Electric Conductivity: EC

[Sinbad91]

Greetings fellow growers!

So I’d like to have a chat about Electric conductivity. I come from a Hydroponics background and we like to use Electric conductivity over ppm (same shit different number).

I’m currently 3 weeks into flower of my first ever Cannabis grow, but have a decent amount of hydroponic experience under my belt for other plants. Having said that, Cannabis has been uniquely interesting to grow!

If there are any EC users out there with more Cannabis cultivation experience than me, i’d Dig to hear what your recommended concentrations are throughout the grow process!

For my first grow, I’ve worked on the basis that less is more. I preferred to provide lower concentrations and avoid deficiencies/burns than provide too much. This is all well and good but i’ve had such a great grow so far that I have no idea how far I can push the EC! or even whether or not pushing the EC is worth it!

I basically started off with no additional EC (0.2 being present in my water) for first 2 weeks. I gradually started off from there at 0.4. By end of Veg (6 week) I was sitting on 1.7. I am now 3 weeks into flower and giving them 1.95! They seem to be super chuffed with it as well.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sinbad91]

If you don’t use EC you can also provide your recommended PPM concentrations as well, I will convert

 

[TurboBucket]

I don't use EC I use ppm but that's only because my meter is cheap and only displays ppm. That being said your concentrations seem in line with what most hydro folks run

 

[No Pain]

Greetings fellow growers!

So I’d like to have a chat about Electric conductivity. I come from a Hydroponics background and we like to use Electric conductivity over ppm (same shit different number).

I’m currently 3 weeks into flower of my first ever Cannabis grow, but have a decent amount of hydroponic experience under my belt for other plants. Having said that, Cannabis has been uniquely interesting to grow!

If there are any EC users out there with more Cannabis cultivation experience than me, i’d Dig to hear what your recommended concentrations are throughout the grow process!

For my first grow, I’ve worked on the basis that less is more. I preferred to provide lower concentrations and avoid deficiencies/burns than provide too much. This is all well and good but i’ve had such a great grow so far that I have no idea how far I can push the EC! or even whether or not pushing the EC is worth it!

I basically started off with no additional EC (0.2 being present in my water) for first 2 weeks. I gradually started off from there at 0.4. By end of Veg (6 week) I was sitting on 1.7. I am now 3 weeks into flower and giving them 1.95! They seem to be super chuffed with it as well.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

first you are right in the less is more ..its better to start low and go up . Next as far as pushing them some strains can and will take on higher ec levels than others .As far as pushing your ec the only reason to do that is to make sure the plant is getting EVERTHING IT CAN HANDLE AND TAKE ON thus hypothetically speeking giving you the largest harvest it will genetically produce.
Most import thing in hydro in regards to ec/tds/ppm is not all hydro systems are created equal . in a recirculating system or dwc bucket the level ec/tds/ppm you need is dependant on your solution temp and the amount of dissolved oxygen in the system. and they run parallel to one another. Meaning the cooler the solution temp the more dissolved oxygen it can hold , the more dissolved oxygen in the solution the easier it is for plants to take up nutrients through the root zone so a lower ec/tds/ppm is needed in those conditions as compared to conditions of a warmer solution .

now when we are talking disolved oxygen is when it gets tricky … its not the amount of bubbles in the water its the size of them that truly makes the difference . example you take an airstone and a micro bubbler with an equal flowrate and connect them to the same size pump in a solution that has the same temp ...the disolved oxygen level will be higher in the one with the micro bubbler . Simply because its easier for the smaller bubble to oxygen to dissolve and get absorbed in to the solution and break the water tension . with a micro bubbler you would see a small chern of the surface and with te airstone you would see a large protruding section stirring around.

now that I have said that I can tell you that I now run a rdwc system and have modified the air delivery system so that I am using micro bubbles and I cannot run 1.2ec (600ppm on a 500 scale)with showing signs of over fertalization ( burnt tipe and leaf edges) ..im currently in the 5th week of flower and im running .7ec (350ppm on a 500 scale )… where when I was using airstones in the same system with the same airpump at the same temp, it wouldn't see that kinda burn until about 1.8 ec for 3 weeks (900ppm on a 500 scale).

