Removing from bucket for water change?

icetech

Well-Known Member
So.. i'm having really slow growth on 3 plants right now.. 2 coco 1 DWC.. the DWC is usually very fast.. When i change water or check PH i pull the plant/lid out (it's still small so the roots are free) and set it in an empty bucket while i do my stuff.. usually 3-4 minutes then back in to it's home it goes.. I was just wondering how long in open air til roots get pissed off? Just thinking of anything i can to sort this.. also thinking of switching from Jacks to Bio nova.. seems no matter how accurately i measure or change my solution plants are just not happy with it.
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
I've left mine empty for 20-30 mins with no visible ill effect. As long as they dont dry out, they're fine. I do the same thing from time to time.
The only thing I have to add is to make sure the bucket is sanitized. I clean my empty bucket with alcohol before doing that.
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
I've left mine empty for 20-30 mins with no visible ill effect. As long as they dont dry out, they're fine. I do the same thing from time to time.
The only thing I have to add is to make sure the bucket is sanitized. I clean my empty bucket with alcohol before doing that.

Thank you.. i figured it was fine.. trying to figure out the slow growth i'm having this run.. stuff is over a month old and looks 2 weeks. will figure it out :)
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
Thank you.. i figured it was fine.. trying to figure out the slow growth i'm having this run.. stuff is over a month old and looks 2 weeks. will figure it out :)
are the roots getting fairly big?? Its pretty typical for some of my plants to grow roots 4-5 times their size before putting in much growth.
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
are the roots getting fairly big?? Its pretty typical for some of my plants to grow roots 4-5 times their size before putting in much growth.
Well.. i dropped their feed from 850ppm last night to 500 and they seem WAY happier.. it's amazing how fast stuff happens in dwc, Quite a bit of new root growth and some new leaf growth so i think it's all ok.. just taking a bit of time :) Plus i'm training the hell out of them soo that's slowing em down a bit. I have been using Tribus but am not impressed.. i have some southern AG showing up tomorrow to see how it works.
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
Well.. i dropped their feed from 850ppm last night to 500 and they seem WAY happier.. it's amazing how fast stuff happens in dwc, Quite a bit of new root growth and some new leaf growth so i think it's all ok.. just taking a bit of time :) Plus i'm training the hell out of them soo that's slowing em down a bit. I have been using Tribus but am not impressed.. i have some southern AG showing up tomorrow to see how it works.
Yeah I like to ease them into food. Slamming 7-800 at them seems to work, but I have questioned the effectiveness of that method across a variety of strains. I get very happy and vigorously growing plants by easing them into nutes starting at like 300ppm and going up 100 at a time.
Just got a new bottle in myself. 1/4ml per gallon is what I dose at on a water change.
 

paintsprayer71

Well-Known Member
Ive realized that big root mass can handle the higher ppm's, so i keep the ppm's low as roots are forming, never going past 500, less is more in DWC simply because the roots are always taking up nutes. When the plants are stlll seedlings i keep the ppm's low around 300, then once the roots beef up, ill slowly increase the strength.
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
Ive realized that big root mass can handle the higher ppm's, so i keep the ppm's low as roots are forming, never going past 500, less is more in DWC simply because the roots are always taking up nutes. When the plants are stlll seedlings i keep the ppm's low around 300, then once the roots beef up, ill slowly increase the strength.
Yeah.. it's a lesson i seem to need to learn over and over.. I always seem to hit them too hard too fast. I am staying under 500ppm for now and so far the plants look a bit happier :)
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Yeah.. it's a lesson i seem to need to learn over and over.. I always seem to hit them too hard too fast. I am staying under 500ppm for now and so far the plants look a bit happier :)
here's a good experiment for you to try:

how much ppm does your res drop in 24 hrs?

if it's only dropping 50 to 100, what's the point of feeding at 500, 600, 900, 1200 etc?

you are better off feeding much lighter like 200 or 300 and just topping off every day or other day with nutes at 200 or 300.
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
here's a good experiment for you to try:

how much ppm does your res drop in 24 hrs?

if it's only dropping 50 to 100, what's the point of feeding at 500, 600, 900, 1200 etc?

you are better off feeding much lighter like 200 or 300 and just topping off every day or other day with nutes at 200 or 300.
You are 100% right and it doesn't drop much at all.. I seem to do this every grow and not learn from it.. this time though.... yeah.. i will do it again :(
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
You are 100% right and it doesn't drop much at all.. I seem to do this every grow and not learn from it.. this time though.... yeah.. i will do it again :(
my last 2 grows (DTW with one daily feeding), i was only at 0.7EC with 0.2 of that as my well water. so net EC of only 0.5 (250ppms). they grew fantastic: no deficiencies, no tip burn, etc

less is more with DWC
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
my last 2 grows (DTW with one daily feeding), i was only at 0.7EC with 0.2 of that as my well water. so net EC of only 0.5 (250ppms). they grew fantastic: no deficiencies, no tip burn, etc

less is more with DWC
I think i'm gonna put "Less is more" on a sign on my tent:) my water is like .15 ec (100ppm) I'm trying to switch to EC but still not there:) Last nights new growth looked good.. and new roots coming in.. so i'm pretty happy i might go a bit lower even though i'm at 500ish ppm 100 of it is water (i think 500ppm was about 1.1ec?)
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
yeah, it depends on your meter conversion. i just say ppms times 2 equals EC to keep it simple. 500pmm is 1.0 EC,etc
 

TurboSN95

Active Member
Good stuff, thanks guys! I saved that conversion chart in my 'Grow Documentation' :) I need a ppm meter! I picked up a ph meter, just haven't ordered a ppm meter - want to make sure I get a decent one
 

icetech

Well-Known Member
I had bought some of the like $13 ones and they died within a month.. stopped even trying to read.. bought this one and it's been great for like 8 months now.
 

TurboSN95

Active Member
I had bought some of the like $13 ones and they died within a month.. stopped even trying to read.. bought this one and it's been great for like 8 months now.
Awesome thanks for the recommendation! I'll order one of these
 
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