Why high EC?

[MickFoster]

Could someone tell me why some people push the limits on the strength of their nutrients? I'm certainly not a professional but I admit that I grow some killer plants. I grow Hempy - start at 100 ppm (.7 scale) for 2 weeks, 200 for week 3, 300 for week 4 and so on. I never exceed 800 ppm's and my plants are always perfect - with good yields. Seems to me that it's a waste of nutes. Besides that - when a newbie reads that someone is using 1800 ppm - I'm not surprised they fry their plants. Does pushing the nute strength to the limit increase the yields?

 

[CasualGrower]

I usually Nute on the higher side of the spectrum, but not because I think it might make a bigger badder plant.... I use extra nutes because I only play with the water in my systems every other week or so the heavier nutes will last longer. Just like my Mother plant... I need to change out her water and fill her res today or tomorrow.... been about a month since I played with her and she is still beautiful :hubba: .

 

[Timmyjg6]

Just giving the plants as much as they want.. Its food, its like say you have a chicken and you just feed it just enough to live and look healthy but if you feed it as much as you can with out it getting sick it gets fatter than it would have so when its time to kill and eat him he will be nice and plump.. All about the yield. Maximize to the maxxx....

 

[kubefuism]

Control is the major factor here. You can't just give and give and give. You'll burn out, throw your ph out the window, or just over-fertilize. Control. You can touch the ceiling, just climb the latter carefully...

 

[Aurora_Indicas_Dad]

hey timmyjg6,how many ppm is the most you shoot for while using ionic in your dripper system? how much are you addin to each gallon?i thaught you were just supposed to use the amount stated on the bottle. -Thanx bro

 

[MickFoster]

Just giving the plants as much as they want.. Its food, its like say you have a chicken and you just feed it just enough to live and look healthy but if you feed it as much as you can with out it getting sick it gets fatter than it would have so when its time to kill and eat him he will be nice and plump.. All about the yield. Maximize to the maxxx....

Thanks for the reply Timmy - but with all due respect we're not talking about chickens - we're talking about a plant. I can understand if your nute solution is so low that the plant starts having deficiencies - but if it's strong enough to support a very healthy plant - what's the point of overfeeding? I could be wrong but I think there's a limit as to how many nutes a plant can absorb. Would be nice if someone did an experiment with two identical clones - feed one to the limit and feed the other moderate amounts but keep it healthy - find out if there's a difference in yield.

 

[CasualGrower]

A plant will only take up the amopunt of nutrients that it can use at anyone time and will leave what it does not need .... that being said... If you make your grow area too rich in nutrients that can and will hurt your plant by making conditions so that your plant cannot grow, and in the extreme, survive.

 

[snuggles]

I think a lot of it is strain and nute related. Some plants like to be pushed, especially in flower some don't. Anyone who does hydro will tell you there is a huge amount of uptake increase in flower. Most people do overnute though but it doesn't always show in a bad way, they are just wasting food. Nutrients are very hard IMO, not to get by on but to truly master.

I usually look for brown tips on my leaves...tells me I reached the plants nute limit, and like I said earlier some plants need more than others.

 

[IllusionalFate]

I usually look for brown tips on my leaves...tells me I reached the plants nute limit, and like I said earlier some plants need more than others.

That's an excellent way to determine how much nutrients to feed. Once you see brown tips, you should back off the nutrient concentration just a bit because the brown tips indicate that the plant has all the nutrients it can use and then just a little extra.

If all you see is the brown tips though it won't hurt the plant. The leaves will stay healthy and green.