a ppk for a 6 plant limit

[av8or]

My cuttings, rooted clones, vegging and flowering plants all on on the same res @600 ppm. It may take some reading and the purchase of a college level text book or two but understanding how plants use and transport nutrients will help you grow bigger, faster, stronger and healthier plants for exponentially less money than the traditional hobby grower is used to.

 

[Ravenboy]

My cuttings, rooted clones, vegging and flowering plants all on on the same res @600 ppm. It may take some reading and the purchase of a college level text book or two but understanding how plants use and transport nutrients will help you grow bigger, faster, stronger and healthier plants for exponentially less money than the traditional hobby grower is used to.

thanks for the advice. sooo... I will run 600 until the end... though the thought of it makes me a bit nervous.

I will admit that its been pleasant to be able to ignore the concept of salt buildup (coming from Hempy buckets, of course I saw salt buildup)

but hey, its my first active hydro grow, and I appreciate learning from those who have gone before me

I had decreased the PPM to about 400 yesterday, in anticipation of dropping down for a flush, I will crank it back up again.

thanks for the speedy reply!

 

[Ravenboy]

My cuttings, rooted clones, vegging and flowering plants all on on the same res @600 ppm. It may take some reading and the purchase of a college level text book or two but understanding how plants use and transport nutrients will help you grow bigger, faster, stronger and healthier plants for exponentially less money than the traditional hobby grower is used to.

so if all on one res, then you are saying there is no need to reduce the N after the flowers are set (post stretch).

I had read some time ago that D9 was dropping the calcinit by week 4 of flower and that he felt the yield was better.... ... but that was probably a post from a couple years back...

so I did as well. If there was a change from this I wasn't aware. I am not complaining about the results of having stopped with the calcinit, that I can assure you.

would they have put on even MORE weight had I not omitted the calcinit. (at this point, maybe two weeks from harvest, I am still feeding at 600 PPM just no calcinit)

 

[av8or]

Yes sir! Not to worry, you'll be pleasantly surprised, sir!!

 

[delta9nxs]

so if all on one res, then you are saying there is no need to reduce the N after the flowers are set (post stretch).

I had read some time ago that D9 was dropping the calcinit by week 4 of flower and that he felt the yield was better.... ... but that was probably a post from a couple years back...

so I did as well. If there was a change from this I wasn't aware. I am not complaining about the results of having stopped with the calcinit, that I can assure you.

would they have put on even MORE weight had I not omitted the calcinit. (at this point, maybe two weeks from harvest, I am still feeding at 600 PPM just no calcinit)

i think that was someone else dropping calcinit at week 4. i did it for a while at week 7 on a 9 week plant and didn't care for the results.

the idea of flushing got started by growers in potting soil or dirt who were top watering all the time causing a huge build-up of salts in the medium.

in the ppk especially, we don't get the salt build-up because the medium never dries down enough to cause accumulation.

also, the flushing of elements from the plant at the cellular level is almost impossible.

first, approximately 95% of the composition of a harvested plant is carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, none of which are on the label of the nutrients you buy.

while N, P, and K are mobile within the plant to varying degrees, it takes more than just running some clean water past the roots for a few days to get rid of it.

it's more like weeks of starving the plant to get it to use up it's reserves.

in my opinion, and you'll get a lot of argument on this, these weeks of starving cost you weight.

if you run your nutes at a moderate strength and dry your buds nice and slow
they will taste great, smoke great with no sparking or arcing.

 

[C.O.B.]

Glad this has comeback up. I had been dropping my calcinit at week 4 for about 2.5-3 months and girls fade now. Never cared for, nor had for the fade after running jacks+calcinit till the end for what seems like eons. I did however, start using some mammoth p on this latest run which is showing the earliest fade to date. Only on one plant out of the group tho,weird.
This particular strain seems to like the nitrogen in the calcinit at least until week 7(8wk strain). Will definitely start back on my usual regimen. At least my calcinit will finally catch-up to my jacks's hydro in the containers now. Had too much calcinit left over when I finally ran out of jack's. Thanks. Peace.

