What's new

Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
Hydrotops nutrients (yeah i know) at 1.4 (1400ppm) the nutes level out my tap water to 6.1 ph and the soil is just some potting soil.....i dont use soil normally ;(

before watering i leave the water in the flower room for 24 hours bubbling

airstone in soil?

6.1 is too acidic for soil. Ideally you want the ph at about 6.5 for soil. At 6.1 Phospherous (important nutrient for flowering) is likely locked out, and probably magnesium and calcium as well.
 
6.1 is too acidic for soil. Ideally you want the ph at about 6.5 for soil. At 6.1 Phospherous (important nutrient for flowering) is likely locked out, and probably magnesium and calcium as well.

Damn not good :( my nutes stablize my water at 6.1 no matter how strong i make the mix and i only have ph down :eek: Think i'm just gonna flush for the rest of the flower.My water ph is bang on 7 should i go with this or lower it a bit?
 

Weezard

Hawaiian Inebriatti
Veteran
'snot dirt!

'snot dirt!

Damn not good :( my nutes stablize my water at 6.1 no matter how strong i make the mix and i only have ph down :eek: Think i'm just gonna flush for the rest of the flower.My water ph is bang on 7 should i go with this or lower it a bit?

Relax S.B.

Hempcat is a soil guy.
He is correct about the PH, in soil.

You use coco.
It's very different.
Your PH is actually a tad high for coco!
It want's a lower PH than soil, just like hydro.
"Kind of a solid-state hydro." --Weezard
Right around 5.6 - 5.8 is ideal.
But I let mine drift around between 5.2 and 6.0. to catch everything and avoid lockouts.
My nutes take the 7.2 tap water, to about PH 5.5 at full strength.
For lower strengths, and just plain water, I use Phosphoric acid as the PH downer.

Dial that in, and the growth is amazing.
It puts even good soil to shame!
Tested a friends custom soil mix against coco with a couple Lemon Skunk clones, in a side by side recently.
Soil v coco2.jpg

Coco, on the right, is the clear winner.
(Ignore her pleas for water, it's handled), just didn't want to keep her in the sun long enough to perk up.
Stuck 'em right back under LEDs and will be taking more pics tomorrow.

My friend is a superior grower with beautiful ladies under a 1K HPS w/mover. And his girls are impressive!
So the soil is good stuff.

But, I'll never go back to dirt.
All that extra work, n mess, n heavy lifting, n bad smells, for about half the yeild?!
Not this lazy, but picky, 'zard.
Coco smell great, weighs almost nothing when dry, has no pathogens, nematodes, fungus gnats, heavy metals, petrochems, etc.
It's a blank slate that lets one create.:dance013:

I started with it so I could test different nutes with a minimum of variables to cloud the results.
The first grow was so incredible that I forgot all about testing different nutes.
That was no longer necessary.
Just read all the hydro threads and settled for what worked for them.
All that said, I can't advise on flushing, sorry.

Although it's easy to do, I found no benefit when I don't overnute in the first place.
Any tiny signs on the leaf tips and I back off and use plain water for the next 2 times.
Then, there's no discernable taste or harshness difference 'tween feeding right all the way to harvest and flushing for weeks.
Well, except for a slightly higher yeild, that is.:biggrin:
 

Loose Canon

New member
I'm very pressed for time so sorry for not researching the site for this info. I'm staring at 10 freshly sprouted seedlings (nuclear-visc) out of Canada and will need a week or 2 to get them to their final resting place so to speak. They're in "Jiffy" germinating disc's and I'm assuming will need nutrition before too long. I'm in Brasil and have access to nothing as far as Olivias or such. This will be my first outdoor endeavor and hopefully not the last.
For 10 years I ran a huge (my mind) indoor operation in Nor-Cal with multiple locations operating simultaneously and walked away succesfully. However I've never put a plant in soil and am very much aware of the clock. I'll need more advise on mixtures and such shortly but in the near future the plan is to keep these alive, move in small containers for veging for a short period then change to some larger or dig holes.
1st question: is there something simple to give these seedlings for a short time? I'm in a big city but third world.
2nd: simple mix for an outdoor veg? A buddy brought some water crystals but that's all I've got to operate with.
My humble apologies to this board. I realize what an 1d10T I'm coming across as but this kinda' fell on me all of a sudden and it's late in the season.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
Damn not good :( my nutes stablize my water at 6.1 no matter how strong i make the mix and i only have ph down :eek: Think i'm just gonna flush for the rest of the flower.My water ph is bang on 7 should i go with this or lower it a bit?

