would it be possible to just amend the ppm of fertilizer so that the regular waterings contain a tiny amount of nutrients like 2%? Or would this lead to salt build-up? I'm a soil grower.