Nutrient dossage

[cheech]

Hey all. I've been growing for a solid 2 years now, and the majority of it I was underfeeding my crop.

I remember reading Heath Robinsons posts saying he never goes over 1.2 ec, and that it simply is not necessary, and that most growers over feed. I figured shit if that great grower doesn't go over 1.2 ec why would I..... But he is in a rdwc, so maybe that makes some difference. I'm in coco.

I have finally become aware of my plants needs.. Well, my ss chronic at least. They want 1.6 ec precharged coco from rapid rooters, then 1.8 to keep them happy through most of veg. 2.0 ec at end of veg when they are 3'.

In the past my troubles of necrotic spots and fan leaf drop started at week 4 in flower. Like a dumbass I'd drop the ec from 1.7 to 1.5... Last run I finally brought the ec up to 2.0 at week 4... What do you know, no fan leaf yellowing/drop and bigger buds!

I had thought that 2.0 ec (1000 ppm/.5 scale)was way to high for a room that wasn't being supplemented with co2. The plants don't lie though.


I'm curious if their are any other growers out their with similar stories of underfeeding their crop. I'd like to hear what ec some of you guys are feeding at, and at what stage of the plants life. Or if you like ppm, share the conversion scale or say what meter you're using.

 

[AliasAO]

Same story different man here Cheech-

Been at it for a solid 2 years-- 3 total and Im also a CoCo guy.


I noticed the same thing--- early in my plants life they were always so healthy then like you.. once flower hits midway they start to drop and spot.

Like an idiot I thought I was OVER FEEDING when in reality I wasnt feeding enough.

This grow around I started using Mykos and Azos amended into my CoCo and directly applied to roots when transplanted and they took off.

Ive got plants that have received the Mykos and Azos [sweet tooth] and I also have plants that didnt recieve that treatment [ Purple Kush and Kandy Kush ] The difference is easy to see in not only bud size but overall growth on the plants.

I only feed nutes from week 4- wk8-- before and after is all organic ACT tea or water and Mykos.

Like you said the -plants dont lie.

The nutes I use are- Big bloom, grow big, tiger bloom-- BB and CC

ppm- 600- 850 [depending]

I also use Cal- mag and epson salt--- Mg/Ca def like crazy in CoCo.

 

[cheech]

Thanks for sharing Alias.

When I first made the switch to coco I thought that my fan leaf issues in the very beginning of veg was a cal mag problem. I actually posted a thread asking for help, and the one guy that gave me good advice, cocoloco I believe, was kind of shot down by some of the other members. He told me I wasn't having a cal mag problem, I just wasn't feeding enough. He was right!

I use tap water, so I'm not sure how that effects things, but I don't have to run any cal mag at all. In flower I've used maxibloom, floranova bloom, and hg coco, and haven't had any cal mag issues(that I know of)....

I kind of want to experience cal mag deficiency so I know what it looks like and can learn how to correct it with epson salts, lol.

 

[AliasAO]

lol. Shit I know what you mean-- This grow around I tried to push the limits of my plants to fully understand what they need and at what stage in growth.

That learning exp paired with all the good info on the farm has helped enormously.

How often do you feed/ water?

Every 2-3 days?

Do you feed, water feed? or Feed feed water?

 

[cheech]

I feed feed feed!

I water/feed when the medium is nearly bone dry in early veg, 70% dry in late veg early flower, and half dry the rest of flower.

I just water/feed until the pots start pissing. There is quite a bit of runoff, so I've been able to maintain my desired ec just by watering them with that ec every water. But I monitor my runoff so if the ec does climb, I can run more nutrient through the medium until it's where I want it.

I know people do great by feed feed with little runoff then use a low nutrient dosage the 3rd or whatever.... Maybe I'll get their someday, but now I'm willing to use more nutrients to ensure I maintain a healthy plant.

This plant is in 7 gallons of pure coco and is watered/fed every 2-3 days right now.

These little plants are around two weeks apart in growth. The larger ones need to be fed every 3 days and the small ones haven't filled their container with roots yet and shit... I haven't fed them for a week it seems like.

 

[AliasAO]

Im right with you Cheech--

I had to learn the hard way that CoCo needs feed, feed.

Thats quite a bushy monster youve got.. Do you tie down? and top to get so many main flower sights?

That looks like a technique that would work perfect in my flower tent.

 

[cheech]

Thanks.

I don't top anymore... I try my hardest to do the fim. Sometimes I get 5 little mains going out of it, but either way, a few of the bottom nodes are able to stretch and compete with the main. The pic with the small plants. I fim'ed the larger ones yesterday.

I just got out of the room. Holly shit, I'm automating it tomorrow. Can't crawl around in my underwear sweating like that anymore. It's ridiculous! But I'm kind of glad I did, because my ec meter was reading btw 2.4-2.6 and 2.6-2.8 on the runoff. Nothing looked bad, but I think it would get there if I left it. Ran 1.6 through it, and I'll check the runoff next water too.

I fucked up big time once, thinking I could feed every water with no runoff as long as I used drip clean... I didn't check the runoff until the leaves were burning and it read 3.6! I couldn't get much runoff because I was using pond liner over the floor at the time and the room was packed so I couldn't really change the construction... I got 1 lb from 4k, lol... The rest was burnt larf. Learning experience I guess.

 

[kushsmoker30]

good post

 

[cheech]

I read something on a post at RIU I think it was when I google searched stripping fan leaves. A buddy of mine stripped all the fan leaves off a 12,000 watt grow and I think he probably killed his yield by doing so. He's a newb and couldn't keep out of the garden.

Anyways, this poster said that amongst a lot of other good reasons you wouldn't want to strip the fan leaves is that they store nutrients. When they have too little nutrients they go pale... I'm not worried about that one.....

When the medium is too rich in nutrients you get the tip burn, then the leaf margins start to burn. He said that is how he makes sure he is pushing his plants. He only backs off when he starts to see the leaf margins are about to burn.

Anyways, I'm wondering if the fan leaves really will take the brunt of the damage. I'm going to test the theory out and see. I'll just have to be on top of things, because I don't want the whole leaf margin burnt, that would be pushing things to hard I'd imagine - to the extent that the medium would probably be around 3 ec and would need some serious flushing.

I'm going to keep pushing 2 ec in flower and see how that goes.