NFT - help with roots

eh up.

first grow, using NFT technique. tried reading around, tried positing a few times, but still have had no reply - so thought i would try you guys.

i use a gullied tray and tank system, and things have been going well for the two plants i am using. they are bushy, about 17 inches tall and about to go onto 12/12 to flower.

oine of them, an A.M.S variety, looked a bit odd so when i looked at more info on here, it suggested that it might be nutrient overload.

washed it through for a few days with water - was going to do this before flowering anyway - and noticed that the roots have overgrown the matting and the tray, and now hang down straight into the nutrient mix below the tray.

is this ok? if not, what can i do? i assume trimming roots is the stupidest thing - so haven't done it.

any help appreciated.

cheers from london

tuff-les

no? no one knows anything? no help for the new boy?

someone must have had this problem before, surely.

(no, actually, we haven't. and don't call me shirley)

Post pictures to give a better idea but it is not a good idea to let your roots hang down in your res.

Roots can be trimmed but your plant will need time to recover. Either way you need to find a way to get those roots out of the nute res. Good luck.

thanks for the reply. i will see if i can get some pics posted.

at the moment i am thinking about extending the matting over the entire tray area, closing gaps between the tray and the nutrient resevoir, and putting the roots on top. this should allow them to get both nutes and O2 in abundance, i hope!

again, thanks for replying.

also, while i am at it, how will i move the roots? i understand you shouldn't touch them? gloves and chopsticks, i was thinking!

cheers,

pics to follow tomorrow, hopefully with what they were like, and what i have done to change them.

Just gently pick them up and move them....they'll be fine.

Why would you want to move roots?
using NFT as I am which is an awesome way to grow, the roots are suposed to over and undergrow the fiber mat.

You only need to make sure of 2 things using NFT, PH+Nutes must be right, and pump must be running.

Else you can sit back and wait for it to be over.
While its not recomendable I have left my NFT for 2 weeks only to come back to see that the plants were doing perfect and everything was fine, god I love NFT.
( remember if you do this to raise the light to alow for the 1 inch growth a day you sativas will do if your NFT is probally set up )

Dont worry about the rrots hanging down into the tank i put a plant close to the drain hole and all kinds of roots grow into the tank. Dont worry about it i have finished plenty of harvests like that. Since you are using nft be very carefull with voer feeding, the roots are on a bed of nutrients so that means that nutrients strenght dose not have to be as high as to other growing techniques since in nft the roots take up however much nutrients they need since it is always available to them. Before every watering which for me is arround once per week twice towards the end. Every two waterings i let them use up most of the water i leave ab out a 1/4 in the tank and fil ut up with water and let the plants flush for 1 to 2 days then pump out the water wipe of all the salts etc and put in fresh water with full trength nutrient solution. what i recommend is that you use arround 1300 to 1600 ppm in nft not more than that. They will flourish dont worry. ALso if you dont pump out the old water and get rid of some of the old salts you will have a nutrient lock due to overfeeding. This happens to all first time NFT users avoid it and the system will surprise the fuck out of you. i was getting .5 gpw sog in soil and now im at the .8gpw nft sog no co2.
btw NFT loves CO2 thats whats next for me

tuffles said:

eh up.

first grow, using NFT technique. tried reading around, tried positing a few times, but still have had no reply - so thought i would try you guys.

i use a gullied tray and tank system, and things have been going well for the two plants i am using. they are bushy, about 17 inches tall and about to go onto 12/12 to flower.

oine of them, an A.M.S variety, looked a bit odd so when i looked at more info on here, it suggested that it might be nutrient overload.

washed it through for a few days with water - was going to do this before flowering anyway - and noticed that the roots have overgrown the matting and the tray, and now hang down straight into the nutrient mix below the tray.

is this ok? if not, what can i do? i assume trimming roots is the stupidest thing - so haven't done it.

any help appreciated.

cheers from london

tuff-les

Click to expand...

bushmang said:

Dont worry about the rrots hanging down into the tank i put a plant close to the drain hole and all kinds of roots grow into the tank. Dont worry about it i have finished plenty of harvests like that. Since you are using nft be very carefull with voer feeding, the roots are on a bed of nutrients so that means that nutrients strenght dose not have to be as high as to other growing techniques since in nft the roots take up however much nutrients they need since it is always available to them. Before every watering which for me is arround once per week twice towards the end. Every two waterings i let them use up most of the water i leave ab out a 1/4 in the tank and fil ut up with water and let the plants flush for 1 to 2 days then pump out the water wipe of all the salts etc and put in fresh water with full trength nutrient solution. what i recommend is that you use arround 1300 to 1600 ppm in nft not more than that. They will flourish dont worry. ALso if you dont pump out the old water and get rid of some of the old salts you will have a nutrient lock due to overfeeding. This happens to all first time NFT users avoid it and the system will surprise the fuck out of you. i was getting .5 gpw sog in soil and now im at the .8gpw nft sog no co2.
btw NFT loves CO2 thats whats next for me

Click to expand...

thanks.

not sure what half of your post means , .8gpw?

but you have reassured me.

we moved some of the roots, and then they grew straight back into the tank. seems our problem is actually magnesium deficiency.

will look at changing the water though, that sounds like a great bit of advice.

cheers.

DualStereo said:

Why would you want to move roots?
using NFT as I am which is an awesome way to grow, the roots are suposed to over and undergrow the fiber mat.

You only need to make sure of 2 things using NFT, PH+Nutes must be right, and pump must be running.

Else you can sit back and wait for it to be over.
While its not recomendable I have left my NFT for 2 weeks only to come back to see that the plants were doing perfect and everything was fine, god I love NFT.
( remember if you do this to raise the light to alow for the 1 inch growth a day you sativas will do if your NFT is probally set up )

Click to expand...

I couldnt disagree more about roots being in the res.... we'll have to agree to disagree.

so far i have not have had any problems as far as for them to dry up because they wrap arround each other right where the water flows into the tank and form a almost rope looking thing along the stream of the water so they wont dry out. If you pick them up and move them they will just grow back and fall back into the tank the bed is on a slope so gravity has it. The only thing that worries me that the tips of the roots don't get oxygen but they grow beastie and white. if your interested let me know ill post some pics

Tuffles - GPW means grams per watt , just flush your plants remember nft systems can be overfeed very easily just try to keep your ppm no more than 1600 unless its a heavy fert plant.

wbinwv said:

I couldnt disagree more about roots being in the res.... we'll have to agree to disagree.

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