Having problems with my plants and have a question about ppm

[whiterussian]

This is my third grow, ive now switched to full hydro with hydroton grow rocks in a waterfarm 8 pack. My plants we're doing great but now some of the leaves are curling and theres dead spots on some leaves, and the tips are turning yellow also, im going by the nutrient calculator on general hydroponics website, im using all general hydroponic nutrients and im vegging under a 1000 watt MH. My pH is also between 5.5-6.0 at all times, now i asked my local hydro store about this and they said its probably my ppm or a deficiency of some sort. but i really need a rundown on ppm and how they work and what i need to do to raise or lower it, ive done some research and i know ppms all depend on your nutrients and your water, or maybe its not the ppms thats why im asking you guys, this is the best place i know for information . Ive posted pictures as well.
thanks, russian

 

[whiterussian]

bump

 

[MickFoster]

Do you have a ppm meter? If not - you're flying blind. You need one right now. Daily ppm and pH readings in hydro is imperative or you could ruin your whole crop very quickly. Do not follow the mixing instructions on the nute bottles you will surely burn your plants. How often do you change your nute solution? - should be once a week. Are those individual waterfarms? or do you have them all connected to a reservoir and controller? I start out with around 100 ppm when I first put them in the waterfarm and increase weekly. Right now my plants are 3 weeks old and my ppm is around 280 using R/O water. I will steadily increase my ppm's until I max out around 800. If I see any tips burning I will add plain R/O water to reduce my ppm's.

 

[whiterussian]

Do you have a ppm meter? If not - you're flying blind. You need one right now. Daily ppm and pH readings in hydro is imperative or you could ruin your whole crop very quickly. Do not follow the mixing instructions on the nute bottles you will surely burn your plants. How often do you change your nute solution? - should be once a week. Are those individual waterfarms? or do you have them all connected to a reservoir and controller? I start out with around 100 ppm when I first put them in the waterfarm and increase weekly. Right now my plants are 3 weeks old and my ppm is around 280 using R/O water. I will steadily increase my ppm's until I max out around 800. If I see any tips burning I will add plain R/O water to reduce my ppm's.

yes we bought a ppm meter and we change water weekly and yes those are individual waterfarms, i have the resivor but i prefer having them individual so i can move them around. and i heard from my hydro shop my ppm should be 800-1500 and go from there (increase or decrease) depending on how my plants like the ppms but im really confused, i got the meter and it has a packet of solution, and they told me it all depends on my nutrients for my ppm.and im not going by the back of the bottle im going by general hydroponics nutrient calculator, do you think i should do half strength?

 

[MickFoster]

yes we bought a ppm meter and we change water weekly and yes those are individual waterfarms, i have the resivor but i prefer having them individual so i can move them around. and i heard from my hydro shop my ppm should be 1500 and go from there (increase or decrease) depending on how my plants like the ppms but im really confused, i got the meter and it has a packet of solution, and they told me it all depends on my nutrients for my ppm.and im not going by the back of the bottle im going by general hydroponics nutrient calculator, do you think i should do half strength?

I don't know what the packet of solution that you got with your ppm meter - could be a calibration solution. I use GH 3 part and I never follow the bottle or the nutrient calculator. Did your hydro guy suggest 1500 ppm for young plants? - or work your way up to that? In my opinion 1500 ppm is extremely high - as I stated earlier I max out at 800 (on the .5 conversion) - that's approx 1.5 EC. Plant strains vary - you have to find the comfort level for each strain. I would flush my system with plain pH'd water for a day, clean your drip rings - there is quite a bit of salt residue on them - indicating a high nute solution is being used, and if your using a ppm of 1500 I would definitely cut it in half for now - see how the plants are responding and go up or down from there. Not trying to tell you what to do but you'd be better off connecting your waterfarms to a reservoir and controller with the circulating upgrade kit. Eliminates having to empty and refill each bucket individually and allows each bucket to maintain the same pH and ppm levels. If you wish to move the plants around - just move the top chamber to whichever bucket you desire. Hope that helps.

