weird EC problem...

guys and gals... i have a question i need help with please?...

i'm in week 7 flower running in a rdwc system and everything has been fine and all my plants are healthy and strong etc. just one thing bothering me...

my ec level (2.5 (base 0.) is not moving. it's been the same for 7 days now. my ec metre is fine - all checked and calibrated - and as i say the plants are all fine too. the ph hasn't changed either so i'm thinking the girls aren't drinking but they look healthy and on track.

does anyone know what's going on? i've never experienced this before. at first i thought maybe it was a lockout but there are no symptoms or issues... do the plants stop feeding at this stage?

ta

Is the water level dropping?

I get this sometimes and would like to know as well.

How do they look as far as nugs? Do the plants look like they are finishing? Often when the plant is nearing the end of its cycle it stops taking up anything. What is the pH? Have you created some kind of lockout with any recent actions? Did you recently flush? There could be many variables at play here. Check your roots. Are they good? Are there any bugs or pathogens? Whats the water temperature? That's a pretty good start hehe

If water level is dropping and ec stays the same you may have found the "sweet spot". Worry when water drops and ec rises. I worked for a long time and many harvests to find mine.

If water level is dropping and ec stays the same you may have found the "sweet spot". Worry when water drops and ec rises. I worked for a long time and many harvests to find mine.

thanks for your quick replies guys.

firtimeare, i can't really tell if the water level is dropping for a few reasons. firstly my rdwc system is plumbed directly into my water mains so as the plants feed on water the 'brain' bucket automatically refills with water. basically i don't ever have to put water in manually on a day to day or week to week basis unless i'm flushing. and before you ask.... no the ph doesn't get affected because in a 200 litre rdwc system the amount that goes in is probably less than 8%. the second reason i can't tell if the water level is dropping is because the neither the ec or the ph values have changed up or down over the last week. basically i've done nothing and everything is well??

thefuture, the nugs look great, lots of resin etc. the tric's are still clearish being that they are in the beginning of their 7th week. there's still another week or 2 of notes to go in then 1 to 2 weeks of flushing. ph is 5.9. changed notes and flushed 9 days ago. the water temp is a constant 18c. roots are perfect, no pathogens, no insects, no pm. all great apart from the notes and ph not moving as if they're not feeding.

i'd really be interested to know what's happening as i can't find anything on google. i initially thought maybe at a certain stage the plant drastically stops feeding towards the end but that doesn't sound logical.

Is your system topping off with plain water, or does the top off have nutes in it? If you are using plain water and if the ec is not dropping as it is diluted with plain water, then they are not drinking imo. The only time (so far) I had the issue of them not drinking is when I had the ph too low which does not sound like the same problem you are having. Ooh, and make sure your ph pen is calibrated too.

yes it's topping off with plain water straight from the tap... and i agree that they're not feeding but if that's the case then at least some of the leaves should start getting yellow and even drooping which they're not. i'm using a blue lab guardian cleaned and calibrated. i even re cleaned and re calibrated it lol

Sounds like the right conditions. Only thing that is going through my mind is that the ec is too high for this time period. Maybe if they are starting to shut down, perhaps they do not need as high an ec level. When mine were not drinking they didn't show any signs either, roots and tops were just fine. If it were me, I would drain about half and add just ro water to cut the ec in half and see what happens. It won't hurt them at this point. Also perhaps after that trun off the auto top off so you can visually see if they are drinking. I was running higher ec in veg, but mine didn't like that high of an ec in flower. That struck me as odd.

thanks black forest. i think i'll try that tomorrow mate

With not knowing if water is uptaken, how's the humidity?
Are you showing deficiencies?

If the room is saturated with high humidity, water won't be uptaken, and EC could change slowly or remain the same. Normally accompanied by deficiencies.