Confused about nutrients

tst2015

Well-Known Member
Ive been reading and reading and can't seem to find a definitive answer to my question.
My setup:
600w MH
2 plants in 7g cloth pots
1 plant in 5g cloth pot
Sunshine #4 with approx 10% extra Perlite and some EWC (maybe 5%). Also added a little extra dolomite lime.
Soil pH (with meter) approx 6.3-6.5
Water in at 6.3 usually (only use rain water or RO...tap water here is over 1000ppm lol)

I've got the General Hydroponics Flora line of nutrients as well as their feed schedule for "drain to waste". I've also got another brand of Calmag and VitB

My question that I'm having a hard time to figure out is:
Should I be feeding at every watering? If yes, should I cut the suggested amount (from GH feedchart) to half?

I'm asking because I'm still fighting what looks like a nitrogen issue. I've been feeding once a week but it still seems to be yellowing from the bottom up.

About a week ago...I brewed up some EWC tea with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and poured about 1L (diluted with 2L rain water) and they seemed to respond well but I noticed last night one plant is yellowing again.

So, should I feed every 2-3 days when I water to try get this problem in check?
I've read soil-less should be fed every time but I've also read "feed then water". And then I've read "feed - water - water".
Pic attached of the one yellowing plant and copy of feedchart20180815_201904.jpg gh flora exp dtw.jpg
 
Last edited:

Tangerine_

Well-Known Member
It looks a touch over watered but some of your issues might come from trying to combined organic methods with synthetics.

You're really better off just sticking to one or the other until you get familiar with both.
 

tst2015

Well-Known Member
That pic was shortly after I fed her. I never water til i see drainage either. I just figured because the pot is so big (compared to the plant)...I didn't want to soak it down to much.
 

Dave455

Well-Known Member
Ive been reading and reading and can't seem to find a definitive answer to my question.
My setup:
600w MH
2 plants in 7g cloth pots
1 plant in 5g cloth pot
Sunshine #4 with approx 10% extra Perlite and some EWC (maybe 5%). Also added a little extra dolomite lime.
Soil pH (with meter) approx 6.3-6.5
Water in at 6.3 usually (only use rain water or RO...tap water here is over 1000ppm lol)

I've got the General Hydroponics Flora line of nutrients as well as their feed schedule for "drain to waste". I've also got another brand of Calmag and VitB

My question that I'm having a hard time to figure out is:
Should I be feeding at every watering? If yes, should I cut the suggested amount (from GH feedchart) to half?

I'm asking because I'm still fighting what looks like a nitrogen issue. I've been feeding once a week but it still seems to be yellowing from the bottom up.

About a week ago...I brewed up some EWC tea with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and poured about 1L (diluted with 2L rain water) and they seemed to respond well but I noticed last night one plant is yellowing again.
Grow in coco and feed Megacrop ...very simple
So, should I feed every 2-3 days when I water to try get this problem in check?
I've read soil-less should be fed every time but I've also read "feed then water". And then I've read "feed - water - water".
Pic attached of the one yellowing plant and copy of feedchartView attachment 4181846 View attachment 4181849
 

smokebros

Well-Known Member
Hey @tst2015 , hopefully I can chime in and help...

Sunshine #4 is a peat based medium with a few additives in it. It is not a nutrient dense soil, it's more or less just a medium for the roots to grow in, so you'll need to water in with nutrients most of the time if doing drain to waste.

I understand that you have some EWC mixed in there too, but at 5% that's not very much.

Here's what I would do.

#1. Figure out the PPM's of your nutrients at full strength. If you land in the 600-800PPM range as suggested on their schedule, then I would feed at full strength. If you discover your PPM's are way higher than that, figure out if you need to half it or quarter the strength.

#2. Water like this...
Water + nutes, Water + nutes, Water + nutes, plain water. So 75% of the time you're watering with nutrients.

#3 Water less frequently. The plant isn't that big in size relative to the container, so the roots aren't fully developed yet. Use the ol "pick up the pot off the ground" technique to figure out how often you need to water.
 
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