Nutrient line up, anything missing?

[DazeHazy]

I'm about to go into flower on my first grow and am planing on these nutes for flower and future grows, just want some opinions and see if I'm missing anything? Thinking about getting Diatomaceous earth which seems to be an all-round pesticide but it adds a few things which might be overboard - any suggestions?

"Diatomacous Earth is a mineral based pestcide and its composition is approximately 3% magnesium, 5% sodium, 2% iron, 19% calcium, 33% silicon along with several other elements.

May be used as a barrier to control pests: adult flea beetles, sawfly, coddling moth, twig borer, thrips, mites, cockroach, slugs, snails, aphids, earwigs, silverfish, and ants. Can be used for bedbugs, cabbage root flies, carrot root flies, fleas, pillbugs, ticks and is helpful in dealing with fungus gnats.

While this is non-toxic to animals, it will kill all insects, including beneficial ones, so please use sparingly!"

 

[xtsho]

No you don't need anything else. That nutrient is all you need. Focusing on the grow environment and not overfeeding and you'll have the potential to grow weed as good as anyone else.

 

[DazeHazy]

No you don't need anything else. That nutrient is all you need. Focusing on the grow environment and not overfeeding and you'll have the potential to grow weed as good as anyone else.

Thanks xtsho!

 

[OldMedUser]

DE is great stuff. Add a Tbsp to each gallon of media to add micro-nutrients and defense against soil living pests like fungus gnats and nematodes.

The little extra silica is good too even if using natural soils that should have enough. It's not something that your plants will easily overdose on and helps them grow stronger.

I wouldn't blindly follow the feeding schedule you posted but watch your plants closely and learn how they react to how much you feed them. Plants grown under T-5s will need a lot less than the same plants grown under 600W HPS lights.

Good luck!

 

[DazeHazy]

Thanks for the info OldMed. I sprinkled some DE on top of the soil and watered. I also drew up my own feeding chart which cuts out the EHG Micro in weeks 6 - 8 of flower, which goes against the suggested chart, because it's too high in Nitrogen I think. I tried to work out the ratio of nutrient mix to try and achieve an NPK ratio of 3-1-2 or 3-1-3 for veg and the first week of flower and then gradually taper down the N ratio to 0.5-1-2. Gave the girls 5ml of each 24 hours ago which is the full strength recommendation and there's no sign of burn. Week 6 - 7 will get bloom only which has Mag but because I'm removing Micro because of the high N content I'll be cutting out the Cal as well but it should end up at a ratio of about 5-2 Cal/Mag plus the Cal from the DE. Flush for 1 week or 2? Heavyweight Fruit Punch is apparently a 55 day strain, sativa dominant but out of my 2 plants it looks like I may have gotten 1 Northern Lights indica pheno and a Haze/Skunk sativa pheno... you might see what I mean by the photos, one is thick and bushy and the other more sparse and skinny. 8 weeks into veg, slightly rough start but about to clone and flip to 12/12... Flip straight after cloning or let them recover a bit? I also super-cropped 2 days ago. Many questions lol sorry, 1st grow and analytical or anal if you will hahaha



Setup: 400w Hps + 2x 85w CFLs

 

[OldMedUser]

Flip straight after cloning or let them recover a bit?

If you're just taking a couple clones then you can flip right away.

How come no sulfur after a couple weeks of flowering? It's the "magic" ingredient in bloom boosters and usually fed until week 6.

Cutting out the micro isn't a great idea as it contains a lot of trace elements that aren't in the others tho ultimately it may no make any difference but low micronutes affects the growing tops/buds first and can impact your yield in a negative fashion. I'd maybe go Lucas formula after the stretch and feed 0-1-2. Later flowering needs lower N but still needs some.

I'm not used to seeing nute levels in g/kg and haven't worked with it that way since my first batch of dry salts for hydro in '82. All just percentages now. I'm assuming they are in similar ratios to most other 3-part systems.

I just checked out their full feeding schedule and they list their amounts per 10L of water and not per liter of water like most do. Is this stuff more highly concentrated than most? And are you taking that into account in your mixing?

Plants are looking good so far so you must not be giving them 10X their proper dose or it hasn't hit them yet.

 

[OldMedUser]

PS: You don't get your temp and RH readings from where the gauge is in the pics do you? Temps will be lower and RH will be higher than the room's ambient air which is what you want.

 

[PetFlora]

Yucca will assist in nutes reaching all parts of the soil mix. Also, NPK RAW has 2 distinct microbes, one for flower. See their YT videos

 

[DazeHazy]

How come no sulfur after a couple weeks of flowering? It's the "magic" ingredient in bloom boosters and usually fed until week 6.

I probably should have mentioned that the feeding schedule I drew up and posted last applies only to the use of the EHG nutes (Grow, Micro, Bloom) - I plan to use alternatives for whatever is lacking in that schedule like epsom salts for the Sulfur.

The problem is that the Sulfur is contained in the EHG Grow which according to their chart should be cut in week 2 of flower and it contains Nitrogen at 2-1-4 NPK so if I used the Grow my reasoning is that I'd have too much N.

The Micro also has a lot of Nitrogen, which is the problem, so I'm cutting the Grow & Sulfur out to bring the Nitrogen down but keep the micro nutrients and add epsom salts. It's either that or cut the Micro and use Grow + Bloom + Kelp.

Too achieve an NPK of 0-1-2 I'd have to elimiate all 3 EHG nute bottles as they each contain N and use something else to get just the PK + micro nutrients.

Hope that makes sense. It's a lot of number and ratio crunching.. not much fun lol.. the whole g/kg thing doesn't make it any easier either but if my ratios are good then I can adjust the millilitres / ppm up or down as needed.

I am indeed taking into account the suggested 10L of water. I used 5L so I halved the dosage. This was their 1st feeding with these nutes and the lights come back on in 7 hours so we'll see what they looks like in a bit.

Yeah that's where to thermometer has been so far, I know it's not ideal and have kept in mind that temps will be higher at the top of the canopy and adjusted accordingly along with several "back of the hand" tests. I'll be putting a scrog in shortly which will give me something to put the thermometer on top of.

Appreciate you taking the time, thanks

 

[OldMedUser]

Confusing as shit eh. lol

You want the thermometer away from the light as radiant heat will throw it off too. The back of the hand thing works pretty good and I've used my infrared laser thermometer to see how that compares to the hand test and it seems right on.

I keep my measuring devices on a shelf attached to an interior wall where they get lots of air flow and should give accurate readings of the whole room environment. The heat/RH controller for the exhaust fan, the thermostat for the heater and dual thermometer/RH unit like yours are all up there.