Can anybody help with bubbleponics nutrient schedules?

Donate Greens

Active Member
Hi Folks, long time forum user, first time poster.
I'm Having a few troubles identifying the cause of some leaf discoloration and die back in my current setup. Wandered if anyone here could help.
I'm running 3 clones of The Ultimate (dutch passion) that i selected from my last seed crop. all from the same mother. My setup is 3 14L bubble pots under 3 400w Hps. the tent is probably about 1m/2m/ and 6 foot high so im quite restricted in space and temperatures fluctuate quite a lot where i am but with careful air management and a thermostatically controlled heater my ranges are about 20c at night and 27c at day. maybe rising up to as high as 35 but on rare occasions. 4" Ruk inline and rhino carbon filter keep the air moving and good negative pressure inside the tent. Im about 5 weeks into flowering (day 35) and one of the plants is showing signs of what i assume is deficiency but i cant work out a fix. The feed cycle i am using is kind of complicated and to some extent i just give them what it looks like they need rather then sticking to a strict regime. But essentially its; Advanced Nutrients A&B Bloom, AN Big Bud, AN Bud Candy, AN overdrive, Orca micros, and a bit of silicon. Also tap water (non RO). since i switched them they have been on a low dose of A&B. probably about 2ml/L when i do res changes, which i have been trying to avoid doing too often this grow, iv'e generally been topping up the res with water containing just the PK boost and bud candy, no AB. as when the water level hits about half and i go to feed them, the EC has risen dramatically since i first fed them. I have been taking this as an indication that there is more food available to them than they require in the water already. I have been giving them slightly below recommended dose of big bud with every water top and res change up till about week 4, then swapped over to the Overdrive for the last week. they have also been receiving recommended dose of bud candy since start of flowering. its weird because they are all on the same feed schedule and clones, but the problem seems to be more severe in one than the others. but then again 14L pots arn't that large when the plants drink about 5L a day going full pelt, so maybe something got thrown out of sync with nutrient levels changing and salts building. The problem is a yellowing/paling of the leaves, tip burn and some necrotic spots on the leaves when you look up at the light through them. slight downward curl to the leaf edges on most affected leaves. it seems to start with the older growth, but only on the top part of the plant. Bud production seems good but a lot of pistils on that plant have begun to turn brown whereas on the others they are still mostly white. There has been a lot of bud production, but its a 9/10 week strain so i was hoping to run it for a while yet as they haven't properly swollen and i think its a bit early for fan leaf die off, which this kinda resembles. So symptoms include burnt tips and nutrient concentrations rising in the buckets as water level drops, but signs of deficiency. also i flushed them recently to try and rule out nute lockout.
I realise this i quite a long post, and pretty specific to my setup, but i just hope someone knowledgeable out there has time to read it and give me some suggestions. I like growing DWC but its hard when things go wrong and you dont wanna make things worse. ive had the same problem to varying degrees at about the same time through flowering in previous grows using this setup and nutes and i really want to get to the bottom of it.
Photos i have are kinda terrible but i will grab some better ones if anybody is interested in giving me a hand. Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere and i missed it.
Peace
 

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Anon Emaus

Well-Known Member
By the time i got to the end i kinda forgot the beginning lol sounds like you may be in over your head with all the stuff your putting in there.
I'd say slow down and do a fresh res of light base nutes. Let that run out for a week and see what level she's feeding at, maybe top off half way thru with higher or lower nute levels if needed to get additional data. Now that you know the level she's feeding at begin to add your additional big bud and what not in light doses. Keep measuring how much they're feeding and try to find a happy medium without any problems coming back. Also u can identify what nute is causing the issue and probably determine which additive may be causing it so u can test lighter doses of it.
 

Donate Greens

Active Member
yeah sorry, there is a fine line between being concise and drowning someone in information, lol.
Thats kinda the option ive gone for. start again with everything at safe levels and build upward from there. I think the schedule just sounds a bit more complex than it really is. its mostly just PK's and carb boost.
 

