i have a ? please help

[droboy420]

im growin hydro im new at this. do i add nutes to my reasvior evey time i add water??????

 

[Bubby]

Yep.
The idea is to keep the nutrient amounts in your reservoir constant, until the growing plant demands more (or less if unfortunate nutrient burn occurs).

Depending on your reservoir size, you should be changing the reservoir every two weeks, so your PH/nutrient levels don't get all extreme.

Do you have PH tester, or a PPM meter? What type of nutes are you using?

 

[droboy420]

ok thanks im usen dyan plant food for my nutes. ya i have a ph tester. my ph is at 6.7 is that right. what is a ppm tester

 

[Bubby]

I believe the 'standard' for hydro is a PH between 5.2-5.8. This is important, because nutrients can't be absorbed if the PH is off.

A ppm tester measures the dissolved matter in your water, 'parts per million'. For most good marijuana nutrients, there's recommended dosages, depending on how big or old your plant is. These aren't always accurate, also some strains use more/less than others. This is where a ppm tester comes in handy, because with it you can track how much nutrients you gave, and how well the plants responded..

I've never heard of dyan plant food.. what's the N-P-K of that? Is it for some specific plant other than MJ? Is your plant growing ok with it so far?

 

[droboy420]

well it's called dyan-gro the n-p-k is 7-9-5 and my plants are doin really good but 1? they are growin new shots they are actin like ive toped them but i havent is that normal

 

[allgrownup]

The more nodes the better. If your growing a bushy plant than you are doing something right :headbang:

 

[droboy420]

ya they are get bushy. i must be doin somthin right

 

[mardoc]

anywhere on the acidic side of neutral (7) Ph works fine for both vegetative and flowering cannabis growth. I suggest Ph up if your Ph reads anything below 5.4 in flower. Stay more towards neutral in veg and slightly more acidic in flower. The reason for the slight acidity in Ph is to aid in nutrient uptake.
Try to maintain a somewhat consistant Ph range, from nutrient change to change to help prevent nute lockout.

Also to address you initial question. I do not suggest adding nutes every time you top up the reservoir, only when you empty and change the res completely.
my reasoning: Theres NPK - basic nutes. Then micro nutrients and macro nutrients. The plant uses more NPK than it does the micro and macro nutes.
if you keep topping up the res and adding nutes back until your "level" of PPM - they will be a completely different balance, or nutrient profile - than that of a fresh tank. The level will be "overloading" the plant with micro and macro's and eventually can (again) cause Lockout.

In my opinion if you have the ability to moniter the system frequently -Smaller #gal systems seem to work more efficiently. (Ex:8-10Gal res W/ two 3-5Gal plant containters)

with the smaller #gal system you can emtpy the whole thing every 2-4 days and start fresh. Where as an advantage with larger systems, is you don't normally have to maintain them every 2-4 days.
I like the 5gal stand alone DWC buckets (No external res)...