Soil grow with hydro nutes and big lights nutrient question

MY SETUP:

Room is 10 feet wide and 15 feet long all lined with white plastic

2 1000 WATT hps LIGHTS IN SUN SYSTEM MAGNUM XXXL HOODS WITH 8" VENTS
Cooling the lights with a 8" HO can fan putting out 737cubic feet per minute. The exhaust is going into the basement out of the grow room but not outside. Air is scrubbed with a large can 75 carbon filter.

Direct air intake with another 8 inch fan pushing 570 cubic feet per minute.
Also have two 20 inch oscillating fans blowing 24/7.

Using Nutra-Dip tri-meter to measure ppm and ph levels.

Growing in 5 gallon pots with happy frog soil.

Nutes General Hydroponic flora series in 3 parts

Also using a R/O water filtration system.

So I think I have the setup to produce some nice quality meds.

Now for my question.

I'm currently in week 4 flowering a 8 week strain and finally I'm having deficiency issues so I just want to make sure I'm giving the plants the correct nutes and the correct amounts.

I only water when they are dry and I tell that by the weight of the pot. Usually I have to water every 1 to 2 days depending on the plant. I also water with nutes every time I water

I have 12 plants total.

I mix the nutes 1 gallon at a time

2.5 ml grow
5 ml micro
7.5 ml bloom
1.5 ml superthrive

That gives me a ppm of 750 per gallon.

First I water till there is some run off so I can test the ph if I want to. After the plant is fully watered I add nutes afterwards.

I usually disperse the 1 gallon of nutes to 6 plants evenly or 2.5 cups of nutes per plant.

It seemed to work good for awhile but now I see deficiencies

My ph is at 6.2 to 6.5 I measure the run-off and the meter is calibrated to 7 every time before I test for PH.

I also water with pure R/O water that has a ph of 7 whenever I water along with the nutes...

So does any of this make sense?

Can anyone make any recommendations on the amount of nutes and strengh I should be using?

The plants are huge about 3 ft tall and maybe 3 feet wide, the base of the stalk is about 1.5 inches wide on average. see pics

cocaregiver said:

First I water till there is some run off so I can test the ph if I want to. After the plant is fully watered I add nutes afterwards.

Click to expand...

Huh? I haven't come across such a way of feeding before. Why did you decide to do that?

Well I wanted to measure the ph to be sure its right and I don't want to measure the ph with nute solution run-off. So I decided to water first to get a reading then feed.

Its worked good so far, but I wanted to know if that's the right way to do it.

When I feed should I water with fertilizer solution only until the plant is saturated?

Should I ever water the plant with just plain R/O water?

Currently I always water with fert solution and R/O water.

I don't think it's the right way to do it, but it's worked out for you so far, so who am I to argue?

Am not going to comment on the rest because I'm not a soil grower.

Well that does not help me... so hopefully someone that knows whats up can tell me if I'm watering/feeding correctly.

I dont think your method would result in a nute deficiency. Why not try raising the ppm? Those are big plants and 750 ppm isn't all that much.


Also, most people that use superthrive say not to use it during flower as it stimulates a lot of root growth at a time when you'd rather have bud growth

go to 1200 ppm till ur 7th week and flush and be prepared for big bushes.

When I feed with 1200 ppm do I feed until the pot is completely full and I see run off?

That is usually at least 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon of nutes per plant.

Actually the reason not to use Superthrive (which I love) during flowering is because it will not allow thr plants to stress enough to produce buds to its full potential.