Nute levels at various stages of veg

[Guest sabator]

Hi Guys and girls

 

 

I am about to take the step from soil to hydro and i need sum nute information.

 

I am aware that since i am useing Hydro stones i will need to use nutes from the very beginning. I also know that i must not start of with full strength solution other wise i will kill my clones.

 

So what i basically need is a weekly calander of both the veg and growth stage listing what strength my nutes should be in PPM.

 

 

Thanks for any help you guys can give

[budsta]

OK when placing clones in pots with rocks, start of with a weaker mix (say 1260 ppm - the exact ppm will depend on the quality of your local water - mine is around 420 - 560 ppm straight out of the cold tap & about 700 ppm out of the hot tap! As a guide, for the first week use just over half strength mix & then increase to full strength. Don't forget to keep the lights up high at first as clones will be used to weak fluoro's. I drop mine about an inch a day until required height from plant then start going back up as the plant grows. You will notice the ppm level increase after a few days as the plant uses water & nutes left in solution become less diluted. Flush system every fortnight roughly. I try to keep mine at around 1680 - 1820 max ppm for grow stage then drop to 1400ppm for fruiting (I've been told this is optimum but I struggle to keep it this low!) - tapering off towards harvest so that only water for last week or so. Don't worry too much as I have had good results before I had a ppm meter & I was running my system right off the scale!

Dont forget ph levels, around 5.8 for grow & 5.5 for fruit stage in hydro, a little lower than soil ph values.

Good luck, hope this helps.

 

Budsta

 

PS: I'm sure others will disagree with this it's just a rough guide that has worked for me.

[wassily]

Yeah, budsta has a similar method to what I used to use

with salt ferts, but a little lower in bloom. I'd maintain my ppm at 1680-1700ppm in grow of bloom, but my ph would be around 6 - 6.2 in grow and around 5.5 - 5,7 in bloom. In early stages I'd use a half strength grow mix

(840ppm) and a ph of 5.5 - This worked pretty well. A tip - I'd get a meter that gives CF (conductivity factor) as opposed to PPM. The PPM measurement varies between manufacturers. The 'Newzealand Hydroponics Truncheon" has all measurements in CF, PPM and EC.

It's about 100 bucks.

Alternatively, I now grow with bioponic mixes which are a little different. You start them off at full strength (CF22-24) and only top up with ph'd water until the resevoir strength gets down to about 30% (CF 8)

then you top up the res and mix in nutes back to full strength. I reset the ph to 6.4 and it doesn't drift a lot.

You also only flush once a month. For me this means 2 flushes a crop, if you dont include the final flush in the last 2 weeks when I run water only. It's the most minimal maintainence hydro setup I've had so far and the growth rate and yields are both larger than with regular salt fertilisers.

Hope it all helps

Good Growing

Wazzley

[budsta]

Yeah, budsta has a similar method to what I used to use

with salt ferts, but a little lower in bloom.  I'd maintain my ppm at 1680-1700ppm in grow of bloom, but my ph would be around 6 - 6.2 in grow and around 5.5 - 5,7 in bloom.  In early stages I'd use a half strength grow mix

(840ppm) and a ph of 5.5 - This worked pretty well.  A tip - I'd get a meter that gives CF (conductivity factor) as opposed to PPM.  The PPM measurement varies between manufacturers.  The 'Newzealand Hydroponics Truncheon" has all measurements in CF, PPM and EC.

It's about 100 bucks.

Alternatively, I now grow with bioponic mixes which are a little different.  You start them off at full strength (CF22-24) and only top up with ph'd water until the resevoir strength gets down to about 30% (CF 8)

then you top up the res and mix in nutes back to full strength.  I reset the ph to 6.4 and it doesn't drift a lot.

You also only flush once a month.  For me this means 2 flushes a crop, if you dont include the final flush in the last 2 weeks when I run water only.  It's the most minimal maintainence hydro setup I've had so far and the growth rate and yields are both larger than with regular salt fertilisers.

Hope it all helps

Good Growing

Wazzley

Hey Wazz,

 

I have the NZ Hydro truncheon too - a great piece of kit worth the bucks - I was sceptical at 1st but reckon it was worth it.

Bioponics sound good - what are they? Where do I get & what are they called(ie brand names). I will have to look into that. I must admit I'm slack at flushing so they sound great. Anyone else used 'em?

 

Budsta

[wassily]

I've tried a few, but the best I've found is called "Headrush". It's a two part that you mix

according to thestage of growth. It's distributed by Holland Forge, which is a huge distributor in Vic.

It should be available at most hydro stores nationally.

It's a bit dearer than salt ferts - 33 bucks compared to about 20, but when you work it out over a grow, it's an

extra 20 bucks or something, and you hardly ever have to flush and it seems to increase yield. Definately worth checking out. There's also one called 'biomix' that's a little cheaper and also good.

Grow on,

Vaz

[budsta]

Thanks Wassily,

 

Not seen those here in SA but will keep an eye out.

 

Laterz...

Budsta