Ebb Flow, watering Schedule/EC (definitely Not Dialed in) Help!

[DesperateFarmer]

Anybody wanna share their ebb flow watering schedules/EC?
I was reading Jorge Cervantes' book and it was talking about more watering cycles with less time was better, and to cut down ECs to .6 - .8 in flower (I think).
So I'm week 2 Flower, at 1.8 EC, 10 minutes pump on time at lights on. (ran thru late veg at 1.5)
Spiked to 2.2 burned em. Made me seriously consider margins of error.
Running CO2 at 1500, just so I can cheat on cooling costs. VPD/ Humidity/TEMP is an entirely different discussion. Running Daytime around 82-86 F, with a 82-78 Humidity. I assume lowering humidity would be a factor for EC as well...

 

[F_T_P!]

medium?

 

[DesperateFarmer]

tupur royal gold coco

 

[DesperateFarmer]

definitely got to get cooling squared away. global warming is great. it was 80 here today. Usually 58

 

[F_T_P!]

EC is too high and so is your humidity. Try to keep EC close to 1-1.3 and humidity around 60%- 68%, also keep pH from 5.8-6.3 for coco. I would not ebb flow coco, much better to that drain to waste. Hydroton in pots for ebb flow is superior in my experience.

 

[DesperateFarmer]

I have to say with the coco, I get wild fluctuations in pH and EC. Some of it is definitely CEC loading early, and some of it is this great white, buffet of microbes. I made a nice slimy mess last week. (The plants liked it, albeit with daily ph adjustment. The pH went from 5.7 to 6.4-6.8 back down to 4.9, so I was growing god knows what in that res. Brown Sugar was not the best choice of additive.

Trying to size a minisplit to really dial in the cooling and get some dehumidifying going that isn't spitting out more heat as my dehumidifier is running on continuous

I'm shooting for a .8 EC this week, with 2ml Diamond Density, go for 2 watering's 6 hours apart, try not to nuke it with the additive.

I'm thinking maybe a silica product and also look into triple checking my N levels, to adjust lower for week 3 flower. I will go for your low 1's EC, and see how it goes.

I have some hydroton, but I always was afraid of it for being less forgiving. Does Hydroton, in your experience, have better performance overall?
I will certainly consider trying a table on next turn. Can you just toss it in fabric pots? Cloners are full so I guess I should make some decisions sooner than later.

 

[subwax]

You mention EC - are you using RO water, or do you use tap water? If so, hard or soft?

I flood mine every 30 mins for a few seconds at a time,. Plants seem to love it.

 

[GrowRijt]

Anybody wanna share their ebb flow watering schedules/EC?
I was reading Jorge Cervantes' book and it was talking about more watering cycles with less time was better, and to cut down ECs to .6 - .8 in flower (I think).
So I'm week 2 Flower, at 1.8 EC, 10 minutes pump on time at lights on. (ran thru late veg at 1.5)
Spiked to 2.2 burned em. Made me seriously consider margins of error.
Running CO2 at 1500, just so I can cheat on cooling costs. VPD/ Humidity/TEMP is an entirely different discussion. Running Daytime around 82-86 F, with a 82-78 Humidity. I assume lowering humidity would be a factor for EC as well...

I do every two or three hours run pump for 5 minutes while lights on. No flooding in lights off. I used hydroton in small pots last round and killed it. I was max 1.6 ec with jacks 10-30-20. About 55% humidity. I keep my tank dark and use southern ag gff and I have clean res and clean roots. I go ten days or more before res change. I have hard water which keeps ph solid.

Going back to promix for some fun and testing. But I love my ebb and flow setup.

 

[DesperateFarmer]

I do every two or three hours run pump for 5 minutes while lights on. No flooding in lights off. I used hydroton in small pots last round and killed it. I was max 1.6 ec with jacks 10-30-20. About 55% humidity. I keep my tank dark and use southern ag gff and I have clean res and clean roots. I go ten days or more before res change. I have hard water which keeps ph solid.

Going back to promix for some fun and testing. But I love my ebb and flow setup.

THIS. is what I wanted to know. Coco is pricy, I only went that route for the forgiveness factor. Bear with my stupidity, is hydroton reusable (as a best practice)? How did you plant into Hydroton, rock wool? Jiffy Pot? Bare root? I have hella bad luck with Rockwool. I am extremely interested in small pot high density. Thinking sea of green, all single mother clones, max density, like 1 plant per sq foot. Turn and burn.
Thank you

 

[DesperateFarmer]

You mention EC - are you using RO water, or do you use tap water? If so, hard or soft?

I flood mine every 30 mins for a few seconds at a time,. Plants seem to love it.

What is your medium? I am set up for RO, but have yet to get my silly little float valves to not float away, so Well water for now. I cant remember test results exactly, but other than high iron its pretty fair irrigation source, it is rather acidic, but oddly my pH's float upwards as plants feed. I will probably add automatic pH pumps at some point just to avoid the upwards drift. I have some burn from on a couple plants from a few days ago is ph related. Start lights on at 5.8 or so, and next day an hour before lights on I'm finding an upward shift of .8 to 1 point up.