Seems a bit early to go to flush, can't you get ahold of some ph up? If not and you just go with straight water from here on out I'd try to get it down to 6.5 so that whatever nutes are available in the soil the plant will be able to access with no problem.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
I'm very pressed for time so sorry for not researching the site for this info. I'm staring at 10 freshly sprouted seedlings (nuclear-visc) out of Canada and will need a week or 2 to get them to their final resting place so to speak. They're in "Jiffy" germinating disc's and I'm assuming will need nutrition before too long. I'm in Brasil and have access to nothing as far as Olivias or such. This will be my first outdoor endeavor and hopefully not the last.
For 10 years I ran a huge (my mind) indoor operation in Nor-Cal with multiple locations operating simultaneously and walked away succesfully. However I've never put a plant in soil and am very much aware of the clock. I'll need more advise on mixtures and such shortly but in the near future the plan is to keep these alive, move in small containers for veging for a short period then change to some larger or dig holes.
1st question: is there something simple to give these seedlings for a short time? I'm in a big city but third world.
2nd: simple mix for an outdoor veg? A buddy brought some water crystals but that's all I've got to operate with.
My humble apologies to this board. I realize what an 1d10T I'm coming across as but this kinda' fell on me all of a sudden and it's late in the season.

I'm not sure what you're looking for when you say mix. I presume that means soil mix. If so all you really need is any decent enriched potting soil and some perlite, also some dolomite lime. I mix it 60/40 soil/perlite and then add 1 to 2 tablespoons of dolomite lime per gallon of soil mix. Now that's just a simple basic mix and if using something like that one would expect to be adding nutrients when watering. Now if you want to go organic you could add to that mix things like blood meal, bone meal, bat guano, worm castings, etc. With a mix like that the food is already in the soil and so all you do afterwards is just water. Unfortunately I'm not up on using raw organics like that so I don't have a "mix" I can recommend.

As for your question what is something simple you can give them now for veg and is likely not too hard to find? The answer would be fish emulsion. Fish emulsion typically has an NPK of 5-1-1 which is pretty much perfect for veg. You would still need to come up with something for micronutrients like iron, calcium, magnesium, etc. But if this is something just for a couple of weeks then just the fish emulsion by itself is okay. You'll likely need something to adjust ph as fish emulsion, at least in my experience, is pretty acidic. So you'll need to get ahold of some ph up probably.

One thing I noticed is you say you have freshly started seedlings in jiffy disks. Well if they are sprouted I'd get them in some small pots of enriched potting soil and perlite and they'd probably be good for food for the next 2-3 weeks just on what's in the soil already. In which case you wouldn't need any temporary feeding solution.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
Relax S.B.

Hempcat is a soil guy.
He is correct about the PH, in soil.

You use coco.
It's very different.

For the plant in question he's in soil. The other one's that are in coco, he's not having any problems with.
 
hehe my others are in perlite/vercumilite hempybuckets not coco :) thanks anyway tho.

Hempy i'm gonna see if i can get hold of some ph up soon as i can......will i lose alot of yield flushing so early? its himalayan gold 8-9 flower its just hit week 6
 

piosh

Member
hai.
I posted last at page 171.
So I continue asking you what to do.
I stopped adding any nutes for 10 days . I just watered with water pHed to 6,2 - 6,3 (last time had runoff 7,0).
Today I decided to give them low dose. Adjusted pH to 6,2 - watered.
Just for beeing sure I wanted to measure runoff pH today - well I almost got heart attack - 8,0-8,5 - exactly like my tap water.
What to hell happening , Im running out of ideas.
The plants are growing and not showing any serious defiances/overferts now. Growing speed is quite slow (since I know this strain rather good).
Medium that I use is (not sure if I mentioned before):
50-60% soil pH 6,0-6,5
30-40% coco (bricks pH 6,0)
some dolomite,some guano etc.

How is it possible to get such alcaic runoff? To adjust pH I use regular citric Acid (powder like sugar). My tap water is rather hard and its pH 8,0-8,5. Is it possible it accumulated the minerals somehow in the medium or simply when I watered I pushed the "old" water to runoff?
Is citric acid good for adjusting pH? I havent had such problems in any of my grows.
Dunno what to do.
Any advices appreciated strongly!!!!
 

DANGER NHB

Member
:whistling:Yo hempcat or any onecould ya help me with my problem growing on nft ,and my tap water ec level is at 7.0 / 8.0 what would you recommend i run my ec at given that my ec is already at 7.0. / 8.0 from seedling to finish would be grateful for a reply
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
hehe my others are in perlite/vercumilite hempybuckets not coco :) thanks anyway tho.

Hempy i'm gonna see if i can get hold of some ph up soon as i can......will i lose alot of yield flushing so early? its himalayan gold 8-9 flower its just hit week 6

No you shouldn't lose alot of yield, it's just that the last 2-3 weeks is when the buds really swell and I hate to advise anyone to stop feeding nutrients during this period. Personally the way I do things is I feed right up to the point they should be done, so in your case that would be week 8 or 9, and then I flush for a week after that before I harvest.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
hai.
I posted last at page 171.
So I continue asking you what to do.
I stopped adding any nutes for 10 days . I just watered with water pHed to 6,2 - 6,3 (last time had runoff 7,0).
Today I decided to give them low dose. Adjusted pH to 6,2 - watered.
Just for beeing sure I wanted to measure runoff pH today - well I almost got heart attack - 8,0-8,5 - exactly like my tap water.
What to hell happening , Im running out of ideas.
The plants are growing and not showing any serious defiances/overferts now. Growing speed is quite slow (since I know this strain rather good).
Medium that I use is (not sure if I mentioned before):
50-60% soil pH 6,0-6,5
30-40% coco (bricks pH 6,0)
some dolomite,some guano etc.

