PPM for hydro.. how much and when?

[Bleek187]

im reading about hydro growing and i know a little bit about PPM.. but my question is how do you know when to bump up the PPM you are feeding your plants? i can not find info on how many PPM and when the plants need them.. on the bottle it says mix ?tsp per gal of this and ?tsp per gal of that for each stage.. but this only has seedlings, veg, before flower, and flowering.. im pretty sure that during the flowering they need to be bumpd up over time.. 700ppm all the way up in the 2500ppm range before the end of flowering.. So where can i get more info on this? thanks

[lyfr]

hi bleek, i ebb and flo at 200~first feeding(clones) 400 after 3 days 800 after 3 days...change rez to 1000ppm flwer nutes and flip lights on 7-9 day. second week after flowers show i bump to 1300-...3wk 1600-...4-5wk 1800-...6wk till flush 1000ppm. u must watch plants very carefully during this and if they show any bad signs back off nutes. if its ur first hydro you might want to top out around 1200 as all strains react different and may burn up at 1200. hope i helped...its just how i do it, dont mean its right!

[snuggles]

Yeah I would watch them closely when getting the PPMs up that high.

What kind of nutes are you using? Also MJ doesn't like full doses of plant food. There was a guy once who claimed he could go to 2000PPM on some of the other boards I frequent, long story short...he killed his plants in days. So be careful and like lyfr said keep an eye on them.

[The Hemp Goddess]

Different strains have different needs. However, I don't think that there is any strain that you can take to 2500. I think the key is to start out low and work up. Watch your plants and learn to recognize if they are "happy" or not. With hydro, you can kill your plants in a matter of hours by overfeeding them.

[snuggles]

As soon as you see brown tips on the leaves you reached your limit.

[Growdude]

I max my WW at 1200 PPM.

Go slow watch the leaf tips and edeges.

[Bleek187]

all of you helpd out alot.. I use General Hydroponics nutes..

FloraGro 2-1-6......(N) 2% (P2O5) 1% (K2O) 6% (Mg) 0.5%...

FloraMicro 5-0-1...(N) 5% (P2O5) 0% (K2O) 1% (Ca) 5% (Co) 0.0005% (Fe) 0.1% (Mn) 0.05% (Mo) 0.0008%

FloraBloom 0-5-4..(N) 0% (P2O5) 5% (K2O) 4% (Mg) 1.5% (S) 1%
and
Liquid Kool Bloom 0-10-10... (p2O5) 10% (K2O) 10%....

The Flora Gro,Micro, and Bloom say on the back of the bottles

.......................................Gro....Micr o....Bloom
cuttings and seedlings.........1/4.....1/4.......1/4
General Purpose -Mild............1.......1..........1
Vegetative Growth Stage.......3.......2..........1
Transition to Bloom Phase......2.......2..........2
Blooming and Ripening............1.......2.........3
..........................................tsp/gallon

The Kool Bloom says "1 to 2 tsp per gallon"

so i have just been going with the booming and ripening stage for all 3 nutes and 2tsp per gal on the kool bloom... i have noticed that some of the leaves are burning a little.. some brown spots.. but i do not have a TDS tester yet.. i should have that by the end of the week so i can let U know what PPM im at.. thanks alot for the help

[lyfr]

sounds like your gonna burn your plants. i use GH and when you start puttin it all together ppm's sneak up on you pretty quick. ive never used their reccommendation for full strength and i like to run high ppm at certain times. i would use a ppm meter as more of a guide, increase slowly and stick as close as you can to their mix ratio. be careful and watch those plants for leaf curl(downward) and burnt tips

[lyfr]

.. but i do not have a TDS tester yet.. .. thanks alot for the help dude ,get one quick! your goin to be amazed how high yours are...i think. tds meter is most important part of hydro!

[snuggles]

If the burn gets worse, give them pHed plain water for a couple of days then gradually give them food, maybe 1/4 the dosage and slowly work your way up. Plain water, or a flush is the most important thing anyone can do in any medium to stop most problems dealing with ph nutes etc. Plants lke it too, and you know you are starting from ground zero when you flush.

[allgrownup]

here's how ya do it bro....

or so i'm told.


its about knowing how much your plants need. not what you give them

peace


http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21119

[smokybear]

TDS meter is essential to your setup my friend. I can't really say much more as I don't know much about it, except what I've read. Everyone pretty much said everything though. Take care and be safe.

