Grow Mediums PickleRicks first DWC - LED

[MedGrower]

Yea, I was asking because I had trouble with AN nutes in coco. I grown in soil before and never checked pH - works great because of buffers in soil. But it's different song in coco, as I said.

So if I understand right... you adjusting to 6.2 in hydro and keep it at 6.2 when dropped/raised?
What about airstones - they raise pH I read... with AN nutes too?

Yeah that's right I pretty much aim to 6.2 all times these days and keep it there. That's just me and I've seen people do it at 5.8 with no problems too. It is just not the case for everyone and it's important to keep in mind that none of these things are edged in stone. Airstones will raise pH of the water as they oxygenate the water if it's not oxygenated already. Change usually can be something like 0.2 but in my experience it only affects your solution if your water isn't already oxygenated and if the solution is rather weak. Usually it wont really impact your solution when it has stronger fertilizing going on.

 

[PickleRick]

Pickle: what does the top look like? Remember to follow the plant with bloom nutes not push the plant.

Thanks for the advice mate! I've been measuring her every night, so I knew when the stretch stopped. She's been on the new feed 2 days I think, and I see daily bud development. :smoking:
Pictures coming!

 

[PickleRick]

@Archiweedies @MedGrower @KonopCh Here is my experiance so far

First grow in hydro and first time I use AN. After the first week both my plants started showing deficiancies, so I gave my first feed right about then.
I use RO water. While they were small, I would say right up until they started the stretch, the pH was very stable at 5.8pH. Had to adjust it maybe once or twice a week with checking 2 times a day. The plants never got better even though I upped the cal feeding alot, raised the light and foliar sprayed with cal.
MedGrower gave me a tip to rise the pH, since cal is absorbed better at around 6.3pH in hydro. The plants have been on 6.3pH for 9 days, the rust spots are definitely not coming as fast now.

On using AN. Now when the plants are bigger and drinking more than 1L/day, the pH has started flactuating. From morning to night it has been as much as 0.8pH difference.
From start till now the pH has been as low as 4.7 and as high as 6.9..the plants have never showed any other signs of deficiancies, leafs are constantly pointing up to the light. But at this stage if I wouldn't check the pH, I think it would go out of range quite fast, no matter how chealted the nutrients are.

Here are some pictures from today, enojy and happy growing ppl :smoking:

Day 33
Super critical auto

First sign of frost

 

[MedGrower]

@Archiweedies @MedGrower @KonopCh Here is my experiance so far

First grow in hydro and first time I use AN. After the first week both my plants started showing deficiancies, so I gave my first feed right about then.
I use RO water. While they were small, I would say right up until they started the stretch, the pH was very stable at 5.8pH. Had to adjust it maybe once or twice a week with checking 2 times a day. The plants never got better even though I upped the cal feeding alot, raised the light and foliar sprayed with cal.
MedGrower gave me a tip to rise the pH, since cal is absorbed better at around 6.3pH in hydro. The plants have been on 6.3pH for 9 days, the rust spots are definitely not coming as fast now.

On using AN. Now when the plants are bigger and drinking more than 1L/day, the pH has started flactuating. From morning to night it has been as much as 0.8pH difference.
From start till now the pH has been as low as 4.7 and as high as 6.9..the plants have never showed any other signs of deficiancies, leafs are constantly pointing up to the light. But at this stage if I wouldn't check the pH, I think it would go out of range quite fast, no matter how chealted the nutrients are.

Here are some pictures from today, enojy and happy growing ppl :smoking:

Day 33
Super critical auto
View attachment 801475

View attachment 801476

View attachment 801477

First sign of frost
View attachment 801478

Looking good and I really like tht frost you got going there! If I may, I would predict your pH will start to settle and stay stable after a week or two from now.

I've asked this around before and no one seems to know for sure but it seems pH in DWC starts to radically drift on some gardens between weeks 4 and 6 with autos. I suspect it has something to do with the plant shifting to generative mode and perhaps something with the biochemistry of the rhizosphere? Seems you have this going too so now you know and you can be aware of this repeating on next grows too!

 

[Ryker604_BT]

Heh, now I figured out that I only left one comment here and I'm subbed since the beginning . Going nicely now mate, but where are pictures of the AutoBomb?

 

[Journey Man]

Its moving along nicely in here! Good job PickleRick.

