Extrordinarily High PPM's - No Nute Burn? Normal?

Greetings everyone here at RIU; it is nice to see the forum back up and running again. To the point, this current DWC grow is the second of two hydroponic DWC grows, and 4 soil grows, all successful. This time instead of RDWC I am running standalone 5 gallon buckets for various reasons (Nutrients: Floranova, Armor Si, Liquid KoolBloom). This is also my first Automatic Flowering strain grow (Starryder Auto, THC Bomb Auto, and Chemdog Auto). I did not give much creedance to the high ppm's my plants were able to tolerate during their first few weeks in 5 gallon buckets. I honestly was more focused on pushing the ppm's until signs of nutrient burn/nutrient build up appeared instead of the numbers themselves. I finally got online and saw that everyone talking about 600-1200ppms are, generally speaking of course, the highest they could go without absolutely burning up full grown plants. I am currently in the 40-50 day range on all strains, and I am feeding them over 3,000 ppms. Yes, over 3,000 (two are at 4,000) with absolutely no sign of nutrient burn aside from slight N toxicity during veg. I veg'd them at about 1500-2000 ppms, and have raised accordingly. I immediatly suspected a sensor malfunction; how else could this be? Well, my meter was dead on the spot calibration-wise. So, I decided to use a different meter. I grabbed my brother's TDS pen, and what do ya know, it reads exactly the same as my table top. So, my question, while broad, is how can this be possible? I could barely run 2k ppm's (flowering) during my first DWC grow (using AN Sensi, Calmag, BigBud) without burning and having PH swings. I understand that different nutrient lines can run at different potenices, but over 3k ppms??...My instinct tells me to keep going, because my plants (knock on wood) are doing fantastic in comparison to my last dwc grow using bag seed genetics. Has anyone else ever experienced anything such as this using GH Floranova series? Being a beginner I did not get a bunch of additives; Just Liquid Koolbloom and Armor Si. I am beginning to feed MORE than GH's feeding charts read for REGULAR plants, not to mention auto's...while the THC Bomb's are showing signs of nutrient toxicity past 3300-3500 ppms, my Starryders are easily able to handle 4.1-4.2k ppms. I apologize if converting these numbers to EC would help, however, I do not understand my own meter's EC conversion rate, and other factors, that go into calculating the EC so I feel I'd only confuse people more if I tried too haha. I am simply trying to wrap my mind around how this could be...
P.S. - I also have a Transiberian Auto in it's first 3 weeks running at 1450 ppms, and is just now starting to show the "claw" (so I am backing off).
Thanks to any and everyone who takes the time to read! Hopefully someone else with this occurence can be helped with this post. Happy Growing everyone!

I have run into strains that are very sensitive to concentrations and others that can take whatever I want to throw at her. Must go through alot of nutes...........

so you are running 6 EC? i find that hard to believe.

now you can get down to it.

My meter is a "Nutradip" continuous monitor w/ ph and ppm probe; not sure if that is a Hannah company or what not. I have tested with multiple cheap TDS meters, all giving me the same reading down to about 100-200 ppms difference. I am just as baffled as any and everyone who has read this; and it is not only one strain taking these high level of nutrients...however, the strains are all from one seed bank (Dutch Passion Genetics). I am just about to start my final flush, and my biggest baby has taken 4600 ppms without a problem. Above that, I notice clawing up and tip of the leaves burning/drooping downwards. I am just doing what my girls like...even if it is totally insane....lmao...as long as I don't see toxcicities or lockouts, I'm going to continue feeding as I have all along...
Perhaps my next grow, using different seed bank genetics, will be different?....
P.S. I go about 14 days between rez changes for each bucket; I am sure this could account for around 500ppms of built up salts and PH Up (ph drifts about 0.1 or less a day, silica normally brings it back up but if not I resort to PH Up). Didn't know if any of this information might help. I cannot complain as my plants are the biggest, most beautiful plants I've ever produced, and my THC Bombs are certian to be the most potent. I am sure I can post some pics if anyone would like to see.

GBAUTO said:

I have run into strains that are very sensitive to concentrations and others that can take whatever I want to throw at her. Must go through alot of nutes...........

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You have no idea my friend...lol. I am going through about 1 pint of Floranova Bloom a week for 5 flowering, close to harvest, Autoflower's. My Chemdog is just now starting to flower; and it's already close to the end of the breeder's suggested life cycle. I know these are often overzealous claims, but all the other strains I started at the same time are finishing while my Chemdog just now stopped growing upwards lol...I've heard that some autoflower strains can grow to be 120 days old though, so Im just going with the flow...

do you have ppm test solutions? i'd be curious to see if you got some 1000ppm solution, how accurate your meter is.

i've never heard of such high numbers. especially in autos.

Yes; 1000ppm calibration solution from Nutradip is what I use to calibrate my table top Nutradip continuous meter (just so I was sure, using the right brand calibration specific for my meter). I haven't tested it in a couple weeks, but even then my ppms were well above 3k. I am going to calibrate it again in a couple days when I apply water for my first Starryder's final flush. If it weren't for getting the same reading from another (different brand), all-be-it cheap, TDS meter, I would chalk all this up to the meter's ppm conversion or something because this is not a strain dependant occurence for me...and I do not run C02...aside from opening my basement window, so there is no reasonable explanation for all of this that I can find...I'm looking at a nice harvest so I am not complaining...I am just totally freaked out?...
Thanks for the reply RkyMtnMan!

Oh, I meant to also say, that my ppm probe tested pretty accurate; reading 1050 on 1000ppm calibration solution.

that is weird for sure.

i would just keep an eye on them at the end of flowering. they should start needing less nutes close to harvest.

keep on keepin on!

Thank you for the advice, I will keep a close eye on the plants that still have a bit before flushing I have one Starryder that is ready for flush now, but the other is still putting on bud mass aggressively and looks like it will harvest about twice as much as the one I am about to flush. I appreciate your input Rkymtnman, I will keep this thread updated. Once RIU gets the uploading picture issue sorted out I will attempt to post some pics!
Happy Growing and much appreciation!

Logan Burke said:

My meter is a "Nutradip" continuous monitor w/ ph and ppm probe; not sure if that is a Hannah company or what not. I have tested with multiple cheap TDS meters, all giving me the same reading down to about 100-200 ppms difference. I am just as baffled as any and everyone who has read this; and it is not only one strain taking these high level of nutrients...however, the strains are all from one seed bank (Dutch Passion Genetics). I am just about to start my final flush, and my biggest baby has taken 4600 ppms without a problem. Above that, I notice clawing up and tip of the leaves burning/drooping downwards. I am just doing what my girls like...even if it is totally insane....lmao...as long as I don't see toxcicities or lockouts, I'm going to continue feeding as I have all along...
Perhaps my next grow, using different seed bank genetics, will be different?....
P.S. I go about 14 days between rez changes for each bucket; I am sure this could account for around 500ppms of built up salts and PH Up (ph drifts about 0.1 or less a day, silica normally brings it back up but if not I resort to PH Up). Didn't know if any of this information might help. I cannot complain as my plants are the biggest, most beautiful plants I've ever produced, and my THC Bombs are certian to be the most potent. I am sure I can post some pics if anyone would like to see.

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I know this is old but your meter has / had an extra digit on end. There is no way you can go that high.