[trillions of atoms]

^^ some good info here.

as said, slowly increase doses as plant yellow and show hunger.

dont work to fast on bumping up nutes as less is more.

[allgrownup]

from the master himself:

again, you should measure the runoff to confirm how strong the nutes are in the root zone

as far as additives, I dont use any, so cannot recommend them

imho, additives are a way for folks to reinvent a nutrient program for cannabis

nutrients are not the determinant of yield or plant health, but you can certainly screw things up royally by messing around with multiple products

I recommend you use pH's spreadsheet to figure out what your custom mix contains, the way meduser did

Lucas

Lucas is a firm believer in less is more when it comes to nutrients and additives. The basic principles apllied would suggest that you should keep the EC of the root zone at 2.0 (1000ppm @ .5 conversion) throughout the flowering cycle. Lucas would say, as he has said, that if you are trying to find a silver bullet for yield, that silver bullet is more light. If considering investin in fancy nutrients, then consider investing in more light and/or higher plant counts for larger yields.


and do not forget about GENETICS.... to begin with.

[lyfr]

too many additives=toxic soup...creating many problems from nute lock-up to nute overdoses. as goddess said, "with hydro, youcan kill your plants in a matter of hours."

[Puffin Afatty]

im reading about hydro growing and i know a little bit about PPM.. but my question is how do you know when to bump up the PPM you are feeding your plants? i can not find info on how many PPM and when the plants need them.. on the bottle it says mix ?tsp per gal of this and ?tsp per gal of that for each stage.. but this only has seedlings, veg, before flower, and flowering.. im pretty sure that during the flowering they need to be bumpd up over time.. 700ppm all the way up in the 2500ppm range before the end of flowering.. So where can i get more info on this? thanks

:farm: I keep the ppm at 800-900 all the time, except for seeds and/or clones. I use GH Flora Series nutes, omitting the grow component altogether. I start with 8 ml micro per gallon of distilled water and add 16ml of bloom. I adjust with water and/or nutes to get ppm to 800. then I add 1/4 teaspoon floralicous plus. the ph is adjusted to 5.6. I monitor this daily, adjusting as needed to 800 ppm and ph = 5.6

key points are 1-use distilled water always, 2-keep res ph at 5.6 and 3-tds at 800 ppm. if you do this you will never have any nute issues. ;)

[Bleek187]

so i got my TDS tester today.. i tested my tap water first.. 84ppm so thats not 2 bad
Then i tested the mix i have been feeding my baby... it didnt even register on the TDS meter.. it goes up to 1999ppm... so i dumpd out about half of the cup i was using and filled it up with tap water.. it was at 1500ppm... rediculous.. so i have been feeding the hell outta this plant.. gonna mix up a new batch of food for her rite now and prolly put the ppm around 1000.. see how she likes that

[snuggles]

so i got my TDS tester today.. i tested my tap water first.. 84ppm so thats not 2 bad
Then i tested the mix i have been feeding my baby... it didnt even register on the TDS meter.. it goes up to 1999ppm... so i dumpd out about half of the cup i was using and filled it up with tap water.. it was at 1500ppm... rediculous.. so i have been feeding the hell outta this plant.. gonna mix up a new batch of food for her rite now and prolly put the ppm around 1000.. see how she likes that

Yikes!!!! You're one lucky farmer right now LOL. Try 800 and work up, those plants need a break.

[lyfr]

dude ,get one quick! your goin to be amazed how high yours are...i think. tds meter is most important part of hydro! i'm guessin you were amazed. should be smooth sailin' now that you got a tester...far as nutes anyways. good luck

[Bleek187]

Yea i had no idea... i cant beleave she isnt dead.. i just put her in some water to flush for a day or so.. then ima start back at around 900.. this thread has been very helpful

[Bleek187]

so now i got the PPM down.. and the PH is perfect... now when my 400w HPS gets here im gonna be in bizz.. thanks alot for all tha help

[snuggles]

Feels good to be in control. Tell those PPMs who's boss LOL. Keep us informed, we wanna hear about how green and lush they are in a couple of weeks.

[Bleek187]

ok so heres where im at.. She looks way better.. i got her ph at about 6.0 and ppm is about 900 now.. She got way bushyer and the bud on her looks GREAT..

If you want to check it out i update it every week

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23693

The only thing im not sure about now is.. she still gets some spots on her leaves, yellowish spots.. and some leaf tips still curl down.. others on the very top curl inward togather... they only do this in the dark stage.. no idea why..