Donate Greens

Active Member
i suppose what im asking is if your nutrient solution EC rises or drops as your reservoir level goes down, is this an accurate indicator of weather your plant can take more or less nutes? (in single pot DWC)
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
Lets try hydro with no meters with a style that is the hardest. DWC buckets are finnicky. Especially in 14L buckets.

Lets buy AN products because I hate having money in my pocket and like to buy overpriced nutrient water.

You are in over your head. I agree.

Its not hard. Fill up a bucket with water. Add nutrients to desired level (with a meter not 2ml/L. shit means nothing to people who dont use that nutritent).

Adjust pH.

Check on it daily and readjust pH. Top up. Res change. Add nutrients whatever it takes to get it at your desired feed and pH. You need instrumentation for this.

I change my res every 3 days in DWC. Not for the lazy.

Sorry for being rude. But if you dont have the right tools you shouldnt be doing hydro.

To me it looks like nutrient burn and deficiencies. When your feed rises at half way prevent that by either feeding lower or topping up with water.

This is why I change every 3 days because once there is 3-4L left the feed increases despite having dropped previously. That tells me I have given it too much of something it doesnt need and it used everything it does need. And i feed low so topping up wouldnt just create bigger problems. For me for now it works.

You need calmag and a 1 part nutrient.
 

kmog33

Well-Known Member
Too many nutrients. Sounds like Salt buildup and lockout causing both tox and deff in your plants. Cut down to a 2 or 3 part and get rid of all those additives. Get your ec down to between .6-.7 with a 1-1-1 or 2-1-3 ratio and keep your res temps at 65 f. I would also try to reduce the fluctuations in your canopy temps. High consistently would be better than all over the place Ime. Still better to get your canopy temps optimal and in check but consistency outside of optimal in the same range is better than having it ok some of the time.


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firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
i suppose what im asking is if your nutrient solution EC rises or drops as your reservoir level goes down, is this an accurate indicator of weather your plant can take more or less nutes? (in single pot DWC)
If nutrients drop then yeah its a good sign you can add more.

If they rise and after your water add back its higher than you started then yeah its a good sign you are overfeeding.

If they rise and after your water add back its lower than thats not an issue.
 

Donate Greens

Active Member
I wouldnt really say im a newbie firsttimeARE just self taught. Obviously i run at a stable Ph of 5.8 and monitor feed levels with an EC meter. i have run these pots quite a few times before with excellent results. my question is more about fine tuning. i know i could run bigger pots or recycle etc but that doesn't suit my needs. im more about optimizing small scale guerrilla grows using hydro medium. Maybe i should ditch the AN but its more a case of going with what i know. Res changes are hard for me and involve lots of hosepipes and siphoning. Individual pots make this harder. That said im sure it is salt buildup causing defs and tox which makes it hard to diagnose as any one thing. 90% of the time my temps are between 20/30 night/day. would you say that is too much fluctuation?
 

Anon Emaus

Well-Known Member
i suppose what im asking is if your nutrient solution EC rises or drops as your reservoir level goes down, is this an accurate indicator of weather your plant can take more or less nutes? (in single pot DWC)
As already answered yes. But what i've personally seen is that it's a good indicator when using base nutes but once you start messing with the ratio's adding extra PK and whatnot then it will become less reliable because it could be feeding fine on the base nutes and lowering the EC yet it's not taking in all the PK/whatever extra so it's burning from PK/whatever extra.
 

horribleherk

Well-Known Member
Too many nutrients. Sounds like Salt buildup and lockout causing both tox and deff in your plants. Cut down to a 2 or 3 part and get rid of all those additives. Get your ec down to between .6-.7 with a 1-1-1 or 2-1-3 ratio and keep your res temps at 65 f. I would also try to reduce the fluctuations in your canopy temps. High consistently would be better than all over the place Ime. Still better to get your canopy temps optimal and in check but consistency outside of optimal in the same range is better than having it ok some of the time.


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I'm not in your shoes(yet) but gotta agree on lowering your nute levels & doing away with the additives you're pretty far along in flower I've only used the big bud from an & grew 3 plants with & 3 plants without it no difference in quality or quantity so I never bought it again sometimes less is best good luck I think you can save this
 
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