Hey Fellow Farmers,
I’m trying to elevate my game so I purchased a new Hanna EC/PPM meter. I’m currently in the 7th week of a Lowryder soil grow. I’ve been monitoring pH religiously and it’s in the range of 6.2 to 6.7, for input and run off. The plants look great with absolutely no discoloration or spots
I have 5 gal pots with FF Happy Frog potting soil.
Ok so here is what I’m unsure about… if my water/nutrient mix is going in at 900 PPM, 500 scale, and the run off water is at 220 PPM am I under feeding? My well water is 190 PPM , 7.2 pH before mixing with nutrients, I then pH balance the mix to between 6.2 and 6.7 moving a little in order to keep the run off in range.
Essentially what should the run off be in proportion to the water/nutrient mix going in? The same? Lower? How much lower? I know you don’t want it higher or you have salt buildup.
I’m using a full Dyna Grow program and currently using Bloom, Mag Pro and Pro Tekt. So I believe I have a good balance of required nutrients.
That is pretty odd to be adding 900ppm and then getting a return of 220ppm. I usually water around 5.8ph, 500-600ppm with my 1/4 -1/3 dosage of nutes added (my well water is 180ppm and ~8ph) and I get a runoff 800-1200ppm, 5.9 to 6.2pH.
On some TDS meters there ins’t four digits - there a 10x multiplier indicator that isn’t exactly easy to see. Are you sure it is not 2200?
I’m growing in soil… I’m sure the meter is working properly and it does have 4 digits. My water/nutrient mix is 6.4 pH with 840 to 900 PPM, the runoff is around 6.7 pH, can change some but not much, and 220 PPM. So I assume the plant is taking up nutrients, it’s growing nicely , but i was wondering if im not feeding it enough. Did some research and at this stage of flower the plant is consuming it’s highest level of nutrients so I’m going to slowly up the PPM and keep a close eye on the runoff… I just don’t want to burn them! Thanks for the reply!
I slowely upped the PPM a few hundred and im holding. The plants look very healthy with the largest Lowryder reaching 45 inches! They are 8 weeks old from seed tomorrow and the flowers are really looking amazing!
Your plants are looking beautiful!
I’m a firm believer over feeding can cause problems. I think you are right on par with what you are doing. A plus with your feeding schedule and uptake of nutes will eliminate the need to flush in the end.
I see plenty of people pump their plants full of nutes, 2000 plus and need to flush regularly. Seems like a waste of nutes going down the drain. Feeding in moderation leaves a smaller foot print on the environment.
Here is the meter I’m using. As you can see it has 4 digits and a range of 0 to 3000. I just calibrated the meter so im pretty confident in the readings. These are Lowryder and I’ve read they typically don’t want a huge amount of nutrients so I’ve been mostly feeding a 1/4 th dosage. When I increased to 1/2 dosage the runoff went up to 380 and my pH dropped to 5.8, salt buildup im assuming, so I did a light flush to bring the runoff up to 6.2. I’m backing the nutrients down to 1/4th. I should only have a couple weeks to go so we will see… by the way the large Lowryder hit 4 ft tall! From everything I read this is absurdly large… can’t wait to see what the yeild will be!
, but i was wondering if im not feeding it enough. Did some research and at this stage of flower the plant is consuming it’s highest level of nutrients so I’m going to slowly up the PPM and keep a close eye on the runoff… I just don’t want to burn them! Thanks for the reply!