Fun side note, the plants liked that slimy nasty great white sludge I was growing. They never burned anyway, I just couldn't keep the CO2 down. Just about to flush Diamond Density out, 1 week today from first application. Hard into flower, so now to piss away this fertilizer and start over. I'm so tempted to send in weekly res samples just to see what the fertilizer balance is after a week, I know the fertilizer salesmen like to say dump it every week.

 

[subwax]

I grow with Hydroton. Used Growstones previously, but the company went out of business, so had to turn to Hydroton.

What float valves are you using? I only ask as my F&D setup has no valves, but my DWC setup did have valves.

Have a look at the Blue Lab PH Controller - it really makes my life so much easier. I monitor and dose my PH 24/7.

 

[DesperateFarmer]

I was looking at the

I grow with Hydroton. Used Growstones previously, but the company went out of business, so had to turn to Hydroton.

What float valves are you using? I only ask as my F&D setup has no valves, but my DWC setup did have valves.

Have a look at the Blue Lab PH Controller - it really makes my life so much easier. I monitor and dose my PH 24/7.

I was looking at the Milwaukee instruments controller, just cause its about 60% cost of Blue Lab, I do use Blue Lab truncheons, which are great for sure! How do the Blue's work? Do they have connectivity to the net? That would be a plus, as aqua x as is, can only, monitor one res at a time.

I have everything running on trolmaster system hydrox and aquax. They are supposed to release aqua x pro specs this month. It would be beyond nice to be able to piggy back a pump on their ph and Ec sensors, but that's not offered for the little aqua x brick. I do get to see my phone go bananas at 4 am when x y z problem happens so I guess it's doing the job I got it for.

I have some cheap little giant valves made for stock tanks. they are basically a foam block in a plastic box. My botanicare res' have this silly little lip at top that makes them stronger, but makes its really oddly shaped for the floats. I'm going to bolt them in with a little wood block when I get a chance. Right now I'm working on installing a mini split and the worlds slowest lolloping. No one informed me I would need sunscreen to do this, lol.

 

[subwax]

They do indeed - its called Blue Lab Connect. I think its local only though, like Bluetooth. Not Wifi, sadly. I still use it to control and monitor my PH, though, but pretty sure it wont work when you're out of Bluetooth range. It will also only do one res. I cant think of a solution that would be able to do more than one, to be honest.

 

[DesperateFarmer]

They do indeed - its called Blue Lab Connect. I think its local only though, like Bluetooth. Not Wifi, sadly. I still use it to control and monitor my PH, though, but pretty sure it wont work when you're out of Bluetooth range. It will also only do one res. I cant think of a solution that would be able to do more than one, to be honest.

I def will check it out. I'm trying to automate this thing so I can ignore it for a couple days, without actually being ignorant of the conditions. I told a friend it was tobacco all over again (A lot of work and a lot of expense). Seems like the amount of money that can be spent on this crop is nearly infinite. But it is extremely interesting. I find myself walking in and just staring at the plants and thinking "damn, they trying to make a crop." (despite my repeated novice mistakes).

 

[subwax]

Its immensely satisfying - just wait til you smell them in flower for the first time, or take the first toke on that freshly cured bud.

 

[DesperateFarmer]

Its immensely satisfying - just wait til you smell them in flower for the first time, or take the first toke on that freshly cured bud.

My other half has these super debilitating migraines, like crying balled up in floor. I wish I had some product for her last night. It was 'hide the gun so I don't kill myself' bad. So I started out with a 'good cause.' But I also scaled because I am tired of the government bleeding me with delay of cash flow.
But yes, they stink, and I love every minute of it. I haven't blazed in like... 10 years. I think I was getting where I couldn't remember shit. But I sure plan on self medicating some anxiety out occasionally to go the hell to sleep.

Anyways, tmi I guess. but yea. I am pretty excited.

 

[subwax]

My wife suffers from Fybromialgia - its great to see her out of pain as a direct result of something I have grown.

All the very best of lick to you and your partner.

 

[GrowRijt]

THIS. is what I wanted to know. Coco is pricy, I only went that route for the forgiveness factor. Bear with my stupidity, is hydroton reusable (as a best practice)? How did you plant into Hydroton, rock wool? Jiffy Pot? Bare root? I have hella bad luck with Rockwool. I am extremely interested in small pot high density. Thinking sea of green, all single mother clones, max density, like 1 plant per sq foot. Turn and burn.
Thank you

It’s definitely reusable but I use the small 6 in pots and just toss it in compost now. When I did bigger pots I was washing and steaming and reusing. Kind of a pain. If you do coco maybe just go go drippers drain to waste. I take cuts in rock wool and put those right in pebble after they root.

 

[Cabrone]

is hydroton reusable (as a best practice)?

I rinse it in fresh water, then put in the oven for 30 minutes @ 400°f.