Nutrient question

[Ambitious Intentions]

Hi,all.I have a W/W cutting thats about 5 inches tall,quite well leaved and a great root to boot. I currently have the plant in a container that holds 3 litres of water.I dont have a EC metre yet,so need help on how much to feed it. It states on the bottle 7 ml to a litre,so should be 21 ml,right? but its not accurate as far as im aware,need more info on this so I would be really grateful for any help. PS, I use Ionic soil grow at the moment.

 

[Captain Kronic]

While I have never used Ionic... I always start w/a weak solution. Usually at about 1/4 strength and build it up from there!

 

[JJ Bones]

Start off @ quarter strength, move up to half, then maybe a full.

Me, personally, I usually don't go higher then half.

There are 3.79 liters in one gallon.

 

[Ambitious Intentions]

What is quarter strength exactly and how do I measure it.Also,anybody,what reading on a EC meter should I be getting for a small cutting?

 

[Truth Seeker]

1/4 strength just like they said,

1/4 strength of the 7 ml is 1.75 ml, so for a 3 liter you want 5.25 ml and sorry i dont know much about EC's

 

[TorturedSoul]

Wait... What?

You're growing with a hydroponic method and your reservoir is only three liters? That's incredibly small.

Or do you mean that you're growing with soil in a container of that size and you're wondering how strong to mix the nutrient solution that you water with? If so, you don't mix based on the size of your pot, you mix based on the size of the jug that you water/feed it with.

Tip for figuring "¼-strength:" If the amount that you'd end up mixing per gallon, per liter, or whatever is smaller than your smallest measuring device can accurately measure, mix up a larger amount. For example, if you figure that you need to mix ½-ml per gallon and your measuring device only reads down to 2ml, you can mix 2ml into four gallons of water. If it reads down to 1ml, you can mix 1ml into one gallon. Of course if you're using organics that might ferment/spoil/be colonized by unwanted life then you won't want to mix up more than you can quickly use or it would be wasted.

I've got a schedule for Ionic nutrients for soil, coco, and hydroponics that includes a few tips and descriptions of their supplements. It's in .PDF format, but I'm unable to post attachments here. I'll just use Google to hunt down a direct link to the .PDF and you can download or view it yourself...

Hope it helps!

EDIT: Here's another schedule (also in universal .PDF format) that is a little different in form. I didn't pay enough attention to see if the information is different and if there is more or less info. It's on Hydrodynamics Internatonal's own site: Feed Schedule - Schedules for Ionic and Europonic nutrient lines

 

[Truth Seeker]

I like TS's answer better!!! i know i was giving you the measurements for what you asked for, thinking that you might have been a 3 liter bottle like a soda bottle or something!!! but i like TS's detail better!!!

 

[Astral]

As said, he's got clones in water, that just rooted. Minimum nutrients, 1/8 strength, if roots are clearly visible. Clones with minimal rooting should get trace amounts or none. My trick is to add 15% every 3-4 days. Within 2 weeks you learn the actual limit of nutrient uptake by your plants. At any sign of trouble, I lower it down to the last level. If that doesn't help, flush and start 15% less still. The more light and the bigger the plants, the bigger the root ball and the more nutrients they will be able to take.

 

[TorturedSoul]

As said, he's got clones in water, that just rooted.

Thank you. I don't know how I missed that from the first post... But I did.

 

[Ambitious Intentions]

Thanks for replies. I have since increased the size of my container and have plenty of room for root growth. The other day I bought a EC meter and my reading is 18 ec,PH 6. The plant has well rooted and is healthy but still I have a little yellowing. Am I at the right reading for my plant size? ( 6 inches in height,3 main stems with others growing off them,roots hang about 7 inches in length.)I put 5 ml in a litre,as directed,is this too much or too little for her? There is improvement and green shoots are growing ,no problem with that. How many days does it take to recover from moderate yellowing,if at all. Thx

 

[Astral]

Sounds like WAY too much. Start with 1ml/litre, or less, whatever this is. The dosage on the package is the maximum dosage, usually, for a full grown plant at optimal conditions. It's like I took a body builder protein shake bucket and threw a glass of this powder in a bucket, added water, and flushed it on your head, rather that serving a spoon of the powder with a glass of milk. You get the idea. Start with small doses. Plants are adapted to natural conditions, with sparse nutrients, spread over large volumes of soil. As weeks pass, you can enlarge the dosage, SLIGHTLY (not by 100%!), and you will notice, that they immediately will adapt, grow faster, more explosively.