C.O.B.

 

[Ravenboy]

sorry D9, I am sure it was someone else I was remembering. hey I have grown a long time, and have noticed many times that as we learn we find new ways to grow.


hey makes sense, I trust you guys. I had dropped to 1/2 strength for a day or so, and have gone back to about 500PPM, bumping the calcinit back up. - stand alone reservoirs - no central res - the transpiration rate will have it at 600 - probably in a day or so I will be adding plain water again.

 

[Encrypt]

This system sounds amazing, very low maintenance and I will test it next run for sure.
I already spend a few days reading all the ppk threads and there is a question that I can't find the solution, if someone can help me I appreciate.


I can't find anywhere turface, but on a local bonsai shop I get some media after filtration and some mix the media the air filled porosity is around 32%, the particle size from 4-6mm and moisture retention around 50-55% the total weight.


There is any more variable that I'm missing? Or should I go with coco/perlite and mix/adjust to get similar stats?

 

[av8or]

This system sounds amazing, very low maintenance and I will test it next run for sure.
I already spend a few days reading all the ppk threads and there is a question that I can't find the solution, if someone can help me I appreciate.


I can't find anywhere turface, but on a local bonsai shop I get some media after filtration and some mix the media the air filled porosity is around 32%, the particle size from 4-6mm and moisture retention around 50-55% the total weight.


There is any more variable that I'm missing? Or should I go with coco/perlite and mix/adjust to get similar stats?

Welcome to ppk land! I've often wondered the same thing. I don't see why it wouldn't work. Perlite is always an easy amendment to get the media just right. I use perlite in my turface. I've done coco in my perlite, too. All perlite. All turface. I don't think media so much matters as what you've already pointed out. So, I guess what I'm saying is....you're probably on to something with what you've got. I'd be interested to hear about the results. Let us know!

 

[Snook]

This system sounds amazing, very low maintenance and I will test it next run for sure.
I already spend a few days reading all the ppk threads and there is a question that I can't find the solution, if someone can help me I appreciate.
I can't find anywhere turface, but on a local bonsai shop I get some media after filtration and some mix the media the air filled porosity is around 32%, the particle size from 4-6mm and moisture retention around 50-55% the total weight.
There is any more variable that I'm missing? Or should I go with coco/perlite and mix/adjust to get similar stats?

I had the same problem some time back and found that those bonsai people use turface too. they call it something else but bought it... it was turface. It was also VERY expensive buying it from them.


EDIT: and Av8tor whats your % pearlie to turface?

 

[DelTaco]

Today marks the 2 week point into my first ppk grow and I was just wondering what I was supposed to do when it came to flushing the plants. Good to know I don't need to do anything. Once again, thank you guys for all of the valuble information. I really appreciate how forthcoming and willing to share information everybody is in this thread.

You guys just mentioned that salts don't really build up in ppks because they don't dry out enough. I am a newb so I will take that as gospel but last night I had to do drain and refill my entire system with fresh nutes after noticing what appears to be the beginning stages of a N deficiency. What could be the cause? My PPMs were at 450 before the change out and there was a layer of white chunky stuff floating in the res. Is the N def from too low of PPMs? Or does it have to do with the white crap floating around in the res?

 

[delta9nxs]

Today marks the 2 week point into my first ppk grow and I was just wondering what I was supposed to do when it came to flushing the plants. Good to know I don't need to do anything. Once again, thank you guys for all of the valuble information. I really appreciate how forthcoming and willing to share information everybody is in this thread.

