6/9 formula not working

SodaLicious · Apr 3, 2013

here's the setup:

Space is 4 feet deep 8 feeet long and 5 feet high.

No exausht fan just font always open.

Oscillating fan in space at one side blowing across tops

600 MH horizontal none air cooled shade 18" away from canopy

400 sunmaster mh vert 18" away from canopy

Tap water Ph7.5 ppm 130, nutrient adjusted to 6.0ph + or - 1.0

Clones

some 1 gallon and 3 gallon containers

65/35 peat perlite

General hydroponic nutrients 3 part

Water when plants feel light, usually every 2 days. If left for 3 almost wilting.

been using 6/9 formula which I've assumed was 6mls micro and 9mls bloom to every gallon of water.

I used this formula for 4 weeks. Plants seemed to be growing very slow, then started yellowing from the bottom up.

Stopped using 6/9 went to back of bottle instructions for veg phase which is 10mls micro 15mls grow and 5 mls bloom per gallon of water.

After watering with this strength nutes, the next day they were on their way back.

Been used every 3 waterings then 4th been water and their improvement has been stagering.

Any thoughts on why 6/9 wasn't working?

JPLord01 · Apr 4, 2013

Becouse 6/9 is for coco you need to have your ph at 5.8. With peat I think it is 7/14 or 8/16 ph to 5.8 to 6.1
room temp set at 75 to 79 hum at 55 to 65 for veg to 4 week into flower then bring down your hum to 45 to 50 the last part of flowering.

GR33NL3AF · Apr 4, 2013

You would think in peat you would use less because of a lower cation exchange and especially if you're using tap... Why not check your ppms in and out??????

midwestdensies · Apr 4, 2013

I believe dr lucas has states this ratio wasnt ever intended for anything other than veg under t5. Just a huge misconception if you ask me. Research youll find iit

SodaLicious · Apr 4, 2013

GR33NL3AF said:
You would think in peat you would use less because of a lower cation exchange and especially if you're using tap... Why not check your ppms in and out??????

I am giving plain water tonight I will take a reading of in and out.

SodaLicious · Apr 4, 2013

midwestdensies said:
I believe dr lucas has states this ratio wasnt ever intended for anything other than veg under t5. Just a huge misconception if you ask me. Research youll find iit

I thought I did my research, I read several threads on multiple forums about the 6/9, everything I read sounded promising.

moodster · Apr 5, 2013

I use 6/9 in coco no worries must be coz ur in soil

GR33NL3AF · Apr 5, 2013

Peat isn't soil. It's actually very similar to coco

LexLuthor · Apr 5, 2013

Deadhead made the 6/9 specifically for coco.

Coco has a higher CEC, but with 6/9 your suppose to water at least once a day, with peat you don't need to water nearly as often and you can give plain water whenever needed to reduce salt build up.

I got some seedlings in coco/perlite and others in peat/coco/perlite and there watering schedule is significantly different. I'm giving them all the same nutrient ratio and there doing fine.

SodaLicious · Apr 5, 2013

I would love to switch to coc, but I cant source it here. Peat based products are readily available though.

LexLuthor · Apr 6, 2013

SodaLicious said:
I would love to switch to coc, but I cant source it here. Peat based products are readily available though.

Yeah, peat is cheaper and easier to find. I use coco bricks from GH at my local hydro shop. You can buy coco bricks on Ebay, some people/companies even offer free shipping.

SodaLicious · Apr 7, 2013

the peat i have is 90% peat 10 %perlite. I add more perlite but all I have is fine perlite. It seems to be working but can't source corse perlite locally either.

SodaLicious · Apr 7, 2013

lex0415 said:
Deadhead made the 6/9 specifically for coco.

Coco has a higher CEC, but with 6/9 your suppose to water at least once a day, with peat you don't need to water nearly as often and you can give plain water whenever needed to reduce salt build up.

I got some seedlings in coco/perlite and others in peat/coco/perlite and there watering schedule is significantly different. I'm giving them all the same nutrient ratio and there doing fine.

If i water'ed everyday they would never dry out. Is that not a concern when using coco or peat?

SodaLicious · Apr 7, 2013

I would really like to use the 8/16 formula for flowering but after seeing the 6/9 I am hesitant. The ladies are going to the flower room in the next couple days. there they will have 1000 hps vert no shade and a 600 hps vert in a parabolic. the total space in flowring room is 6x10.

LexLuthor · Apr 7, 2013

SodaLicious said:
If i water'ed everyday they would never dry out. Is that not a concern when using coco or peat?

IMO its best to keep coco wet, I water everyday with my seedlings in 80/20 coco/perlite, they were doing horrible when I gave them more then 2-3 days in between irrigations. With peat I like the buckets to feel lighter when I pick them up compared to when they are saturated, I water those seedlings about every 3rd day.

Coco doesn't hold as much water as peat so you can have more frequent irrigations without over-watering. When I use peat I've always had to wait at least a day or 2 before I watered so with peat I believe you should allow it to slightly dry out. If you watered everyday with peat you will most likely end up removing too much oxygen from the root zone thus causing 'over-watering' symptoms.

IMO if you treat coco like hydro, that is how people get 'hydro-like' growth/results. Like I said before, the coco/perlite plants NEED daily irrigations and the peat/coco/perlite plants NEED a couple days in between irrigations.

To answer your question, no, it is not a concern with coco. With peat, yes, it is a concern, IME anyways.

SodaLicious · Apr 7, 2013

Thanks alot for you tips!

LexLuthor · Apr 8, 2013

SodaLicious said:
I would really like to use the 8/16 formula for flowering but after seeing the 6/9 I am hesitant. The ladies are going to the flower room in the next couple days. there they will have 1000 hps vert no shade and a 600 hps vert in a parabolic. the total space in flowring room is 6x10.

I think the 8/16 will work fine for flower if its working for your plants now.

SodaLicious · Apr 8, 2013

lex0415 said:
I think the 8/16 will work fine for flower if its working for your plants now.

Thats the thing, the 6/9 was letting me down. The girls were slow growing and not happy looking. As soon as I switched to bottle directions for veg phase, boom within 2 days noticeable difference then 5 later WOW. I just never thought that I should be feeding them what was it, like 1600 PPM's in veg

LexLuthor · Apr 9, 2013

SodaLicious said:
Thats the thing, the 6/9 was letting me down. The girls were slow growing and not happy looking. As soon as I switched to bottle directions for veg phase, boom within 2 days noticeable difference then 5 later WOW. I just never thought that I should be feeding them what was it, like 1600 PPM's in veg

Oh, your using the directions on the label, not the 8/16. I agree, don't use the Lucas if there doing good with bottle directions. I've heard from multiple people that the GH 3-part label directions work better then 8/16.

1600 ppm, is that .5 or .7 scale?? Either way that is alot for veg, but if your plants like it, just give them what they want. Good luck.

6/9 formula not working

6/9 formula not working

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moodster

GR33NL3AF

LexLuthor

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