General Watering and Nutrients

[KPizzle]

Hey guys, sorry if this has been asked a billion times before, but I'm on short time here and just want to get this out real quick.

I wanted to know how often I should be watering and feeding. Last time I watered them was about a week ago and I forgot all about the nutrients. I'm using the General Hydro Flora series if anyone is wondering, and I'm going to start using distilled water on them.

Thanks for the help.

Also, I'm very new to this as I just got my doctors recommendation and just started all this for the first time in my life. I apologize for the noobishness of my question before-hand.

 

[SergeantGod]

Not sure why you would use distilled water, you want the nutrients that are inherently in water. I use tap, portland city water. if you have bad water, get a filter.

if they made it a week, i'm assuming you are in dirt. depending on the size of your bucket, you could water every day to every few days. when i was using 10 gallons buckets, i watered every three days.

Give us more details. You won't get very good medicine without giving a lot of attention and mindfulness to your plants.

 

[SirTOKESalot]

Water when your plants start to show sings " look them all up on here " but basically when the leafs start to droop and the pot feels like there is no water in it.

Lift the pot when your soil is dry and get a feel for the weight and do the same thing right after you water too, You don't want to starve your plants but over water/fert will kill them aswell.

You should be posting in the New grower forum, this is not the right place. There is a lot to learn, but the new grower forum is a great place to start

Welcome and Congrats

 

[FreezerBoy]

Distilled water is dead water. Leave it for steam irons and car batteries. RO is available if your tap water is disgusting but, unless you have reason to distrust it, tap water is probably your best bet.

 

[pinecone]

Distilled water is dead water. Leave it for steam irons and car batteries. RO is available if your tap water is disgusting but, unless you have reason to distrust it, tap water is probably your best bet.

But if you are going organic chlorine and chloromine are bad - and if you have a salt based water softner the salts are bad.

Pine

 

[greenmatter]

distilled water is not bad it is just empty. with most nute lines you will have cal-mag problems if you are using RO or distilled unless you adjust for it. i think distilled would get very pricey over time... just my $.02

 

[FreezerBoy]

But if you are going organic chlorine and chloromine are bad - and if you have a salt based water softner the salts are bad.

Pine

We know that organics are not in use. At this point, there's no reason to think he's got a water softener.

distilled water is not bad it is just empty. with most nute lines you will have cal-mag problems if you are using RO or distilled unless you adjust for it. i think distilled would get very pricey over time... just my $.02

If distilled leads to trouble and deficiencies, and it does, then it's bad water by definition. Plus, the added bonus you mention of wasted money. Hydro is hundreds of years old and one of the first lessons learned was purified water gave the least satisfying results.

Dealing only with the info at hand, at this point tap water is the best move.

 

[KPizzle]

Hey guys, sorry for not giving enough information before, so here it is:

1. I have them all in 1 gallon pots
2. I'm using a 250 watt MH sun system light.
3. Bathroom fan exhaust with a dryer tube running it outside of my closet + another small fan on the opposite side for the ventilation and heat control (I'm going to need to think of something better for when it gets hot (any suggestions for cheap options would be great).
4. I'm using distilled because I thought it would be better in terms of PH control and it would be pretty much pure clean water with no bacteria/germs/any other harmful objects, but I guess I was wrong. I live in central CA, so I don't know how the tap water is over here. I'll move to that though since its not good for the plants. I based this on a video I watched by Mr. Green (don't know if anyone's seen it), but I just realized this was for a hydro system. I'm not sure if it matters though...
5. I use a color-based PH testing system to check the level and I also have PH up/down.
6. I'm using bubbly water for their co2.
7. Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil
8. General Hydro Flora A and B nutrients solution. I put 1 tspn of A and 2 tspn of B, but I think I was only supposed to do 1 for each.
9. I will be using KoolBloom solution for the flowering process.
10. I leave the MH on for 16 hours from 6-10 a day and run the vent system 4 times a day. They're all set on a timer so it's consistent.
11. I'll be using a 250 HPS light for the flowering.

I also have a few questions about the actual flowering of the plants:

1. When should I move them to flowering, 2 of them are at least over a foot, while another 2 are about 8-10 inches, and the smallest ones are only 3-6 inches
2. Is their a blend someone suggests with the nutrients I have, for both the vegging and flowering?
3. Should I be changing the soil? If so, when should I be doing this?

Thanks for the help. I'll update this post or post another reply with any new questions. Any additional suggestions would be very much appreciated.

I can provide pics upon request. I don't want to post them out here publicly. Also, I was wondering if a mod or admin could change my thread title to "New Grower Needing Help" or something similar, so I don't have to create a new thread and clutter this category.

EDIT: Sorry for posting in the wrong section and thanks to whoever moved it to the appropriate one for me. Here's a wallpaper I made you guys for your help: http://i.imgur.com/pXNng.jpg

 

[SirTOKESalot]

Here's a wallpaper I made you guys for your help: http://i.imgur.com/pXNng.jpg

Thx Nice shot.

 

[KPizzle]

Thx Nice shot.

No Problem.

I'll be posting wallpapers if you guys want. I've got a bunch of pictures I can edit to your guys' liking.

 

[FreezerBoy]

I'm using distilled because I thought it would be better in terms of PH control and it would be pretty much pure clean water with no bacteria/germs/any other harmful objects, but I guess I was wrong. I live in central CA, so I don't know how the tap water is over here. I'll move to that though since its not good for the plants. I based this on a video I watched by Mr. Green (don't know if anyone's seen it), but I just realized this was for a hydro system. I'm not sure if it matters though...

Let me ask this. Do you drink the water that comes from your kitchen faucet? Would you use your hose to water fruit trees or veggies in your back yard? If yes, then there's no reason to avoid tap for weed. If the water tastes foul, smells bad, looks ugly, that would be reason to at least get it tested and possibly replace it with RO.

 

[KPizzle]

Let me ask this. Do you drink the water that comes from your kitchen faucet? Would you use your hose to water fruit trees or veggies in your back yard? If yes, then there's no reason to avoid tap for weed. If the water tastes foul, smells bad, looks ugly, that would be reason to at least get it tested and possibly replace it with RO.

Fair enough. I'll make the switch my next watering cycle. Thanks for the advice.