New to hydroponics, assistance needed

[Aqua Man]

I personally thought in hydro a one or two day final flush with darkness and a flushing agent like sledgehammer or clearex is important for hydro to help remove any built up salts so the final product won’t have that chemical taste from the nutes and will help the bud have nice white burnt ash and etc and etc?

Flush is not a tern used for hydro... ppl just misuse it. You dont flush the plant... you flush the media.

 

[beluga]

You can't remove nutrients (aleast not from the leaves and buds) from the plant. the dark period helps move the excess sugars and starches to the roots and exudes them into the media or water. There is simply no buildup of salt in hydro there is no media that binds it. When we change the water its like taking a plant and changing all of its soil.

You got any literature on this? Not that I don't trust you, I just like the guts and would like to not spread falsehoods.

 

[Aqua Man]

You got any literature on this? Not that I don't trust you, I just like the guts and would like to not spread falsehoods.

Which part?

 

[beluga]

Which part?

Hmm... I guess either or. Salt/nutrient buildup (lack thereof) and not being able to leech it?
I'd heard of flushing (or 'leeching' maybe a better term?) reducing the presence of nitrosamine in the final product... didn't go deep into that, but it raised an eyebrow, for sure.

 

[Aqua Man]

Hmm... I guess either or. Salt/nutrient buildup (lack thereof) and not being able to leech it?
I'd heard of flushing (or 'leeching' maybe a better term?) reducing the presence of nitrosamine in the final product... didn't go deep into that, but it raised an eyebrow, for sure.

I'm not certain what your asking? Once a nutrient is used and put into cells you cannot remove it from that cell. It is possible I belive to pull nutrients back out of the roots though.

 

[Badchoice]

Flush is not a tern used for hydro... ppl just misuse it. You dont flush the plant... you flush the media.

So this kind of what I’ve kind of gone by in a way, like the last step “”flush is a 0-50ppm solution to help remove any building up and bring out what’s left in the plant too the buds.

 

[beluga]

I'm not certain what your asking? Once a nutrient is used and put into cells you cannot remove it from that cell. It is possible I belive to pull nutrients back out of the roots though.

I see.
I guess I imagined unused nutrient sources being stored somewhere within the final product, most likely leaves, and that their excess could be quickly utilized by the plant when you strip it of its nutrient media. Almost like catabolysis.

 

[Aqua Man]

So this kind of what I’ve kind of gone by in a way, like the last step “”flush is a 0-50ppm solution to help remove any building up and bring out what’s left in the plant too the buds.

That's for soil.

 

[Aqua Man]

I see.
I guess I imagined unused nutrient sources being stored somewhere within the final product, most likely leaves, and that their excess could be quickly utilized by the plant when you strip it of its nutrient media. Almost like catabolysis.

That what we are doing by reducing the ppm. A big plant getting 300ppm in hydro is less than it needs and it will be forced to pull mobile nutrients for leaves. But if you flush IN HYDRO with 0ppm water there are no immobile nutrients and you now cannot used the mobile nutrients up because the plant can't carry out processes without them. In soil finishing ppm around 400-600 left in the media after flush is common. Ideally in hydro between 100-300ppm for flush i would say is a good place.

Nutrients are not taken up or moved around the plant in the same way as eachother. They are used for thiwr specific role. Lowering the feed to below the requirements forces thw plant to use up stored energy but IMO it can't perform those functions if its missing half the required nutrients to do so (immobile nutrients) so we give it just what it needs.

This is my opinion only based on my understanding of nutrients and plant uptake and usage.

 

[beluga]

That what we are doing by reducing the ppm. A big plant getting 300ppm in hydro is less than it needs and it will be forced to pull mobile nutrients for leaves. But if you flush IN HYDRO with 0ppm water there are no immobile nutrients and you now cannot used the mobile nutrients up because the plant can't carry out processes without them. In soil finishing ppm around 400-600 left in the media after flush is common. Ideally in hydro between 100-300ppm for flush i would say is a good place.

Nutrients are not taken up or moved around the plant in the same way as eachother. They are used for thiwr specific role. Lowering the feed to below the requirements forces thw plant to use up stored energy but IMO it can't perform those functions if its missing half the required nutrients to do so (immobile nutrients) so we give it just what it needs.

