I have 3 plants growing in DWC. I have just been adding additional nutes/water as well as hydro guard with good results.
I test the water and it comes in about right for PPM. I put in 1000PPM at 6PH. In the buckets they test 5.8PH and between 800-1100PPM. However, one of them tested at over 2400PPM. I drained/cleaned that one and refilled it with 6PH 1000PPM water. I didn’t really see any issues with the plant, but noticed it was darker in color than the others so I checked.
I know from what I have read it’s best to drain/replace the water every 2 weeks or so, but I haven’t seen the need. Up until now with hydroguard everything looks and runs as normal until this. This would be my 2nd grow with DWC buckets, the first went without a hitch.
Just curious as to why that happened to only the one plant. Jacks 3-2-1- feed with added silica is what I give them. Roots look good, plenty of aeration.
I’ll check it again everyday for the next few days and see what happens.
Should I be replacing the water no mater what every 2 weeks or so, or why would the one shoot up to over 2000PPM? It’s drinking plenty of water. I’ve given it about 4 gallons over the last week or so as it was going through the stretch. Do they only take what they need and leave the rest behind, making an imbalance and high PPM in the water if it doesn’t require that much feed for that specific plant?
morning growmie…typically if your ppm goes up and your level goes down she is had enough nutes…just add no nutes water until it goes back down or change out … I change out every 7 days but I don’t run an external reservoir… I grow in a 12 gallon tote filled with max 6 gallons of nutes…I do believe they take what they want when they need it and that is why most like to change out more often to reset the balance of nutrients…
Thanks for the response and that makes since. I checked like a hawk the first time around to see why I should change the water, didn’t really see anything so I wrote it off to algae build up or something. now it makes sense.
I agree it’s likely done to prevent an imbalance if she only takes what she wants. Don’t want her wanting X and only having Y available in the nutes so that makes total since. Especially if the PPM is right, just not the nutes.
That is one reason I went to DWC, It’s easy to just dump and refill to reset everything. In the beginning with soil I had salt build ups, PH issues and all sorts of things that took days of flushing and such to try and get it fixed. I also can’t overwater in a DWC setup like I used to do. For me it’s also alot easier to test all of this stuff in the water instead of soil.
I just happen to check because she was darker green, didn’t see any deficiencies or anything and found that. I may just fit that into my regimen to replace the water every 2 weeks or so when they start the stretch forward. I don’t run a reservoir either and wouldn’t be wasting much with how much water they drink in those stages.
good morning from the camp BGF…I agree … to me DWC is so much easier to get a good grow than soil…
some Kona Red from @OGIncognito genetics growing in the big tent…
