When you mix your nutrients with the recommended amount of water, after it is thoroughly mixed, you can dip the TDS meter in the mixture and no deeper than the line as shown in the meter’s instructions. You will be able to get a reading in PPM, parts per million. This number will be around the number you want your readings in the soil to be as well, the number might be able to get a little higher without damage, but not by a whole lot. Depending on the brand and different concentrations for different periods of growth, this number might vary greatly, as low as around 600 PPM and to as high as around 1200 or maybe a bit higher.
You can get an idea of how much is built up in the soil by using the method in the link to Robert’s blog above, or by simply over watering just slightly so a small amount of the run-off can be used to dip the TDS meter in, not that differently than as described in that link. If you are feeding too often and not giving enough pure pH’ed water between feedings, the nutrients can build up in the soil, and the little bit of water from run-off will have dissolved a bunch of these nutrients from the soil and it will likely read a much higher number than the number of the nutrient mixture you are feeding to them.
So I measure the parts per million before I water with nutrient mix . I was told to just stick with a basic normal watering cycle this time and not until the second week of flowering I could add nutrients because the soil medium has everything the plants needs through vegetative growth.
Yes, if you are using a soil that has nutrients already in it, you might be able to wait to add nutrients for quite some time, well after the vegetative cycle, or even never, if you keep adding larger containers and fresh soil that will add fresh nutrients.
If you want to have an idea of what the soil already has in it, in PPM or the pH, you can do so as described in the article by Robert.
Also, I don’t remember if we already discussed this in this post but I have had to bring it up in a few recent posts, some soils you might not want to start a seed in as the nutrients in the soil are too strong for seedlings, if this is the case you want to start the seed in a seedling starter mix, and then after the seedling has 3-5 nodes and accompanying sets of true leaves, you can then transplant the seedling into the stronger soil mix.
yes you probably do want to adjust the pH of the water before giving it to the plants, this is also why you need to keep an eye on the pH of the root zone because hard water can also build up in the root zone causing a high pH in the root zone.
The soil is ocean forest and fox farm mixed . But seemingly the plants did fairly well at 6.2 -6.5 with half of measured nutrients . But this time I’m going to used ph distiller water at 6.2 through the second week of flowering than add half measured nutrients.
So measure tds in water first , than ph up or down to 6.2 and maybe water as needed every two days or so through veg . This time I should make it through to flowering without early hardship of problems .
Just call me an idiot . Realized my mistakes , I’ve been not watering right . I was supposed to water water feed not feed every watering …what dumb rookie mistake .
I agree with you transplant schedule, but not the advice to use Miracle Grow. If you use a sterile un fertilized potting soil, or build your own; You can use a commercial nutrient brand and “KNOW” exactly what your plants are doing.
Miracle Grow can cause issues that totally confuse the newbie grower. IMO
When ever I transplant I use root shock with the water. As you stated the poor STRESSED OUT PLANT retransplanting just adds more stress to her so the root shock will help her tough the transplant.
Thought I would add this
Yup I use the same stuff good deal. I am cloning WW 3rd generation and I have 4 other kinds and will start cloning from them. This way I’ll have 5 different kinds to clones from and not have to buy anymore seeds
Yes I do, you just need to figure how much it feed them. I learned to start with 1/2 of what it calls for. Say it say’s 1 mil to 1 gal of water…use only 1/2.
It’s on the high side of " Way Over Priced " but works great so why change what works.
I’em all over the place in here. You can check out my plants in " Clonning " at the top or cloning from clones
Assuming you are always grow in soil. I use this transplant schedule. starter, 3" pot, 1 gallon pot, 3 gallon pot. If Growing Inside that is as big as you should need. If you have a really big grow area; A 5 gallon pot may be OK.
That is why they invented side lighting. I would never go to a 5 gallon in a tent. I grow 4-5 in 3 gallons in my tent. Never had a need to go to 5 gallon…waste of soil.
Coco is soil-less medium and by adding it to soil you create an issue of having to balance ph between soil and hydro. I like 6.2 I would keep trying that, and check to see if your runoff starts to rise a bit.
Anyone who told you 3 liter pots is a bit off. Are you sure they did not mean 3 gallon which = 13 liter pots?
Well I have fox farm mixed with ocean forest with extra perlite and coco . Now question ? I ordered og Kush and ww do I plant in the fox farm and ocean forest coco perlite mix or just the coco with perlite.
Ph water as you have. 6.5 In veg you use the natural Foxfarm soil until you see a need to add nutrients. At that point, follow the directions on the bottle. Also; You do not have to use nutrients every watering. I generally do a Watering with nutrients, then a watering with plain PH water
