First cycle in Hydroton, are my plants overwatered?

auswolf said:

I have almost the same setup, first time using hydroton in 2 wilmas.
2x600hps
2xwilmas xl 8 sites
Sterile diy nutes (0.9ec)
Ph 5.8 drift to 6.5
Feeding 24hrs
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Thank you for sharing this.. it gives me some hope but also frustrating that it is going so badly for me. Can I ask .. are you using drip rings or the stock drip sticks that come with the Wilma? Roughly what drip rate are you running ? I started off feeding 24/7 at a constant flow which is where I went wrong I believe, I have reduced to flow for over two weeks now and despite the plants growing things have worsened.


Myke - thanks for continuing to check in! I don’t know if the Wilma is all the weird, isn’t it just a glorified auto pot? The pots are fed by drippers and the run off is drained back into the main tanks which are circulated trough my chiller and filter. I have root rot in my last DWC and managed to overcome it but wasn’t taking chances this time so I bought a chiller and set it too 22c with bacteria in the tank.
Funny you say about isolating a plant, I took one out last night and set it to one side.. what do you suggest I should change with the experimentee?

I am now getting a new symptom on the older leaves .. some nice yellowing, Great!! Ha. View attachment 4396697

My "Reset" on sick DWC is 48 hrs of circulation in plain Ro. Start back with low PPM's and watch my tank numbers for signs of feeding. 17 years of growing, you learn when to stop playing and fix it.
Running multiple strains is going to be a hassle to make everyone happy.

Give one a good flush then some food!Calmag also.See if it improved.
Im not familiar with an auto pot.

Using the std blue drippers, with full flow.
Heres my last grow, test run with 2 plants in 5gal pots (perl/vermi) feed 6 times a day.

More food like 700 ppms worth and at least 1ml per litre of calmag.
and some good air flow around the pot.

Ok so you are both saying I should flush? I have only flushed at the end before harvest so should I use Ro water and ph it or use very weak nutes? On the subject of water, my house is having some major renovations, the water has been off for a month. I have been using tap water with a de-chlorinator, Maybe I have been stupid and not ran the water through enough before filling the tanks. I have just set up my RO filter and will do a water change tonight. Who knows it might solve the problem what are your thoughts?
Gypsy Dog, I don’t mean to be “playing around” and have listened to all your advice

myke said:

More food like 700 ppms worth and at least 1ml per litre of calmag.
and some good air flow around the pot.

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We are currently on 500ppm but Gypsy dog is saying reduce my nutrients because my plants are only drinking and already increasing the ppms. Don’t know who I should listen to??

auswolf said:

Using the std blue drippers, with full flow.
Heres my last grow, test run with 2 plants in 5gal pots (perl/vermi) feed 6 times a day.
View attachment 4396605

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Wow I am jealous.!

Woodsy92 said:

Ok so you are both saying I should flush? I have only flushed at the end before harvest so should I use Ro water and ph it or use very weak nutes? On the subject of water, my house is having some major renovations, the water has been off for a month. I have been using tap water with a de-chlorinator, Maybe I have been stupid and not ran the water through enough before filling the tanks. I have just set up my RO filter and will do a water change tonight. Who knows it might solve the problem what are your thoughts?
Gypsy Dog, I don’t mean to be “playing around” and have listened to all your advice

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get some bottled water for your test plant,I think we may have just found the smoking gun!

Woodsy92 said:

We are currently on 500ppm but Gypsy dog is saying reduce my nutrients because my plants are only drinking and already increasing the ppms. Don’t know who I should listen to??

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yes but this is for your test plant,if its too much which youll know pretty quickly then flush and reduce.keep testing.and get Good Water!!!

youve been feeding really low so far,so up is the next logical choice.

Ok so I am hopeful about this being the “smoking gun”! I will go to the store and get some bottled water and make up a 700ppm feed for her. She is the worst affected so if we see improvements I will be over the moon.

What ppm shall I mix up for the rest of the poorly girls with my RO water?
This is my nutrient lineup..

silicic acid
Cal/mag
Rhizotonic
Ecothrive

General hydroponic 3 part.

flush with the bottled water,check ppm in and out.see if its salt build up.go from there.no experience with GH so hopefully someone else can help.

so just set your test pot on a tray,elevated a bit and hand water a couple of gallons through a little at a time.see what the ppms are aftter .

Ok thanks Myke. Am I ph this water and leaving it at that or going for the 700ppm like you said. Sorry just want to clarify ?

Flush water is just that,bottled water.I never ph my flush water seems like a waist.the idea is just to check if you have salt build up.

when i flush my rdwc ,i drain, run straight tap water in.let that run for 3 hrs or so drain again fill with straight water run for 24 hrs drain again checking ppms until im back or close to my tap water.then fill with food,repeat every 10 or so days or what the plants tell me.

Right ok, I will try to mimic this with my set up. That is a lot of flushing, I haven’t been putting it into practice enough talking to others. I’ll do this tonight and report back.

Woodsy92 said:

Right ok, I will try to mimic this with my set up. That is a lot of flushing, I haven’t been putting it into practice enough talking to others. I’ll do this tonight and report back.

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This is just for your test plant!! Easy to do. Check your ppm runoff. If it’s high then your whole system needs a flush.
Good luck.

You can't pH Ro without putting something in the solution to read.
If you put it in plain ro for 48hrs.... Let it purge.
Start it back at 400ppm, CHECK THE #'s. Moving the right direction.... Up the PPM's by 50. REPEAT. Slowly bring her back to a PPM that she likes.