RookieMuffin
Well-Known Member
Hi hopefully someone can help and explain me some of my problems. I have some questions about how plants take up nutrients and how to manage the nutrient reservoir in different situations. I make a lot of research but sometimes it's to much different informations and it's hard to choose which one to trust. Maybe I think too complicated idk.
First of all... How do plants take up nutrients?
For example: If you have a res with EC 1.0 and the EC falls (plants eating more nutes than drinking water) or the EC rises (plants drinking more water than eating nutes) how to know which nutrients were eaten and which were not? Do they eat them in the same ratio they are present in the EC 1.0 water or do they take the ratio of nutrients them up how they need them?
Why I want to know this is because if they eat the ratio that is provided it's easier to manage the reservoir and not run into deficiencies. But if they it them at different ratios how they want it than it's a lot harder in my eyes because how do I know that there is not tooo much or too less of a specific nutrient if they eat their own ratio... that means one single nutrient could build up over time since they eat less of that nutrient compared to the others... What do you know about that problem? I don't want to get deficient plants just because one nutrient builds up overtime and I think the EC is right but the nutrient ratio was wrong because of the build up overtime... I also don't want to toss the whole res everytime and make a new one (because of cost of water and nutrients and so on).
Think about how commercial grows would do that? They don't toss their million gallon tanks always when something changes... they probably only add nutrients or water to get the desired EC.
Now the question about reservoir-/nutrient-management.
How would you manage your res taking into acount my question about nutrient ratios. Take into account that I use distilled water. I add Cal/Mag first to get water that comes close to tap water (but without all the other chemicals) and then I add my base nutrients to feed the plant.
Example 1 (Rising EC): Start res 10 gallon with EC 1.0
24 hours later the res is only 9 gallon and the EC has risen to for example 1.2
This means the plants drink more than they eat... So refilling the tank and lowering the EC is needed.
How would you do it in this Example 1? 1) fill it with distilled water back to 10 gal or 2) fill it with distilled water and Cal/Mag added to it to get back to 10 gallons
I don't want to add too much Cal/Mag over time maybe it builds up and one day I have maybe 90% cal/Mag and rest base nutrients and the plants start to become deficient. Do you see the problem I have with res management?
Example 2 (Lower EC): Start res 10 gallon with EC 1.0
24 hours later the res is only 9 gallon and the EC has lowered to for example 0.8
This means the plants eat more than they drink... So refilling the tank and raising the EC is needed.
How would you fill this? I would use 1) distilled water with cal/mag and a higher EC. or 2) fill with dist. Water with cal/Mag added and then later add the nutrients to the whole res to reach EC 1.0 again...
I think you get the problem I have... I don't really know how to manage my reservoir and I'm scared of nutrients that might build up over time. And I don't want to toss the whole reservoir everytime something is raising/falling... I'm a little overwhelmed with all the options I have. People who use only tap water and just one single nutrients it sounds easier because if EC rising fill with normal tap water (calmag already in) and if ec lowers will with tap and add nutes... I don't know how I should do it.
When I refill the res with only distilled water without cal/mag added then I might risk that one day I get a cal/mag deficiency... And if I refill with distilled water WITH Cal/Mag added to it I maybe rist that one day too much Cal/Mag is in the water if they don't take it up in the ratios it's already presend in the water...
Too much questions and too many variables for a beginner who don't want to make thinks wrong and loose their first grow. It is expensive and time consuming so loosing is not a good thing.
Maybe someone can help me out and shed some light on this topic or refer me to a lot of sources I can read which explains my problems further.
First of all... How do plants take up nutrients?
For example: If you have a res with EC 1.0 and the EC falls (plants eating more nutes than drinking water) or the EC rises (plants drinking more water than eating nutes) how to know which nutrients were eaten and which were not? Do they eat them in the same ratio they are present in the EC 1.0 water or do they take the ratio of nutrients them up how they need them?
Why I want to know this is because if they eat the ratio that is provided it's easier to manage the reservoir and not run into deficiencies. But if they it them at different ratios how they want it than it's a lot harder in my eyes because how do I know that there is not tooo much or too less of a specific nutrient if they eat their own ratio... that means one single nutrient could build up over time since they eat less of that nutrient compared to the others... What do you know about that problem? I don't want to get deficient plants just because one nutrient builds up overtime and I think the EC is right but the nutrient ratio was wrong because of the build up overtime... I also don't want to toss the whole res everytime and make a new one (because of cost of water and nutrients and so on).
Think about how commercial grows would do that? They don't toss their million gallon tanks always when something changes... they probably only add nutrients or water to get the desired EC.
Now the question about reservoir-/nutrient-management.
How would you manage your res taking into acount my question about nutrient ratios. Take into account that I use distilled water. I add Cal/Mag first to get water that comes close to tap water (but without all the other chemicals) and then I add my base nutrients to feed the plant.
Example 1 (Rising EC): Start res 10 gallon with EC 1.0
24 hours later the res is only 9 gallon and the EC has risen to for example 1.2
This means the plants drink more than they eat... So refilling the tank and lowering the EC is needed.
How would you do it in this Example 1? 1) fill it with distilled water back to 10 gal or 2) fill it with distilled water and Cal/Mag added to it to get back to 10 gallons
I don't want to add too much Cal/Mag over time maybe it builds up and one day I have maybe 90% cal/Mag and rest base nutrients and the plants start to become deficient. Do you see the problem I have with res management?
Example 2 (Lower EC): Start res 10 gallon with EC 1.0
24 hours later the res is only 9 gallon and the EC has lowered to for example 0.8
This means the plants eat more than they drink... So refilling the tank and raising the EC is needed.
How would you fill this? I would use 1) distilled water with cal/mag and a higher EC. or 2) fill with dist. Water with cal/Mag added and then later add the nutrients to the whole res to reach EC 1.0 again...
I think you get the problem I have... I don't really know how to manage my reservoir and I'm scared of nutrients that might build up over time. And I don't want to toss the whole reservoir everytime something is raising/falling... I'm a little overwhelmed with all the options I have. People who use only tap water and just one single nutrients it sounds easier because if EC rising fill with normal tap water (calmag already in) and if ec lowers will with tap and add nutes... I don't know how I should do it.
When I refill the res with only distilled water without cal/mag added then I might risk that one day I get a cal/mag deficiency... And if I refill with distilled water WITH Cal/Mag added to it I maybe rist that one day too much Cal/Mag is in the water if they don't take it up in the ratios it's already presend in the water...
Too much questions and too many variables for a beginner who don't want to make thinks wrong and loose their first grow. It is expensive and time consuming so loosing is not a good thing.
Maybe someone can help me out and shed some light on this topic or refer me to a lot of sources I can read which explains my problems further.
