2nd attempt - a lot of questions

[Kenshin]

Wow, I've just discovered this forum and it's awesome!

I hope you can help me out with some questions.

This will be my 2nd attempt. My 1st one was successfull, though I did a lot of mistakes eg no flushing, wrong fertiliser handling etc. Therfore it extremely lacked on quantity and quality. For my 2nd attempt I have just upgraded my equipment a little bit and now I am able to use reverse osmosis water instead of regular and/or bottled water. As I want to improve quantity and quality in my second run, I need your support.

Questions:

Which PH-level do I have to aim with my reverse osmosis water - 6,0?
Do I have to mix my reverse osmosis water with regular water or can I use it without changing it?
What about seeds and seedlings - can I use my osmosis-water for them as well?
When do I have to start using fertiliser?

Setup:

Strain: Cheese
Breeder: Vision Seeds
Grow Room: Growing Tent (60cmx60cmx160cm)
Light: 250W NDL (Philips Son T-Pia Plus, Philips Agro) + Cooltube
Medium: Soil (Canna Professional Plus, Regular Seedlings soil)
Air: 400ccm + Clip-ventilator
Fertiliser: Hesi Starter Set (TNT, Flowering Complex, Phosphor+)
Bosster: Hesi Super Vit, PowerZyme, Root Complex
Water: Reverse osmosis water, Hesi PH-Minus (Vegi+Flowering)
Utilities: PH-Tool

Thx in advance!
Kenshin

 

[labexperiment]

Hey welcome to 420, your set up sounds good, pics would be nice though.

R/O is fine by itself.

PH, someone else will have to weigh in on that as I have not grown in soil just soil-less, but I have read 6.5 for soil.

Yes you can use R/O water for your seedlings, PH balanced of course.

Add Cal/Mag to your supplements.

Because you are using soil, adding nutrients is dependant on when your soil runs out of nutrients.

I personally would go soil-less and add nutrients every watering or I would check out some links in


How to Grow Cannabis - Everything You Need to Know!

about soil mixes that would take me through the whole grow. If I choose soil I would also check out soil journals and I would add foliage sprays to my grow.

 

[KingJohnC]

If you are using Reverse Osmosis water you will need to supplement calcium and magnesium to make up for what the water is lacking. If your calcium and magnesium supplement is based on calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate then the supplement should not be given in the first 2 weeks and should be discontinued 2 weeks prior to harvest. When your plants are 4-5 inches tall and have 5 nodes of growth I would begin to introduce 1/4 strength nutrients and gradually over several watering increase the dosage until full strength nutrients are being used. You want pH 5.8 for hydroponic and soiless (peat moss and coco coir) and pH 6.5 for soil.

Here is a nutrient availability chart

Here is a cannabis leaf deficiency chart

here is the Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver and the Plant Abuse Chart

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

Plant Abuse Chart

 

[Kenshin]

Thank you so much for your answers, which are very helpful!

I will aim my ow to 6.5 then and add calcium and magnesium to it.

Hey welcome to 420, your set up sounds good, pics would be nice though.

Thx! I will contribute pics as soon as I have started, I guess next week.

I personally would go soil-less and add nutrients every watering

I will in future, but now I have started with soil and I think then it's good to 1st learn how to professionally grow on soil before trying out other methods. But I am already looking forward to try out soilless systems when I see the difference to soil regarding quantity.


Some more questions:

In which form do I get calcium and magnesium, that is NOT based on nitrate basis?
Where do I get it and what about the dosis - how do I mix it up?
What do you think about starting a growing journal - ist that recommendable to avoid possible mistakes?

Thx so far!
Kenshin

 

[KingJohnC]

You can use a calcium carbonate based calcium supplement such as CALiMAGic. A calcium and magnesium supplement is usually used at 5 millilitres per gallon. Starting a grow journal is an excellent idea, it gives you a place to ask questions before you do something without advice. If you decide to start a grow journal be sure to drop us a link here to it.

https://generalhydroponics.com calimagic

https://www.perfectgardens.com general-hydroponics calimagic gallon

 

[Fety]

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You're welcome!

edit: I was surfing around looking for coupon codes and found this post, I don't mean to hijack!

 

[Kenshin]

Thanks for your advice!

I finally found what I was looking for - please have a look on the remineral contents and give me a feedback if this product is recommendable to balance out my OW:

Kationen:
Calcium 45,5 %
Magnesium 9,5%
Natrium 33,5%
Kalium 11,5%

Anionen:
Hydrogencarbonat 45,5%
Sulfat 32,0%
Chlorid 22,5 %

Thx in advance!

 

[KingJohnC]

Too high of levels of sodium and chloride.

 

[Kenshin]

Too high of levels of sodium and chloride.

What problems could it cause?

 

[KingJohnC]

Sodium chloride is table salt and is toxic to plants, do you either not have a grow shop near yourself or use the internet to purchase supplies where you may purchase a calcium and magnesium supplement?

 

[Kenshin]

Sodium chloride is table salt and is toxic to plants, do you either not have a grow shop near yourself or use the internet to purchase supplies where you may purchase a calcium and magnesium supplement?

Well there is a shop, but I prefer to buy my stuff elsewhere, as I neither like nor trust'em.
But even on amazon you get everything you need - more or less. This is where I found my before mentioned product. It's from the aquaristic scene and the manufacturer says it's also good for plants. The manufacturer is a big company with a good name. It's strange - on growing online shops I could not find a calcium and magnesium supplement, even the topic itself is rare. Maybe here in Europe it is more common to mix OW with regular water?

No idea.