What add to RO water

[gramsci.antonio]

Hi guys, i've just solved a Mg deficiency and i've switched from 300 ppm tap water to 30 ppm RO water (from a local acquarium shop).

I'm using canna coco a+b, and i'm warried that now i can have some other deficiencies from other minerals.

On the website from canna says that it's dangerous to add mineral nutrients... what do you think? Should i give something else or just water + nutrients?

 

[20kw dreams]

Mg is a common deficiency, especially in Canna. Why was the tap causing problems? Either way, you are fine adding epsom salts. 1ml epsom salts/1gal = abot 22ppm. In other words, 1/4t/gal should deter deficiency, and 1/2t/gal to cure.

 

[Guest]

Canna nutes are designed to be used with tap water with a premo ppm value. That will give them the trace minerals they need. It sounds like you may be in the same situation I'm in. My tap water sucks!

I have a dehumidifier and it makes a substantial amount of water a day. I use this for my RO water as it's got an ec of 0.02. I mix RO/tap water 1:1 and I get really decent water to feed my plants with. The tap water will give you all the trace minerals you'll need for the grow. If you do this, you won't need to worry about a magnesium deficiency as long as you avoid lockout by keeping your pH between 5.2 and 6.2. Premo pH in coco seems to be 5.8.

The Canna A&B are the backbone of your grow in coco. You'll be giving those the whole time once seedlings have taken hold. They, plus the water mix from above, will supply all the nutrients your plants will need. At least I've found this to be true.

Respectfully, if I were you, I'd stay away from using epsom salts in coco.

Hope I didn't confuse the issue, lol.

Peace

 

[gramsci.antonio]

Mg is a common deficiency, especially in Canna. Why was the tap causing problems? Either way, you are fine adding epsom salts. 1ml epsom salts/1gal = abot 22ppm. In other words, 1/4t/gal should deter deficiency, and 1/2t/gal to cure.

I'm not sure the tap was the problem, but being 300 ppm and rich in limestone very probably was blocking the Mg absorption.

Unfortunatly espon salt are unknown in my country... isn't there something similar?

 

[gramsci.antonio]

Canna nutes are designed to be used with tap water with a premo ppm value. That will give them the trace minerals they need. It sounds like you may be in the same situation I'm in. My tap water sucks!

Which is in your opinion the best ppm to start from for the nutrient solution?

I've 300 ppm tap water and 30 ppm RO water.

I've to mix them till i reach... 177 ppm? 100 ppm? 50 ppm?

 

[Guest]

Which is in your opinion the best ppm to start from for the nutrient solution?

I've 300 ppm tap water and 30 ppm RO water.

I've to mix them till i reach... 177 ppm? 100 ppm? 50 ppm?

I'd cut my ro water 50/50 with tap water. This tap water will give you the trace minerals the nutes lack. This makes the use of Cal-Mag+ unnecessary in my experience. Get a reading on your water at this point. Add the nutes to the water and recheck the ec/ppm to get it where you want it. Don't make the mistake of including the water's ec with the ec of the nutes. When a company tells you what to feed at, they're talking about giving just that amount of ec of a particular nutrient. Include the water's ec in the computation and you'll be feeding low. Having said that, don't go by what the nute people tell you to use either. Read about what others are doing with that brand of nutrients and start lower than the manufacturers recommendation, in most cases.

Hit the pH button and adjust the pH to 5.8. Then feed the plants and watch them smile. Due to the difference in meters, I've kind of broken things down to mL/gal or mL/qt. No mistakes that way, lol. As you grow the stuff out, you'll find where you need to be. Less is more up to a point. I'm sure you've heard this before but it's a lot easier to adjust nutes up than it is to try to recover from a nute burn and hope the plants survive. The damage from nute burn is permanent and it reduces the amount of photosynthesis the plant can carry on because it destroys leaf tissue. The plants are never as good after a burn as they are before.



Seedling stage = nothing but tap water pHd to 5.8.

After you see the first true leaves (10-14 days) = add nutes sparingly. I put in 1 - 1.5mL/gal each of Canna A & B. If you're using Canna, you can just use the Rhizotonic at this point.

From that point on, watch the plants. Keep an accurate grow diary for yourself even if you don't chronicle it here in the forums. This will help you learn from your mistakes on the next grow. Unless you're trying to feed light to keep growth down, watch the plants closely. Too light in color, increase the nutes a little. Too dark or picking up a little burn on the tips of the leaves, cut back maybe a mL per quart.

Keep an eye on your pH. The coco will adjust the pH a little bit but don't count on it.

Water at least once a day!!!!!!! Never let the coco dry out!!!!! Water each pot till you get at least a 15% runoff. The new water you put in will carry any salt buidlup out the bottom and your plants will be happy! I like to think of it as dialysis for the plants, hehehehe. Watering till runoff cleans the medium each time you water.

If your leaves get a general overall paleness beginning in the lower leaves and working its way up the plant, you're probably looking at a pH problem. I've only ever had that problem once and it was early in my coco experience. I was trying to get away with only a small amount of runoff as I was growing on the floor and anything that came out the bottom would later need to be explained to the wife, lol.

Don't cut back on runoff. I grow in a recirc drip system now and water till I get at least a 100% runoff - twice a day. Water starts coming out of the bottoms of the pots after about 2 minutes and I water for 6 minutes - so I guess that's a 200%-300% runoff. My reservoir is extremely stable right now at 930ppm, give or take, and 5.8 pH.

No matter what you hear, you can't overwater with coco. I haven't done it but I'm sure you could use coco with a continuous flow of nutrient water. It will only hold on to all it can and it releases the rest of the water. Gravity pulls the extra water and any salt buildup out of the bottom. Then the perfect amount of water, nutes, and oxygen remains in the pot and fills all the millions of tiny spaces between the coco fibers and particles. Just like a sponge lets excess water drain, so does coco.

The above has been my experience and should get you started without killing anything, hehe. Not that you would but it makes it easier to have healthy plants. Find your own grow regimen after you've worked the kinks out.

If you ever get into trouble, FLUSH the coco with plain water after you've fixed its pH at 5.8. Then, if the plants don't need time to recover, re-feed with the proper amount of nutrients. I mention the part about the plants recovering because I've actually caught a mistake right after I've fed and I've adjusted the reservoir to take care of the problem and then run the proper mixture back into the pots. That way the mistake doesn't have time to affect the plants.

This may be more verbage than you bargained for but I had some time to kill and I'm dangerous when I get bored, hehe.

I'm not as experienced in all the mediums as some others on this forum but I've not lost a plant or screwed up a grow while using coco. If you'll just remember that with coco, anything you do wrong can quickly be fixed with a flush as long as you catch the problem soon enough. I doubt I'll ever even try soil or anything else for that matter. No reason to switch and start worrying about all the problems I don't have to mess with in coco.

Peace