PPM's for soil?

[oldsman]

Is it Just for hydro?Does pH and ppm's go hand in hand?I have some plants that are yellowing earlier than I would like them to.I grow in soil(Happy Frog)in 1.5 gallon pots,GH flora 3 part nutes,mixed to labels specs,with cal-mag during flower.Currently running 3 different strains and one seems to be yellowing more than the others.Would that make the one strain a heavier feeder?How would I increase the nutes over the labels instructions?Adding more nutes would up the ppms I assume.What is a good level of ppms for feeding the girls?I don't want to just add more grow nutes and over do it.My other girls seem to be just at the limit with just a little burn on the tips of leaves following the label,but the ones I'm talking about eat that up and start yellowing early.Since there isn't more mixing ratios on the label I figured the only way to mix stronger is to measure the ppms of my nute solution.So I need a good baseline or table of recommended ppms for the different stages.Any ideas?

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

first off what stage are they in and how much ppm are you currently feeding? at full force it could be anywhere from 800 ppm for light feedrs, up to 1800 ppm for heavy feeders. id start off adding little at a time say 200 ppm increments util they look like theyre responding! trial and error is the best way as each strain is different! earlier veg feedings are more like 200-400ppm and gradually increasing as weeks progress! its easier to add a lil more then take any away so start slow! also test your ph the runoff should be between 6,0 and 6.5. but if it was a ph issue all plants would suffer, unless the ph is only off in a couple of the pots, which would be a lil strange. but possible.ppms and ph are very important, but are not in relation to aech other, if your ph is high doesnt mean your ppms are off and vice versa.

 

[oldsman]

Thanks High.This plant is going into the 5th week of flower.All water/nutes are pH'ed to 6.3/6.5.I have a ppm meter but haven't used it yet.I will mix my nutes as I usually do and check the ppms.I'm not trying to correct this plant at this stage but I have clones from her that I don't want to yellow this early.I have been feeding all the girls the same mix/strength but this one I think would like more nitrogen in the veg stage than my other strains.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

ok, well its normal to see yellowing during the final weeks of flower as usually by this point the grower stops the N and is at full strenght P and K, then slowly tapers off the P and K, the fifth week sounds about right for an 8-9 week flower. you could stretch it to week six but the goal is to have used up all the N by harvest time. there is no need for it anymore as the plant is usually done with vertical and leaf growth by then and only needs small amounts for her buds. she will leach that out of the larger leaves until theyre yellow. its a fine line as you dont want for her to starve for N either and each strain is a little different! that being said longer flowering times obviously will need N longer. I like to stop N by the last 3 weeks before harvest, usually works for me. some want more some need less! again strain dependant. it usually takes a few harvests before you get it on the money! remember to take notes cuz us stoners tend to forget, and its a lot to remember. with a little tweaking you will know exactly what she craves and needs/ doesnt need! I wissh i had all the feeding schedules but i only know the strains ive grown, which are few! i wont start another one til i perfect the first one. your ph numbers are good, and yes they need a lot of N during veg to grow! some strains are N hogs, while others dont need much. just pay attention to ppms and take good notes. green mojo friend!

 

[Hushpuppy]

I agree with everything HighBrix said. Many people don't realize that any time you are growing with synthetic nutrients rather than organics(regardless of planting medium) you should keep up with the ppms of the solution that you are using. Just like HB said, I start out my vegging plants at around 200-400ppm depending on whether they are seedling or clone(the higher number for clones), then I ramp up the nutes each week as I see growth, until I max out around 700-900(for the strains that I have grown).

Then when I go into flowering, I keep my "grow" nutes the same for the first week in flower but increase the "bloom", then each week after, I cut the "grow" nutes in half and increase the bloom by the same amount. By the week 4-5 I have cut out the "grow" nutes entirely, and my ppms are running between 1100-1300. Then when I get to 2 weeks from harvest, I cut off the nutes and just "top-up" with straight water and maintain my PH around 5.7-6.0(in hydro).

I think its wise that you don't try to correct this one and just wait to get the next run right. It's been my experience though that after week 5-6 (for an 8-9week plant) they can handle losing all of the fan leaves without suffering much loss to the buds(if it happens gradually)

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Basically, GH does use ratios. In flowering you use 3 parts bloom, 2 parts micro and 1 part grow. You can just up the nutes in those ratios. I would recommend using your ppm meter just so you know what strength nutes you are using. It is easier to make it stronger or weaker.

 

[oldsman]

Thanks guys for the tips.I had bought the ppm meter for if I wanted to try hydro,still have alot to learn then learn to apply that knowledge before I do hydro.This plant is from seed I made by pollenating a female THseeds Darkstar x Seedsman seeds Swazi Skunk male.I grew a few of those seeds last year and pollenated one those females with another Swazi male.I'm still growing the Swazi and the basic GH ratios are right at her limits,but wanting more than one kind of smoke I started a few others also.I can see that this one can take more than my Swazi.Just wasn't sure how to adjust the ratios,until I asked you guys/gals.

 

[oldsman]

Ok,I checked ppm of my plain well water,30ppm.I mixed my nutes to labels ratio for blooming(GH Flora series)which gave me 368ppm.This is what I've been feeding my girls all the way through flowering.I upped the mix ratio to 2tspGrow/2tspMicro/5tspBloom and got 652ppm.Tried nute mix at 3G/2M/6B(by tsp) and got 684ppm.Am I on the right track to getting this dialed in?Any comments and advice is welcomed!

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

for early veg of clones,yes, 684 is good, but remember that youll need about 1100-1300 by week 4 bloom to be feeding her correctly, slowly addd more til you reach these numbers. tho it is different with all strains some want less, while others need more, but that is a good ballpark on ppms in bloom!

 

[oldsman]

So by week3-4 i should stop using the grow in my nutes and build my ppms with the micro and bloom solutions?Why is the ppms so low when mixed according to the label?I mean to gey my ppm up to where I need to be It seems I'll be about 3 times more than what the label says.It also makes me wonder about the ppms when mixed to the Lucas formula.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah that is the general all purpose mix rate that the manufacturer puts on the bottles. Some manufacturers put the 3x rate as they want you to buy more, but I think the more "quality" driven manufacturers go for the lower end and allow you to raise it as needed so that you don't burn your plants and get a bad impression of the brand. It would be next to impossible for the manufacturer to put a feeding schedule up that would match more than a couple strains of plants because of the variety of strains, and the myriad variety of conditions that people grow in create almost endless condition differences.

You are on the right track though. As you experiment and learn what your plants like, you will get a method down that will serve you and your plants. That is why I always recommend to new growers to only start with a singe strain and grow it for several runs before branching out to other strains. It makes the learning curve a little less "curvy"

 

[oldsman]

Thanks Hush,I've been running some Swazi Skunk for about a year and a half and basically done nothing special for them and took whatever they gave me.I'm starting to see there is more to it than just putting seeds in dirt,add water and some fert along the way and boom you got smoke.I'm about set to start my outdoor grow and I want it to be my best yet.I Grew in my shed this winter with pretty good results and a few lessons along the way.So I should ditch the labels recommendation and mix my solutions using ppms,then pH balance.I was worried about going so far over the labels ratio and frying my girls.So for veging I would use more of the grow to get ppm in range,then in flowering use more of the bloom for ppm adjustments?