 

[D3]

I never go above 700 ppm in vegging. MickFoster is right. You have nute burn, way too high. You need to flush the plants for 2 or 3 days than start with 200 ppm & work your way up to 700ppm, slowly. In budding try to stay between 700 to 1000ppm, depending on the strain.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

IMO, most hydro guys do not know what they are talking about and this is a classic example. Mick has given you good advise. Start your ppms around 100-200 and work up from there. I also never get mine much above 800.

Your plants are almost certainly suffering from nute burn. Flush them now and then leave them in plain pH'd water for a couple of days and then start your nutes up again S-L-O-W-L-Y working up.

 

[Growdude]

yes we bought a ppm meter

Then what is the PPM of your nute solution now?

IMO I would not go above 900 now.

Do you check the PPM and PH of each bucket or just what you add?

 

[whiterussian]

I don't know what the packet of solution that you got with your ppm meter - could be a calibration solution. I use GH 3 part and I never follow the bottle or the nutrient calculator. Did your hydro guy suggest 1500 ppm for young plants? - or work your way up to that? In my opinion 1500 ppm is extremely high - as I stated earlier I max out at 800 (on the .5 conversion) - that's approx 1.5 EC. Plant strains vary - you have to find the comfort level for each strain. I would flush my system with plain pH'd water for a day, clean your drip rings - there is quite a bit of salt residue on them - indicating a high nute solution is being used, and if your using a ppm of 1500 I would definitely cut it in half for now - see how the plants are responding and go up or down from there. Not trying to tell you what to do but you'd be better off connecting your waterfarms to a reservoir and controller with the circulating upgrade kit. Eliminates having to empty and refill each bucket individually and allows each bucket to maintain the same pH and ppm levels. If you wish to move the plants around - just move the top chamber to whichever bucket you desire. Hope that helps.

yeah i like the idea, ive tryed it myself but i just cant drain all the water out of them because all the buckets got dirty within 2 weeks and they needed to be cleaned, but there was no way of moving those buckets out and we tryed to connect a long hose to the resivor to drain it but it still leaves about couple inches of water in each bucket and the resivor thats why we made them all individual but we have a big container we mix all of our nutrient solution in its all the same in each bucket.and what is the upgrade your talking about??????

 

[whiterussian]

Then what is the PPM of your nute solution now?

IMO I would not go above 900 now.

Do you check the PPM and PH of each bucket or just what you add?

my ppm is 1861 that has to be it! wow! thanks guys im going to fix this problem now your such a big help thanks again guys

 

[MickFoster]

yeah i like the idea, ive tryed it myself but i just cant drain all the water out of them because all the buckets got dirty within 2 weeks and they needed to be cleaned, but there was no way of moving those buckets out and we tryed to connect a long hose to the resivor to drain it but it still leaves about couple inches of water in each bucket and the resivor thats why we made them all individual but we have a big container we mix all of our nutrient solution in its all the same in each bucket.and what is the upgrade your talking about??????

I believe that what you call dirt in the buckets is just the residue from the hydroton - won't hurt anything. I don't see how you would still have a couple of inches in the bottom of the buckets - it should drain to the connectors - approx 1/2" from the bottom. Unless you manually empty each one - you will never drain 100% of the water. It doesn't matter if you start out with the same solution with exactly the same ppm and pH - each bucket will be different by the end of the week. That's the main reason for connecting them - and the simplicity of course. The circulating upgrade kit was developed by GH specifically for their 8 pack waterfarm. The buckets are connected to each other - the first and last buckets in the series are connected to the controller. The kit contains all of the necessary connectors and a pumping column that is attached to the inside of the controller. The pumping column pumps air which in turn takes water out of the last bucket and pushes it out the first bucket - continuously moving the solution throughout the buckets. It maintains the same pH and ppm in all containers.