recirculating problems

[tigger]

hey just recently switched to a recirculating setup, supposed to be a bit faster and better yields that pots. well i've had alot of problems since the switch and i'm thinking about canning one of my new setups to go back to pots.

 

one of my systems is an ebb/flow or flood drain table, the other is a three pot top fed type. i'm not having much luck with either as the plants are growing slowly and poorly. i'm going thru nute changes and clean water flushes once per wek. ph is stable now at 6.3-6.6. i'm even using co2 in the flood drain table.

there is one exception though, i went and used two varietys for the flood table, afi#1 and g13 and g13xhp. probalbly a bad idea i know using three varietys with two diferent finishing times. but i had to fill the table. anyway the affis are now growing fine yet a bit spindly for my liking, yet fast and green the g13 and g13x are growing very slowly and arn't nearly as happy all under the exact same conditions! should i invest in a maintenance product?? such as stop wilt or dutch master silica ?? please any advice for this first timer

[Guest Field_of_Light]

your g13 will take you 4 months to grow and about 60-70 days to flower...the affi about two months to grow and up to 10 weeks to flower....

 

id need more info on what exactly your probs are with the recirc.....weekly flushes should make your system run smoothly...

 

Are you watering regularly? What medium are you using?

[tigger]

the table is full of hydroton, the nutes are canna veg and a little superthrive, watering is once per hour for 15 mins while the light is on. and it's on for 18 hours per day. i'm not sure on ppm i'm without a truncheon so i keep the nutes slightly less than 4 ml per liter. thanks for the reply

[tigger]

oh and the table is 1200 by 1200 and is designed for sog, so the veg time is really alot less than you specified for the two varietys. and i believe the g13xhp is same flower time as the affi approx 8 weeks

[Guest Field_of_Light]

sounds like you are doing everything well....

 

Can you restate exactly what your problem is? That your plants are growing slowly? or are wilting?

 

When you flsuh them are you flushing them really well to remove excess salt buildup?

 

Maybe too much nutrient is in the system?

[tigger]

the affis have kicked on over the last few days and the leaves point "up",the g13 grow very slow and look unhappy, and not nearly as green. there are 65 plants total in the flood table all at 4 weeks old. if things had gone smoothly i would be switching to 12/12 about now and have the whole table completely covered.

[Guest Field_of_Light]

I forgot to add that 18 waters a day is loads...I d water every two hours for 15 mins...

 

Perhaps your plants are root locked?

[tigger]

could be some salt buildup as i haven't thought to flush thehydroton from above, just replaced the nute with clean water once per week and left fot 24 hours and then back to nutes. what is the recommended toppup? just half strength when the water level gets to low? or just water ?

[tigger]

ok i'll cut back to 9 waters per day and flush the salt buildup, what about maintenance? heard of mutch master silica? meant to be great for roots. or stopwilt could be good maintenance. what does root locked mean? like rootbound when your using pots?

[pipeman]

Your PH sounds high for hydro at 6.3-6.6 I would try lowering it to just below 6.