 

[Sinbad91]

first you are right in the less is more ..its better to start low and go up . Next as far as pushing them some strains can and will take on higher ec levels than others .As far as pushing your ec the only reason to do that is to make sure the plant is getting EVERTHING IT CAN HANDLE AND TAKE ON thus hypothetically speeking giving you the largest harvest it will genetically produce.
Most import thing in hydro in regards to ec/tds/ppm is not all hydro systems are created equal . in a recirculating system or dwc bucket the level ec/tds/ppm you need is dependant on your solution temp and the amount of dissolved oxygen in the system. and they run parallel to one another. Meaning the cooler the solution temp the more dissolved oxygen it can hold , the more dissolved oxygen in the solution the easier it is for plants to take up nutrients through the root zone so a lower ec/tds/ppm is needed in those conditions as compared to conditions of a warmer solution .

now when we are talking disolved oxygen is when it gets tricky … its not the amount of bubbles in the water its the size of them that truly makes the difference . example you take an airstone and a micro bubbler with an equal flowrate and connect them to the same size pump in a solution that has the same temp ...the disolved oxygen level will be higher in the one with the micro bubbler . Simply because its easier for the smaller bubble to oxygen to dissolve and get absorbed in to the solution and break the water tension . with a micro bubbler you would see a small chern of the surface and with te airstone you would see a large protruding section stirring around.

now that I have said that I can tell you that I now run a rdwc system and have modified the air delivery system so that I am using micro bubbles and I cannot run 1.2ec (600ppm on a 500 scale)with showing signs of over fertalization ( burnt tipe and leaf edges) ..im currently in the 5th week of flower and im running .7ec (350ppm on a 500 scale )… where when I was using airstones in the same system with the same airpump at the same temp, it wouldn't see that kinda burn until about 1.8 ec for 3 weeks (900ppm on a 500 scale).

No Pain shot for the insight dude, this makes sense!

I’m currently running a closed loop top feed Hydro system. My next grow i’d like to move over to DWC and this is exactly the kind of insight i’d Need!

 

[TurboBucket]

I wish I could find the study on it but it showed there's a plateau effect to feeding. Ex. Growth rate from .8 to 1.0 EC is equal. 1.2+ deficiencies occur. 0.5-0.8 rapid increase in growth. Again just examples it wasn't specific to EC alone, it's a combination of your environmental factors. The main principle though was that feeding as much as they can handle is actually just a bit more than what they effectively use.

 

[No Pain]

No Pain shot for the insight dude, this makes sense!

I’m currently running a closed loop top feed Hydro system. My next grow i’d like to move over to DWC and this is exactly the kind of insight i’d Need!

Glad it made sense to you ….biggest thing about feed is the levels will differ from system to system and strain to strain ….the tell tail sign that you are pushing your plants in the feed department is the very tip of the leaf turning yellow …if you push it to brown your edges will follow and you don't want that . once you see yellow I would back off a bit .

The main principle though was that feeding as much as they can handle is actually just a bit more than what they effectively use.

yes you are giving them more and they are up taking more than they can use be it genetics , environment or both.... but before diving into that one must understand that not all hydroponic systems are the same ..some are way more efficient that others .

 

[Sinbad91]

I wish I could find the study on it but it showed there's a plateau effect to feeding. Ex. Growth rate from .8 to 1.0 EC is equal. 1.2+ deficiencies occur. 0.5-0.8 rapid increase in growth. Again just examples it wasn't specific to EC alone, it's a combination of your environmental factors. The main principle though was that feeding as much as they can handle is actually just a bit more than what they effectively use.

Yep, i’ve Always felt that the light is the food, and the nutes are just serving the basic needs of the plant. No need to push it in order to maximize growth!

 

[Barney86]

The ec meter tells you how strong to make it mate.
Number goes up it's too strong.
Number drops it's too week.
Keep it dropping just a smidge from day to day and you'll never get any issues. Ph moves more slowly too so should get an easy week without having to adjust it.
You sound like you know the rest anyway

 

[BirdieNumNum]

Here is my experience and I am a noob.

This is for some week old seedlings that have already been in DWC since sprouting but need moving to a larger tank for main veg stage.

Start with 80l of RO water for a DWC grow.
EC 0 - PH something near 7
I add Calmag until I get to 0.4 EC - less than the stated dose on the bottle
I add some Rhizotonic at way less than recommended dose ph jumps up. EC moves a bit
I add about 75% of the lower dose on the bottle of some 2 part DWC nutrient solution - EC up over 1.3

I am already twice the 0.7 some people recommend on here

Then I add PH down - overshoot a bit and my EC is now nearer 1.5.

I know I have some extra nitrogen/phosphorous because the ph up/ down but should I now be removing water and replacing it with mor RO water to try get the EC lower thus reducing overall nutes or leave it as it is knowing it has about the recommended nutes in it plus some root stimulator ?