PPM over time... and the gradual intorduction of flowering nutes.

Hello all.

I have yet to get a ppm meter, so I have no way to know whats going on in my res... All I can do is follow directions and watch the tips.

What I want to know is;

Over time, as the plant feeds, and the water level lowers, and I replace it with fresh solution...

Is the ppm in the bucket steadily increasing?

Does the plant use about as much of the nutrients as it does water?

Or is the solution becoming steadily more concentrated...


-


As a second part, It's not too wrong to add my flowering nutes, with fresh water, to my "water ready" res, mixing it with the old veg nutrients I have, is it?

-At what point does a veg level of N start to become undesirable?

I'm a week and half into flowering, the girls have female preflowers, but it hasn't really shown flowering yet...

[I am using Canna by the way, DWC, non recirculating. Plants are healthy, no burn]

Thanks!

Peace.

always change out to fresh nutes. adding nutes to used nutes can create fallouts, which will inhibit growth and therefore yield.

i don't think that gradual is best, and i run only high performance plants that can take full nutrients from first root. from cutting, i allow one day with water and superthrive, then go full veg. from veg, i transplant into another system which is perpetually running one res for 5 flower stages, and all get the exact same flower nute program from day one to harvest. i don't flush, and have never had problems with black ash or flavor (as i use chems that only produce plant matter and don't leave residual chemicals that can alter taste or leave black ash).

i have a tds/temp pen and ph meter, but i haven't used them in two and a half years. if you find a nute program that suits your grow, it pretty much goes on autopilot.

and yes, adding nutes to nutes as the water level decreases is raising ppms. the plants use much more water in flower than nutes, and you should only top off with plain water between changes. i change out nutes every 14 days.

How many gallons are you moving?

You have your res dump from a valve right to a drain? Lucky. I gotta get me a hole.

-How did every 14 days for a change come about? That must have been from experience with tds meter, no?

Oh, and don't different strains pull different nutrients out of the water in different amounts at different times? So, the change every 14 days covers that then.

Thanks Kp.

14 day res changes came about to save money on nutrients. at 14 days the concentration of nutrients (even after being topped off with fresh water) is still in the "normal" range. much longer than 14 days and the salts begin to fallout.

and any plant will pull differing amounts of nutrients depending on what that individual plant is doing at that particular time. even clones aren't perfectly uniform. water will be used more than the nutrients, and at 14 days, the nutes will still be good enough to use on a soil garden or outdoors.

I top my resevoir off with fresh water quite a bit. I wish I could change the res once a week, but with where it is, and how it is situated, it is a MAJOR pain in the ass. Sometimes though, I'll actually see the PPMs drop. Other times, (most oftenly) they go up though. Different pH levels will cause different amounts of chemicals to be drawn up by the plant and at different rates. Sometimes, the amount doesn't change at all. I'm tempted to think that the best situation is when the plant is taking up water and nutes at the exact same rate, but I don't know for sure.

Check out my rez drains.
No more lifting for me.
I pump my water.

You know, I really do think you should get a PPM meter even if you're not experiencing any problems. Knowing what's going on with your plants' nutrient uptake, or lack thereof will be a good learning tool if nothing else. They're only about 60-70 bucks. Well worth the money if you ask me.

Yeah I have to get an ec meter. I have most of the other variables under control,... however...

This means I have to work for it!

Shit.

Hate wage labour.



Thanks all.