You guys just mentioned that salts don't really build up in ppks because they don't dry out enough. I am a newb so I will take that as gospel but last night I had to do drain and refill my entire system with fresh nutes after noticing what appears to be the beginning stages of a N deficiency. What could be the cause? My PPMs were at 450 before the change out and there was a layer of white chunky stuff floating in the res. Is the N def from too low of PPMs? Or does it have to do with the white crap floating around in the res?

in an all vegetative system it is normal for the nutrient strength to be pulled down from 600 ppm to around 450 ppm. it just shows active nutrient uptake.

all through veg up to about 2.5 weeks into stretch the strength will be pulled downward but after stretch it will begin accumulating.

that's all perfectly normal. what's not normal is the white precipitate you have floating on the surface of your reservoir.

that is caused, in most instances, by mixing nutrients out of sequence.

if you are using jack's and calcinit the jack's portion must be mixed into the mixing/feed/volume tank first, followed by any magnesum sulfate, and lastly the calcinit.

if you mix out of this order it is highly likely you will create a precipitation event.

i hope you are not mixing in the working reservoir.

 

[DelTaco]

in an all vegetative system it is normal for the nutrient strength to be pulled down from 600 ppm to around 450 ppm. it just shows active nutrient uptake.

all through veg up to about 2.5 weeks into stretch the strength will be pulled downward but after stretch it will begin accumulating.

that's all perfectly normal. what's not normal is the white precipitate you have floating on the surface of your reservoir.

that is caused, in most instances, by mixing nutrients out of sequence.

if you are using jack's and calcinit the jack's portion must be mixed into the mixing/feed/volume tank first, followed by any magnesum sulfate, and lastly the calcinit.

if you mix out of this order it is highly likely you will create a precipitation event.

i hope you are not mixing in the working reservoir.

D9 thanks for the response. For me I was scared to start my clones off at 600ppm so I went with 300 ppm to start with a 600ppm feed out of the bulk res. I am mixing in the correct order and I am not mixing directly in the res. The only thing I was putting in the res was ph down trying to chase ph but I stopped. Personally I think the precipitate is probably from all the ph down I was adding trying to get the ph to settle below 6.0. What do you think is that possible? Remember I would lower the crap out of it and then it would go back up to 6 after running through the turface. You told me about the ph of turface and to let it rip at 6 the plants loved it so that's what I did for 2 weeks but the ph rose to 6.5 so I decided to change it out per standard ppk operating instructions.

As of this morning my res looks nice and clean. PPMs are 590 and ph is 6.2 my input feed from the bulk res is 670 ppm and 5.8 ph. Do you think the higher ppm input feed would have any negative impact? I am scared of doing something wrong to make the precipitate come back.

 

[delta9nxs]

D9 thanks for the response. For me I was scared to start my clones off at 600ppm so I went with 300 ppm to start with a 600ppm feed out of the bulk res. I am mixing in the correct order and I am not mixing directly in the res. The only thing I was putting in the res was ph down trying to chase ph but I stopped. Personally I think the precipitate is probably from all the ph down I was adding trying to get the ph to settle below 6.0. What do you think is that possible? Remember I would lower the crap out of it and then it would go back up to 6 after running through the turface. You told me about the ph of turface and to let it rip at 6 the plants loved it so that's what I did for 2 weeks but the ph rose to 6.5 so I decided to change it out per standard ppk operating instructions.

As of this morning my res looks nice and clean. PPMs are 590 and ph is 6.2 my input feed from the bulk res is 670 ppm and 5.8 ph. Do you think the higher ppm input feed would have any negative impact? I am scared of doing something wrong to make the precipitate come back.

you've already done the correction and it all sounds good. the solution strength is dependent on lighting but i don't think that slight increase would hurt anything.

 

[McKush]

Hey D9 - been wondering how your feeling and doing lately with the treatments n all. Hope all is well.