 

[Duckster]

Aside from marketing, there is no "pH perfect", sadly. Best you can hope for is "pH stable". I've used AN for couple of years and have observed fluctuating pH and what damage it will do if left unchecked. You may need to buffer your solutions depending on your conditions, most of the time it's all ok but I'd still recommend measuring pH and adjusting as you go, preferably daily in hydro. Simply put, pH perfect is scientific impossibility. Like with most good nutrient manufacturers the nutrients are well chelated that means widening the zone roots can uptake nutrients. You shouldn't confuse chelation with pH being perfect, though.

I don't mean to sound a like douchebag mr. know it all but I hate to see people being fooled too

I would have to agree. AN gets my res to 5.7-5.8 when I do a change, but I still have to check the ph daily and adjust as needed.

Hey Rick just stumbled on your grow. Let me say this up front, I am by no means an expert and I commend you on your perseverance.
I have grown a plant for 60 days in DWC. That sound weird but let me explain. I bought auto seeds and started three. Only had space for one in my res so I transplanted ( with stunting lol

) two of the outside and the grew and I still got a zip each dried. The third turned out to be an photoperiod plant and by the time I realized it( my first autos by the way) it was too big for my space. I tried to save it but its fate was sealed. It didn't take well to having its roots literally stuffed into a 3 gallon smart pot.

Before her demise she was glorious!

The reason for all these words is I wanted you to know that my plant was grown using AN 3part MGB nutes, cal mag, Hydroguard, and a product called z7 (an enzyme) the z7 and hydroguard were my line of defense against heat. I live in SoCal and at the time, my grow space was in an unfinished garage. I was at the mercy of nature. Inland we see temps well into the hundreds for a couple weeks here and there and my roots were fantastic. I later added a modification to my reservoir. It's called an ice probe and it is basically a fancy heat exchanger. In my insulated res, it brought temps down at least 8-10 degrees below ambient. If you have heat issues, consider it.

I sorely want to try my hand again at hydro, but it will have to wait until I move some plants out of the tent. When I do, you better believe my reservoir will have AN ph perfect in it and z7 and hydroguard.

Speaking of ph perfect, I saw you talk about adjusting the ph a couple times. According to a customer service representative at AN, that's a no no. Trust me, I freak out when I watered my current plants with their nutes and my ph didn't adjust down to sub 6.0 ph. But they take it just fine. The rep explained to me that ph perfect works by widening the zone at which the roots can uptake nutrients. I'll keep using their stuff until I find something easier.




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I have one of those chillers on my res. I'd say that 8-10F drop from ambient is about right. I have 2 plants in my res and I have noticed that the plant closest to the chiller is always smaller. This is only my 2nd grow using the chiller so it might be a coincidence.

 

[Archiweedies]

I don't mean to sound a like douchebag mr. know it all but I hate to see people being fooled too

If you had to start the sentence with a disclaimer, it's too late!
The first sentence of my post explained my inexperience in hydro and I offered photographic proof of what little experience I did have. I also offered the information I was given by an AN Rep. I don't think I came across as a "know it all" at all. If I did, let me just tell you I am a very self critical person, it's not in my nature to think I know more than anyone.

Now I know that "ph perfect" is a hotly debated topic. I offered my thoughts and experiences on an open forum in a thread which honestly isn't getting a lot of views. I have made good friends in the past on such journals so I decided to stop in and try to make some friends since I just recently found this forum. Thanks for making me feel welcome.


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[blue]

If you had to start the sentence with a disclaimer, it's too late!
The first sentence of my post explained my inexperience in hydro and I offered photographic proof of what little experience I did have. I also offered the information I was given by an AN Rep. I don't think I came across as a "know it all" at all. If I did, let me just tell you I am a very self critical person, it's not in my nature to think I know more than anyone.

Now I know that "ph perfect" is a hotly debated topic. I offered my thoughts and experiences on an open forum in a thread which honestly isn't getting a lot of views. I have made good friends in the past on such journals so I decided to stop in and try to make some friends since I just recently found this forum. Thanks for making me feel welcome.


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Hey Archie - Think there may be a miscommunication / misinterpretation here. I think Medgrower is saying HE doesn't want to come accross like a Mr Knowitall ... i'm almost certain that's what he meant.

Just a funny phrasing! Hope this chills any bad feelings

 

[Ryker604_BT]

Not sure if I caught up with everything, but I think that wasn't meant for you at all.