Hey everyone me again lol, so i got most of my next project set up and almost ready to go lining up with my veg tents week 4 stage ( going for monthly harvest) , this grow ill be using my 3 lights on a hand welded rail system i made to support one plant 2 mars hydro 600’s and 1 mars hydro 1500, a 16;gal mr stacky dwc bucket originally part of a 4 bucket plus res system,( but im starting at a single and working my way up), using hydroton and a 4" grodan cube with my rapid rooter plug in the center of that i have a floraflex top feed line ill use until my roots hit the res water, im running dutch masters full aqua commercial line , with their zone to go with " sterile method", the room is climate controlled and humidity controlled its also already integrated with a co2 enrichment system , im still a complete newb when it comes to full hydro though so any advice would be appreciated,y main question is the following.
how does topping off the res work when adding nutes?
i was going to start off by using just a basic clonex solution with an 1)8 strength sillica addative
res changes? just basically what and how lol
4 with Autoflower i know I use less nutes , but how do i schedule my grow and bloom strengths? just looking at the plants growth?
Sorry im sure most of you these sound rediculous for a guy who already has the system but pls any advice is appreciated
i switched to an easier to use 5 gal bucket for my res amd built and identical res so i can just fill the replacement prior and just move my 6" net pot that fit perfectly on the 5 gal btw
my main questions for the Autoflower were ,
how to gauge the nute schedule im growing a auto gelato from fastbuds , dwc is new to me the other question i have for anyone is topping off and water level im at established seedling right now no tap root visible through the net yet
My general practice for topping off versus adding nutrients is based on just measuring the numbers I am seeing in the reservoir. I like to do a little math to figure it out. So let’s say we’re using a 5 gallon bucket with a 6" net pot lid, so we’re only putting in say 3 gallons of water (with the size of the net pot and the requisite air gap taking up the rest of the space in the bucket).
Let’s say that we have a plant we’re feeding 1000ppms, so we set the reservoir at 1000ppms.
In two days let’s say that our plant drinks a gallon of water, so we have 2 gallons left in the bucket. If we measure our PPMs and they are pretty close to 1000ppm, then it’s my totally unscientific and unsupported belief that indicates it’s eating and drinking optimally. If the ppms are higher - which is normally the case - let’s say 1100ppm for the 2 gallons of water left, it probably indicates we could lower our nutrient level since it’s not eating more than it’s drinking. Likewise, if we measure it and it’s actually lower at 2 gallons than it was when we set it at 3 gallons, say you measure it at 900ppm, we might consider raising our PPMs.
So the way I approach top offs is like this:
If the PPMs are higher before the top off than they were when I set up the reservoir, I just add plain water (this is the case 90% of the time). I then measure the PPMs I have after I top them off, and it’s usually lower than where I started when I setup the bucket. That’s where I’ll probably set the bucket on the next change. So for example:
Start with 1000ppm
Before first top off, 1100ppm
Top of the bucket, 950ppm
Next full reservoir change I’d aim for 950ppm.
If PPMs are lower than where I started
Started at 1000ppm
Measured at 900ppm prior to topping off
In this case I added nutes mixed exactly like the starting much at 1000ppm and top it off with that
If PPMs are equal to where I started
I almost always just add water until they get down to a point where I see the plants want food
And my general rule of thumb is to reset the whole reservoir at the point where I think I’ve replaced all the original nutrients. So in the above scenario, if we have three gallons of water in the bucket and the plant is drinking a gallon a week, I’d give a new bucket every three weeks.
In my current situation I have a plant in a 5 gallon bucket drinking 3 gallons a week, so I am giving it complete bucket changes every week and only topping it off with water during mid-week.
@Bogleg nailed it…
Although he was only using those ppm’s as a way of getting his point across about how he goes about a feeding schedule and when and if he decides to do a complete dump and clean of his buckets…
You will very rarely go over 950 ppm’s at any point in your grow…
Since you dont even have roots yet , you should be top watering 2 or 3 times a day until roots hit the water and your water level should be 1 inch below the net basket and ppm’s around 100 to 200 should be fine for a couple of weeks until the plants start to take off…
@Not2SureYet hey , i have a couple auto questions, If you dont mind, like right now my auto gelato is stating a 9 week flower but most breeders never mention the veg time, are they all about 3 weeks? just trying to find an estimate of grow time,
Also i was going to just put a scrog net over it and lst it to start some extra shoots then spread em out a bit with a net should i even bother or maybe just lst? my light holder is meant to provide optimal light for one plant so i dont want to mess up it’s growth , also as far as nutrients go dutch masters are pretty straight forward with their nutes, they recommend 1/2 strength for autos , any advice for autos and nutrients? thanks ahead of time
thanks guys!!