What Ppm Feedings Are Realistic For Healthy Plants?

[Whitesnake]

Hey all,

I just got my new PPM meter after the other one was out for pretty much my entire last grow so I don't have much experience to help me gauge reasonable fertilizer levels. Last week (first week with ppm pen) I gave them an intentionally heavier than normal feeding and that was 1350ppm 5.9pH. 3 days later I fed them a 750ppm- roughly half dose- of just FloraNova Bloom and some Hi-Brix/Potassium Silicate.

Here is my question:
Is it reasonable to give 1 main feeding per week of 1350 + (50 to 100 x n) where n = number of weeks moving forward and a 2nd watering later in the week of half strength base nute (~750ppm). I am of course monitoring my plants for signs of nute burn or lockout. I have not yet tested my runoff PPM so that is something I can do to acquire more information on the salts still in the medium.

Any input or anecdotal comments are welcome, I wouldn't imagine topping out around 2000ppm near the end of the swell is out of the ordinary. Thanks for the read and the input and happy harvests to all.

 

[Whitesnake]

Here's a top down view of a random plant

 

[fatawa]

What medium u n?we talking coco?yur still already high regardless(imo).i use to rock high #'s till a ol timer proved to me less is more(im dwc).i use to run 1440max(wk5-8).2000 wud b retarded n my opinion.1350 is too high too.ride lower n u dont hav to worry bout lockout/def...

 

[Whitesnake]

I'm in coco, and they aren't showing any signs of overnuting or lockout at 1350ppm after over a week

 

[Whitesnake]

I 100% agree with the less is more mantra regarding fertilizers. I'll take your advice into consideration and wait another week before increasing main feedings above 1400ppm. My reasoning is that if I water to 20%ish runoff I can watch the plants and look for signs of slight overnuting and dial it back from whatever my last few feedings were. To me they look happy with the heavier dose and I would imagine 8 days is enough time to see a nute overdose/lockout issue. *edit the 2nd picture close up top down is really blurry and the sugar leaves look yellower towards the tips in the picture, I went in and checked several plants and I don't think it's any actual yellowing just the last of the bright green of new growth fading into a deeper green.

 

[fatawa]

sugar leaves look yellower towards the tips

this is usualy wen yur bout maxd out.the very tip..literaly tip...lol.cant emphasise that enough.id check that run off.try n get a 15-50ppm drop a day.thats dialed n

 

[Whitesnake]

so after watering I checked the runoff ppm and it read between 6000 and 8400. needless to say I'm flushing right now. LOL

 

[fatawa]

so after watering I checked the runoff ppm and it read between 6000 and 8400. needless to say I'm flushing right now. LOL

theres no way....r u reading the ×10 wrong?600-840 sounds realistic.its only ×10 wen yur over 1000ppm.yur plants wud b dead 100% forsure if u was 3000 let alone 6000

 

[MidwestToker]

Waste those nute's if you want. Veg feeds are 450 ppm, flower feeds 550 ppm. Coir DTW. 1 feeding per day.

 

[fatawa]

Waste those nute's if you want. Veg feeds are 450 ppm, flower feeds 550 ppm. Coir DTW. 1 feeding per day.View attachment 725851 View attachment 725852 View attachment 725853

looking good brother

 

[Whitesnake]

No the pen was 100% for sure reading between 600 (x10) and 840 (x10) which unless I cant do math is 6000-8400. After running a few gallons of balanced water through each plant the runoff dropped down to 240 (x10) and 340 (x10). I can't imagine all of those dissolved solids were nutes, does the ppm meter catch particulate from the medium?

 

[Whitesnake]

The plants just don't look like there was >6000ppm of nutes in there. I would imagine they'd be burned to shit, no? Here's a shot of the ppm meter reading my last runoff after flushing / wetvac cleanup 3 times

 

[fatawa]

I wouldnt trust that meter bro.lol.list the ml per gal of nutes u used.try this check reg tap water,is yur ×10 still on there?and yes to answer yur question...yur plants wud sure as shit b dead if that was accurate

 

[Whitesnake]

fatawa i did check it against my tapwater and it read 140ppm, no (x10). I've been using about 5-10ml of base bloom FloraNova Bloom and about 15-30ml of other supplements per gallon (Calmag, sweetener, silica, soil conditioner, humates)

 

[OldManRiver]

There's no way you're at 6000ppm. The nutes you're listing outght to get you up around 3-400 ppm, which is what they gauge is trying to say. I don't know what's up with the 10x thingy, but my guess is your meter is aufgephucked.

 

[xavier7995]

I try and stay around 750 ppm, roughly. Would go lower but I only water once a day so want to make sure there is enough there...which is sorta dumb as there would be plenty even at like half that but...eh, I go on bad science sometimes.

I don't think your approach will work that well. The excess feed can build up in the medium, or you just flush it right out the bottom of the pot; neither of those are desirable. I get the best results out of coco with a pretty even level of feeding. Popular thought is that you should go plain water in coco, I don't really buy into that completely, but it seems like a bad idea to go more than a single watering as the plain water is washing out nutes from the medium and the plant is eating, eventually you will wind up with a starving plant.

No comment on your crazy high numbers, I have a ph meter that spits out crazy stuff sometimes and I just ignore it.

Edit: this seemed rambly and incoherent...sorry if it doesn't make sense.

 

[xavier7995]

Oh jeez, I just realized one reason that didn't make sense...was high and rambling. I meant "popular thought is you should NEVER go plain water."

 

[DetGrnThumb]

500 or 700 scale? What's your pH and EC/PPM reading in the runoff coming out of your plants? Checking runoff is jus as important as checking the solution before you feed. It will tell you how the plant is feeding and give you the opportunity to adjust to accommodate to what your plants need well before signs or toxicity/deficiency show up in the plant itself