i need help with watering plants using the GH Floranova Program. How often do water the plants through each week/phase? i am following this schedule:
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/feeding_charts/GH_KeepItSimple_DrainToWaste.pdf
do u water with nutes only til near harvest time then flush? or nutes one day, ph'd water another day and repeat? i am growing soil. thanks
1. Try not to have a watering "schedule". This is a bad way to go about it as the plant's needs will change (as they get bigger, they will consume more water). If you're growing in soil, I like to use the "weight" method - IOW when the bucket/flower pot is heavy, it has plenty of water, but when dry it will be significantly lighter. If you need something to compare dry and wet weight, get a same sized bucket as what you are growing in, fill it up with dry dirt, then pick up the bucket to feel the weight. Next, water that bucket until aprox. 10% comes out the bottom...feel the weight difference? Commit it to memory, and you'll never overwater. You will also have a stronger root system, as the roots will be forced to "find" water thus growing faster.
2. It's best to find a soil or soil mixture that does NOT have time released nutes in it, AND will be more on the fluffy side rather than dense and clay-like. You want your roots to be able to breathe.
3. When growing in dirt, it would probably be a good idea to flush the growing medium with three times the volume of the grow bucket itself (iow if you're growing in 5 gal. buckets, flush with 15 gal. of PHd water) about once a month to get out all the undisolved salts out of the soil. You will also want to flush aprox. two weeks prior to harvest, then only plain water until done. There is also an "emergency flush" method that some are using with success, but for now - keep it simple.
4. Nutrients. Most recommend starting them at aprox three weeks after seeds have sprouted. Start out with 1/4th the strength recommended on the bottle, then work your way up slowly. Some strains can tolerate high levels of nutes, some can't. This will have to be a trial and error thing. If you nute ever other water, and find the plant is getting nute burned, then flush and back off with the nutes to every third watering.
