How heavy do you feed?

[HeadGrow]

I switched to a completely sealed set up about a year and a half ago and have loved it. On the quest for improvement I've been trying to figure out why they start to bleed out the green during week 4 of flower. I've been around the board with speculations of deficiencies, lock-out, and disease.

I think I've narrowed it down to having something to do with incorrect fert mixes or I'm not feeding them strong enough. This grow i'm using Botanicares Kind line up. This is the first crop that I've gone back to bagged potting soil and i'm not mixing my own concoction and my first time with the Kind line. I'm using Roots Organic soil. I didn't fertilize at all during the first 2 weeks after transplant and I've been feeding them much lower doses than what the feed chart calls for. I have a hard time bringing my ppm numbers up to the 1700-1900 range due to fear of lock out. But I'm starting to think that I'm not giving them enough with them being in a dialed-in environment running 1500 ppm CO2 all day long.

So I'm asking all the experienced growers out there what they max out feedings at during the peak of flower.

Is it common to have a fert mix that high in ppm?

Do you water, feed, water? water, feed, feed? What's your schedule?

Here's a pic at the end of week 5. It's from my Samsung S3 camera with the incandescent white balance filter. You can make out how pale the fan leaves are getting already.

 

[Natural]

My inclination is to feed them veg nutes through the first 2 weeks...then flush once or twice and satrt bloom feeds. Keeps them nice and green till they mature.
I feed every time..plain water once every 5-7 days. They def look hungry...haven't used Botanicare's Kind line..used to run their Pro...it was very salty..hard to flush. Maybe feed more often..with lower numbers and skip the whole transplant starvation method.
When I build nutes..I go ro..to calmag..to micros...to base...to ph. Not sure if this is correct..but it works for me.

 

[connoisseurde420]

I've been feeding 1000-1100 with no co2. everytime except once a week tea. my light feeders are 8-900. using an conni, pbp in promix. it does look like you need to feed more.

 

[HeadGrow]

Crazy. I thought that the roots organics soil would act somewhat like my super soil. Ive hit them the last two waterings with 1300 then 1500ppm mixes. The feed chart says I should be at 1900 ppm. Ive never had to fertilize that high but that was before I went sealed CO2 room and not mixing super soil. I only got a few more weeks. I guess I'll push em harder.

 

[Venom818]

maybe a imbalance of ferts or your ph is off because that ram horning comes from high ferts

 

[connoisseurde420]

didn't see those in the back. I call it the claw lol. definately not getting food too uptake ph or lock out. super soil would have a bunch more stuff on top of what's in roots organic.... how often do you feed that high? where is your ph? have you measured runoff?

 

[HeadGrow]

maybe a imbalance of ferts or your ph is off because that ram horning comes from high ferts

That's only on that one Silver Kush. I've got two of them in the room and the other one looks fine, just a little pale. I'm not sure what's up with that one ram horning. They've all been treated the same.

I keep my pH always between 6.4 and 7.2, it's normally about 6.5. I'm not in hp Promix or coco or any other kind of inert medium, so 6.5-7 should be right in my acceptable range.

didn't see those in the back. I call it the claw lol. definitely not getting food too uptake ph or lock out. super soil would have a bunch more stuff on top of what's in roots organic.... how often do you feed that high? where is your ph? have you measured runoff?

I've only fed over 1000 ppm a few times. I normally go fert water water fert, but this last week I went fert, fert, water because it looks like their hungry. If it was a lock out issue I would expect to see a lot more leafs curling up and burning at the tips but i don't. The leaf damage I do see looks like a deficiency but that's always the hard part, deciding if it's a deficiency or lock out. I did measure the run off after the 1340 ppm feeding about a week ago and it came out at 6.3 pH and 1700 ppm.

 

[Natural]

you're run-off seems to be in check..not sure I'd be treating roots any different than peat though. Why not in between 6-6.5 for bloom? I've never heard of going above 6.5 for any medium...at that range I'd be locking out N completely. Since you're up against some issues..maybe bring it down a bit and see if that helps.

 

[HeadGrow]

you're run-off seems to be in check..not sure I'd be treating roots any different than peat though. Why not in between 6-6.5 for bloom? I've never heard of going above 6.5 for any medium...at that range I'd be locking out N completely. Since you're up against some issues..maybe bring it down a bit and see if that helps.

Good advice. Thank you. I've always went off of this nute chart as showing acceptable pH range for soil 6.3 - 6.8. Maybe i'll try dropping the pH down a bit.

 

[Natural]

In Promix..I go 5.8-6 in veg..and in between 6-6.5 in bloom. Seems to work really well. I found using beneficial teas and mostly organic nutes..helps regulate itself better than not..but I still PH.

 

[HeadGrow]

Promix is more of an inert medium and needs to be treated more like hydro. Maybe Roots Organic doesn't quite have the soil like properties that i would expected but I would think you'd still treat it like a soil. It's worth a shot i guess. I'll try lowering the pH to see if anything noticeable changes. It might be hard to tell in the last 3 weeks though.

 

[Natural]

Yes absolutely..there's the next run. I used to run high in veg and lower in flower..going by the charts. It seems I was seeing deficiencies in veg though. Particularly with hungry strains and ones that need extra calmag. Since going this new route I've seen a total turn around and even using less calmag and more N as a result.

 

[HeadGrow]

I probably should've looked this up earlier. It seems I am a bit on their high side for pH levels. Here is the Roots Organic feeding chart. They suggest a pH range of 5.5 to 6.5 for their soil.

 

[Big Costa420]

That's only on that one Silver Kush. I've got two of them in the room and the other one looks fine, just a little pale. I'm not sure what's up with that one ram horning. They've all been treated the same.

I keep my pH always between 6.4 and 7.2, it's normally about 6.5. I'm not in hp Promix or coco or any other kind of inert medium, so 6.5-7 should be right in my acceptable range.


I've only fed over 1000 ppm a few times. I normally go fert water water fert, but this last week I went fert, fert, water because it looks like their hungry. If it was a lock out issue I would expect to see a lot more leafs curling up and burning at the tips but i don't. The leaf damage I do see looks like a deficiency but that's always the hard part, deciding if it's a deficiency or lock out. I did measure the run off after the 1340 ppm feeding about a week ago and it came out at 6.3 pH and 1700 ppm.

hey brother I grow with coco and my ph is 5.5 going in and 5.8- 5.9 when it comes out with 20% run off if it came out at 6.5 or higher
I would drench it ph'd water at 5.5 until my runoff is 5.6 because from what I seen 6.5 & up will cause nute lock out
I use Jacks Pro 3-2-1 1000- 1300 for 3 days out of the week , Moab 500 ppms2 days out the week & brewed teas 600 ppms 2 days out of the week
but around the 4 to 5th week I feed a day & skip a day & I noticed huge growth from Night 2 Day
Plus U got to buy Capulator's Beneficial Bacterias off of the Farmer ,
Ur plants will thank U with Massive Massive Colas