rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
when you say your pH is going up, is that just after you mix it to 5.2 and then it goes up to 6.5 and then you add pH down. i thought you said it stays stable after it settles?
I really need some hydro help... feeling super discouraged and confused!
- Thread starter Pyreonfire
- Start date
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
no, you'll need a scope. they will look like crabs if you have mites
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Right now they're just starting to stretch and are at 1.5 and they're hungry. I still mostly use 700 scale and when I see a 100ppm drop I raise it to 100 higher than I started. That's usually over 3-4 days. Sometimes itll stay solid for a whole week.
My tap + calmag is 0.5 EC.
Pyreonfire
Active Member
Yes, it seems like it stays pretty stable then. It has been hard to know as I was continually adding RO water to it to try to pull the EC down and the RO water pulls the PH down. It seems like I add a quart or 2 of RO water daily to keep the EC from rising... and most days it still does.
Pyreonfire
Active Member
Well shoot. Would a macro lens work on a dslr?
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
that is strange. that chart says that the plant is leeching nutrients but to raise the EC to fix it. that seems counter intuitive to me.
i guess you could try it either way then: do what fragile is saying and raise up your EC for a few days. see what that does. and if that doens't fix it, try the flush and lighter nutes and see what happens.
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
that i don't know. i have one of those 20 buck USB scopes. a worthwhile investment for bugs and to look at trichomes too.
Pyreonfire
Active Member
Well I added Ro water and will retest it in the morning. If I'm still seeing it rise, I'll remix and see if that'll make her happy.
I really appreciate both of you helping me. I'll keep you updated!
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Agreed on the scope! I got one for $30 on amazon that plugs into my phone. It hangs by the door of my tent.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one that's kinda confused. I had initially shrugged off the rise as it didnt sound to be a continuing trend, but now you have me thinking.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one that's kinda confused. I had initially shrugged off the rise as it didnt sound to be a continuing trend, but now you have me thinking.
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
the best part is one of our suggestions has to work! lol. that's what's nice about hydro, you can try some fixes and you'll see results fairly quickly
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
what stage of bloom are you at roughly? is it close to done or do the buds still have alot more to fill in? it is normal for a plant to require less nutes towards the end of its flowering
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
I guess I saw it like that then? Starving plant pulls what it can from the water, once it's out of what it wants it starts just drinking to try to survive and you'll get a rise. I guess it's kind of like a reverse lockout effect? I was reading something a while back that went into detail about it. Once it's out of what it wants it starts pulling in other compounds it wouldn't normally and it creates a different byproduct and can cause weird swings in ph too.
But totally agree that it's one of the two. All we can really do is take educated guesses based on our knowledge and experience and this is the best part of a place like RIU.
I also think that op would greatly benefit from a larger container if room permits. Larger volume is much easier to control and you can let it go for a few days without topping off to get a more stable picture. I have mother in a 27 gallon dwc box right now, was two until I found out one was a father. Lmao.
Pyreonfire
Active Member
I'd say beginning... it's just started putting out the white hairs on the bud sites about 10 days ago. This is my first grow to make it this far, so i'm embarrassingly unsure on how the process unfolds! But definitely not near the end!
I'm glad to hear that. I really didn't expect hydro to be this challenging. Glad there are groups like this and people like you guys to help.
SuperiorBuds
Well-Known Member
Nutrient water and water in the plant will balance themselves out. If you have high EC in the plant and low EC in the nutrients, the plant will leech nutrients back into the water, raising the EC in the water but lowering the EC in the plant. Same concept as RH% in the room, plants will balance out with their environment.
I'd say one of your best investments with hydro would be to buy a more reliable meter. Now that you've gone through all of this you can see how important pH and EC is to hydro -- so doesn't it make sense to spend some cash on a good meter to make sure you're dialed in? I wouldn't trust a multi-month grow cycle to a cheap $13 meter. Get yourself a Bluelab or Hanna Instruments meter and calibrate it once a month, that helps keep away most silly problems in hydro right there... (And would have prevented all of us from having no idea what you mean by EC when you're not reading it in the standard format.)
Pyreonfire
Active Member
So, a little update. I replaced a gallon of Reservoir water with RO water last night around midnight. It brought it down to about 435. This morning it was at 463 and a few hours later 476. I'm seeing an upward Trend but it's not leaping by any means. PH is on the rise a little bit at about 6.5. I've got RO water set aside to remix nutes at a higher level but now I'm not sure which direction to move!
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
as much as i want to say try the flush and lighter nutes first, i'm going to defer to the others that say raise your EC. i'll let them give a target EC for you to hit. in my mind, they arent' eating at 0.4 and 1.2 burnt the crap out of it. so what EC will work? i don't know.
but try that for a day or three. if that doesn't work, 24 hr flush with RO, and start back at maybe 0.3 EC would be my advice.
@fragileassassin @SuperiorBuds target EC for this lady por favor??
Pyreonfire
Active Member
Sounds good! I like having a plan! And you're the first to recognize that I'm a woman. It's been "man" and "dude" so often, I've kinda gotten used to it. Caught me off guard there! Ha! Thanks again. Eager to see where this gets me!
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Dose your calmag first and let it settle. Id go sightly less than recommended and do 4ml/gal with RO. This should bring you to 0.4-0.5.
From there, idk if id go straight to the 5/5/5 per gallon. I might try 3/3/3 ml/gal for a few days and see how it likes it. 3/3/3 would probably take you somewhere in the 0.8-0.9 range. Id start there, probably on the lower side of it. 1.0 is usually when im full swing veg and im starting to think about how much longer im going to let them go before I flip.
From there, idk if id go straight to the 5/5/5 per gallon. I might try 3/3/3 ml/gal for a few days and see how it likes it. 3/3/3 would probably take you somewhere in the 0.8-0.9 range. Id start there, probably on the lower side of it. 1.0 is usually when im full swing veg and im starting to think about how much longer im going to let them go before I flip.
I was wondering last night. I try to stick with gender neutral "OP" and "they" but sometimes everyone becomes "he" once the discussion gets deep lol.
Pyreonfire
Active Member
Perfect. I'll get it rolling right away. Should I focus on EC movement over the next few days or just watch for improvement/decline in the plant itself? These numbers get me all bent out of shape...
And no problem! I really don't care, I was more surprised by the correct gender than bothered by anything else!