like i said, I ain't an expert, so don't take my advice as gospel. Here's what I'm running
2x2 ebb and flo
600 hps psl
house and garden aqua flakes a&b
top booster once 3-4 weeks into flower ( same as pk13/14 I think )
sensizyme when I can afford it ( can't right now )
ph down
alaskan fish fertilizer for seedlings and fresh rooted cuts cause it just will not burn them
ph up when I use alaskan fish fertilizer cause it typically lowers ph a lot. I don'y use aff in the rez cause it's so stanky, but rather hand water to waste runoff for a week or 2 till they get going.
empire organics coco coir which really is a bastardized mix of chips and rough crushed chips
canna coco which I just switched to and like a lot. empire organics equivalent is coco peat
for young plants I use 5ml per gallon just like the label says on the h&g label. sensizyme about 2 ml per gallon. I have no choice but to use tap. aqua flakes be sure you mix a&b seperately. mix it all up and check the ppms, which is what my meter reads. mine would read around 800. for a plant going good, that would be fine by me. younger plants I'd go down to about 600. ph it to about 5.5 as mine will usually rise slightly the first 24 hrs after a fresh mix to right about 5.8 . I lov h&g cause it seems once I get the ph dialed in, it stays there unless something else is going on.If there is something else going on, it'a usually nothing a good ph'd flush won't fix with
clearex again if we can afford it. no pk 13/14 till flower.
alaskan fish fertilizer 1 tblsp per gallon and ph'd accordingly, I always have to use ph up with it
floodin with empire chunks 6 times a day for 1 hour. that scedule is pretty much written in stone thru out the lifespan of the plant if they're in the chunky stuff
with the canna 4 times a day for 1 hour for a start. Why so often and long? I set the plants in at the top of he container. I want to make sure I'm flooding high enough and long enough to get to the roots. and that the coco stays moist enough they can work down into the container. If the plants are drinking, I don't worry about how long or how often I water. If they are not drinking ( i.e. the water level in your rez is not dropping ) then it's time to cut back the number and length of feeding times.also, helping to determine number and length of feeding times, if the plant is hungry, the ppms go down, that means it's eating, right? so, if they stay pretty much the same or increase, the plants not eating. I can either let it slide up if i want, or add str8 ph'd water and bring them down to a point where the plant starts eating again. I'm usually adding 5 gallons of nutes ( drawback to a small res ) to my res every other day anyway, so it never really has a chance to spike drastically or get too high before I can adjust by adding fresh nutes. So usually that scedule will take me thru a week or 2. by the time I get to the third week I'm down to 2 or 3- 30 minute waterings a day. I could cut it down to one, but they get real thirsty with just one watering a day, and I'm not real crazy about mixing nutes every other day, I really don't want to do it every day for my 15 gal rez. By the time we get to flower I've gradually raised the ppm's to 1000 - 1100 by finish
it's really hard to overwater with coco. your problems typically start when it starts drying out. I think perlite helps to retain water, so I quit using it and went with str8 coco. I also like to add a layer of coco chunks in the bottom of the pot to make sure I get good drainage
I ain't the top grower here by any means, but that works here well enough we're self sufficient, or would be if stuff didn't happen. we still manage to take care of the light bill tho so we're at least doing that well.
