Dialing In MEGA CROP for Auto's

[pop22]

Hot damn! No wonder your having problems, that's like stuffing a size 16 foot into a size 3 shoe!

I've been running my first dwc and using Mega Crop 2 part. It's been a learning experience for sure, but with help from some outstanding folks on AFN, I'm getting close to chop. The main problem I've had is ph swings. It started fairly steady, then started bottoming out almost daily in late veg, then got manageable during early flower and now is crashing daily again.

I'm growing in a ten gallon tote that took about 6 gallons to fill starting out, now it'll only hold about 2-1/2 gallons. She's starting to look a little frazzled because of it but I think I'll get her across home plate. I'm on day 93 and still have a week or two. View attachment 1330242

 

[Imagine]

Hot damn! No wonder your having problems, that's like stuffing a size 16 foot into a size 3 shoe!

You got that right. I'm trying to keep everything steady but its about like herding cats. I'm already working on a rdwc system for the next grow so I can increase the volume of water to help buffer the ph. I'm gonna use MC again and see how it works with that.

 

[Anasazi]

It's odd, I don't know many people using Megacrop in DWC/RDWC. If I had any interest in returning to DWC, I'd use Megacrop. Just a matter of getting it dialed in.

What do you have for a reservoir? how many gallons? It's normal to see the ppms drop. PH rises and lowers according to what your plants are feeding on. They exchange hydrogen ions for nutrients, Hydrogen (H+) or Hydroxide (OH-). H+ acidifies the solution and OH- lowers acidity. If you want or expct steady ph then you'd want to invest in a PH dosing meter. Otherwise, your PH will fluctuate throughout your grow. as long as you keep PH withing a reasonable range, the plants will tolerate PH fluctuation. I've long since forgotten what the range is but I'd say a +/- of 0.2 is acceptable. So if you run at 6.0, a range of 5.8 to 6.2 will work.
With three buckets I'd be running at least a 30 gallon res.

Hey pop! I have 3 5 gallon buckets connected to a 10 gallon trash can. When I fill the system up I basically put 3 and a half buckets of water in. I'm not even sure if it's accurate to call the 10 gallon trashcan a reservoir or if it's just a giant glorified control bucket lol. I mostly used advanced nutrients in my previous grows so I never really paid attention to ph. With my current grow the ph started off slowly rising but at about the week 4 mark that changed and ph started dropping a lot. I've been having to ph up twice a day and I've been trying to keep the ph closer to 6.0 because apparently calcium is absorbed better at that ph lvl and I've been battling calcium issues for a while. I've been successful so far at keeping them at bay.

Honestly, things have been going pretty well. I'm glad to hear I don't have to worry about the ph dropping and it's a normal thing though. It was lowkey stressing me out but ph up twice a day not the end of the world.

 

[pop22]

You'll have less of an issue with PH with a bigger res. If you can, get some thing in the 20-30 gallon range. PH will take longer to shift and your plants will get a steadier diet. Yep, your grow looks good! My suggestions are just to make it easier for you and a more consistent environment for your plants.

Hey pop! I have 3 5 gallon buckets connected to a 10 gallon trash can. When I fill the system up I basically put 3 and a half buckets of water in. I'm not even sure if it's accurate to call the 10 gallon trashcan a reservoir or if it's just a giant glorified control bucket lol. I mostly used advanced nutrients in my previous grows so I never really paid attention to ph. With my current grow the ph started off slowly rising but at about the week 4 mark that changed and ph started dropping a lot. I've been having to ph up twice a day and I've been trying to keep the ph closer to 6.0 because apparently calcium is absorbed better at that ph lvl and I've been battling calcium issues for a while. I've been successful so far at keeping them at bay.

Honestly, things have been going pretty well. I'm glad to hear I don't have to worry about the ph dropping and it's a normal thing though. It was lowkey stressing me out but ph up twice a day not the end of the world.

 

[4d-Rock]

So I figured I’d post a few pictures and maybe get some of your guys’ input.

This is my current tent at Day 46.

They started with reduced amounts of MC 1-part v2 at the beginning, increased up to 3.5 g/gal with 0.5g/gal Epsom salt by week 4 and have been keeping it fairly steady until a few days ago when the leaves have been getting yellower and some spotting occurring. The solos look like there’s maybe Mg-deficiency on the lower leaves which is weird with me supplementing it. So i upped the feed to 4.5G/gal and scaled up my epsom appropriately to about 0.65g/gal. I generally feed every watering to ~10% runoff though I have thrown in a plain water here or there.
I’ve attached some extra pictures of the various leaves. Obviously it isn’t a problem with just one strain being picky as I have 4 plants with 3 different strains not enjoying what they are getting. I checked and the pH is a bit high in pots with my meter running at around 6.3-6.6.
This is the type of thing that I can’t seem to avoid no matter what I try. I’m going to try to do a partial flush with a low concentration at a pH of around 6 to see if maybe that helps if it’s due to salt buildup or high pH. Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[TexasGrows]

I

So I figured I’d post a few pictures and maybe get some of your guys’ input.

