Tds issues?
- Thread starter JLUV6969
- Start date
Woomeister
Well-Known Member
If they are one week old you should not be feeding them nutes for a start! No nnutes till week 3, you can raise humidity by leaving a bowl of water in your grow room or a damp towel.
Woomeister
Well-Known Member
Some strains can take nutes from the start but ALL strains can cope without till week 3, so you are safer without. Seeds contain enough food for the seedling the same way an egg contains enough food for a bird/animal. Understand? Also the Tds is directly proportionate to the amount of nutrient left in the reservoir after the plant has taken a drink: or in other words. If you have a reservoir of 10 gallons with 1% nutrient in and the plant drinks 1% of the water but no nutes your reservoir will contain 9.90 gallons of water and the same amount of nutes-so your TDS/ppm will be higher.Understand? The plant isnt taking nutes because it doesnt need them.
I love how you brits put it in lame mens terms for us yanks.
potroast
Uses the Rollitup profile
I agree, I have always fed my hydro plants nutrients. They need food to operate, they can't get it anywhere unless I give it to them. And seeds have just enough energy to poke a stem up and shed the casing. Then the cotyledons start soaking light and the taproot is already sucking nutes.
Basic reservoir maintenance requires you to top-off your res with plain water regularly. As more water is taken up than nutes, and some is evaporated, the same level of nutes will be more concentrated, resulting in higher and higher TDS levels.
When you mix a new res, mark a full line, and always top off to the full line.
HTH
Basic reservoir maintenance requires you to top-off your res with plain water regularly. As more water is taken up than nutes, and some is evaporated, the same level of nutes will be more concentrated, resulting in higher and higher TDS levels.
When you mix a new res, mark a full line, and always top off to the full line.
HTH
Woomeister
Well-Known Member
Oh I see! After 18 years using flood and drain and not feeding for the first few weeks I must have been wrong, as most of my plants are always healthy bushy and full of buds. Damn, must try harder to be like you!!! This site is just full of people who want to argue the toss with others who are trying to help!! If you actually knew what you were talking about then you would know that water contains trace elements that are able to keep plants/weeds alive throughout their whole life cycle without ANY nutes; ooh how shocking I know, what? ''NO NUTES'' this cant be possible I here you say. Try looking at the lowryder 2 grow joiurnal on here using nothing but plain water and soil that had been used on previous grows, they look fine to me. Facts not fiction thats what I give out...here resteth my case.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Well explained, Woomeister. 
Woomeister
Well-Known Member
I advise no nutes for the first 2 weeks when growing a variety of strains that you dont know, obviously if you feel you know your strain well enough and you see benefit from adding nutes then go for it. I was giving advice to a novice based on my knowledge of plants and growing marijuana. I am not here to argue, only to help. From my experiments over the years when giving added nutes during week 1&2 the plants dont take the nutes, so that tells me they dont need them. Most problems you see here are from adding nutes at the seedling stage (day 1-21) so I suggest maybe you try a grow without nutes for 2 weeks and I think you will then understand where I am coming from.Well, Man, then you are actually giving your plants nutrients, because they will not grow without them. Many hydro growers use RO water (0 ppm) in their systems, would you advise they don't add nutes for the first 3 weeks?
HTH
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
If you are making this judgment by looking at the EC of the nute soln, bear in mind that tiny plants will use nutes but in such small qty that you may not be able to see a lot of difference in the EC measurement.
You're right in that new growers often kill with kindness; overfert & overwatering are the new grower's most common faults. I see a lot more problems from overwatering than overfert, but your caution is well taken. However, seedlings definitely will uptake nutrients. As long as you don't go overboard with nute strength, they'll be quite happy to have a feed.Most problems you see here are from adding nutes at the seedling stage (day 1-21) so I suggest maybe you try a grow without nutes for 2 weeks and I think you will then understand where I am coming from.
Seedlings can be started on weak nutes (~400ppm) as soon as they have a taproot. Can be bumped up to about 800 after a week or so; if 800 is well tolerated for a week, it's off to the races at full strength thereafter.
Woomeister
Well-Known Member
Al, I agree totally with you and respect your opinion, I am just stating my findings and I have found that what I have stated to be true in my case.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Woomeister, I think you may need to revisit your findings. What we're after when we're sharing information amongst many folks is stuff that anyone can replicate. I know that if some method only works in my grow room, I'm not describing it adequately or I've gotten something else wrong.
Seedlings can uptake nutes, as can clones as soon as they have roots. While seeds store a tiny bit of food, barely enough to get the plant started, that food is consumed really quite quickly, in about 7 days after a bean is cracked. After that, the seedling will need a weak nutrient feed until the plant establishes and shows active growth, when the nute strength can be bumped up a bit.
Seedlings can uptake nutes, as can clones as soon as they have roots. While seeds store a tiny bit of food, barely enough to get the plant started, that food is consumed really quite quickly, in about 7 days after a bean is cracked. After that, the seedling will need a weak nutrient feed until the plant establishes and shows active growth, when the nute strength can be bumped up a bit.