bigbagofbuds
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Sup my man?@Shaded_One @Aqua Man
Any recommendations on EC when feeding with amendments? I'll be using some next round so i'm just curious.Sup my man?
Nope organics imo should not use EC and rather are usually dosed by volume or weight. There are to many other things that add to the ppm in organics that are not nutrients. In many cases you see someone using organics getting 3000 ppm run off and the plants are happy and healthy. But as i say EC is just not a good option and imo a soil analysis is what should be doneAny recommendations on EC when feeding with amendments? I'll be using some next round so i'm just curious.
Soil analysis just isnt realistic at my scale unfortunately. For what its worth im not trying to compare organic dry ammendment EC with mineral based nutrient EC.Nope organics imo should not use EC and rather are usually dosed by volume or weight. There are to many other things that add to the ppm in organics that are not nutrients. In many cases you see someone using organics getting 3000 ppm run off and the plants are happy and healthy. But as i say EC is just not a good option and imo a soil analysis is what should be done
Base that on response to nitrogen. If your looking for a definitive answer without a soil analysis there isnt as far as i know… growing organic is a by feel and experience thing.Soil analysis just isnt realistic at my scale unfortunately. For what its worth im not trying to compare organic dry ammendment EC with mineral based nutrient EC.
Im mostly just looking for a way to know when I should be applying more fertilizer for the case when I forget or when my haphazard handful isnt quite enough (or too much).
At the end of the day the organics are broken down into minerals which we can measure, it should be possible to find the reading at which the plants are happy and then aim for that reading. I do know it wont be nearly as precise due to variable breakdown (problem could be not enough fertilizer, inactive medium caused by other issues, or inactive medium caused by too much fertilizer) but there must be a more scientific method than simply saying 2 tbsp a gallon is sufficient for a top dress every 4 weeks. Organics are hard and I dont want to make it easy, but I do want a way to know I have too much or too little organic matter to break down.
For what its worth my plants are always beautiful at 500 ppfd (~30 DLI) and they usually start showing deficiencies when lights start increasing in intensity to (750-1000ppfd, ~45-60 DLI). I know it should be possible to push the plants to the higher DLI even in my suboptimal 76f 50rh environment (Ive done so with mineral based fertilizer), the CO2 usually sits between 1000ppm and 1500ppm.
My main problem tends to be calcium and magnesium deficiencies, growing under LED.
I believe I may be under feeding them because I take a half assed approach to fertilizing so sometimes plants get a bit more, sometimes a bit less, and sometimes Im late to the party and top dress half the plants but forget to do the other half (due to offset watering days).
Interestingly enough this may make my haphazard handful here and there more suitable to this growing method if I can get the right touch.Base that on response to nitrogen. If your looking for a definitive answer without a soil analysis there isnt as far as i know… growing organic is a by feel and experience thing.
I have been feeding with additional magnesium sulfate in the water every other watering since noticing the interveinal chlorosis which seems to be helping some. I just recently received some magnesium nitrate to see if I can get things on the right track just in case.Check out the thread in my signature if you haven't - there's detailed breakdown of how much nutrients to use. @Aqua Man has given you some great pointers here and I don't even bother checking my soil either. It's all based off feel and just using the same nutrients over and over and over.
So majority of Cal & Mag issues come from people who use RO or Distilled water. If you have decent tap water that should already contain a base level of these micronutrients. If you are feeding your plants enough general nutrients it should also provide a decent level of these micronutrients. But as we all know LED makes plants hungry so that's why I add the Gypsum, Epsom Salts, and Rock Dust Blend bi-weekly.
Gypsum - Calcium Sulfate
Epsom Salts - Magnesium Sulfate
Rock Dust Blend - micronutrient mix (iron, silicon, humics, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sulfur, and zinc)
My EC readings are at about .8 and I'm having deficiencies (7 weeks into flower). Thanks for the update on your input, guess I'll up my feed a bit.Good news everyone! My purchase of a soil EC meter was not a waste and I am here to share what I have observed and learned.
My conclusions on EC readings:
<6" plant height in a 4" pot will be happy vegging at 0.7 EC
>6" plant height in 0.5 gallon to 2 gallon pots will be happy vegging at >= 1 EC
Plants flowering in 3 gallon pots are happy at 1.5 - 4 EC
0.5 EC and lower always shows deficiencies
My conclusions on top dressing:
If EC is > 1 then you don't need to top dress but monitor as you will need top dress soon
If EC is < 1 top dress ASAP if larger plants, small plants are OK until 0.7 EC
Other water based supplements (enzymes, beneficial microbes, fulvics, humics, etc...) will affect how often you have to top dress, these additives seem to increase the speed at which organics are consumed which can cause deficiencies if you follow a more rigid top dress schedule.
Im going to now implement a top dress schedule based on these findings which I hope will let me consistently keep healthy plants at higher light intensities. Ill be back in a few months to let you know how that goes.
Thanks for the quick response, it's kind of tricky for me right now because I'm mixing it up with "organic" bottled nutes and dry amendments. I feel like this EC tool can help me out. Like you I'm learning or studying how I might be able to use this to my advantage. I might be going through some kind of lockout too, that's the other equation to this story.What you are probably seeing is either different salt build up levels or just that the one plant that is green but low EC is just a light feeder but running low on food.
Ive continued to take observations and what I have found is Aqua Man is right that with organics you can see higher EC and it could just be other salt build up. This can be an issue or not an issue depending on how much build up there is.
In fresh medium with no build up the soil EC meter can help you learn when plants want food. Once you reuse your medium the EC meter is less handy because of that salt build up so you need you to know how to feed by feel.
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