EC level through the roof

Kurgan

New Member
Hello comrades. I am currently using Green Planet nutrients and in a bit of a quandry. I follow the amounts per litres very carefully but when I come to check the EC it's through the roof, it ends up on 3.9 and if I was to add PK 13/14 is goes up again to 4.2. Halving everything would get me down to a usable level but then my babies won't be getting the sufficient feeding. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers.:thumb:
 
Re: EC level through the roof.

Hy Kurgen

Id try flushing the affected plants to bring down the ec then the next time you feed only use 1/2 the recommended strength that the instructions indicate. Are you using soil or hydro?

Good luck
 
Re: EC level through the roof.

Hey. I'm on a DWC 4 pot system. I can't understand that the instructions Green Planet give are wrong. I'll try it using half the nutes and hope for the best. Worst thing I did was buy an EC pen, when I didn't ever check the EC I grew monsters. Oh well. Cheers man.
 
pk13/14 is very hot, it will bang your EC right up.

If you've got an EC pen you're sorted, just check the EC daily / couple of times a day and it will tell you exactly what's happening:

If the EC climbs then the plants are using more water than nutes (pH will also drop - nutes are acidic so as they get concentrated they lower the pH) - the solution is too hot so lower the nutes - dilute with plain water and use less nutes.
If the EC drops (pH will generally increase) then your plants are using more nutes than water and you can increase the amount of nutes you're giving, increase the EC
If the EC holds steady then your plants are using nutes at the same rate they're using water so the concentration is pretty much spot on.

You can also get away with slightly lower nute concentrations in DWC as the roots are always in the solution. I also wouldn't rely too much on the nute manufacturers instructions; it's strain dependent and in my experience their recommendations are often too hot. Your EC meter will tell you exactly what your plants need, more so than the nute company
 
i'djust change ur nutes to a DWC friendly nute such as canna aqua vega/flores. very ph stable and at full strength u wont have high ec. ec of 4 is way high. empty res, fill with ph'd water and let that run for a couple days then reintroduce nutes.

check my journals out for DWC growing.
 
Ha ha C- I think we're on an agree to disagree thing tonight!

I don't think pH is the problem, it's EC. PH doesn't affect EC (well, if you bang a shit load of ph down into the solution it will cos you're adding hydrogen ions, but thats irrelevant), but EC will affect pH because nutes are acidic (if you're not using a buffered pH stable formula that is). The issue is the EC is too high so needs lowering until it's at a level where the plant's using the nutes at the same rate as it is water. If you add too much pH stable nutes your EC will still be too high and your plants will still burn, but yes, the pH will remain stable.
 
i think u may have misinterpreted my post. i too am saying the issue is high ec. very high ec. at fulll strength canna aqua only reads 1.6 ec in a water hardness of 0.2ec. therefore if u follow the bottle its highly unlikely u'll od plants. and because it is high in chelates plants can absorb all nute between 5.2 and 6.2.

The reason i say u use ph'd water for a day or 2 is to leach some of the excess nutes from the plant. Then go back to regular feeding at an ec of no more than 1.4 in veg and 2.6 in flower.
 
Did you all hear that? It was the sound of my brain melting. Loads of good information there fellas. I'll probably switch to GHE as my guys in the shop say it's DWC friendly. I carried on with GreenPlanet because I had a lot of it left. I hope I will have some big nuggs to showcase in a few weeks. Thanks to you all.
 
"The reason i say u use ph'd water for a day or 2 is to leach some of the excess nutes from the plant."

Where did you hear that? I was always under the impression it was a one way street with roots.
 
i think u may have misinterpreted my post. i too am saying the issue is high ec. very high ec. at fulll strength canna aqua only reads 1.6 ec in a water hardness of 0.2ec. therefore if u follow the bottle its highly unlikely u'll od plants. and because it is high in chelates plants can absorb all nute between 5.2 and 6.2.

The reason i say u use ph'd water for a day or 2 is to leach some of the excess nutes from the plant. Then go back to regular feeding at an ec of no more than 1.4 in veg and 2.6 in flower.

Fair enough, I'm sorry C - tired and I didn't read your post properly.

Did you all hear that? It was the sound of my brain melting

Don't worry kurgan, once you start taking regular EC readings and seeing how they change you'll get a good feel for it and what your plant's doing, it's not too complicated. If the EC goes up then it's too much nutes, if it goes down then it's not enough is the simplest way of understanding it.

Im not familiar with GHE but Canna are great nutes in my opinion. Admittedly I've not tried the Aqua (I used to use Canna Hydro years ago and hadn't realised they'd brought out a new pH stable line when I ordered to start growing again, otherwise I'd have gone straight to the Aqua line). They're on my list once these run out - it will definitely remove another variable and be one less thing to worry about, and they'll also give you a bit more flexibility if you go away for a few days and can't keep an eye on the pH. Definitely worth considering.

@oldman - flushing will remove any accumulation of salts and excess nutes around the root mass. It won't cause the nutes to leave the plant back out through the roots, but the plant will use up any excess nutes it's taken up and this will bring the concentration within the plant back down. Always a good idea to flush if you get nute burn, and when you change from veg to flower nutrients. A lot of people also flush when they change the res too (though I'm a bit lazy with that one and tend not to bother)
 
when u leave your nutrient solution for a few hours does your ph and ec level shoot through the roof with canna like every1 else if no how r u stopping this happen plz
 
Hi man. You sound like a Welshy. The PH doesn't really change too much but the EC is high from the start if I follow the guide. I had a reply off GreenPlanet and they said to halve the nutes, but then does the plant get enough. God knows! My guys in the shop are now saying go with Plant Magic as it's good for DWC. Only got got 10 days left until the big chop now, I can't wait to start fresh. Peace.
 
lol i am welsh is it that obvious lol its a strange 1 in it if i half the dose thenr they getting enough i suppose the only way to find out is to run a normal and 1 on half see if there is a diffenace ive even tried to contact canna uk by telephone but no response line seems dead or constantly busy if any 1 can help plz do ta
 
With a name like Llewellyn it is pretty obvious dude :) I am still hungover after the rugby on Saturday. (sorry to to any English people seeing this. Though not really :) ). Try Cannas youtube page, I had reply's from GreenPlanet on youtube. Mad thing is, before I had an EC pen I would throw in what they said and I had a real good crop. Once I started faffing about with EC on other grows the yield wasn't nearly as good. Also there are some shit hot growers with videos on there that are good guys and will help you out.
 
when u leave your nutrient solution for a few hours does your ph and ec level shoot through the roof with canna like every1 else if no how r u stopping this happen plz

Yes, I get that mate; when I first change the res the pH is 5.3 and EC is 0.2-0.3 below what I'm aiming for. Over 3-4h the pH rises and settles on 5.8 and the EC comes up to where it should be. After a bit you get the feel of how much pH down to add initially and how much nutes
 
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