New hydro grow

[Mañ'O'Green]

I have a thread about "Bubbleponics" that has a lot of information that much of it will apply here:

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/deep-water-culture-basics-bubbleponics.64478/

 

[420Forever]

ppp

 

[uv123_4]

Ok so my water comes out at 97 ppm.
Would have to look into the ammonia etc though. Would you know how often you should be feeding. I’m using clay pebbles. So would be with flood droppers. See it says like twice a day when young but have seen people on this saying 15 mins every hour.

 

[uv123_4]

Lets talk about your water:

I think you could spend your life studying water - seriously. But lets just keep it simple. First we need good tools. Three things we are concerned with PH, Salinity and Chloramines? A EC meter will tell you the salts (dissolved solids). Most nutrients you can get made for cannabis can work with water <200 PPM, Advanced Nutrients wants <10 PPM. Some nutrient vendors make a high PPM base fertilizer up to 300PPM. Generally speaking <200 PPM and you are good for tap water. If you are over this you need to blend in RO or DI water to get it under 200 PPM. If you are less than 50 PPM you may need to add some Cal-Mag to bring it up to 50 PPM. Ok a $10 TDS meter can tell you this but It is not good for testing nutrient levels for that you need an EC meter and good ones cost more. An EC meter will also measure TDS.

Next is Chloramines. Chloramines are formed when municipal water is treated with chlorine AND ammonia to sanitize the water. Check your local water report and look for ammonia in the sanitizer portion. Chloramines do not dissipate in the air and they are not good for your grow environment. It is very easy to treat for it. Just use ascorbic acid.

Chloramines Removal

You are looking for ascorbic acid - vitamin C. The store brand is usually the cheapest without other stuff added in. 50mg per gallon will treat water with 3.8 PPM of chloramines.

Finally is PH I saved the hardest for last. I have had more problems in grows caused by PH than any other factor and it has been costly. So spend money on good tools and take care of them. In soil, coco and mixes you need to know the PH in the root zone. Run-off is too unreliable. A good probe is the Accurate 8 (the knock works ok) or a Blue Lab Probe (they have different styles for soil, coco and rock wool). Then you need a probe designed for testing the PH of the nutrients. I don't know how to emphasize how important this part is to successful growing. Learn from my mistakes.



ok so almost 8 gallons; this is better but when you have 4 plants at 5 weeks old they may drink 3-4 gallons a day and what happens is the nutrients in the reservoir get stronger and stronger as the water is used by the plants and unused nutrients get flushed back into the reservoir. If you do not monitor the PPMs rigorously you can go bad in a short period of time.

Yes it is checked at least twice a day don’t want to fail.

This is the first one I have what I bought thinking it’s a photo it’s about 24 days in. Other 3 just baby’s still. They autos.


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[Mañ'O'Green]

Yes it is checked at least twice a day don’t want to fail. View attachment 1104265
This is the first one I have what I bought thinking it’s a photo it’s about 24 days in. Other 3 just baby’s still. They autos.


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That plant has some problems and It might be the jiffy pot, their PH is too low for cannabis. The plant is flowering because it is or has been stressed out.

Another Question about PH; Did you buy PH balanced hydroton? They are not all created equally.

What does that drip irrigator look like? The idea is to wet all of the hydroton so the roots fill the entire pot. Water long enough to wet all of the hydroton with about 20% run-off back to the reservoir. The frequency of watering will change with the plant size. You just do not want the roots to dry out or remain soggy. Do not water after lights out. I water from 2 hours after lights on until two hours before lights out.

 

[uv123_4]

That plant has some problems and It might be the jiffy pot, their PH is too low for cannabis. The plant is flowering because it is or has been stressed out.

Another Question about PH; Did you buy PH balanced hydroton? They are not all created equally.

What does that drip irrigator look like? The idea is to wet all of the hydroton so the roots fill the entire pot. Water long enough to wet all of the hydroton with about 20% run-off back to the reservoir. The frequency of watering will change with the plant size. You just do not want the roots to dry out or remain soggy. Do not water after lights out. I water from 2 hours after lights on until two hours before lights out.

Yeah it had a bad problem with wilting. That’s when I bought the autos. But then that one looked a lot better so iv just been using that as a guinea pig. You know. I have it set to 2 15 min feeds a day just like I read. Would you give more ? Would you cover the pebbles as I have seen a few pics like that.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

What does the dripper look like can you show me a picture of it? How much of the pot is getting watered? 3 inch circle, 5 inch circle 10 inch ?

The reason peeps cover the top of the hydroton is to prevent algae. If the lights shine on wet pebbles they will grow algae and then you will attract fungus gnats. You don't want them. But you do want to fertigate the entire pot.

 

[uv123_4]

What does the dripper look like can you show me a picture of it? How much of the pot is getting watered? 3 inch circle, 5 inch circle 10 inch ?

The reason peeps cover the top of the hydroton is to prevent algae. If the lights shine on wet pebbles they will grow algae and then you will attract fungus gnats. You don't want them. But you do want to fertigate the entire pot.

It is more like a 4inch line. Might set it to water more cos it doesn’t seem to wet much on the top. Might pull it out more. Maybe will help spread the water more. It floods out and hits like a v so it splits it into two floods.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I do not see how those can wet the entire pot efficiently? I would make some drip rings strait away. The size of your root ball is all important to the yield you will get - tiny root ball = tiny yield.

Here is an example:

https://www.grozine.com/2015/02/05/diy-drip-ring/

 

[uv123_4]

I do not see how those can wet the entire pot efficiently? I would make some drip rings strait away. The size of your root ball is all important to the yield you will get - tiny root ball = tiny yield.

Here is an example:

https://www.grozine.com/2015/02/05/diy-drip-ring/

Great [emoji1303] will get onto that as soon as I can.


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