Why does it seem there is such a difference in nutrient strenghts between the growing community?
- Thread starter jarvild
- Start date
guerrilla medic
Well-Known Member
Using recirculating systems I have gotten as high as 1.5 but for dtw feeding everyday(or multiple times per day) 1.1 is as high as I have ever needed. On one of my current grows I did one res at 1.3 and I got some eagle clawing and tip burn. I don't know how these guys are running numbers at 2000 ppm and not frying their shows.
MisterBlah
Well-Known Member
Part of high EC/high TDS is high alkalinity. High bicarbonates. That can account for a significant amount of the TDS of a solution. The highest I've seen is about 400ppm HCO3. Although, that was in a blend that was >2500ppm, done DTW. Absolutely ridiculous and wasteful from a fertilizer standpoint.
Alienwidow
Well-Known Member
To the op, a lot of the difference of opinions is because every growing method needs a different ppm. Soil grows and ebb n flow grows will have totally different numbers. Some ebb guys will give advice to soil guys telling them to feed at 1600 ppm, and then the soil guy burns his plant 
Alienwidow
Well-Known Member
https://www.rollitup.org/t/ebb-n-flow-ppm-question.894861/ Theres a guy in this thread who reccomends 1440 ppms in ebb n flow.
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
1.2-1.4EC is the best at all stages of growth.
Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
Because fertilizers are made of different things. Synthetic nutes that are high in salts will give a higher ppm reading than organic nutes that are low in salts though they both might carry the same element analysis in regards to plant nutrition. At least that's what I remember from my bottled nute days.
kmog33
Well-Known Member
A lot of it is just gimmicks. A 20-20-20 is the same as a 1-1-1. Generally it's more condensed so you'll have to dilute higher ratios more sometimes. But they're ratios so the reduce. Which makes me laugh with all the crazy ratios, convert.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sativied
Well-Known Member
Because the majority of growers overfertilizes think it will get them more bud. The difference in setups plays a role too, more transpiration equals lower required EC. The EC is the concentration in the water, the amount in ml growers with different EC levels give can still be the same. Your EC is normal ime. I run 0.7 to 1.4 (of which 0.35 is from tap). On hempy, coco, dwc, nft and soil, with pure indicas to sativa and haze dom varieties. The amount of nutes cannabis needs is a range, and whether you are on the low or the high end doesn't matter noticeably. The amount of nutes has very little effect on the weight already, it just needs enough to make bud from water and air...
See this post: https://www.rollitup.org/t/reliable-ppm-chart-for-marijuana.200589/page-2#post-12471586
Alaric
Well-Known Member
My conclusions also.
Once clones / seedlings are large enough for full strength nutes, I run at 1000 ppm (.7) bloom soup for both veg and flowering.
IMO, all these feeding charts make little difference, if any at all-----and even if following the charts increased yield a small amount----I still wouldn't do it.
A~~~
jarvild
Well-Known Member
This is what I'm trying to understand. Almost all my plants would fry at 1000 ppm. Even when I ran with high alkalinity water @ 400 ppm I still experienced nute burn above 900 ppm. That is including the waters ppm.
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
Seedlings and clones are ready for 1.2-1.4 EC on day one. Anything less is underfeeding them and messes with osmotic gradient. I still can't understand why people are afraid of burning seedlings by giving a healthy concentration of nutrients. It's like thinking undiluted milk will burn a baby.
(disclaimer: This is all assuming we're talking about purely hydroponic methods)
Sativied
Well-Known Member
Absolute nonsense. They don't nearly get that concentration of nutes on other medium either which I barely feed for the first 3-4 weeks. They need a minium amount in weight, not EC, and on pure hydropic methods and with plenty of transpiration (sucks with leds probably, hence the Ca def) can easily take up plenty of nutes around 1.0 through the entire cycle, and can be lower than in geoponics and hydroculture for example. Seedlings show this nicely by keeping cotyledons green.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/169/Strawman_Fallacy
That fear is just more fiction from your brain. Running 1.2-1.4 on seedlings is doable sure, still on the low end.
I frankly think it's silly to argue over 0.2EC difference with 1.2, there are unfortunately for you many more than two factors that influence the optimal ec and it's not in a hypothetical vacuum...but your statement that anything lower than 1.2 equals underfeeding is just false.
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
Sativied
Well-Known Member
I posted plenty of examples myself of healthy optimal plants running as low as 0.72 of which half was tap. That required topping off with nutes too often though. The opposite works too, start with high end, and top off with water only. I don't really measure anymore in EC, 3tsp on 5 liter gives me roughly 1ec (includes roughly 0.3 from tap already). Plenty of examples really, usually the ones with the better results, but if anyone shows clearly you can stay low without underfeeding it's @skunkd0c.
EC (and ph) meters are nice to get a rough starting point, and to diagnose issues, they don't overrule reading healthy plants. My hydro plants mature in 3-4 weeks and stay green and healhy from top to bottom, swell up properly and become as frosty as it gets, effectively using half of that 1.2 EC. I run 0.9 (incl 0.3 ec from tap) on hempy which I flush through with plain water frequently. The result is houseplant-like healthy plants. Greened up plenty of neglected plants too using the same lower than 1.0 EC.
Below 1.2EC isn't underfeeding by default, but then 1.2-1.4 doesn't necessarily equate to overfeeding either. I actually find 650ppm/1.3EC worked well too, especially without boosters and crap messing up the ratio too much. It's just a bit overkill for seedlings, but if everyone using more would take church's advice and run 1.2-1.4 we'd see far less fucked up plants.
EC (and ph) meters are nice to get a rough starting point, and to diagnose issues, they don't overrule reading healthy plants. My hydro plants mature in 3-4 weeks and stay green and healhy from top to bottom, swell up properly and become as frosty as it gets, effectively using half of that 1.2 EC. I run 0.9 (incl 0.3 ec from tap) on hempy which I flush through with plain water frequently. The result is houseplant-like healthy plants. Greened up plenty of neglected plants too using the same lower than 1.0 EC.
Below 1.2EC isn't underfeeding by default, but then 1.2-1.4 doesn't necessarily equate to overfeeding either. I actually find 650ppm/1.3EC worked well too, especially without boosters and crap messing up the ratio too much. It's just a bit overkill for seedlings, but if everyone using more would take church's advice and run 1.2-1.4 we'd see far less fucked up plants.
Last edited:
PerfectGrower
Well-Known Member
You should lower your EC in constant contact systems (DWC, RWDC, aeroponics etc).
You should raise your EC in coco, peat moss and soil. You should also raise your EC in "intermittent feeding systems".
Luckily our system does all that for you!
Aerono, thats right where we recommend our EC for peat moss. Your plants look great! Here is one of our customers' Sour D plants at week 6 of flower with an EC of about 1.7:
You should raise your EC in coco, peat moss and soil. You should also raise your EC in "intermittent feeding systems".
Luckily our system does all that for you!
Aerono, thats right where we recommend our EC for peat moss. Your plants look great! Here is one of our customers' Sour D plants at week 6 of flower with an EC of about 1.7:
