ppm rising in flower

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Both statements are true
His ppms are too high so the plants are using water more than food
And
Since he does not top off it makes it worse, if he did top off his ppms would be lower.

Plus I think it is bad practice to not top off and let the Rez run down. Roots adjust to their environment, roots in water and in air are different. In dwc I feel they are happier always being in the same state and not wasting energy adjusting. Plus you don’t run into your ppms going high.
I top off and adjust ph at least every 2 day's.
Mostly I do it everyday.
That is imperative if you run your plants at a high ppm especially, but should be done anyway.
That's part of the work really needed to grow serious weed, because nothing comes easy, except def's and bugs. :)
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
It was more of a joke than anything, but there's no mj plant on earth that requires 1200ppm, unless maybe the person feeding at 1200ppm is using a 700 scale meter, and even then they're at the upper end of what they should be feeding.
I've grown over the years from 700 to 1700 ppm, full cycles and personally have found 1500 ppm/6.0 ph for bloom is my target zone.
Some say that's too high, but too each their own.
All I can say personally is that I don't burn plants and get nice bud, so it is what it is..
 

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
I just really believe that the roots don't like the change between being in solution and then out of it, but it's a minor thing.

To the poster of the thread. I can tell you that you can get through a grow cycle without the need to dump your nutrients depending on what you are feeding them. Obviously if you are feeding differently for veg and flower you need to dump them. I used to grow using what is known as Lucas formula for the veg and flower and I could actually go 2 cycles with the same Rez in Aeroponics although I rarely did. But if you are dumping your Rez once a week I feel like you are wasting a lot of nutrients. Either way they are cheap but I just wanted to add that it's probably unneeded.
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Ok thanks guys lots of very useful info there. I mixed up a bucket of solution at about 500 and adjusted the res down to 650 last night, it is now 900.
This is exactly what happened last time I tried topping up with a nutrient solution, my ppm sky rocketed.
But I can't follow the idea of topping off with just water...let's say ideal situation, ppm constant water level dropping. If you top up with just water ppm will drop and the more you top up the weaker the solution gets, and your plant is underfed until you do a fresh res. This can't be desirable...or?
Cheers!
Your fluctuation will happen no matter what you do, it is part of the cycle especially as the roots develop and the nutes in them build up over time.
Pick your target, in your case 500 (too low), and simply keep adding water to refill.
You do not, and should not keep adding nutes, it's simply a waste.
A liter of nutes will last me a year, and in your case, probably months.
Take it easy my friend, and good luck :)
 

shiva71

Well-Known Member
I've grown over the years from 700 to 1700 ppm, full cycles and personally have found 1500 ppm/6.0 ph for bloom is my target zone.
Some say that's too high, but too each their own.
All I can say personally is that I don't burn plants and get nice bud, so it is what it is..
Interesting. Is that with lots of different strains or the same one?
Good news here, I went down to 500 and it seems stable, no change since 15:00 yesterday. Also realised that I was adding the pk13/14 and boost at cannas recommended doses, last time I followed their numbers I burned the CRAP out of my girl, followed their feeding chart and gave my 3 week plant 1800ppm.
Thanks again I've learned a lot :)
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
last time I followed their numbers I burned the CRAP out of my girl,
Fuck their numbers, they're estimates.
Pick a target, in your case 500ppm (my tap water is 280) and adjust using a meter.
Anything below 1000 is a waste of time for an aggressive grow, which indoors you have a 3 month window to get what you want.
I live by pushing boundaries, and that it is how I grow.
I've cooked plants for sure (running at 1700) but once the plants are over 5 weeks, they can handle a lot.
I'm talking hydro though, not soil.
PM me if you want to discuss further.
 

shiva71

Well-Known Member
There's something else that I've been wondering about, I guess here is as good a place to ask...from what I gather, rising ppm means the concentration of nutes is too high, the plant 'rejects' it somehow and only drinks the water, making the solution more concentrated, ppm goes up. But you also have nute burn, where the plant does suck up the nutes, too much nutes, and gets fried.
These cannot both be true, the first scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant doesn't suck it up, the second scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant does suck it up, and gets burnt.
Any thoughts?
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
There's something else that I've been wondering about, I guess here is as good a place to ask...from what I gather, rising ppm means the concentration of nutes is too high, the plant 'rejects' it somehow and only drinks the water, making the solution more concentrated, ppm goes up. But you also have nute burn, where the plant does suck up the nutes, too much nutes, and gets fried.
These cannot both be true, the first scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant doesn't suck it up, the second scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant does suck it up, and gets burnt.
Any thoughts?
Any and all ppm's will increase over time in a hydro system as the nutes buildup in the root system. That's why you add just water to your res after you set it up with your target ppm.
The plant has to drink what is available, and if it's too high, you'll burn the plant, so that "rejection" idea is pure BS.
That's the way it works
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
There's something else that I've been wondering about, I guess here is as good a place to ask...from what I gather, rising ppm means the concentration of nutes is too high, the plant 'rejects' it somehow and only drinks the water, making the solution more concentrated, ppm goes up. But you also have nute burn, where the plant does suck up the nutes, too much nutes, and gets fried.
These cannot both be true, the first scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant doesn't suck it up, the second scenario says if the ppm is too high the plant does suck it up, and gets burnt.
Any thoughts?
think of it this way:
you feed at 800ppm with no problem. you bump up feed to 1200 ppm and you notice tip burn (too strong nutes). so you should add plain water to get it back down to 800 ppm, right? you're so high at the time that you add nutes that are 3000 ppm instead of plain water and now you have 4200 ppm. now you've got nute lockout. the nutes are there but the plant is unable to use them at such a strong concentration.
so nute burn left untreated can lead to nute lockout. also root rot can lead to nute lockout
 

shiva71

Well-Known Member
Ok thanks a lot guys.
Jim, when you say "any and all ppms will increase over time", what exactly do you mean, cos that sort of suggests ppms never go down, which obviously they do in certain situations. I started at around 300, it dropped every time and I took this as a signal to increase ppm. At 800 it stopped falling and seemed stable. Also the chart someone posted earlier has plenty of scenarios with ppm falling. So I don't really get what you mean with "all ppms will increase over time"...
Thanks again you guys are taking time to help a rookie out and I appreciate that :)
 
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