Dinafem Orange Juice, Purps #1, Cheese CBD, Dinamed Plus Ebb and Flow Rockwool SOG (Animatey)

[Animatey]

It's not slimy, I can pull the stuff off and it comes off like little rocks. Flippin gross...

 

[RivetGrrl]

It's not slimy, I can pull the stuff off and it comes off like little rocks. Flippin gross...

What's it taste like?? (OK I'm sure you are not that gullible, but I'd feel bad if you actually DID)

For now I'd suggest removing the stuff and leave the "skirt" up for some air to circulate. See what MoG has to say when he is about.

 

[Animatey]

What's it taste like?? (OK I'm sure you are not that gullible, but I'd feel bad if you actually DID)

For now I'd suggest removing the stuff and leave the "skirt" up for some air to circulate. See what MoG has to say when he is about.

Lolol sounds like a plan (not the eating it part LOL) thanks for the help RG, glad you thought to check the roots...

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Yep I see. I do not think that is pythium as it looks more like a salt build up with kelp or humic acid coloring it. You can always add Botinicare HydroGuard just to be sure. Make sure you are getting ~20% run-off every day. I think the issue is Potassium deficiency. You need to up the PK booster.

 

[Animatey]

Thanks for the reply @Mañ'O'Green !

I'm doing ebb and flow but I have been top feeding twice a week with significant run off to try and reduce salt build up.

It does smell more moldy than the others, but I dunno.

Im not sure about humics, I'm only using GH trio right now without any PK.

EC in the rez is really low: .9EC

I'll try to up the bloom of the 3 part as it's mostly P, K and Mg.



Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Thanks for the reply @Mañ'O'Green !

I'm doing ebb and flow but I have been top feeding twice a week with significant run off to try and reduce salt build up.

It does smell more moldy than the others, but I dunno.

Im not sure about humics, I'm only using GH trio right now without any PK.

EC in the rez is really low: .9EC

I'll try to up the bloom of the 3 part as it's mostly P, K and Mg.



Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

That is really low. What is the EC of your water? You should be running 1.5 to 1.8 (not counting your water EC) by this stage of growth. Feed those poor plants they are hungry.

 

[Animatey]

That is really low. What is the EC of your water? You should be running 1.5 to 1.8 (not counting your water EC) by this stage of growth. Feed those poor plants they are hungry.

So the reason the EC is low is because after every top feed, the EC in the rez after the feed was higher than before the feed started. I hit some tip burn a week or two ago and have been gradually lowering, trying to get the run off to match what is going in.

I'm thinking I'll up the feed .3 EC a day until I'm closer to 2.0 EC. Would that make sense? Or should I up it faster? I don't wanna shock them with a big change in EC is all.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

So the reason the EC is low is because after every top feed, the EC in the rez after the feed was higher than before the feed started. I hit some tip burn a week or two ago and have been gradually lowering, trying to get the run off to match what is going in.

I'm thinking I'll up the feed .3 EC a day until I'm closer to 2.0 EC. Would that make sense? Or should I up it faster? I don't wanna shock them with a big change in EC is all.

Thanks for the help!

I see. You are supposed to top feed to waste. Without a lab there is know way to know what is in your reservoir if you are flushing that back into it. You need to understand Liebig's Law of the Minimums and how having one element too high can lock out another or one too low preventing uptake of others. Lets just say the plants are using a lot of N and leaving the other salts behind in the cubes all week and you flush those remaining salts back into the res. What you just did was raise everything except N into the res. High PPM/EC but low N. Now N is a limiting factor and the next time you flood your plants they get less of everything. This barrel visualizes the limiting factor. The water level runs out at the lowest slat and cannot reach the salts above the water level. (this analogy has nothing to do with flooding your cubes.)

Lets look at a scenario where one salt gets too high, CU copper gets too high and inhibits FE iron This in turn locks ZN and P.

This gets very complicated beyond most peeps chemistry level including my own. This is why it is absolutely vital that you change the reservoir every week and at the end of that week top feed to flush to waste the salt that may have built up. By doing this you know at least with the first flood from a fresh reservoir your plants are getting a balanced feeding.

Your not going to shock them if you go with 750 the first week and 900 the next week.

 

[Animatey]

I see. You are supposed to top feed to waste. Without a lab there is know way to know what is in your reservoir if you are flushing that back into it. You need to understand Liebig's Law of the Minimums and how having one element too high can lock out another or one too low preventing uptake of others. Lets just say the plants are using a lot of N and leaving the other salts behind in the cubes all week and you flush those remaining salts back into the res. What you just did was raise everything except N into the res. High PPM/EC but low N. Now N is a limiting factor and the next time you flood your plants they get less of everything. This barrel visualizes the limiting factor. The water level runs out at the lowest slat and cannot reach the salts above the water level. (this analogy has nothing to do with flooding your cubes.)

View attachment 1087998

Lets look at a scenario where one salt gets too high, CU copper gets too high and inhibits FE iron This in turn locks ZN and P.



View attachment 1087996


This gets very complicated beyond most peeps chemistry level including my own. This is why it is absolutely vital that you change the reservoir every week and at the end of that week top feed to flush to waste the salt that may have built up. By doing this you know at least with the first flood from a fresh reservoir your plants are getting a balanced feeding.

Your not going to shock them if you go with 750 the first week and 900 the next week.

Got it, and it makes sense of what I was seeing.

Having to top feed to waste makes things more complicated for sure...

No wonder you switched to drip lol...

Here is my plan:

Instead of flooding every day once I will:

-Top feed to waste today at 1.2 EC
-Top feed to waste tomorrow and Sunday at 1.5 EC
- Top feed to waste Monday at 1.8
- Start flooding again on Tuesday with 1.5-1.8
- Before my weekly rez change I will top feed with fresh feed to wastr and then dump the rez and change it


Is that too aggressive?

Thanks again for steering me straight on this...

 

[RivetGrrl]

Looks like MoG has you covered, I worry about roots too much, but it is still good to keep an eye on them. After my run in with pythium I'm a bit obsessed.