Help Please

yubu

Active Member
So my DWC plants were growing at about half the rate of my soil plants. So I decided to post here and everyone suggested I up the ppm. I did... now it looks like ive got nute burn. Tips are turning yellow, browning and crisping apart. I've just switched the buckets to pure water.... what should i do?
 

^Slanty

Active Member
Mix your nutes at about 1/2 the strength you had them at and PH your water again! No need to run straight water. Watch the new growth and make sure it looks good in a couple of days.

You say you had slow growth to begin with and was the reason for increasing your PPM. Was your PH adjusted properly? If not, your plants will only be uptaking water for the most part because you get nute lockout with incorrect PH levels. This would account for the slow growth.
 

yubu

Active Member
ya, PH has been at 5.8-6.2. adjusting everyday. I am using ph strips to test... they seem the most accurate. I've used two different electronic ph testers and their readings are all over the board.
 
YUBU - I use a DWC set up for my veg plants. It took a little fine tuning, but now things are humming along nicely. Here's what I do: 1) Mix my nutes at 1100 to 1200 max. My tap water has 700 ppm of TDS so my solution ends up in the neighborhood of 1900 to 2000. 2) Top off the res daily with pH adjusted straight water - no nutes. 3) Change the reservoir solution once weekly.


NL_Grow_026_12_08_11.jpg
 

yubu

Active Member
hey, weedo... what level do you keep your res at? How close to the bottom of the net pots?
 

^Slanty

Active Member
ya, PH has been at 5.8-6.2. adjusting everyday. I am using ph strips to test... they seem the most accurate. I've used two different electronic ph testers and their readings are all over the board.
In order to get accurate readings with digital PH meters, you must first get the tip wet and keep it that way! New out of the box the probes are dry. They do need to get thoroughly soaked(leave it submerged for at least a day) before the readings will stabilize. One the reading isn't bouncing all over the place, you know the probes are now ready to calibrate. Once you get them working and calibrated, I usually put a piece of tissue in the end of the cap and wet it with calibration solution. You will need to dig it out and change it every so often as the tissue will get some mold over time. The whole idea is to keep the probe tip moist at all times.(it will last much longer and also give more accurate readings)

I would personally try to get the digital meters working as a point or two difference; especially when you are not getting an accurate in the first place using PH test strips; does make quite a bit of difference in hydro setups.

I would also mix the nutes 1/2 strength til you get things sorted and see some good new growth as I previously stated. Once you have good new growth, then start uppping the PPM every other day.
 

yubu

Active Member
res temps are between 66 and 70, I stored the ph tester in a "ph tester storage solution" the strips put my tap water at about 6.3, the tester... puts it at 7.3 lol. still.... i've let it soak in a ph tester storage solution and pulled out more material. The thing is fubra.... another piece of junk. it reads the ph4 solution wrong as well.
 
At first, that is right when I move the clones from the Mondi Dome/clone tray, I keep the water level about a 1/2 inch up the side of the pot so that the bottom is always immersed. Then, once the roots start to dangle into the solution, I let it drop an inch or so below the bottom. I have found that before I did it this way that a lot of roots would grow out of the sides of the netpots. This made moving them or rotating them hard to do without damaging the roots. This way, and who knows why, the roots come right out the bottom making rotation snap.
 

^Slanty

Active Member
res temps are between 66 and 70, I stored the ph tester in a "ph tester storage solution" the strips put my tap water at about 6.3, the tester... puts it at 7.3 lol. still.... i've let it soak in a ph tester storage solution and pulled out more material. The thing is fubra.... another piece of junk. it reads the ph4 solution wrong as well.
What did you mean by this statement? I don't understand?

TBH, I would believe your tap water to be closer to 7 than 6 unless you have well water in a bad area.
 
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