Hey there everyone. I am hoping you all can help me out. I’ve been searching the web for some kind of explanation on Nutrients. So far I haven’t had much luck. I’m have a single plant in a DWC that holds about 2-3 gals. I have a chiller and the water is about 65 degrees. PH out of the tap is 9.5 which I have brought down to 5.9. I added about 1 ml of hydroguard so far.
I just moved the seedling into the DWC last night. She is about 9 or 10 days old. I have 2 600W blurples about 2 feet above. Keeping the temps around 80’s and have been able to keep the rh at around 60%-80%.
I understand that I shouldn’t add nutrients until about week 4-6, but I’m confused on how these are used. I have the General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Flora Bloom and Flora Micro. I also have Cal Mag, Revive, and shock treatment.
I know the cal mag is standard, but do I wait until 4-6 weeks to add this as well? I know the revive is used and the shock treatment is also used when the plant is not doing well and/or dying. But the nutrients are my confusion. Are these each used on a certain part of the cycle or do you use all three together?
I don’t run dwc and I don’t use GH nutrients but your best bet is to follow the feed chart with any nutrient.
You can google images it and it looks to me like you use the grow, bloom and micro all at once.
Ontop of that if the nutrient doesn’t have any calcium or magnesium in it you will need to add that as well… But if I recall it has a bit.
I run a different type of nutrient, a dry system so I add the base nutrient followed by cal nitrate and mag sulfate in a ratio that is dependant on the needs of the plant/growing stages.
Stick to a feed chart until you learn how to use your nutrient
Run all 3 base nutes, 2:2:1 Grow, Micro and Bloom. Mix to 250 rpm ph 5.8. Over time, up nutes to around 700 rpm peak veg. Cal mag, hydroguard and silica.
So if I understand you correctly, mix the 3 solutions 2 parts grow, 2 parts micro and 1 part bloom so that the TDS shows 250 PPM to start and up to 700 PPM peak veg, which I’m guessing is right before going to flower.
I start about 2ml per gallon of micro and gro and then measure in about 1ml per gallon of bloom. 200-300ppm is a safe place to start. So maybe 5, 5, 2.5 if your closer to 2.5 gallons than 3. If you using RO water you’ll want to start the cal-mag pretty soon. In soil she can go 4-6 weeks with out a feed to start most times, but in hydro we have to add a bit to the water.
I add my food straight to the bucket and give 5ish minutes to mix between the big 3. In a smaller space maybe 1-2 minutes is plenty.
If you ph adjusted ro water to 5.9 with under 50ppm you might be getting a false reading and that water may be much more acidic or basic than you expect. I would add some to the water if you haven’t already.
Yes, I have an RO system, which has brought down the water out of the tap from 140 PPM to 25 PPM. I have been able to keep the pH around 5.5-5.9. I’ll add some cal mag a little later today.
I’ve used GH nutrients a good bit and they’re actually really good quality. I would follow the directions on those for seedlings which is 1/4 tsp per gallon (1.25ml), up until you hit the veg state. With GH nutrients you add FloraMicro to the water, mix thoroughly, then add the same amount of FloraGro and mix thoroughly, THEN adjust your PH. The nutrients will cause your water’s PH to dip slightly (or a lot when you start using more). When you go into the flowering stage, you stop using FloraGro and use FloraBloom in it’s place. DO NOT mix FloraMicro with the other two without diluting it in water first, it WILL lock out some nutrients and hinder the plant growth.
I personally slowly dial up the nutrients after I see your second set of non-seedling leaves (pointed non-round leaves). Personally I find that dialing up the nutrients after that point by 1/4 tsp per gallon (1.25ml) per week during each change of water. So after you see your second set of leaves bump up to 1/2 tsp per gallon (2.5ml), then increasing by 1/4 tsp (1.25ml) each following week until you hit 1 tsp per gallon (5 ml). Remember to try and avoid climbing the nutrients too high too quickly, in my experience plants really don’t like it. If your plant is very aggressively growing then you can slowly climb your way up to 3 tsp per gallon (15ml). When you begin transitioning towards the flowering state you’ll want to dial the dosage down to about 1 tsp per gallon again.
Personally I’ve just started on DWC, but used the GH waterfarm up until this point; and generally the premise is mostly the same between the two with nutrients. Waiting until week 4-6 is waiting entirely too long for hydroponics, as personally I’ve seen plants get to the point of growing extremely aggressively at that point and only a few weeks away from the flowering stage. It’s ok to give seedlings nutrients but you have to do it in extremely small quantities then slowly up the dosage each week.
Thank you. This helps a lot to put a plan together. I’m going to go with this approach and dial in as necessary. You’ve given me a great place to start. I appreciate the help.
@The_Reverend that is a subjective answer. In my dwc buckets I dont flush unless it’s the end of the grow, or there is a problem. I’ve worked into just adjusting the feed feeding schedule as I go. When I started in dwc I first would swap once a week. Found it was costly for me to run that way, now I setup and wait till she is down a few gallons and add water on water days, add water and nutes on feed days and ppm too low. These plants will close to purify the water when you don’t over feed and get combined nutes in the bucket and root ball.
To give you and idea of my set up, the DWC tank holds 2 gallons if filled completely. It has 4 grow sites, and I can only fill it with a gallon and a half of water in it in order to maintain a cushion of air between the bottom of the baskets and the water. I have been following a schedule suggested by @bigboy77: of week 1 - 1.25 ml per gallon of GH Flora Gro and Flora Micro, increasing it by 1.25 ml each week until it reaches between 5-15 ml (based on growth rate…higher rate, more nutes). Then back it down to 1 ml per gallon for transition to flower. I have to clarify if this means when you transition to flower back it down at that point, or back it down leading up to the transition. It makes more sense to run it higher until flower and then bring it back down during the flower state. Either way at the flower state the GH Flora Grow gets replaced by the Flora Bloom. Then at 2 weeks before harvest, stop the nutrients completely to flush the plants. I think this might be the part that you can add sugars, but I’m not sure if that can be done in hydro or just soil.
Anyway, I was going with the idea that because the tank is so small I should probably drain/fill and redo the solution weekly. And because I’m changing out each week, I’m not overfeeding, just doing the dose according to the schedule I gave above.
I guess if I had a bigger tank and was using more nutrients I would opt to do every other week.
I just want to make sure that I am giving enough nutrients. I guess I could always check the PPM of the water and if it’s low add more nutrients. Is that an option or is it better to run low on nutrients as the week goes on towards drain/fill?
@The_Reverend I’ve found my girls put out more with a swing in nutrition levels. I tend to not feed (other than bloom stuff) after the first couple of weeks of flower till she appears to need something. With the smaller water, yes I think your right you might need to change more often. But I grow my plants in little 1 gal ice cream buckets. After a 3" net pot I get about half a gallon of water in there. Still I rarely change water till I change the plant in the bucket, maybe once a month. The big problems with so little water will be temperature shift, ph shift, and drying out, my big girls can drink 2+ gallons a day during the first few weeks of flower. The larger the volume water the easier to keep stable (in general). But more water equal more nutes to get the same ppm of course.