How is it possible to get such alcaic runoff? To adjust pH I use regular citric Acid (powder like sugar). My tap water is rather hard and its pH 8,0-8,5. Is it possible it accumulated the minerals somehow in the medium or simply when I watered I pushed the "old" water to runoff?
Is citric acid good for adjusting pH? I havent had such problems in any of my grows.
Dunno what to do.
Any advices appreciated strongly!!!!

I've never used citric acid myself but I've heard a number of other growers mention it's not good to use. Personally I like using the ph up and ph down they sell at hydro stores. These are usually made from things that are also nutritional for your plant and that makes better sense to me to use then something that has no nutritional value to the plant.

As for what's going on in your grow, I'm a bit stumped. I'm inclined to think you got the high ph on the runoff because you pushed something out of the pot with the new feeding. This shouldn't be the case though since you've been giving just plain ph adjusted water. I'm guessing the issue is somehow connected to the dolomite lime which usually pushes the ph up when you water. Since your water is such a high ph to begin with that lime really shouldn't be in the mix.

The bottomline though is that you say the plants look like they're doing okay and not having any problems. So based on that I say just keep moving forward and keep adjusting the ph going in and worry less about the ph coming out.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
:whistling:Yo hempcat or any onecould ya help me with my problem growing on nft ,and my tap water ec level is at 7.0 / 8.0 what would you recommend i run my ec at given that my ec is already at 7.0. / 8.0 from seedling to finish would be grateful for a reply

Are you sure you're measuring EC (EC measures the level of fertilizer salts in the water.) and not the ph? 7.0 to 8.0 from the tap sounds like a ph reading. I'm not really familiar with NFT so I don't know how to advise you. In soil which is what I use, I've never had the need to measure the level of the fertalizer salts.

I did a google search and found this question and answer exchange that might help though.

What ranges should I maintain for my hydroponic nutrients pH, TDS/EC and temperature?

I follow and highly recommend the following parameters for hydroponic nutrient solutions for aeroponic, “bubblers”, drip, ebb and flow, NFT, passive, rockwool and wick systems.

PH 5.1-5.9 (5.2 optimal)
TDS 500-1000ppm, EC .75-1.5
Temperature 68-78f, 20-25c (75f, 24c optimal)


The pH of the nutrient solution is a major determinant of nutrient uptake by the plant. If the pH wanders outside the optimum range of between pH 5.1 and pH 5.9, then nutritional deficiency and/or toxicity problems can occur. For hydroponic nutrient solutions used with inert media, keep the pH at 5.2 for optimal elemental uptake. It is at this point that roots most readily assimilate nutrients. These pH and TDS/EC recommendations may seem low relative to the normally suggested range, but are based upon information garnered from "Hydroponic Nutrients" by M. Edward Muckle and Practical Hydroponics and Greenhouses. They both document the low pH resulting in increased nutrient uptake and my experience has shown discernible health and yield improvements at a ph of 5.2 over higher levels.
 

PotheadPete

New member
Approximately how much wattage of light can I run w/o electric company flagging me? Could I get away with 1000-3000 watts? I will be moving into place and hope to be running about 1000w immediately, so there wouldn't be a major spike.
 

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
Approximately how much wattage of light can I run w/o electric company flagging me? Could I get away with 1000-3000 watts? I will be moving into place and hope to be running about 1000w immediately, so there wouldn't be a major spike.

Well alot depends on what else you do in a place. If the place is also to be a normal home with a typical family living there then yeah, running several 1000W lights could draw attention. They say though that a typical 1000W light uses the about the same amount of electricity as one bedroom occupied by one person. So lets say you had a 3 bedroom home but only enough people to use 2 bedrooms. You would then be able to run one 1000W light without it drawing attention. If you had the same home but only one person then you could run 2 1000W lights without suspicion. Now all that's based on a normal family with the normal assortment of tv's, radios, computers, stereos, phones, game consoles, etc. If you had one person, living in the same 3 bedroom home but living a somewhat spartan existence with just the minimum of this sort of thing to get by, then you could run 3 1000W lights with no suspicion.

Here's the thing though, the reality of the situation in most countries is this, as long as you pay your bills promptly and you don't try to steal electricity from other sources, the power company isn't likely to report your higher then average use. More people get caught by stealing electricity then they do by using too much. Remember, utilities are typically just another for profit business and in that sense it's not good for business to get customers busted that are using alot of electricity and paying thier bills on time. You should still try to keep usage to a seemingly normal level as we are now entering a phase of history in which energy conservation is becoming something practiced by more and more people.
 

DANGER NHB

Member
:biggrin:CHEERS HEMPCAT I KNOW ALL OF ABOVE BUT THAT IS MY EC LEVEL OF TAP WATER THE PH IS 8.1 SHIT WATER I KNOW JUST NEED TO BALANCE IT OUT RIGHT WITHOUT OVER NUTE IN THEM OR UNDER WHAT WOULD YOU RECCOMMEND , NFT NUTRIENT ,FILM ,TECHNIUQE OVER AND OUT AMIGO AGAIN THANKS
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top