This is my opinion only based on my understanding of nutrients and plant uptake and usage.

That makes a lot of sense.

I'm assuming the short duration of the 'flushes' I use probably see the plants left with a fairly high concentration left in their roots for finishing up, also... just tap water, so there's at least micro's knocking about in there.

Guess I might finally get a ppm meter and try this out now...

 

[Aqua Man]

That makes a lot of sense.

I'm assuming the short duration of the 'flushes' I use probably see the plants left with a fairly high concentration left in their roots for finishing up, also... just tap water, so there's at least micro's knocking about in there.

Guess I might finally get a ppm meter and try this out now...

Tap is good for flush... contains immobile nutes and usually 100-200ppm. I add sulfur to mine at 2gram per gal.

 

[Badchoice]

Tap is good for flush... contains immobile nutes and usually 100-200ppm. I add sulfur to mine at 2gram per gal.

So like in a way if I’m understanding, in the last week during ripen”” the ppm are gonna be lower than normal so as the week or days depending on what’s needed let the ppm slowly drop from the plant taking whatever it consume and refresh up with a more basic solution of ph water with basic ppm and crop when ready? Maybe toss a day or two of darkness as well might help

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

What's up fellow farmers! So a quick update here. I've noticed that over the past few days my girls are kinda getting droopy leaves. It started with the tri-tipped leaves and seems to be progressing through the plant. It almost resembles over watering...
The air stones don't seem to be moving as much water as they were. Anyone had problems with these clogging up this early in the grow?
Temp of res 70f
Ppm 550
Lux 13000
Could this be a delayed reaction from the ph hitting 6.8?

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

I decided to swap out the stones. Going to boil and bleach them. Tomorrow I'll put the old stones back in. The new ones seem kinda crappy.
I'm still getting this brown gunk, still unsure if its bacteria or algae. I did a water change on the 23, that was a day shy of 3 weeks from start. I didn't see any build up during that change but I wasn't looking for it either. The water change was done rather hastily as I was trying to leave for Thanksgiving. I also just topped off with plain ro water, I would say 2.5 to 3 gallons.

 

[Aqua Man]

What's up fellow farmers! So a quick update here. I've noticed that over the past few days my girls are kinda getting droopy leaves. It started with the tri-tipped leaves and seems to be progressing through the plant. It almost resembles over watering...
The air stones don't seem to be moving as much water as they were. Anyone had problems with these clogging up this early in the grow?
Temp of res 70f
Ppm 550
Lux 13000
Could this be a delayed reaction from the ph hitting 6.8?

Leaves transpire from the bottom side and at the base of the plant is high humidity from the air being pushed in from air sto es so you need good airflow there. Leaves resting on the lids or getting poor air flow will have issues.

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

I have a small fan oscillating in the tent. They both get an indirect breeze every 5 seconds or so. The stones didnt seem to really be moving the water around as much. Maybe half of what they were.... you think I should hit them with more direct wind from the fan?

 

[beluga]

What's the RH% like? I'd think it'd be more about ventilation/air exchange than shaking around the air inside the tent.

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

Rh is pretty low 51 percent this morning. I was running a dehu for the flowering plants and they are in the same room. Good exchange, I have a monster fan running about half speed which equates to full turnover about 13 times a min. Temp is around 71

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

Leaves transpire from the bottom side and at the base of the plant is high humidity from the air being pushed in from air sto es so you need good airflow there. Leaves resting on the lids or getting poor air flow will have issues.

I'm seeing this on other leaves as well. Could it be anything else? I know they haven't used up all available nutes yet but I feel like doing a water change. Also would this be a good time to start the silica?

 

[Lynch_Ironside]

So within a couple of hours they have continued to droop... I added the now clean air stones back to the res and did a water change.
Silica added this time. I did see some clumps of slime on the roots... they still look bright white but wondering if this may be inhibiting o2 uptake. Your thoughts and reccomendations are welcomed and appreciated.
@Aqua Man @Milson @beluga @Badchoice @AnselAdams