Ppm and additives help?

The size of your rez can play a role in what ppm you maintain from my experience in DWC. Meaning if your using a 50 gal rez than the balance of your nutrient changes very slowly over a longer period of time. If you are using 5 gal bubble bucket which actually is only 4 gal rez than your mix is dropping 1/8th - 1/4 of its original volume in 1 day so you can experience ph fluctuations and nutrient imbalance/salt buildup in 2-3 days, especially if your only using water add backs. PH and Lucas and few other ppl actually recommend mixing rez a little stronger therefore it stays within range even after diluting with water add backs. With a larger rez most nutrient will still be available in the proper range after a week or so because it gives you somewhat of a buffer due to the volume not being depleted so quickly. In short from my experience if you are using a small rez 1-5 gal than a stronger mix will benefit you when using water add backs and Larger rez 6gal and above for a single plant that uses 1/2 gal - 1gal a day can be maintained at a lower ppm that provides enough nutrients for optimal growth is sufficient because the initial mix is not being altered as fast. Its only using a small amount of nutrients a day out of a larger rez. Nutrient Add Backs work well with the larger rez as well because a 1-2 gal addback in a 50 gal rez isnt going to change the entire mix noticeably, only replenish nutrients slightly. Now a 4 gal rez being replenished with a 1 gal add-back will alter the entire rez alot and if your plant isnt using all of the nutrient in equal proportions than their is a good chance your going to experience a build up and/or deficiency in 1 or more nutrient within a few days. Basically with the bubble bucket you need to have your nutes dialed in before you can properly maintain the rez for an entire week with a hungry or thirsty plant. Dialed in meaning you need the water-nute uptake to be spot on everyday so you can add back the proper nutes. daily or mix a little strong and dilute with water daily and change when ppm raises and ph is unstable.

Something I have been experimenting with lately is add backs with base nutes and supplements. I have been told to only add back supplements once a week when maintaining a rez for a longer period of time and use the base nutes to maintain ppm throughout the week. But when doing that I have issues with def. especially if you use advance recommendation of a 1-1 ratio with the 2 part mixes. I got to thinking when I mix a fresh rez and add my supplements and base to reach my desired ppm I am adding more P and K from the supplements than what my base is providing in flower and if add back base through out week I am not giving the plant the extra P and K. So I have been increasing the B bottle nutrient which is 1-5-6 N-P-K to provide the extra P and K the supplements gave me. If I didnt do this than my P and K would dramatically decrease by the end of the week causing deficiency in those nutrients. Advance doesnt really give you an add back formula but just says to use base to maintain ppm, to me their is alot more to it than just maintaining a ppm.

Also another observation I have made when dialing in nutrient is that its not as cut and dry as having your ppm drop equally with the water uptake. Meaning PPMs staying the same each day while water level is dropping. I have found if you have a proper balance/ratio of nutes it will do that regardless of the ppm/ec. Example: I currently have a 8 gal dwc cooler with one plant using A/N Conny in wk 4-5 flower. I mixed rez at 770ppm/1.1EC and next day water level dropped 1 gallon and PH stayed at 5.8. I noticed I was experiencing a slight potassium deficiency so Im like shit should I add more big bud or just increase my entire formula up a notch to bring my EC to 1.3. Well I decided I liked my mix so I am going to increase everything at the same ratios and brought up to 1.35 EC/950ppm and the following day I took reading and water level dropped 1 gallon and EC and PH stayed at 1.35 and 5.8. So what the hell as long as I keep those ratios between base and supplements and increase everything proportionately I will only need to raise and lower according to what the plant is showing me whether it be a def or toxicity or happy. Im not sure yet but I do know just because the plant is eating nutes and water equally does not mean you are providing everything it needs or does not need. This isnt the first time I have done this either. I have been playing around with mixes for awhile and have ran into this same scenario with different results each time on other strains. I think that if you only mix minimal supplements each rez change that you can add back supplements each day if needed. I have also had it to where I used water add backs and it would drop 50 ppm each day and the nute to water uptake stayed spot on for 3 days in a bubble bucket so I recommend playing around with your mixes and addbacks but only make minor adjustments like 50 - 100 ppms difference to prevent over fertilization. If you notice water uptake decreases the next few days than dilute with water by taking out a gallon and replace with 1 gallon of H2O.

I know I kinda rambled but hopefully their is something useful in there for you

BigBuddahCheese said:

I add water or nute mix to my reservoir depending on plants ec reading day to day, I understand the toxicity of some nutrients and out of wack ratios, but I have never had an issue with my method. Check my results in my journal for proof that adding water or nute/mix to your reservoir. I change completely three times once when they enter flower, day 23 and day 43.. in between it is just adjust and watch them flourish. Again there is never a "correct" way but there are a lot of prefered ways that can be told via the forums. Do what works for you, again... I know its a broken record.

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I have been doing the same only changing rez around wk 3 and then wk 6 because of the change in supplements I use. It takes awhile to figure out your add backs to maintain a balanced rez but after that its all about reading your plants to know when to raise the EC. I also use the PH to tell me which nutrient is being used more or less and use nutes to stabilize PH wherever I desire. So far the only problems I have been running into is a few micro def. which I believe Epsom Salt and Cal/mag are helping out with. I have alot better results with maintaining rez longer than changing out weekly and alot less work.

wow, you guys work too hard. an average day is maybe 5-10mins in my flower room with 36-42 plants.

superstoner1 said:

wow, you guys work too hard. an average day is maybe 5-10mins in my flower room with 36-42 plants.

