Also, when you get above 700ppm in hydro, your roots are taking a beating on nutrient salts. Dead roots, discolored and unhealthy non succulent root color is dying roots. If you are running higher ppm in hydro, watch your roots. If they discolor and it isn’t water temps or Ph issue, the ppm may be burning roots…dehydrating the roots from the salt buildup and so they dry out and die turning brown and causing root rot. Dead roots in hydro = bad bacteria and root rot. Ph drops follow and will be noticed with roots darker color and or dying off. Beat to keep nutrients light and if you see root discoloration, check water temps, ph and ppm. Any PPM creep is the plant signaling she is rejecting a little something and is accumulating salts in roots. Just as leaf droop is general plant health, hydro gets roots and leafs to examine, don’t forget the roots, they talk to you in their color and health. Just cuz we want 1200ppm doesn’t mean they can take it. But we can force it successfully if done correctly and of course more work and effort to achieve…healthily.
Hydro prizes on growth rates, pushing too hard is counter productive to the only benefit hydro brings to your plants.
Hydro lacks mycorrhizae (plant health and better nutrient absorption, for soil) and because of that, hydro loses a main crutch plants in soil benefit from, beneficial fungus. Mycorrhiza is soils one up on hydro among other things…that assists in plant health.
Keep hydro nutrients on the lighter side, only what she wants, those leaf tips tell you to step it back. Just the tip, and I mean just the tip, not burnt tips, just a pinch of tip stress, coming to a needle point like the leaf tip is on a squeeze internally. If any leaf tips go beyond just the very tip, you need to back it down a hair until those tips stop burning or go back to normal. Burning isn’t forcing her to eat anything, it’s a signal she is rejecting and roots are taking damage from excessive nutrients. Leaf tips give you time to correct the nutrients. Get leaf tip burn and then reduce slightly when you are pushing in veg, seeking the proper max PPM she can handle. Then you can use that as a staple for max ppm in bloom phases. Remember you are going to drop nitrogen in flower which will substantially reduce ppm from nitrogen and the ppm will be at the same as before in growth due to increasing bloom nutrients, if done correctly you shouldn’t have a ppm dip upon flower flip. It should stay nearly flatlined between veg mix and bloom mix final PPMs. This is why I mention to feel the ppm max in veg before the flip. It isn’t what we want to do to the plant, it’s what does that plant need from me.
The more HST and training you plan to do to the plant, may help in deciding how strong of nutrient ppm you run or how aggressive your feed schedule is. More topping and mainlining or heavy defoliation and lollipoping, the more sessions you plan to perform HST should indicate how heavy your ppm targets are. And if you do a natural grow or only LST, PPMs need to be on the light side for the most growth rate and best results.
