High Feeding Frequency Question..

Chowfarms · Jan 12, 2019

What’s up guys. I saw capulator mention that he is feeding 20 seconds every hour and his plants are loving it. I love the idea of constantly replenishing oxygen and nutrients, but I know my set up is far from optimal and am skeptical about it working for me. When I feed I run my pumps for 2min and it feeds each plant with 750ml of solution. If I were to only run them for 20 seconds that would only be 125ml, and I’m using 5gal nursery pots with straight coco...I feel like that wouldn’t be enough.

Assuming a healthy root zone is well established, what would be the ideal parameters to feed at such a high frequency? I’ve scoured the googles and the forums for information so I’m aware of the basics. Just looking for some additional insight from some folks who are feeding like this..thanks in advance

4plant · Jan 12, 2019

What he’s essentially doing is keeping the media at field capacity. The plants have the perfect amount of oxygen, moisture and nutrients available at all times, perfect. I would suggest not feeding during lights off to get a bit of dry back. If your pots are bigger or hold more moisture you might limit the frequency to dial it in, try to keep them half full, just be careful of salt build ups. Maybe a weekly drenching to test runoff ec?

PhatNuggz · Jan 12, 2019

The Gold standard for intermittent watering is High Pressure Aero (HPA), which ideally is < ONE SECOND every ~ 10 seconds. This barely ets the roots, but never lets them totally dry: tacky is the key.

This is impossible with LPA, BUT once can get close using a deep cycle timer and LPA mist heads on a strong pump (see pictures)

I shoot for 2-3 seconds every ~ 12 minutes, depending on a number of factors. The mist heads in this picture are high pressure, but for some reason, this grow they kept clogging, I had to replace them with lpa heads and was unable to adjust to a satisfactory result

TerpyTyrone · Jan 12, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
The Gold standard for intermittent watering is High Pressure Aero (HPA), which ideally is < ONE SECOND every ~ 10 seconds. This barely ets the roots, but never lets them totally dry: tacky is the key.

This is impossible with LPA, BUT once can get close using a deep cycle timer and LPA mist heads on a strong pump (see pictures)

I shoot for 2-3 seconds every ~ 12 minutes, depending on a number of factors. The mist heads in this picture are high pressure, but for some reason, this grow they kept clogging, I had to replace them with lpa heads and was unable to adjust to a satisfactory result

View attachment 851113 View attachment 851114

Duh.
I couldn't keep my heads clean in that setup. The silica clogs, I dont care what anyone says. If I had to trust that setup and leave for a week in the beginning of flowering I would be nervous

Chowfarms · Jan 13, 2019

4plant said:
What he’s essentially doing is keeping the media at field capacity. The plants have the perfect amount of oxygen, moisture and nutrients available at all times, perfect. I would suggest not feeding during lights off to get a bit of dry back. If your pots are bigger or hold more moisture you might limit the frequency to dial it in, try to keep them half full, just be careful of salt build ups. Maybe a weekly drenching to test runoff ec?

Thank you for the response! Is there a way to gauge when they are at field capacity other than trial and error? I was planning on hand feeding till 20% runoff like I’m doing now to prevent salt build up

Chowfarms · Jan 13, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
The Gold standard for intermittent watering is High Pressure Aero (HPA), which ideally is < ONE SECOND every ~ 10 seconds. This barely ets the roots, but never lets them totally dry: tacky is the key.

This is impossible with LPA, BUT once can get close using a deep cycle timer and LPA mist heads on a strong pump (see pictures)

I shoot for 2-3 seconds every ~ 12 minutes, depending on a number of factors. The mist heads in this picture are high pressure, but for some reason, this grow they kept clogging, I had to replace them with lpa heads and was unable to adjust to a satisfactory result

View attachment 851113 View attachment 851114

Yeah I ran aero years ago, clogs were a problem for sure. Great growth rates just so much can go wrong so fast

PhatNuggz · Jan 13, 2019

Chowfarms said:
Thank you for the response! Is there a way to gauge when they are at field capacity other than trial and error? I was planning on hand feeding till 20% runoff like I’m doing now to prevent salt build up

Not that I know of. Ambient temps, RH, number of mist heads, pump size all play a role

TerpyTyrone · Jan 13, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
The Gold standard for intermittent watering is High Pressure Aero (HPA), which ideally is < ONE SECOND every ~ 10 seconds. This barely ets the roots, but never lets them totally dry: tacky is the key.

This is impossible with LPA, BUT once can get close using a deep cycle timer and LPA mist heads on a strong pump (see pictures)

I shoot for 2-3 seconds every ~ 12 minutes, depending on a number of factors. The mist heads in this picture are high pressure, but for some reason, this grow they kept clogging, I had to replace them with lpa heads and was unable to adjust to a satisfactory result

View attachment 851113 View attachment 851114

Your nutrient solution doesn't clog up your spray ends? They run 2-3 seconds every 12 minutes? Wild!

Rootbound · Jan 13, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
The Gold standard for intermittent watering is High Pressure Aero (HPA), which ideally is < ONE SECOND every ~ 10 seconds. This barely ets the roots, but never lets them totally dry: tacky is the key.

This is impossible with LPA, BUT once can get close using a deep cycle timer and LPA mist heads on a strong pump (see pictures)

I shoot for 2-3 seconds every ~ 12 minutes, depending on a number of factors. The mist heads in this picture are high pressure, but for some reason, this grow they kept clogging, I had to replace them with lpa heads and was unable to adjust to a satisfactory result

View attachment 851113 View attachment 851114

This thread has nothing to do with a aero set up. The OP is growing in 5 gal nursery pots filled with coco not aero. Try to stay on topic please.

PhatNuggz · Jan 13, 2019

Rootbound said:
This thread has nothing to do with a aero set up. The OP is growing in 5 gal nursery pots filled with coco not aero. Try to stay on topic please.

The frequent feeding cycles threw me off. I missed that he is doing this in coco

By all means delete my posts

Terpy, go to my thread for further conversations

Chowfarms · Jan 13, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
The frequent feeding cycles threw me off. I missed that he is doing this in coco

By all means delete my posts

Terpy, go to my thread for further conversations

It’s pretty crazy, right?! Once I started ramping it up from 2-3x/day though, noticeable difference in growth rate. Gonna be doing 3gals next time so I can hit em more often and start ramping em up sooner

PhatNuggz · Jan 14, 2019

Chowfarms said:
It’s pretty crazy, right?! Once I started ramping it up from 2-3x/day though, noticeable difference in growth rate. Gonna be doing 3gals next time so I can hit em more often and start ramping em up sooner

Multifeeding is challenging. I missed that you are growing in coco, which stays wet a good while. See if you can find a decent soil meter to test ~ 3" below the surface

Chowfarms · Jan 14, 2019

PhatNuggz said:
Multifeeding is challenging. I missed that you are growing in coco, which stays wet a good while. See if you can find a decent soil meter to test ~ 3" below the surface

Well my goal is to keep it wet, to prevent salt build up. And I plan on trying these WiFi ones that Scott’s makes so I can check it out the go. Pretty nifty. Only $100 too. I have a POS one doesn’t really help much lol. My plants have been responding well to the 8x/day but I’m just working on getting the volume per feed down. Gonna do 3 gals for this next round so they can take feedings more often

High Feeding Frequency Question..

High Feeding Frequency Question..

Chowfarms

4plant

PhatNuggz

TerpyTyrone

Chowfarms

Chowfarms

PhatNuggz

TerpyTyrone

Rootbound

PhatNuggz

Chowfarms

PhatNuggz

Chowfarms

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