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I'm done in 15-20 mins with 14 plants in individual 3.5 gallon buckets so... too hard is relative I suppose. Besides that I like being in there, I think about things, look at the pretty buds etc.

Thanks for all the info heres a couple of pics that is my big plant its blue cheese smelling real nice cheked my ppm today and it has gone up from 990ppm to 1347 and about a gallon of water has gone but my ph ha risen from 5.6 to 6.5 i fort my ph would only go up if they was eating nutes but it looks like just drank water and thanks again for all the help i appreciate it

I would add back a gal of ph water and mix it and then remove a gal and replace with another gal of ph water or just dump rez and start over. Their still drinking so thats good.

I enjoy doing what I do and I figure if I take the time now and learn as much as I can it will benefit me in the long run. I write everything down in logs so I can always go back and see what Works best in different situations. The goal is to always improve each crop either in both yield and quality. I finally quit running multiple strains and started focusing on 1 strain at a time.

I just topped up fresh water and ppm is 1107 now adjusted ph some people have said they flush for a few days halfway through flowering in dwc ?? As anyone ever heard of this ?

Never heard of this. Why would want to flush mid way? i dont see any purpose unless u wanted to purposly stun their grow.

I never flush unleas its locked out but if you wanted to flush I would only do it for 1 lights off cycle to remove salt buildup or any possible issues regarding ph fluctuations. I think flushing prob do more harm than good mid flower onsidering that is when its supposed to be eating like a pig. Just get your ppm down to where its eating and drinking proportianatly and maintain until the last 2 wks of flower and start lowering 100 ppm each wk and then flush the last 4-7. If you over fert than you may want to flush longer.

Concetrate on getting it to eat right now even if it means dropping ppm down to 600ppm. You are close to locking out now if its not rating and if you dont drop ppm your yield is going to suffer because you dont have enough time for it to recover. Since you have had high ppm it has plenty of nutes stored so dont worry abiut it going hungry.

if you use high ppm and certain nutes you will have salt build up. a 24hr flush will do wonders for the plants. it will not stunt the growth,plants have plenty of stored nutes, it will in fact promote growth because roots will be able to absorb more easily after.

I have lowered ppm to 1000 going to see wht happens i just cant help but feel wrong for only giving half dose nutes during full flower but like you say it has got a lot of nutes stored
.and thats what i thought thats why i asked if any one else has heard of it .
What ppm do you guys use during flowering and with what results? Does it not matter when considering nute strength that she is a big plant

Ppm is different for every strain, so you will need to find what works for you.

Nay47 said:

I have lowered ppm to 1000 going to see wht happens i just cant help but feel wrong for only giving half dose nutes during full flower but like you say it has got a lot of nutes stored
.and thats what i thought thats why i asked if any one else has heard of it .
What ppm do you guys use during flowering and with what results? Does it not matter when considering nute strength that she is a big plant

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That thinking has got me into alot of problems. I always think that im not giving it enough but you will see it flourish when you lower ppm. The size of the plant really determines the rate of feed and mot so much the amount available. It will consume nutes quicker but it doesnt need a higher dosage. But right now its saying im not able to absorb so much nutes plz lower my ppm so i can start eating properly and regain my appetite. It may want full strength after a week of half to 3/4 strength. Also the size of the plant is whats keeping it from locking out right now. It can take more abuse without overreacting but only for so long until the entire plant is affected.

I was under the inpression that i was to keep the ppm at the max level so the plant always had the maximum safe level available nutes at all times what ppm do u guys think i should lower mine too just till she starts taking the same amount of nutes as water

thats what you have to find out. cut it by 10,20,25% whatever you want, just monitor it. find the sweet spot.

In short every strain has a different max. Has nothing to do with max feed on ur bottle of nutes. Your strains maxmay only be 75 percent of what the max feed for your nutes are. So lower ppm until your ppm eitherdrops over night or stays the same when it uses water

Also play around with your ph in the range of 5.6-6.1 to see if it eats more or less.

I never "topped" off with nutes...I would add water, if water needed to be added...let the plant keep using what is there in the ppm that is left...then on the rez change you add all your new nutes...if you aren't going to change your rez then I would guess you would add a small amount of your base nute again...but I could be wrong...I am a DWC failure.

Nay47 said:

I have lowered ppm to 1000 going to see wht happens i just cant help but feel wrong for only giving half dose nutes during full flower but like you say it has got a lot of nutes stored
.and thats what i thought thats why i asked if any one else has heard of it .
What ppm do you guys use during flowering and with what results? Does it not matter when considering nute strength that she is a big plant

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Cannabis with too little water might struggle, but too much can kill it...
Cannabis with too little food might struggle, but too much can kill it...

It is better to underfeed than overfeed...an underfed plant can and will easily yield double the same plant overfed...so something to think about too.

missnu said:

Cannabis with too little water might struggle, but too much can kill it...
Cannabis with too little food might struggle, but too much can kill it...

It is better to underfeed than overfeed...an underfed plant can and will easily yield double the same plant overfed...so something to think about too.

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Very well said