[SensiBC]

I just switched over to iguana juice in my hydroton drip system and I'm having some growing pains. More specifically, I believe I overfed my mother by feeding at the 4ml/l as directed by the label. Whoops.

Just wondering, for those who use Iguana Juice, is the AN Calculator a good tool to base your nute strength/feeding schedule? Do you find it to be accurate, or does it tend to overfeed at the suggested ratios?

Any advice?

I used to use Iguana Juice and loved it. The bottle recommends 3.5 ml per liter not 4 ml per l. I never had any problems with it.
I like their calculator. The key to getting dialed in with AN is to start with their recommendation for light feeding,see how the plants react and increase strength from there.
What happened to your plant that makes you think it was overfed by iguana juice? And how big/old is the plant?

[SensiBC]

Odd, perhaps I got an early bottle from when they were reformulating the stuff, because the bottle definitely advises 4ml/liter, although I've seen 3.5ml/l on their site and everywhere else. I shoulda known better than to feed as advised on the bottle anyway I guess.

The plant in question is Rockstar Kush. Although this mother plant is approx 4 months old it was damaged during a move by mold and a malfunctioning PH meter, as a result it lost much of it's foliage and was stunted pretty badly. These issues were resolved and the plant was finally showing lots of new growth using 5ml/gal Cal mag and 15ml/gal Pureblend. As soon as I switched from the Botinicare nutes to the Iguana Juice I started having issues, overfeeding I presume, since everything else should be in line.

When I first started with the AN stuff I mixed my res starting with 30ppm tap water (.500 ec conversion) then added 4ml/litre of Iguana grow and 2ml/ litre B52 and some tarantula per the label instructions. Within 5 days my plant was showing severe cal/mg striping which started on the oldest fan leaves and seemed to be spreading quickly. Thinking it might be a deficiency I threw in 5ml/gal Cal-mag plus in hopes it would resolve the issue, however it just made things worse. I then flushed with Florakleen for a day and remixed the res using 1ml/l Iguana Juice grow and 1ml/l B52. That's where I stand now.

To give you a bit more information about the system it is a recirculating drip system in 3.5gal buckets using Hydroton as media. The room temp is 78f and the reservoir nutrient temp is 68-70f. RH is in the mid to high 50's. Watering schedule is 15 min on, 2 hours off. To my knowledge there are no pests, molds, etc in the garden. Lighting in the room is provided by a 250 watt Ceramic Metal Halide light, as well as T5 tubes.

[SensiBC]

I emailed AN for some advice and they replied with some information which is was different than I anticipated. I'll paste an excerpt from their reply below. Does this sound right for a recirculating hydro system?

Originally Posted by AN Tech Support

The amounts suggested in the nutrient calculator are the total nutrient to feed the plant for a whole week, not the amount to give them per feeding.

If you want to give your plants nutrient solution more than once per week, divide the amount (total ppm) for the week by the number of feedings that you want to give them to calculate the ppm per feeding.

-----

Mixing instructions



If using the base nutrient stand alone, mix nutrients according to instructions on the bottle.



If also using supplements follow feeding schedule in the nutrient calculator.



When using a re circulating system, you will be dealing with one of two situations, either the reservoir is large enough to feed the plants for a week without the need to be topped up during the week or it is a small reservoir and in order to feed the plants through the week it will require to be topped up.



In case of reservoir that does not need to be topped up.



Add to the reservoir the amount of water that the plants are going to be using for the week, include some extra water to allow for evaporation.



Mix the nutrient solution at 1/6th of the strength that is suggested in the calculator for that week.



Example: If the plants need 1200 ppm for the week, divide 1200 by 6 and mix the reservoir at 200 – 250 ppm.



Allow the solution to sit long enough to stabilize the pH. Adjust pH



Feed the plants.



Allow the plants to feed on the solution and the pH to rise for 1 1/2 – 2 days before re adjusting the pH.



In case of reservoir that needs to be topped up with water during the week.



Add to reservoir the amount of water that the plants will use in 3 – 3 ½ days.



Mix the nutrient solution at the strength that is suggested in the calculator for that week.



Allow the solution to sit long enough to stabilize the pH. Adjust pH



Feed the plants



Allow the plants to feed on the solution for 1 1/2 – 2 days, top up with water to the original level first before re adjusting the pH, after adding the water allow solution to sit for an hour and re adjust the pH.

This whole mixing at 1/6 strength thing has me totally confused. Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept, but is this really accurate information for a recirculating hydro system or something more geared for soil?

[SensiBC]

[crickets chirping]

So the plant is looking pretty rough. Somewhat droopy. Older leaves up top showing a general yellowing overall. Other leaves showing intervenal chlorosis, and it's progressing. The farther down the plant you go the better it looks, still green down there. Canopy temp was too high, so I raised the light quite a bit to see how she reacts.

Did a res change today basing my feeding on the old AN Calculator, for the Iguana anyway, works out to approx 5ml/gal. Only used 1ml/liter of the B52 though.

I'm showing 200PPM on my Tri Meter which is well below what the AN calc says it should be. (I converted the EC shown on the AN chart to convert to .5 since the PPM numbers form AN's site are based on the .7 scale) After the conversion AN says I should be around 425, but their tech support pretty much told me to ignore ppm readings in organics, so... yeah.

Here's hoping they green up. Anyone with practical advice, I'm listening.

[/crickets chirping]

[SensiBC]

Guess I'll go fuck myself then. lol

[sunnydog]

Originally Posted by SensiBC

Guess I'll go fuck myself then. lol

Nah, that won't help ....I would try to pop it in some nice light organic soil till she gets better, then clone and try again!
I have had some good results with IJ in soil.

[SensiBC]

Thanks for the advice.

[starrider]

im using I J in dwc alone first week of flower and things are pretty green so far im using 10ml for 3.5 gals and not showing any thing negative.all i can say is less seems to work better

[toohighmf]

An old AN TECH MIKE QUOTE:

if it aint dry, dont apply.
when in doubt,....
FLUSH IT OUT.

I have used IJ and it works well for a "organic" nutrient. I used 2-2.5ml/gallon.
I have never trusted AN's calc. it is as inconsistent as AN's Batching.