Might bring out the ec meter afterall.

So I need clarification on something simple.

coco/pearlite GH maxi series. Trying to make my own custom feed.

Rather gh flora or maxi, they call for higher feed than the 1.0 or 1.5 total EC I see the more expirienced users around here use.

Is this because they expect you to use RO or water with less than .3 EC to compensate for such empty water nutrient capacity or minimal polution and lock out potential due to that?

I have tap ec of .5 and am reading they like to get you to use more for more costs or maybe not?

This question came from switching flora trio to one part and realizing I can make my own feed chart a lot easier as it is all one content so I am not messing with nute ratio.

Also thinking of this because flowering is sensative/reactive and want a nute reciepe that should treat all strains with delecate handling of total EC of feed.

Seeing people that use same nute line say that 1.9 or 2.2 total EC is too much and some quick forum surfing brought all this to light. That all plants should do good with 1.5ec max.

What EC tap would be a threat of lockout? Or what ec tap is appropriate before you suspect issues in flower can arise?

Veg stays green green green. end mid flower/late flower was when ec or solution problems may occour. That is when it is most transparent, yeah?

PS I just learned and experienced ph drifts after 3 days sitting around, I check ph each feed now. I let solution sit for 24 hours for equalibrium after preparation and after day 2-3 I put drops of ph down and it holds for another 2-3 days. RO I think behaves different.

I know something about this matters as I fed the first week of late flower with mid flower feed by mistake and it bit me for that, but maybe feeding 1.9EC did too. It should of been .9ec or 1.4 with tap that week.

I switched nute series mid overall process of flower too but the ec only tapered from 1.4ec to 1.2 ec of solution only. Did they intend for ripe to be lower ec or just feed until chop?

Again this would be 1.7 ec with tap….. Hope this thread clears any confusion.

I feel like I would be ok if I customized my own feed to dial back some of the ec, worth a try as it would save a lot and time too, using an ro system would add much more to the overal labor and costs.

i'd first start with a water analysis and then go from there

GH Flora in my tank, DTW.
I feed by the ML/Gallon chart.
city tap water filtered to 0.5 micron.
water sits for a couple days bubbling away b4 use.
PH is more stable for me that way.
your mileage may vary.

Ok I got it but I am no chemist. Would have to research how to read it or what to look for. Is every substance rather first or secondary unregulated substances is what is inside the water?

This is going to be interesting. Can I message someone to review it and help out or is this something I can probably piece out myself.

Thanks for the tip, did not know I could find it that quick.

It is high IMO in Sulfate .1ec, calmag .1ec and chloride .2ec.

Total Trihalomethanes .1 ec. Total Organic Carbon .06 Ec. chlorine .86 ppm, what ever that is on ec scale.

Turbidity .2 ec.

Sodium .06 ec.

Any of this help? I always thought these micros would be taken by the coco to some extent to keep buffered but no lock out, just perhaps need a lower EC of solution.

What are things to look for on analysis, and the scale it is measured in, in terms of polution? Lock out?

does it show CaCO3? or Mg? sodium is generally not good but i'm not sure if .06 is alot to be honest.

and since it already has chlorine, i'd probably use pool shock to run a sterile res instead of good bacteria

rkymtnman said:

does it show CaCO3? or Mg? sodium is generally not good but i'm not sure if .06 is alot to be honest.

and since it already has chlorine, i'd probably use pool shock to run a sterile res instead of good bacteria

Click to expand...

Is that just cal and mag? I meant .1ec as in 35ppm cal and 30ppm mag, roughly .1ec of both. Everything else is sooo tiny like ppb or ppt or ND.

Overall looks very decent as I always thought since switching to it because I ran out of RO and no system and just said F it. Usually those are the moments I become a better grower.

That included ditching hydro gaurd and using h202, 1ml/gal was enough for no algae or funkiness. Otherwise I would pool shock to save money.

Just learned to strickly moniter ph in solution and cannot think of anything else to change other than lower overal EC. Edit: I feed till the pots gush perhaps why nothing builds up.

caco3 is calcium carbonate which i "think" determines hard vs soft water. i forget what all my #s are at the moment: i'd have to find my last h2o report

i'm on well water and also do coco and i don't need to add any Ca.

rkymtnman said:

caco3 is calcium carbonate which i "think" determines hard vs soft water. i forget what all my #s are at the moment: i'd have to find my last h2o report

i'm on well water and also do coco and i don't need to add any Ca.

