Nutrient lock

Dasnip · Aug 8, 2019

It would be nice and I would appreciate it there's someone could explain the symptoms and cures four nutrient lock. What causes it how do you prevent it and how do you cure it much thanks all!

Jimster · Aug 8, 2019

Nutrient lock can happen in a couple of ways. In general, Nute lock is the inability for the plant's roots to be able to absorb nutrients, despite them being present in the growing medium. The causes for this can be Ph related, as some nutrients aren't available in Ph ranges above 7 and below about 5.5. The chemical properties change with the Ph, making them unavail. The other way to get it is by competition, as I like to call it. This happens when you have too much of one nutrient, which affects the ability for a different nutrient to be used. Too much Phosphorus will prevent Potassium from being used properly. This is what nute lock is. Overfeeding can usually cause this problem.
The symptoms depends on which nutrients are in question. There are charts in the infirmary that will give you an idea of the symptoms. The fix is to correct the problem and depends on the cause. Often, a flush will remove excess nutrients if growing in soil type stuff. Ph issues need to be fixed before things will recover.
There is a lot of info on here and folks are glad to help out, but also expect you to do some basic reading to get familiar as possible. Nute lock could have a section on the forums all by itself. It's hard to give a complete answer without knowing some specifics. Good Luck!!

Dasnip · Aug 11, 2019

Jimster said:
Nutrient lock can happen in a couple of ways. In general, Nute lock is the inability for the plant's roots to be able to absorb nutrients, despite them being present in the growing medium. The causes for this can be Ph related, as some nutrients aren't available in Ph ranges above 7 and below about 5.5. The chemical properties change with the Ph, making them unavail. The other way to get it is by competition, as I like to call it. This happens when you have too much of one nutrient, which affects the ability for a different nutrient to be used. Too much Phosphorus will prevent Potassium from being used properly. This is what nute lock is. Overfeeding can usually cause this problem.
The symptoms depends on which nutrients are in question. There are charts in the infirmary that will give you an idea of the symptoms. The fix is to correct the problem and depends on the cause. Often, a flush will remove excess nutrients if growing in soil type stuff. Ph issues need to be fixed before things will recover.
There is a lot of info on here and folks are glad to help out, but also expect you to do some basic reading to get familiar as possible. Nute lock could have a section on the forums all by itself. It's hard to give a complete answer without knowing some specifics. Good Luck!!

excellent common-sense advice I forgot about my pH it look pretty good for a long time and I lost track. Just got busy with other stuff