Instantly rising pH

GDP

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Ppm went from 430 to 32 using 2:1 restrictor, and took about 45 minutes to get 5 gallons.


let it run a few gallons thru. the ppm should drop a bit more. new filters need to be 'washed thru'. i'd guess your ppm drops to 10 or under soon.

you might be pushing a bit too much pressure as well. 45 min for 5 gal sounds a bit quick. they do produce better when the membrane is newer though.
 
Those metrics indicate that your plant is taking up water and is consuming nutrients. The graphic below might be helpful. Note - do not take this as gospel. I spend too many hours of my life "chasing pH" because I followed the advice to the letter in this chart.

Where I went completely wrong was following, blindly, the advice about how to deal with a res when pH is falling. It's completely normal for pH to fall in early flower but the WonderChart, as I refer to it, does not take that into account.

Other than that one total cockup, this chart provides good overall guidance.

Wonder Chart.png



In a word, No. There is no "formula" but there are rough percentages that have served growers well over the years.

General rule of thumb is to start seedlings at 25% or 50% of what the manufacturer recommends and then increase for veg and flower. I've grown auto flowers and I start at 25% and ramp up to about EC 1.0 in veg and maxing out at about EC 1.6 in flower.

At max, my the (two) plants in my 2' x 4' tent will take up about 2 gallons/day. That typically occurs in mid to late flower.

There's no "formula", per se, because the nutrient levels for different strains will vary as to nutrient requirements. For my Gorilla Glue grows, I didn't need to add Epsom salt to my Jacks 3-2-1 mix. When I grew Strawberry Pie autos, it looked like they needed Mg so I added the Epsom and the issue appeared to have resolved.

Check out this link and Google for the Bugbee PDF entitled "Nutrient Management in Recirculating Hydroponic Culture" (Bugbee's the lead). The CannaStats site is really helpful and the page on managing a res has helped me fine tune that aspect of my growing process and provides me with the sort of info I was seeking when I posted this question almost two years ago.

Don't get caught up in playing with pretty bottles (bottled fertilizer) in hopes that you'll find the magic elixir that gives your crop <insert what attribute you want to improve>. Researchers believe that the following diagram is correct:
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The idea is to provide a grow environment that allows the plant to uptake nutrients that keep the plant in the "sufficiency" zone. Cannabis requires 18 chemicals, some in tiny amounts, in order to reach its maximum genetic potential. I use a simple dry fertilizer to do so and I use the same formulation from seedling to chop.

The nutrients that I use are one of many components of the growing environment and, seeing that all we want to do is provide the plant with "sufficient" levels of those 18 chemicals, I've spent more time learning about grow lighting and how plants react to light than any other aspect of the grow environment. This diagram from one of Bugbee's videos has proven a very helpful in terms of understanding how to improve my grow.


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What dry fert do you use, if i may ask?
 
I'm reading through this paper and the bell went off when I read the section about pH changes that are caused by the different sources of N, either as an ammonium or a nitrate.

That can be a big deal, to the point where, IIRC, one of the reasons @farside05 started mixing his own ferts is that his water source was such that he was fighting//would have been fighting pH issues. I can't be sure on that since it's been many months since I read his threads on nutrients but it might be worth looking into.
 
I'm reading through this paper and the bell went off when I read the section about pH changes that are caused by the different sources of N, either as an ammonium or a nitrate.

That can be a big deal, to the point where, IIRC, one of the reasons @farside05 started mixing his own ferts is that his water source was such that he was fighting//would have been fighting pH issues. I can't be sure on that since it's been many months since I read his threads on nutrients but it might be worth looking into.
Ive browsed that article and when i saw sources of N, my eyes glazed over and i surrendered. Maybe i should just go to soil…. Or coco… or … i dunno. Mixing ferts sounds well above my abilities.
 
I'm reading through this paper and the bell went off when I read the section about pH changes that are caused by the different sources of N, either as an ammonium or a nitrate.

That can be a big deal, to the point where, IIRC, one of the reasons @farside05 started mixing his own ferts is that his water source was such that he was fighting//would have been fighting pH issues. I can't be sure on that since it's been many months since I read his threads on nutrients but it might be worth looking into.
I was reading about homemade fertilizer for hyrdo and this article


Mentions epsom salt and a “high quality complete plant fertilizer”. Any suggestions on the comolete fertilizer theyre referring to?
 
Ive browsed that article and when i saw sources of N, my eyes glazed over and i surrendered. Maybe i should just go to soil…. Or coco… or … i dunno. Mixing ferts sounds well above my abilities.
Sorry that I confused the issue. There is no need to understand anything that's in the PDF. I just found it a couple of hours ago and it piqued my interest. It will take time to read it and understand it.

Off the top of my head, the biggest obstacles to switching are the impact of marketing by the folks who sell bottled nutes and the "why bother". Those can be powerful influences. OTOH, if you can measure water and weigh things out using a gram scale, you can use a dry ferts. It really is that simple.
 
I was reading about homemade fertilizer for hyrdo and this article


Mentions epsom salt and a “high quality complete plant fertilizer”. Any suggestions on the comolete fertilizer theyre referring to?
That means get a commercial fert that's appropriate for your crop. The warning sign to me is that it blindly recommends Epsom and then drops the ball completely by saying to add 50% Epsom. That's horrible advice. That would completely blow up your grow.

If you want a good fertilizer, there are plenty to choose from. There are, at least, dozens of products that will help you grow a shitton of weed. That's no big achievement because recipes for good fertilizers for cannabis haven't changed in decades.

Bottled nutes work. They're not expensive when you're dealing with just a few plants and they're convenient. I used them until one of the bottles for Botanicare's Kind nutes wasn't available in California so I was stuck. Another grower here on 420 schooled me on these basics and I haven't used bottled nutes since.

The other end of the spectrum is making your own nutes and right here on 420 is a thread that steps you through making your own. If you can weight out powder using a gram scale and measure water, you can make your own ferts. Remember, it's all the same chemicals mixed into water.

Between those two approaches is using a dry fert. Jacks is very popular as is Megacrop. There are others, I'm sure, but those are the only two I know because I looked at Megacrop and Jacks, decided on Jacks. ATM, I have no interest in anything else for the very simple reason that Jacks works.
 
@bluter @OldMedUser @SamSmith you 3 all suggested on this thread that i go to RO water. Thank you. “Save yourself a lot of grief…” was probably what made me go to RO and it has been successful so far. I was struggling every run after stretch, but this current crop looks pretty healthy to me.

Thanks again for the help

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