Re-occuring tip burn/WALL of text

[Weedhound]

There are several basic rules to follow in hydro: When in doubt, decrease nutes, make sure of your ph, and increase aeration. So I;m going to say less nutes for now because a deficient plant will get worse with less nutes....but overnuting can kill your plants right off so it's always a better bet than raising nute levels "just to see if it helps" Usually a deficiency or lockout will simply become more apparent with less nutes.....helping you pin down the problem as many plant problems appear similar and sometimes all you can do is change things one by one until you find it.

I'd start with 1/2 strength nutes as directed on bottle. Your regular water minus the Britta.. Then I'd add 2-3 ml/gallon CalMag, adjust ph and see how they are looking tommorrow.

Ps ...check out Stinkyattic's Sticky on using RO or distilled water and cal mag. It's in the hydro forum and has tons of useful info about water chemistry.

I miss stinky.....

[bertoxxulous]

Well total things I'll be changing today then, I've got a 20gal resv. that I'm going to swap out with the 40gal, I'm going to put in the 2-3ml/gal Calmag, 1/2 strength nutes, and use tap instead of brita filtered water. I'll let you guys know when I've got that all set up. Hopefully they have CalMag at the store.

What happend to Stinky?

[Weedhound]

She got a life, damn her. :S2:

Sounds good; hope that works for you and I'd been willing to bet your hydro store has some sort CalMag (hope)

Also....not necessarily today.....but consider.a ZYME product for root health. Ask your hydro guy about them.......I love them myself and good ones really do hold root rot at bay. (not that I think this is your problem right now.......just thinking ahead.)

Keep us informed how it goes.........good luck..

[Weedhound]

double post....sorry

[Weedhound]

I can't remember if you have well water or not.....is there chlorine in it before you filter or are you guys on a well? If you are using CITY tap water, let it sit overnite before you use it to let the chlorine dissapate.....well water....no such problems unless you are adding something yourself.

[bertoxxulous]

Well, I'm just about to go, but I was reading up on that stuff you had suggested and your guide and I've got a question, you measure everything in PPM and I guess I don't know how to convert that PPM over to some metric or standard amount to use for the nute solution. I just isn't making sense to me I suppose. I don't know if I'll be able to afford a PPM meter or not but I'll let you know when I get back this evening...it does seem like a necissary thing however..I can see the importance in it. Another thing I'd like to ask...I've got Spray-n-Grow and I was wondering how much you think I should use it? I've been doing something like once a week foliar.

[Weedhound]

Yes, I live and die by pppms (actually it's the plants.....haha) so I feel a good meter is important but I like to take things step by step. If you are giving 3/4 strength nutes then I'm certainly comfortable dropping that level back because the plant has already seeen that level....so I know a lesser level is safe.

While we went out one day and spent a BUNCH of money one day to buy EVERYTHING we'd ever need it just doesn't seem to work out that way. You'll buy more equipment down the line as you dial in how you like to grow. Your growing style will change. Some people love the control you can achieve with hydro, while others find it a comlete hassle. There are those who never touch a ppm meter in hydro but I wouldn't even try it. There's more than one way to skin a cat you know (I've always hated that phrase but it fits here.....sorry all kitties) which is why I'm suggesting things rather than telling you that you need them.

PPMS are actually a less accurate term for measuring the nutrient content in your solution. The actual thing being tested is EC....the electrical conductivity of your water. This is the most accurate waya to test nute strength because it remains the same......the terms ppms (parts per million) and TDS (total dissoved solids) (both mean the same thing) are converted by your ppm meter; usually at calibrations of either 700 or 500. So basically the true meter is an ec meter........and it automatically calculates the ppm number for you.

[Weedhound]

Quite frankly, since I wrote that guide I no longer really use any foliar sprays except when needed; such as for pest control and mold prevention etc......I just don't really like what it does to the leaves after awhile. That said; if I was still using one it would be Liquid Light by Dutchmaster. Expensive, but DM products work well. I'd save the $$ on foliar sprays and let the nutes and light do the work.

[Weedhound]

Sorry, have never heard of Spray and grow so no help there.

Good luck.....it's just a matter of finding out what works for you and what doesn't There's merely a few million more details work out..........

[bertoxxulous]

@WeedHound - Well I just got back from the store not too long ago and and I do now have a decent PPM meter and some CalMag. I would like to let you know that I talked to the guys at my grow store and now realize what the fuss was about with the 40gal resv. I have a 2x4 flood table that is ~6 deep. The 40gal has enouph water to flood my table all the way. They also said that adjusting PH and nutes is easier in a larger resv. So it looks like I'll just stick with the 40gal. Now the other thing I was thinking about is that, I have only 27 one gallon jugs for filling, so I won't be able to let all of the water sit out over night. I usually put 35gal. in the resv. so thats a difference of 8gal. that would be able to sit over night. The brita filter said it pulled chlorine out of the water so I was wondering if I should fill those last 8 with brita filtered or just regular tap? And lastly....about the PPM thing...I guess what I'm trying to say is, how do I know how much overall PPM I'm supposed to be sitting at, at any given time (for example, I know I'm supposed to be at 5.6-5.8 PH, is there some number like that for PPM)? And, if thats the case how do you mesure your nutes based off of PPM instead of tsp/ml/gal or whatever? I'm going to measure my PPM in my resv., tap, and brita filter and let you know what I come up with.