This is my current tent at Day 46.
View attachment 1331518
They started with reduced amounts of MC 1-part v2 at the beginning, increased up to 3.5 g/gal with 0.5g/gal Epsom salt by week 4 and have been keeping it fairly steady until a few days ago when the leaves have been getting yellower and some spotting occurring. The solos look like there’s maybe Mg-deficiency on the lower leaves which is weird with me supplementing it. So i upped the feed to 4.5G/gal and scaled up my epsom appropriately to about 0.65g/gal. I generally feed every watering to ~10% runoff though I have thrown in a plain water here or there.
I’ve attached some extra pictures of the various leaves. Obviously it isn’t a problem with just one strain being picky as I have 4 plants with 3 different strains not enjoying what they are getting. I checked and the pH is a bit high in pots with my meter running at around 6.3-6.6.
This is the type of thing that I can’t seem to avoid no matter what I try. I’m going to try to do a partial flush with a low concentration at a pH of around 6 to see if maybe that helps if it’s due to salt buildup or high pH. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I am running a blue dream matic from fastbuds in 3.9 gal Autopot with a coco based soil. I am using MegaCrop v3 at 500 ppm constant feed.

I had been PH'd to 6.5. I was getting bad yellowing and the rust spots.

I did two things and got good Green up and no further spotting. Wish I had done them differently so I could say which one worked for sure.

I thought maybe it was hungry so I turned off that pot and fed an organic liquid nute with mycos, humic, fulvic etc... at 1030 ppm. It drank 3 trays in 24 hrs.

I then mixed a fresh res of MegaCrop V3 with 500 ppm at 6.0 pH.

She then greened up and and crunchy leaves and spots stopped.

Was it the stronger nute? Was it the pH change? Not sure but she's green again after being almost all yellow.

I lean towards the pH. After much reading I think my "soil" is closer to being a "soilless" and needs a pH closer to what coco uses. I am using a soil mix of coco, compost, worm castings, basalt sand, aged pine bark. I don't know ratios but I think its mostly coco.

 

[elcoloan]

So I figured I’d post a few pictures and maybe get some of your guys’ input.

This is my current tent at Day 46.
View attachment 1331518
They started with reduced amounts of MC 1-part v2 at the beginning, increased up to 3.5 g/gal with 0.5g/gal Epsom salt by week 4 and have been keeping it fairly steady until a few days ago when the leaves have been getting yellower and some spotting occurring. The solos look like there’s maybe Mg-deficiency on the lower leaves which is weird with me supplementing it. So i upped the feed to 4.5G/gal and scaled up my epsom appropriately to about 0.65g/gal. I generally feed every watering to ~10% runoff though I have thrown in a plain water here or there.
I’ve attached some extra pictures of the various leaves. Obviously it isn’t a problem with just one strain being picky as I have 4 plants with 3 different strains not enjoying what they are getting. I checked and the pH is a bit high in pots with my meter running at around 6.3-6.6.
This is the type of thing that I can’t seem to avoid no matter what I try. I’m going to try to do a partial flush with a low concentration at a pH of around 6 to see if maybe that helps if it’s due to salt buildup or high pH. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Are these in the medium to which you added dolomite?

 

[4d-Rock]

Thanks @TexasGrows , I think your probably right on the pH thought. Looking at them today and they are worsening fairly quickly, more than you’d expect if they just were slightly under on ppms.

@elcoloan you may also be on to something there. These ones do have the extra dolomitic lime. I added about 1TBSP per gallon of soil. The slow release of that and it’s neutralizing potentia, coupled with my waterings which I’ve kept on the high side due to previous grows tanking in pH, may have lead to the creep upwards in pH. So maybe some lockout is happening.

I’m going to do a bit of a flush with some low ppms solution at 6pH and then give a normal dose of MC and see how things progress.

 

[Anasazi]

Megacrop 2 part has been working pretty well for me in RDWC so far. I could have did better with some of my feedings but it's a learning curve and its my first time using it. I tried sticking to 500-600 ppms but my girls were just too beastly and greedy. I was seeing big ppm drops per day before I decided to up the ppms. I didn't expect these plants to be so big and slow. Good thing I still got some bud left from my last grow! ;D

Day 50 in 5x5 tent
3x mephisto sour crack



At this rate I think i'm going to stick with megacrop

 

[Imagine]

Megacrop 2 part has been working pretty well for me in RDWC so far. I could have did better with some of my feedings but it's a learning curve and its my first time using it. I tried sticking to 500-600 ppms but my girls were just too beastly and greedy. I was seeing big ppm drops per day before I decided to up the ppms. I didn't expect these plants to be so big and slow. Good thing I still got some bud left from my last grow! ;D

Day 50 in 5x5 tent
3x mephisto sour crack

View attachment 1338652View attachment 1338653View attachment 1338654View attachment 1338655

At this rate I think i'm going to stick with megacrop

Nice job! My current grow is dwc and Mega Crop. I know what you mean about big and slow, I'm chopping today at day 115. Long wait but I think it will be worth it.