Best way to cure nutrient lockout?

Krondizzel

New Member
I am pretty new to this nutrient lockup/lockout subject. I was curious as to what you guys do to move forward after this condition, and to unlock? the nutrient bind?

Does it require changing your hydroponics system water out?

h202?

pure water?

corrective nutes to counteract other nutes?

I'm not 100% sure on how this works, well, I'm not even 10% sure to be honest. I'm a rookie and I don't deny it. That was always part of my downfall in life, refusing to ask for help and pretending to know it all, so I started this "hobby" with the self understanding that I simply am not gonna know it all compared to people that have been doing it for a long time. I lack the experience I suppose you could say.


Also, what causes it? I am pretty sure that my PH was off which can result in nutrient lockout of my ranges are bad. (at least that is the impression I have gotten so far, correct me if I'm wrong please :) ) Which they were for a few days because I hadn't yet installed my circulating system. My PH is pretty stable in the 5.5-6.0 range (I have to use the drops until I get this PH pen calibrated).


Thanks guys!
 

Krondizzel

New Member
epsom salts, I have read about this on RIU. Can't really find any specifics on how much to use. Would the application for soil and hydro be the same ratio? ml/L?

Would using the h202 50% grade @ 1ml/L as Al B Fuct suggests work for this at all? Just curious?
 

dura72

Well-Known Member
epsom salts, I have read about this on RIU. Can't really find any specifics on how much to use. Would the application for soil and hydro be the same ratio? ml/L?

Would using the h202 50% grade @ 1ml/L as Al B Fuct suggests work for this at all? Just curious?
dunno bout the h2o2 but with the epsoms i use 1 tablespoon for 10 litre
 

kwilli

Active Member
PH problems and nutrient lockout go hand in hand. If medium/water is not the proper ph then the plant is unable to take up certain nutrients, there's a chart floating around here somewhere, I'll see if I can find it for you. But the best cure for lockout is to not let the ph get out of control to begin with. Preventative maintenance.
 

blacksun

New Member
I am pretty new to this nutrient lockup/lockout subject. I was curious as to what you guys do to move forward after this condition, and to unlock? the nutrient bind?

Does it require changing your hydroponics system water out?

h202?

pure water?

corrective nutes to counteract other nutes?

I'm not 100% sure on how this works, well, I'm not even 10% sure to be honest. I'm a rookie and I don't deny it. That was always part of my downfall in life, refusing to ask for help and pretending to know it all, so I started this "hobby" with the self understanding that I simply am not gonna know it all compared to people that have been doing it for a long time. I lack the experience I suppose you could say.


Also, what causes it? I am pretty sure that my PH was off which can result in nutrient lockout of my ranges are bad. (at least that is the impression I have gotten so far, correct me if I'm wrong please :) ) Which they were for a few days because I hadn't yet installed my circulating system. My PH is pretty stable in the 5.5-6.0 range (I have to use the drops until I get this PH pen calibrated).


Thanks guys!


Simple answer: Rinse or keep replacing the h2o until the PPMs stay low. Then it has recovered from the issue. Up PPMs slowly at that point.

Longer answer:

Right when you get or notice nutrient burn, you start running just h2o, or as others said, a little calmag or epsom salts.

You will give them ~100PPM h2o (or even lower) and the PPMs will shoot back up very quickly.

You can literally measure the nutes/salts leaving the roots (and medium if you have it) and going back into the water.

The old water was concentrated with those nutes/salts, probably because the pH being off prevented the plant from taking up those specific nutes/salts, causing a toxic buildup in the h2o solution of them, which then built up on the roots leading to lockout and nute burn.

Anyways, after the PPMs shoot back up in your h2o solution, you need to replace it again with fresh, low PPM h2o.

Keep doing this until the plant(s) stops dumping nutes/salts back into the h2o solution.

Once that stops, your plant has recovered from the issue.

Take it easy on the nute solution this time and watch that pH so that you don't get toxic build ups from lockout again.

At that point I would treat it exactly like a younger plant, upping the PPMs in a very controlled manner. If PPMs are dropping over time, up the nute solution, until you find the level the plant(s) wants.



Note: If you are in a system where you can move your plants around, you can flush the plants themselves in a bathtub or sink (or even the toilet! I've seen it before) to speed this up. I usually do recirculating hempy buckets under screens, so I can't take my plants into the bathtub or sink and just run water through the roots or medium. That will greatly reduce the time and effort it takes to fix pH lockout induced nute burn, if the option is available to you.
 

Krondizzel

New Member
Thank you. I was shown a chart that showed nutrient values and possible plant problems. I noticed one that stood out bigtime and that was nutrient burn. So I unloaded my system and back filled with 7 gallons of newly ph balanced water. my ppms went from 1000 to about 500 (factoring in my 110 out of the faucet). So 900 down to 400 with corrected PH. '

Thanks for taking the time to reply blacksun kiss-ass lol. This helped a lot!
 

rdo420

Well-Known Member
Once you get your PH and your EEC of nutes correct, I found that misting the plant with PH balanced water or with some B-1 added [foliar feeding] helps to snap it out of it faster.
 
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