Click to expand...

it says harness 200 ppm or .4 EC in one slot, so is it like rating all the water overall? I dont see that specifically (caco3). Just calcium 35ppm and total organic carbon 30ppm.

Wow this is dope, I thought I can already start offering advice to newbs on coco management to find I only missed 2 things.

all I didn’t know to include was monitor ph as if it is a detatched dwc bucket and review analysis of tap to make sure you can pretty much do what I do.

Critical for lockout or toxicity but damn, you could be giving them solution that is 6.3+ in ph. The management of this ensures what is going on inside pots is equivalent.

I feed til the pots are gushing.

gushing is too technical.
free-flowing sounds more like your growing weed.

Speaking of coco managment, I think I need to feed 3 times a day, my 3 gal has some intense daily/nightly dry back.

J. Rocket said:

gushing is too technical.
free-flowing sounds more like your growing weed.

Click to expand...

Not with my level of salt to pot deposits lol. If anything, it is oozing.

medidedicated said:

Not with my level of salt to pot deposits lol. If anything, it is oozing.

Click to expand...

now that sounds medical....ewwww

.5 ec is a little high, if you have citric acid add some to your plain water and take a EC reading. It may be alot lower after the citric. Somewhere between 1.0 and 1.5 EC total nutrient strength will be plenty for almost every plant you ever grow.

So if you find yourself in this situation, all I concluded with was the following:

This is hand watering, stationary solution sitting for 2-4 days max. Having a rez I would simply dump feed into the rez, monitor ph few times a day and refresh frequently.

Hydro guard was sludgie/funky/algae. With this I feel like I could aerate in a auto feed rez with no issues, easily. I get no algae or funk, 1ml/gal h2o2. Sterile setup.

Read a water analysis of your tap water to determine if anything is high enough to cause lock out or pollution (help will probably be needed.)

If it checks out to be ok like mine, proceed. If not, you will end up with your own unique feed.

Use ec meter to figure out the dry weight and pretty much not use the ec meter ever again as Ec is consistant with dose.

Prepare 5gal solution. Wait 1- 12hrs so the ph meter stops drifting (it really is though.) In short, tap takes patience and daily monitoring.

PH down if needed. I can see it read stable when it is stable which is really the importance here that matters, takes 7 mins at least, when needing to ph down. If it drifts, you may wait 1-12 hrs.

It may not drift at preparation but it will within 1-2 days from off gassing, from being shaken up, running low, aerated, sitting around and other reasons with what is in the tap that adding continuous ph down (that itself is another reason), will cause ph to drift in a lively manner.

Check ph before each feed, add ph down if needed. If you coincidently do not have to add ph down, feed with it.
Do not let it dryback too hard and feed thoroughly to avoid ph/ec drifts and build ups of salts and polition. Large runoff. Large pots/light feed <5x a day is my style.

Values are ec total with tap. Tap tends to be .4-.5ec, yours may vary.

Seedling/clone: Solo cup 1 week .5 ec, distilled/ro
Early veg: .9 Ec tap
Late veg: 1.3 Ec
Early/mid flower: 1.4ec
Late flower/ripe: 1.2ec or taper through ripe down to 1.0 and chop.

Small doses of calmg as needed (shouldn’t, tap/nutes have plenty) maxi series 1part,1ml/gal h2o2 , ph down and possibly citric acid for when tap ec drifts higher, sometimes it is closer to .4ec.

Powder only, fluids costed too much and were harder to work with.

Best place to put this is here. All went great but hard to tell what this is from. Harsh dryback, vpd related and heat stress or all 3.

This wouldn’t be from using 1:3 tap/nutes is it? Would it get worse if I tapered? If I went to .9 or 1.0 ec total it would be 1:1 tap/nutes.

No one sees an issue related to what is in nutes do you? IE lockout, over feed or underwatered. Would you lower EC or just keep hydrated and cool/dry. Ripe phase 30 days ish from chop maybe few more.

I ask because I have a while to go and it seems like it is progressing but then again so is the fattening and redning of hairs. About 50/50 anyday now.

8 weeks flower so it should be ripening which that varies but late flower just finished. 30-60 more days tops. Auto.

I see extremely heat and light stress. Your plants are foxtailing.