Nutrient strength to start with.

[NewbieG]

I will be starting my first hydroponics grow with a 400 watt MH/HPS. I was curious as to what strength of nutrients to use for the first intro to nutes? My babies are already well established in rockwool with roots growing all the way down. I'm going to start quarter strength and hopefully can up it a little before I leave tomorrow. What do you guys think?

 

[WeedHopper]

I will be starting my first hydroponics grow with a 400 watt MH/HPS. I was curious as to what strength of nutrients to use for the first intro to nutes? My babies are already well established in rockwool with roots growing all the way down. I'm going to start quarter strength and hopefully can up it a little before I leave tomorrow. What do you guys think?

1st off,, what Nutes are you gonna be using? How old are your plants?Are they healthy looking?,,,,,,,,,,,,Pics would help too. There are plenty people here who can help you.

 

[NewbieG]

I actually don't have a camera. My plants are about 6 days old they are sprouting their second set of real leaves (they are still very very small). I plan on doing 4-5 weeks before I go into flower. I am currently using FF hydro Grow Big and have been hand feeding them so gave them 1/8 strength solution for breakfast this morning and 1/4 strength for lunch. I think im going to keep it at quarter strength or should I do it a little lower?

 

[NewbieG]

Also had one more question... I've been filtering out water by hand all day (have 20 gallon reservoir) its taking me a while. Any tips hints etc to help on water quality, control, and making it?

 

[andy52]

hey bro,i finally got an RO system for my water.i got tired of hauling distilled water.i use the GH line of nutes and start all my babies out at around 200-300 ppm's.after they get a good root system established,they can handle more nutes.fot the 1st 2-3 weeks of vegative growth,i go pretty easy on the nutes.then when you start slowly bumping the nutes up,you get a feel for how much they need.i go for the tip burn myself.
for the RO system,its been a life saver to me.it only cost about 150.00 and has almost paid for itself already.i stock up on the water,from the empties i had from buying distilled water.i have over 70 gals of water on hand at all times now.it took a long time to get it tho.RO systems are not what i thought.its a rather slow process.be better if i had a place to put a 50 gal. drum to collect water in.good luck

 

[NewbieG]

hey bro,i finally got an RO system for my water.i got tired of hauling distilled water.i use the GH line of nutes and start all my babies out at around 200-300 ppm's.after they get a good root system established,they can handle more nutes.fot the 1st 2-3 weeks of vegative growth,i go pretty easy on the nutes.then when you start slowly bumping the nutes up,you get a feel for how much they need.i go for the tip burn myself.
for the RO system,its been a life saver to me.it only cost about 150.00 and has almost paid for itself already.i stock up on the water,from the empties i had from buying distilled water.i have over 70 gals of water on hand at all times now.it took a long time to get it tho.RO systems are not what i thought.its a rather slow process.be better if i had a place to put a 50 gal. drum to collect water in.good luck

RO system would be the way to go but I don't have space as it is...
Well I got my order in so now its just setting it all up. I guess 1/4 strength is on the light side so I'm going to get them going in that for the next two weeks then switch it over the next two weeks of veg. until I move to flowering.

Ok now if I could PLEASE get a quick answer... I'm going to be putting the plants in containers, I'm going to be putting the rockwool starter cube very high in the container so that the roots have a good bit of space to grow down... I'm assuming this is correct but if its not please pm me or post up because this is how I will be setting the pots up. Thanks for the help.

 

[andy52]

i place my cubes as deep in the net pots as i can to bury the stem in order to strengthen the stalk.they stretch some and i try to deter that from the get go.

 

[pcduck]

I bury mine till they just barely stick out.

 

[BUDISGUD]

yes i read somewere it is better too bury too just under the bottom leaves.

 

[NewbieG]

I did, made sure they are nice and covered. Spent all day mixing water by hand and cleaning hydroton...not the most fun, but n e thing needed to get my girls up and going. I have been feeding them quarter strength solution all day with no problems so going to give them a little bit higher strength now. I'm going to be leaving for a while, so I want to place as much nutrients as possible with out hurting my babies. I have a feeling its going to end up just under half strength with 20 gallons of water. Hopefully that's enough...

 

[smokingjoe]

I too will leave one layer of hydroton on the bottom of the net pot and bury the suckers up to the first set of leaves.

What are those leaves called anyone? I know the name begins with a B but I can't for the life of me remember.