Nutrient Burn

Hey everyone/anyone who will listen! I have a recirculating DWC setup with 10 plants going. I am currently in the start of week 5 in flower and I am getting some serious nute burn! The plants are drinking up a ton of water but it seems as though they aren't taking in all of the nutes. I have tried to flush the system a couple of times so I can start fresh but the water towards the end of each res cycle climbs upwards to 2,200 ppm even though my res usually reads anywhere between 900-1100.

What can I do to get my plants to start taking in all the nutes again? I'm planning on another big flush today and to let straight Ph'd water run through for a couple days. I just don't want to lose too much feeding time as harvest time is coming up fast!

I am currently using Dakine 420 nutrients.

Lower the ppms

More nutes doesnt mean more plant.

Ive gotten good yields at 450-550ppm(0.9EC-1.1EC) in regular DWC.

People that run rdwc vary between 1.5-2.0EC which at .5 scale thats 750-1000ppm.

2200ppm is ridiculous.

Wet Betty from AN will aid in this problem you are having. you might be also fluctuating in ppms if your res goes from warm to cold to hot (not in that order) it will make your ppms climb.

firsttimeARE said:

Lower the ppms

More nutes doesnt mean more plant.

Ive gotten good yields at 450-550ppm(0.9EC-1.1EC) in regular DWC.

People that run rdwc vary between 1.5-2.0EC which at .5 scale thats 750-1000ppm.

2200ppm is ridiculous.

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"Less is better" it's a concept that may people cant wrap their heads around...

getdown76 said:

Wet Betty from AN will aid in this problem you are having. you might be also fluctuating in ppms if your res goes from warm to cold to hot (not in that order) it will make your ppms climb.

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Thanks for the info.

My res does have a bit of a temp fluctuation issue due to its location (outside). But with that said it always stay within a reasonable range from the initial ppm reading. It's always just an increase in the 5 gallon buckets.

Thanks for the advice with the Wet Betty. I'll check it out at my local hydro store.

firsttimeARE said:

Lower the ppms

More nutes doesnt mean more plant.

Ive gotten good yields at 450-550ppm(0.9EC-1.1EC) in regular DWC.

People that run rdwc vary between 1.5-2.0EC which at .5 scale thats 750-1000ppm.

2200ppm is ridiculous.

Click to expand...

2,200 is ridiculous! And my plants definitely showed it. I went with roughly 850 ppm in my last res but still encountered the same issue. I'll try to drop it down just a bit more.

your ppms/EC should either be dropping or staying the same. if they go up, they are drinking more than eating and is a sign that your ppms are too high to start with.

rkymtnman said:

your ppms/EC should either be dropping or staying the same. if they go up, they are drinking more than eating and is a sign that your ppms are too high to start with.

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Agreed. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing. I'm gonna go with quite a bit less on my next feed.

Although I'm already mixing up half of the recommended amount. Nevertheless, I'll try even less next feed.

is your pH in a good range? 5.5 to 6.1

i liked having my ppms low so that they would always drop down daily. it made me confident they were eating. if the ppm stays the same, i was concerned that maybe they were nutrient locked and not eating at all.

Hpstreet said:

I'm already mixing up half of the recommended amount.

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is that off the nute bottles? don't go by that. that is almost always WAY too much.

Yeah I go off of the bottles/website. I went full on with the instructions one time and I think that's why I'm still having issues and that was 2 weeks ago.

This is my first grow so it's a learning process and I knew there would be plenty of complications along the way. Everything was looking great up until a week and a half ago. The good news is I only have real damage on the closest plant to the control bucket and only the tips are turning yellow on the others. Just gotta stop the bleeding...

rkymtnman said:

is your pH in a good range? 5.5 to 6.1

i liked having my ppms low so that they would always drop down daily. it made me confident they were eating. if the ppm stays the same, i was concerned that maybe they were nutrient locked and not eating at all.

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Yeah my ph stays between 5.5 and 6.0

you sound ok.

i'd give a 24hr flush with just plain water and then start back on maybe 1/3 or 1/4 nutes from the bottle recommendation.

rkymtnman said:

you sound ok.

i'd give a 24hr flush with just plain water and then start back on maybe 1/3 or 1/4 nutes from the bottle recommendation.

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I was thinking 48 hours. I guess I'll just see how they are doing tomorrow and go from there. I'm just about to drain the buckets now. Thanks for the advice. I'll probably do a follow up post in case you or any one else is curious to if things went well or not.

I would change out with .9 ec nute solution. I noticed mine liked a lower ec in flower as well. Was running 1.8 in veg and .9-1.3 in flower. I thought it was weird, but that's what they wanted.

Hpstreet said:

Although I'm already mixing up half of the recommended amount.

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I run BC Nutrients and if I mix at the recommended dosages from the bottle I get burn every time, I now run just fine at 1/4 strength . And I work up to that number. I honestly think it is just a way for the companies to make more money via you using way more then you need BB

rkymtnman said:

your ppms/EC should either be dropping or staying the same. if they go up, they are drinking more than eating and is a sign that your ppms are too high to start with.

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not all the time. i chased the ppm before under really hot conditions and after lowering to 400ppm(0.8EC) and it was still raising I concluded that it was environmental. Too low of VPD was sucking moisture right out the leaves.

firsttimeARE said:

not all the time. i chased the ppm before under really hot conditions and after lowering to 400ppm(0.8EC) and it was still raising I concluded that it was environmental. Too low of VPD was sucking moisture right out the leaves.

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explain please?

rkymtnman said:

explain please?

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In instances where your plant is taking a lot of water to keep cool it will look like youre overfeeding because the feed will increase but youre actually not over feeding.

best way to tell is thru leaves. the tips burn then curl upwards and that moves to the margins

firsttimeARE said:

In instances where your plant is taking a lot of water to keep cool it will look like youre overfeeding because the feed will increase but youre actually not over feeding.

best way to tell is thru leaves. the tips burn then curl upwards and that moves to the margins

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mucho gracias! so did you figure out what the temp was that caused it? high 80's or 90s?? does humidity affect too if low RH and high temps?