Low PPM numbers in Run Off during Flushing

[evu80]

Hey Farmers

My plants have been looking like shit as of late and I believe its mostly due to the low RH and warmer than usual temps.

But when I tested my run off yesterday, I notice it was significally lower ( 300 ppm ) than usual after I flush with Clearx for 10 minutes.

How would you guys interpret this? Is my plant not absorbing enough food around its root zone? I normally feed 900ish PPM during Veg and whenever I flush them just to prevent salt build up, my run off is usually around the same concentration as the food I feed them.

never had this happen before and wonder if this means something else is wrong with my plants that is not RH and environment related.​

 

[kushtrees]

What's your media, RH and temps.

If your flushing run off is lower than what your feeding than your plants are eating. U may want to
Bump up the nute strength

 

[nebulius]

But when I tested my run off yesterday, I notice it was significally lower ( 300 ppm ) than usual after I flush with Clearx for 10 minutes.

Am I understanding you correctly, you flush with clearx for 10min. then check ppm of medium?
flushing will lower ppm in medium, so this is normal.
if your ppm's are lower in the runoff after you feed, like kushtrees said your plants are eating.
if they are higher you got salt build up and need to flush.

 

[catdaddy]

Am I understanding you correctly, you flush with clearx for 10min. then check ppm of medium?
flushing will lower ppm in medium, so this is normal.
if your ppm's are lower in the runoff after you feed, like kushtrees said your plants are eating.
if they are higher you got salt build up and need to flush.

how low do you flush? i had the opposite thing happen to me, my ph fell out of range and locked some nutrients out and it cause my ppms in the soil to sky rocket. my initial runoff was at 1700+ ppms for most and a couple read at 1900+ ppms. i've flushed them twice back to back, the first time i brought the ppms down to 900+ and the second time down to 500+.

should i flush them one more time? thanks in advance.

 

[nebulius]

I don't know your medium so I can't recommend to flush again or give particular advice, only general advice.
You always want to flush double the amount of container size. So a 3 gal container should be flushed with 6 gal of water.
You never want to flush with RO water because it will deplete your medium of nutes. You do however want to remove salt build up but not rob medium of all nutes.
What I do is flush with 1/4 strength nutes around 200-300ppm double the size of container. I grow in 3 gal pots of coco. So I flush with 300ppm 6 gal of solution per plant, checking ppm run off at 2 gal, 4 gal, and 6 gal. By the end of 6 gal runoff is near ppm of what i put in (300ppm).
keep flushing until your run off ppms are very close to input ppms.

for a final flush, before harvest you would just use plain tap water.

 

[nebulius]

what medium are you using?

 

[catdaddy]

what medium are you using?

i apologize for leaving that out, promix is the medium and i am using flora series as my base nutes. the flora series has made my soil too acidic so i brought some hydrated lime to bring it back up. cant use it now due to the fact that i am flushing but will use it right after.
do you think i should bring the ppms down more, or should i feed low then bring it back down? thanks in advance.

 

[nebulius]

Maybe someone with soil exper. can answer better, I am coco guy like I said.

But I would mix up a few gals of ph'd water at 6.5ph and 300ppm(0.5 scale) and keep flushing until I got the same ppm's as I was putting in. Then I would test the ph of the soil which should be accurate (6.5). if it's not then I would keep flushing with 300ppm ph'd 6.5 water unit it is.

then i would let my poor soil dry:(

 

[catdaddy]

ok cool. i thought me bringing my ppm's down would be better than hitting it with a low regime of ferts. from my understanding ph water can not bring your soil ph back up that's why i got the hydrated lime.

 

[catdaddy]

Maybe someone with soil exper. can answer better, I am coco guy like I said.

But I would mix up a few gals of ph'd water at 6.5ph and 300ppm(0.5 scale) and keep flushing until I got the same ppm's as I was putting in. Then I would test the ph of the soil which should be accurate (6.5). if it's not then I would keep flushing with 300ppm ph'd 6.5 water unit it is.

then i would let my poor soil dry:(

how long does it take you to flush one plant?

 

[nebulius]

i have 3 gal containers so I mix 6 gal up and run it through. you should be doubling the size of your container and flushing with that many gallons.
takes a while for the water to drain sometimes, but as long as your container has good drainage the whole process shouldn't take longer than about 40min.

 

[catdaddy]

i have 3 gal containers so I mix 6 gal up and run it through. you should be doubling the size of your container and flushing with that many gallons.
takes a while for the water to drain sometimes, but as long as your container has good drainage the whole process shouldn't take longer than about 40min.

shit that's quick. i've been water a liter at a time, then wait til the water drains. i post some pics to show you how the look pots, and girls. let me know what you think.

here are a few

 

[nebulius]

keep in mind, i'm in coco amended with 30% perlite so it drains very well. one of the advantages of coco.

 

[catdaddy]

i use about 30% or a little more myself, drainage is not the issue, i read somewhere to water a liter at a time and wait for it to drain before adding another.

 

[Kcat420]

Hey Farmers

My plants have been looking like shit as of late and I believe its mostly due to the low RH and warmer than usual temps.

But when I tested my run off yesterday, I notice it was significally lower ( 300 ppm ) than usual after I flush with Clearx for 10 minutes.

How would you guys interpret this? Is my plant not absorbing enough food around its root zone? I normally feed 900ish PPM during Veg and whenever I flush them just to prevent salt build up, my run off is usually around the same concentration as the food I feed them.

never had this happen before and wonder if this means something else is wrong with my plants that is not RH and environment related.​

What are your #s at final flush ?

 

[crimsonecho]

Hey Farmers

My plants have been looking like shit as of late and I believe its mostly due to the low RH and warmer than usual temps.

But when I tested my run off yesterday, I notice it was significally lower ( 300 ppm ) than usual after I flush with Clearx for 10 minutes.

How would you guys interpret this? Is my plant not absorbing enough food around its root zone? I normally feed 900ish PPM during Veg and whenever I flush them just to prevent salt build up, my run off is usually around the same concentration as the food I feed them.

never had this happen before and wonder if this means something else is wrong with my plants that is not RH and environment related.​

What are your #s at final flush ?

Yeah do you remember after 6 years and seeing you have not logged in since 2013.. we missed you bro.