deficiency in autoflower

[BII]

From what I’ve heard here from other known members AN PH perfect nutes only are ph perfect at high doses and your starting water is going to make a difference whether it be RO or TAP. You can’t believe all the sales gimmicks

What is the sales gimmick with pH Perfect that you see as a negative? [In many respects it has gimmick, the pH Perfect chemistry, but this is a benefit, meets marketing claims].

There are many successful auto growers using pH Perfect. It surely must be one of the most popular product lines, including auto growers. Likely nearly all users don't bother to mess with pH adjustment. Yes, you need good water for full benefits (but everybody should start with low-salts water).

And it definitely works at other than high doses. Right now I have seedlings sprouting in coco/perlite in quart/L containers charged with 1 mL/L AN pH Perfect Connoisseur Grow A&B, and will keep at that this 1/4 of AN-recommended dose for several weeks.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@bamdamhigh Welcome to AFN .

What is the PPM and source of your starting water?

When You bottom feed coco the nutrients will not rise all of the way to the top and you will get a "salt line" where the nutrients stop and the water evaporates off. This salt line can become quite strong and exceed toxic levels. Then when you thought you were flushing it you were really pushing a toxic level of salts down through the pot. This alone will cause you all manor of grief. Then you say you left it in the reservoir? always flush to waste. You can reduce the effect of the salt build-up by top watering at least once a week with 50% strength nutrients.

Here is some useful information about salt fertilizers in autoflowers:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

 

[Lil Dab]

What is the sales gimmick with pH Perfect that you see as a negative? [In many respects it has gimmick, the pH Perfect chemistry, but this is a benefit, meets marketing claims].

There are many successful auto growers using pH Perfect. It surely must be one of the most popular product lines, including auto growers. Likely nearly all users don't bother to mess with pH adjustment. Yes, you need good water for full benefits (but everybody should start with low-salts water).

And it definitely works at other than high doses. Right now I have seedlings sprouting in coco/perlite in quart/L containers charged with 1 mL/L AN pH Perfect Connoisseur Grow A&B, and will keep at that this 1/4 of AN-recommended dose for several weeks.

I'm just going off what other members here I have seen grow nice plants and more then one said at less then full strength the "ph perfect" didn't shine through at less then full strength. Maybe they were wrong but they had real nice big plants so it's hard to argue with that. I wouldn't trust it till I ran it for a while I seen for my self. I would really love to tune in and watch one of your grows

 

[bamdamhigh]

@bamdamhigh Welcome to AFN .

What is the PPM and source of your starting water?

When You bottom feed coco the nutrients will not rise all of the way to the top and you will get a "salt line" where the nutrients stop and the water evaporates off. This salt line can become quite strong and exceed toxic levels. Then when you thought you were flushing it you were really pushing a toxic level of salts down through the pot. This alone will cause you all manor of grief. Then you say you left it in the reservoir? always flush to waste. You can reduce the effect of the salt build-up by top watering at least once a week with 50% strength nutrients.

Here is some useful information about salt fertilizers in autoflowers:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

ppm of my tap water is between 300-400ppm, which is around 0.7EC that's why I was skipping Calmag cause with nutes I could easily spike my EC to 1700-1900 range.

 

[JP1]

ppm of my tap water is between 300-400ppm, which is around 0.7EC that's why I was skipping Calmag cause with nutes I could easily spike my EC to 1700-1900 range.

Half that starting water with ro or distilled. Skip the calmag. Also takes at least 8 gallons, per pot, to flush an autopot from my experience

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

ppm of my tap water is between 300-400ppm, which is around 0.7EC that's why I was skipping Calmag cause with nutes I could easily spike my EC to 1700-1900 range.

You need to get a water quality report from your supplier most municipal water systems have this posted online. It could be that most of the 400 PPM is calcium carbonate that is not available to the plant and can lock-up other nutrients as well. As mentioned above mixing RO/DI with your starting water to get it down to <100 PPM will be helpful. Anything above 200PPM is a problem.

 

[BII]

@bamdamhigh Welcome to AFN .

What is the PPM and source of your starting water?

When You bottom feed coco the nutrients will not rise all of the way to the top and you will get a "salt line" where the nutrients stop and the water evaporates off. This salt line can become quite strong and exceed toxic levels. Then when you thought you were flushing it you were really pushing a toxic level of salts down through the pot. This alone will cause you all manor of grief. Then you say you left it in the reservoir? always flush to waste. You can reduce the effect of the salt build-up by top watering at least once a week with 50% strength nutrients.

Here is some useful information about salt fertilizers in autoflowers:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

Using AC Infinity bottom feeding bases, if I ever need to flush, for better release and removal of media- and root-bound nutrients into the water, would you recommend using or avoiding a chelating (metal ion-grabbing)-based product made for flushing? For ex., Flawless Finish/Adv. Nutr. or Drip Clean/House & Garden (both respectable sources)? Are these coco safe; will or won't mess up the coco's buffering, Ca/Mg binding, etc.?

I usually never top feed my AC Infinity base plants, meaning I never do a drain-to-waste much less an actual flushing from start to harvest. I presume a strong salt line is OK as long as it's not disturbed, as long as upward wicking/flow is maintained (and I use added, about 6 vs. the 2 wicks the co. provides; my salt line is ~2 inches from top in taller profile true 5 gallon bags). But could I and other coco bottom feeders do better by doing something different, such as periodic thorough flushing/recharging?

 

[bamdamhigh]

You need to get a water quality report from your supplier most municipal water systems have this posted online. It could be that most of the 400 PPM is calcium carbonate that is not available to the plant and can lock-up other nutrients as well. As mentioned above mixing RO/DI with your starting water to get it down to <100 PPM will be helpful. Anything above 200PPM is a problem.

I mixed a full dose of advanced nutes ph perfect trio with 10L distilled water(850ppm/1.7EC) to test the ph spikes and understand if the water was the main problem. I will keep watching the reservoir over the next few days to see if that was the original problem.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Using AC Infinity bottom feeding bases, if I ever need to flush, for better release and removal of media- and root-bound nutrients into the water, would you recommend using or avoiding a chelating (metal ion-grabbing)-based product made for flushing? For ex., Flawless Finish/Adv. Nutr. or Drip Clean/House & Garden (both respectable sources)? Are these coco safe; will or won't mess up the coco's buffering, Ca/Mg binding, etc.?

I usually never top feed my AC Infinity base plants, meaning I never do a drain-to-waste much less an actual flushing from start to harvest. I presume a strong salt line is OK as long as it's not disturbed, as long as upward wicking/flow is maintained (and I use added, about 6 vs. the 2 wicks the co. provides; my salt line is ~2 inches from top in taller profile true 5 gallon bags). But could I and other coco bottom feeders do better by doing something different, such as periodic thorough flushing/recharging?

Flush coco with 50% strength (50% of what ever you are using at the time you flush) nutrients. Just double the water of whatever you are mixing.

Salt lines are like a time bomb maybe it goes off maybe not.

No, weekly top fertigating will prevent the problem in the first place no "flushing" needed.

 

[BII]

Flush coco with 50% strength (50% of what ever you are using at the time you flush) nutrients. Just double the water of whatever you are mixing.

Salt lines are like a time bomb maybe it goes off maybe not.

No, weekly top fertigating will prevent the problem in the first place no "flushing" needed.

So bottom feeding supplemented with weekly top feeding, which presumably dissolves the salt line. But when/how are the salts gotten rid of? Should this top fertigating be a good drain-to-waste or even a good flushing?