how important is changing the res weekly

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

how important is changin the res weekly for the seedling stage?
im gonna be usin the recipe for success kit and the bottles are small that come w/ the kit so i was gonna try to get away with changin the res as little as possible,as long as the plants stay healthy and are growing.
when does the res actually need to start getting changed weekly?
thanks for any help i can get,another member in here was wonderin the same thing so i decided to start a thread on the topic.lets hear what ya got to say on it-Thanks alot my friends-peace

 

[growdammit]

Remember to cut the dosage in half and those little bottles will go alot farther! I'm with you as you know already on changing the res less frequent for seedling, tiny status! I do want to get changed before stress starts to show like deficiencies in plant health. However I am changing my res today which is like week 4. However that was 4 weeks from a seed.

 

[Megatron]

AID, I change my hydro res. every week and my areo res. every 2 weeks.. Hope this helps.
Full strength recommendations suck.. I found out my first grow..

 

[papabeach1]

res? what is RES? sorry if i raise my hand for question of what is RES?

 

[Runbyhemp]

res? what is RES? sorry if i raise my hand for question of what is RES?

Res = Reservoir

 

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

reservoir is what we hold our water/nutes/additives in when growing in a hydroponic system =)
i've never heard much complaints about usin a nutrient at its full recommended strength.i just know that you have to go from 1/4 to 1/2 to 1/3 to full strength.timmy used the recipe for success at its recommended strengths and he had great results with it,did you see his strawberry cough plant? The girl was a beast. (the cops must have loved the smoke they got off her) anyways,anybody else got any suggestions or $.02 they wanna post?
I'm all eyes (ears) =) -peace

 

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

p.s.
growdammit,do you have a pic of the plants that youve had growin with the same res water?im interested to see how theyre doin.

 

[Megatron]

Ever seen seemorebuds? They apparently grow without ever changing the water. (after the first room) They just don't mention how they introduce new nuitrents..

 

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

yea,but if your ppms arent right then youre gonna end up running into some serious problems if you dont correct it.malnutrition and stress are two i can think of off hand. you also dont want any harmful organisms creating in your water due to not changing it.i would say that i'd be ok not changin it weekly when theyre still seedlings,but after theyre 4 or 5 inches tall,i'd definitly start changing it every week just to be safe.i talked to timmy about it,and with what he said and what i already knew,this is how i came up with this decision.he said for a person thats not familior with hydroponics or the recipe that stickin to the regular recipe would be a good idea,until of course you get it down pat and are comfortable changin the ppms.

 

[Growdude]

My 2 mother plants in drip systems have never had the res. changed, but I give them very little nutes and mostly plain water. Been over a year now.

 

[Tater]

I change my rez every week. But I bet if you had a full time ppm meter in there and watched it you might be able to go 2 weeks at a young age. Thing to remember is that as the plants use water and the water evaporates the solution is going to get stronger and can end up burning your plants. Plus the longer the water sits the higher the risk of disease and algae and a host of other problems. But if you were careful I don't see why you would ever have to change your water it would be a matter of stopping algae growth and disease and monitoring the strength of the solution and adapting the formula as necessary. I think it would be a lot of work.

 

[growdammit]

I should add to this that when I stretch my nutes on this small plant (I will post a pic later of it) that I keep water topped off to ensure no nutrient burn from evaporative loss of water. I use a double bucket system.
5 gal bucket with plant and 2 6" airstones going
connected to this is a 3.5gal bucket with my pump and 2 6"airstones going in this bucket as well.
The whole thing is lined off to hold 4 gal of nute solution and has a 1"tube connecting both buckets at bottom.
I run airstones 24/7 to keep water agitated and discourage unwanted stagnant growth.
I pump on timers to supply water via drip circle on a 6" rockwool cube resting ontop a large pot of hydroton that is 2"s below surface of water in grow bucket. I pump 6hrs on, 6hrs off, 6hrs on, and 6 off until the plant grows its first sets of blade leaves, then keep increasing time of pump until it too is running full time.
I want to stress that I DO change nute water weekly once a plant is larger and want to remind newbies that following directions is usually your best bet! However, cutting dosage in half as I am finding on technaflora products perfectly fine for the plant, but I cannot comment on any other products. When in doubt read the directions!

 

[growdammit]

Ok, I am back from a short trip and found that my plant has doubled in size again and father in law did not raise the light as he was supposed to and it grew up and around light, (good thing it is only flour gro light). I should probably change the res today, but need to work on my outside plants too and exhausted,,, so I guess I can go for week 7 of no change,,,, will have to fix my light situation tho! I almost feel like Kramer on the Seinfeld episode where he just keeps driving to see how far the car will go until it runs out of gas! I need to check the PPM to see if I am in danger zones.

 

[Megatron]

I almost feel like Kramer on the Seinfeld episode where he just keeps driving to see how far the car will go until it runs out of gas!

lmao
maaaan that was like 15 years ago! i'm gettin old..

 

[growdammit]

LOL!!! I guess that does make me older! FYI all... couldnt stand it and finally broke down and changed the nute water last night! Had to move hydro setup while I revamp and build a new gro room so since carrying two buckets full of water and joined by 1" flex hose is tough to do by oneself, I drained and debated putting back in for sake of science, but that little plant looked up at my twisted and leaning to the left since someone didnt move light while I was gone and decided to give it a fresh dose of technaflora! While the plant never did look "bad" so to say, this morning it was a more lush darker shade of green.... plus I moved it from flourescent lighting to 250W MH.
I think what I learned from this little science lab was that from now on I am going to change water monthly for small clones and seedlings. The other thing I am pretty sure about, is that I am sticking with technaflora products. It is a tough decision when you are standing in your local gro shop and see all those more expensive products, cooler looking packages with tigers and genies, or even seeing cheaper products and wonder if I couldnt do it cheaper or conversly if I should be spending more.
Long story short, I am very happy with technaflora and think I will keep using them... judging on my success as of date.ostpicsworthless:

and once I get one of my teenage kids to show me again how to use the camera and put onto cp I promise I will post a pic of my little lab rat!

 

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

sounds good man,good to hear your opinion on the tech. kit.im orderin two of em next week,i hope i have as much luck with them as you are.thanks for keepin us updated-peace

 

[Tater]

Another concern that raised up in a separate conversation I had with another grower in my area was that different plants at different stages use nutrients at different levels. Some use more N and later in their life use more P and K but how do you know how much they are using. Changing your rez every week allows you to re balance the nutrient solution so to say. PPM's won't tell you if your solution is low on nitrogen ;p just something to think about.

 

[lyfr]

howdy AID, when i first start my clones i get about 10-14days on the first 2 res's and then have to go weekly. i check my ppm/ph twice a day and when the #'s start bouncin around i feel i can no longer trust it....usually 6-9 days once they root/start growin good. just how i do it and i havent had but a couple res. probs in 5 grows for what it's worth.

 

[growdammit]

That is a good point tater! I think another variable to consider is how many gallons of water your res holds compared to the number of plants at said stage in development are depleting the nutrients held in the water.

 

[growdammit]

Another update on my plant, it is super green and growin up like a good girl should... hope its a girl anyway... started from seed