Good to know that you are determined to succeed... Sometimes you need to get burned to learn a lesson... Since this has already happened, let's move forward with positive vibes as you've said... That's my kind of attitude! :damnhippie:
Ok I started my first two rounds in hydroton ebb 'n flow, then moved onto soil, DWC, coco automated drip DTW, and now I'm gonna play with the UC while keeping most of these diff mediums going concurrently.
First, take good notes and plenty of pictures to refer back and this will help you see how the ambient environment and nutrients affect the plants. Plenty of research, notes, and references will help you speak the plant's language... As an Engineer, I tend to do a lot of shady experiments on the side to confirm a hypothesis and my suspicions. Since you have plenty of time and plants, I'd suggest doing smaller experiments later once you have the basic fundamentals down.
Second, since my tap water is above 500 PPM, I use RO and CalMag. I try to keep my PPM (at 0.5 conversion to EC) range consistent for seedlings and unrooted clones at 200 PPM (80 PPM of that is CalMag). Seedlings and rooted clones under 6" in height are generally fed 400 PPM (100 PPM of that is CalMag). Well rooted plants over 6" and under 12" in height can be fed between 500 to 600 PPM depending on the medium (with 150 PPM of CalMag depending on the strain and medium)... In hydro I stay closer to 600 and in soil I'm closer to 500. Larger and mature plants in veg can generally take 700 PPM depending on the strain with CalMag closer to 200 PPM... There really isn't a need to go much higher with PPM's in veg unless you have some massive trees... Less is more. Don't make huge jumps in PPM greater than 200 between res changes or feedings as the osmotic pressure in the roots can easily be affected. That being said, I believe your 700 PPM mix is too high at this stage... I did read buffbud's post earlier and would respectfully disagree with his recommended PPM's in a hydroton medium... Whereas his amounts make more sense in coco with it's cation exchange capacity... :thinking
Finally, as for nutrients I would stick with GH 3 Part Flora series... It's simple, stable, and has proven results in hydro. I'm not familiar with any powder version except powder Kool Bloom which is a ripening agent near harvest. Mix CalMag into the RO first, then GH Micro, then Grow, and last Bloom.
Hope this helps... Good luck! :cool
