Hydroponic Research User Thread

[Wisher619]

why do people still talk ppm runoff?
it literally means nothing
plants take in what they want at differ stages and if your watering practices are on point...what ever is not used would be flushed with the next watering and replenished with new.....
if you feed light in promix and allow the pot to go semi dry before watering every time you will never have a problem and also if you feed with plain water once every few waterings

if you are in coco and you are worried about runoff ppm....up your feeding times with 15% runoff the last feeding of the day...making sure all excess built up salt will be flushed

if you read your plant and know what your high/low feeding limits are you should never have a problem

I only see a benefit to calculating ppm of runoff solution is if you are running a F&D system or undercurrent and you are topping off and adding back to the res....which really isn't measuring runoff....but that would be the only time it would matter

the only other time would be if you are way over feeding and your plant is sick so you want to completely flush and start over on the feed schedule so you check until you are close to zero

JMO

 

[LadyBuds]

Oh I totally agree with Justiceman, I love coco personally because its what works best for me. I think your #'s are good. Do you have a pic of what they look like at the moment?

 

[Nickracer9]

New hortilux bulbs running at 750watts since 1000w was bleaching them out and about 2.5-3 foot above canopy. 3 fans blowing in the room(10x10) and temps don't go any higher then 78 dropping to low 70's by harvest with 55-65rh. Plants looked picture perfect with just a tiny bit of leaf tip yellowing. They do get fed daily since they dry the medium out in 24 hours. I think my issue is in the roots, they always look a little brownish by mid to late bloom when I pull them out of the pot. No rotten smell though. Started using the elite 91 roots in my veg and have seen some major improvements in the root zone so hoping it carries into flower as well.

 

[Nickracer9]

Here is a pic from week 8ish

 

[LadyBuds]

Is this your first run with this strain? Have you ran these genetics in the past with same issues? Elite 91 is a great product but I have never used that all thru a run before so I would be interested to hear about your improvements using it.

 

[CelticEBE]

Yeah, your numbers look solid on inputs. I'd say fluffy is more environment or genetics.

 

[Nickracer9]

Started using it mid way through flower but my next round has had it throughout its whole life. It def helps as my roots in promix are like noodles but my roots in coco look even better(bright white). I've been slowly transitioning to coco cause I think I can keep healthier roots in that medium. I do cut my promix at a 2:1 ratio of soil to perlite since I have been chasing this mediocre root browning hoping that aeration will prevent pathogen or disease.

 

[LadyBuds]

Yeah, your numbers look solid on inputs. I'd say fluffy is more environment or genetics.

His environment seems on point based on the #'s. Are you pumping CO2 into the room? What is your humidity levels? What type of pots are you using? Sorry for so many questions but it is a process to find problems sometimes. If you are getting browning in promix but not in the coco then those genetics just might not like the medium they are in.

Also I add Power Si throughout my entire run it will give you the ability to train them easier and it helps balance nutrient deficiencies. Its a bit pricey but in my opinion it should be part of any nutrient lineup.

 

[Nickracer9]

No C02 and rh is 55-65percent tapering to 45ish by harvest. Pots are 4 gallon square pots(my old Autopots). Could not enough air exchange cause issues? I have two hyper fan 10's with one running at lowest setting on speed control to keep a small amount of vacuum in the room. The other one kicks on at 100% when my temp exceeds my desired temp which really depends on outside temps. Sometimes it takes a bit for the room to warm up before I get that exchange. I do add osa 28 early flower for a few weeks along with 1-2ml calmag and same for some seagreen.

 

[LadyBuds]

Yes. Your intake and outtake fans should be a high enough cfm for your growing room. As for the pots you use, I avoid the plastic ones, I can get way more from my plants using 2 gallon smart pots than with 4 gallon plastic ones.

 

[CelticEBE]

Could also be how you dry things. I've seen super dense rock hard nugs get airy when they were dried to fast.

Yeah, @LadyBuds , I didn't see the post where he chimed in on temps. Environment seems dialed.

At this point the only thing that makes sense to me would be harvesting and or genetics.

 

[LadyBuds]

I agree I think drying/curing is the areas that most people just wing it, when in fact it is one of the most crucial parts. You need to have your humidity and temp dialed in with the drying/curing process. I have a separate room for each, and each environment is different.

 

[justiceman]

I thought this might be worth mentioning. This is off the eye hortilux faq for best practices.

 

[Wisher619]

#1 factor for larfy airy buds......Light (to little)
#2 genetics
#3....refer to 1 or 2

other elements may play a small role but reality is light

one of the main reasons for lolli popping
the further the light the less dense and full the buds will be
so if the light is to far away or you are running to small a wattage

 

[Nickracer9]

I'm running the blockbuster hoods, how do I get them to stop bleaching the leaves cause anything over 750 watts has that affect? I'm about 2.5-3ft away from the canopy as well. Would it take more fans, more calmag etc? Thanks guys!

 

[Wisher619]

I'm running the blockbuster hoods, how do I get them to stop bleaching the leaves cause anything over 750 watts has that affect? I'm about 2.5-3ft away from the canopy as well. Would it take more fans, more calmag etc? Thanks guys!

@3ft away I have never seen bleaching even with DE
unless you have a super sensitive Sativa strain

only further distance can eleviate bleaching

 

[LadyBuds]

Mine are a good 3 ft from my top buds. I normally have a really even canopy and that helps a lot. This is mine as of tonight day 48 and the canopy is not even because this is just a test run with no CO2 and defol of this strain.

 

[bdank]

what ec are you guys getting with 5 g per gal? I ran 1.3 ec pretty much veg through flower with great results in tupur. Probably going to bump it up a bit next round but not by much and add epsom salt. In a 55 gal rez that probably holds 45 gal i put 120g of r/o soft base and 50 g of shine. starting ec is .3

 

[Smokey503ski]

I like the old 5 gallon paint mixer attached to a drill.
Keep the drill going and slowly add the nutrients. This will help with the particulate that can be found in the bottom.
I also found adjusting your starting water PH before nutrients will have less drift.

 

[LadyBuds]

I am not using RO water on the tent grow because its just a basic test run to see how different strains respond to different elements, but normally my pH is around 6.4 using tap water and the Dirty veg/bloom and this is with 5g per gallon veg/bloom and 2g SHINE. I add pH down to keep it at 6.0.