 

[gmanwho]

As of this morning my res looks nice and clean. PPMs are 590 and ph is 6.2 my input feed from the bulk res is 670 ppm and 5.8 ph. Do you think the higher ppm input feed would have any negative impact? I am scared of doing something wrong to make the precipitate come back.

some people leave the ph, i myself do not like to. but i also dont fight it as hard as i used to, adjust once a day only now. an try not to keep circulating the drip feed once you adjust the ph, it changes things an u can overwater this way.

not sure what deltas thought on this is, however one thing you can do is lower the ph on your input/topoff feed. that will slow the increase of your ph on the main circulating rez, as it feeds. depending on how much the plants are transpiring / drinking you will see less ph swing cause entering topoff has a low ph.

with me, the stronger my toppoff solution, the lower the ph will be. on said topoff rez if i mix at 800-900 ppm my ph will be 5.8. if when i increase the amount of scoops of food to 1300-1400 ppm, i see a 4.2ph. ( at correct times of growth i go higher ppm to 1300ppm-1400ppm only because those top off rezs have another float feeding in straight ro. that 1300-1400ppm will become 500ppm in one cycle off a 33 gal top off rez. )

this way my topoff never runs dry. i may see 20gal disappear in one light cycle. if i go away for 2-3days, the topoff rez would dry out, then the main circulating rez starts to dry out. i'd rather have lower ppm or no food water entering the system then no water at all. but thats me...

bsafe

 

[av8or]

I had the same problem some time back and found that those bonsai people use turface too. they call it something else but bought it... it was turface. It was also VERY expensive buying it from them.


EDIT: and Av8tor whats your % pearlie to turface?

Shooooot, sorry Snook. I completely forgot to reply to you on this. Ita a straight 50/50 (by volume) mix. I use all sizes of perlite without discretion. Doesn't seem to matter much.

 

[av8or]

some people leave the ph, i myself do not like to. but i also dont fight it as hard as i used to, adjust once a day only now. an try not to keep circulating the drip feed once you adjust the ph, it changes things an u can overwater this way.

not sure what deltas thought on this is, however one thing you can do is lower the ph on your input/topoff feed. that will slow the increase of your ph on the main circulating rez, as it feeds. depending on how much the plants are transpiring / drinking you will see less ph swing cause entering topoff has a low ph.

with me, the stronger my toppoff solution, the lower the ph will be. on said topoff rez if i mix at 800-900 ppm my ph will be 5.8. if when i increase the amount of scoops of food to 1300-1400 ppm, i see a 4.2ph. ( at correct times of growth i go higher ppm to 1300ppm-1400ppm only because those top off rezs have another float feeding in straight ro. that 1300-1400ppm will become 500ppm in one cycle off a 33 gal top off rez. )

this way my topoff never runs dry. i may see 20gal disappear in one light cycle. if i go away for 2-3days, the topoff rez would dry out, then the main circulating rez starts to dry out. i'd rather have lower ppm or no food water entering the system then no water at all. but thats me...

bsafe

You are noticing the same things I am. More ppm, lower ph. And yes, I drive ph in the mixing res, too. Usually I mix to 600 ppm which leaves ph at 6.8 without adjustment. I ph down to 5.5 typically, then let it do what it do in the system. My system ph usually resides at 6.1-6.2. I can't remember the last time I checked the system ph though.
At least six or seven months, if I had to guess. But yeah, I agree with you. I'll likely be bumping ppm with the DE lights.....but 5 x 600 watters around 4 plants didn't require more than 600. D9 and I have discussed bumping up during stretch, too. More to follow on this.


In other news, I've got a couple more rooms to finish up, reach my apprentice the last of my knowledge....then I'm retiring. Got the finances now, so it's time to go live life instead of working for it. I may wait till the tiny house is finished to completely stop growing (at this scale) but the road is calling...and she sounds so sweet.

 

[delta9nxs]

Hey D9 - been wondering how your feeling and doing lately with the treatments n all. Hope all is well.

doing good! thank you! i finished a little over 2 weeks ago and it has taken this long for most of the side effects to wear off.

the first set of labs last week showed the virus as "un-detected". they will check again at 3 mos and 6 mos. if i make it to 6 mos without it recurring i'm officially "cured".

 

[McKush]

Awesome D9! That kinda news is good on the soul brother. Stay well.