Plants needing less EC as they get further in to flower?

Hey Everyone,

I have 5 babies about a month in to flower, as I they go further they seem to need less EC. Is this normal? I thought they'd need more?

I'm using the rule of thumb that if the EC rises, then the plants are drinking more water, so the EC is to high and then the opposite - if the EC lowers then they're using more nutrients, so up the EC.

I started out in veg at 0.3 EC then all the way up to 0.8 EC during stretch. Over the past month the EC has been increasing, so I've been decreasing it and now it seems stable about 0.5 EC.

Is this normal? 0.5 EC doesn't seem like much at all?

Thanks,
J.

As much as it does seem low, IMO, if the girls are growing and healthy then I would stay the course. I do watch EC but only to monitor what’s its doing re rise or fall, even then I watch the plant more. I don’t sweat the EC rising as long as there is no sign of burning. If things change abruptly I do start to look at other things like root health.

Thanks man, the plants look great. I did get a tiny bit of nute burn on the tips at 0.8EC so backed off.

I wonder how much waste salts that accumulate add to the EC? I do a complete reservoir change every 2 weeks to get rid of any waste salts.

Completely normal. In my experience plants demand for nutrients ramps up through veg to a peak during transition from veg to flower & then starts to taper down. I normally have to start reducing the ec level a little the 2nd week of flowering & then bit by bit over the rest of the grow.

Excellent. Glad to hear. I also had to switch from pH down to pH up in flower. Normally in veg I was adding a few drops of pH to keep it at 5.8.

Now during flower the pH rises, so add a few drops each day to keep it at 6.2.

I'd say you are dialed in pretty good. I run between .8 down to .3 when the plants are eating. I like to see the EC going down.

Every grow is different but I’m typically at 1-1.2, with some plants much higher. But yup watch the girls and if their happy keep giving them what they need .... kind of the same in my life in general .
Edit: I’m still letting the PH go from 5.7- 6.2ish and they seem happy.

Excellent, thanks for the replies!