Soil In Pots, Hydroponic, Or Coco? Soil
System Type? 5gal fabric pots, FF soil and nutes
Ph? 6.8 in / 6.4 out
What Is Strength Of Nutrient Mix? 300 ppm in / 2400 out
Indoor
Light System, Size? (2) Mars Hydro ts1000
Temps; Day, Night 70-75 constant
Humidity; Day, Night 40-45 constant
Ventilation System; Yes 3" inline @ about 25%
Ac, Humidifier, De-humidifier not using
Co2; No
This is my second grow about 7 weeks since I flipped to 12/12. I have been having issues with nute lockout, also did on my first grow. I had flushed the plant about 5 days ago using bushdoctor until the runoff ppm was equal to the ppm going in (both below 1000). After flushing I gave it a weak nute mix 600ppm in 1 gal of water nut noticed more purple leaves and some canoeing. Today, 5 days since flush, the plant dried out enough to feed it, I gave it 1 gal distilled water with 300ppm of nutes and some myco+. Solution went in at 300ppm and 6.8 ph. Runoff came out at 2400 ppm and 6.4 ph - nute locked again!? I ran a second gallon of water with bushdoctor through the pot until the runoff came down 900-1200ppm (see questions below).
Questions:
1- After doing some reading I think I identified a couple of my problems areas. First I have been letting the runoff sit in the tray- it is not a lot, less than an inch diameter between the tray and the pot and about an inch deep, this usually absorbs into the soil within a couple hours but I am now reading that this practice may increase the salt build up. What is the best practice to remove the runoff (if needed at all)? Are you pulling the tray and dumping it after every feed? or is it ok to let it sit for a few hours and let it absorb/bottom feed off the tray? Seems like a huge PITA to try and lift the wet dripping pot and somehow pull the tray and get another one under it without spilling and making a mess, am I missing something?
2- Given what I have already done today, feed then flush down to 900ppm out, my plan is to let it dry back out for 3-4 days then give it ph’d water and maybe a little more myco+ so that I can measure PPM and PH in the runoff again in hopes that she starts taking up some nutrients- I usually only feed every other water or 1x per week. Any other suggestions on actions I should take?
3- I notice that my PPM readings will vary as much as 500 +/- depending if I put the probe in the very top of my runoff or if I fully submerge it to the bottom of the tray. Do you guys try to average this reading or is there a “correct” way/depth to measure.
4- Lately I can’t seem to get my ppm to match the dosage. I have been paying more attention to the volume of the dose and erring on the low side of PPM since I am having trouble with salt build up and nute lockout. For example; today I added 1/4 tsp of chaching plus myco to a gallon of water it read 300ppm (calibrated, apera instruments). The feed schedule is calling for 1000+ ppm but in order to achieve that I would be way above the recommended dose of 1/4 tsp per gallon. Again, since my problems seem to be more related to over feeding, I have stuck with the low PPM numbers and the “correct” volume of nutes.
5- Is there a better feed schedule than 1x per week? I have a 3 new auto seeds in FFOF soil that are due to sprout any day here, hoping to try my first outdoor grow. Using FFOF, which has a good amount of nutes to start, my plan was to just give them ph’d water and check the runoff ppm until it came down to be equal with my water in ppm basically telling me all the available nutes had been used up- does this make sense and is it a good plan moving forward?
