Coffee Monster
Sole Survivor
So for lack of a better way of putting it, the additional water in the low EC mix sort of buffers against the plant being overwhelmed by the nutes
New Grower Question about how the girls eat?
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The concentration delivered to where it's going to be absorbed, not the amount, is what matters with nutrient absorption, whether roots or foliar.
Think of it in terms of: If you had to consume a dose of poison, would you rather have it diluted in a quart/liter or even a lot more or in an ounce/30 mL of water? With the higher concentration and less fluid in the way, the oz/30 mL will be better, quicker absorbed. The much diluted stuff will take longer to be absorbed from more water, while much of it may simply pass through the system.
Think of it in terms of: If you had to consume a dose of poison, would you rather have it diluted in a quart/liter or even a lot more or in an ounce/30 mL of water? With the higher concentration and less fluid in the way, the oz/30 mL will be better, quicker absorbed. The much diluted stuff will take longer to be absorbed from more water, while much of it may simply pass through the system.
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:smoking: ...here's the deal with nute uptake:
-- Many nutrients are taken up whether the plant needs them or not, it's physiologically automatic! N toxicity is a classic example of this... The plant can only utilize so much of it at a time, so it gets converted into other compounds until needed, the same way sugars are turned into starches... That has it's limits too, so beyond this (where my plant phys' gets hazy!) whatever happens next, causes the toxicity symptoms.... In nature, such nutrient bounty usually isn't around, so this "obligate uptake" is a survival strategy of sorts, to get fat while the fat's around! So you see, the higher the ppm's (or lower the volume of water per same amount of nutes), the more free ions are getting in contact with the root cells responsible for uptake, the more gets taken in-- faster sometimes, than the plant can deal with! ...
So, about the ion exchange process, + or - charge,... the plant has two tricky things to juggle all the time: pH balance, and electrical charge balance, all part of that homeostasis thing,... in order to keep these two things balanced, when an ion goes in, another equal charge equivalent needs to go out; these usually are in the form of are H+ and OH-... nitrate(NO3-) anion in, OH- goes out; Ca++ in, 2 H+'s go out.... this is how the root zone creates it's own pH "microclimate" of sorts, and might be different from a pH reading outside of it! ...OH- and H+ do get taken back in as well, by other processes, some of which help generate (chemical/ATP) energy.... This is all very generalized, not all nutes are dealt with like this, and in truth, it gets complicated as hell when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it all,...
--Lottsa crap I don't remember anymore- 
.... makes more sense now? 
-- Many nutrients are taken up whether the plant needs them or not, it's physiologically automatic! N toxicity is a classic example of this... The plant can only utilize so much of it at a time, so it gets converted into other compounds until needed, the same way sugars are turned into starches... That has it's limits too, so beyond this (where my plant phys' gets hazy!) whatever happens next, causes the toxicity symptoms.... In nature, such nutrient bounty usually isn't around, so this "obligate uptake" is a survival strategy of sorts, to get fat while the fat's around! So you see, the higher the ppm's (or lower the volume of water per same amount of nutes), the more free ions are getting in contact with the root cells responsible for uptake, the more gets taken in-- faster sometimes, than the plant can deal with! ...
So, about the ion exchange process, + or - charge,... the plant has two tricky things to juggle all the time: pH balance, and electrical charge balance, all part of that homeostasis thing,... in order to keep these two things balanced, when an ion goes in, another equal charge equivalent needs to go out; these usually are in the form of are H+ and OH-... nitrate(NO3-) anion in, OH- goes out; Ca++ in, 2 H+'s go out.... this is how the root zone creates it's own pH "microclimate" of sorts, and might be different from a pH reading outside of it! ...OH- and H+ do get taken back in as well, by other processes, some of which help generate (chemical/ATP) energy.... This is all very generalized, not all nutes are dealt with like this, and in truth, it gets complicated as hell when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it all,...
--Lottsa crap I don't remember anymore- .... makes more sense now? 
Look out... BO
INS!
Quick, take their lunch money! [emoji2]
INS!Quick, take their lunch money! [emoji2]
Coffee Monster
Sole Survivor
It's making more sense now... OMG, did he say BOINS????
INS????
KapScot
Just Say No... well ok then if I must
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BUONERY...Shirley... ?
Since hydroponic systems are designed to deliver 'just enough' nutes at the right pH continuously it makes little sense to torch 'burn' plants in soil with a 'weekly feed'. (my thought).
Personally, I use a diluted feed throughout (roughly based on how many litres it consumes per week spread out). I don't see the +/-ion thing working differently at different dilutions, but I may be wrong << there is either a potential for a reaction or not. Adding concentration doesn't 'force' that reaction if there isn't a reagent. So the roots ability to absorb nutes is the most limiting factor (not the concentration of the feed) << I will accept some Osmotic potential there but uptake does not mean a nute is used, one of the reasons people flush plants to get rid of unwanted nutes and salt deposits.
I grow in 11L Airpots with Plagron Batmix << really apart from some CalMag (I concur with the view that LEDs make the plants CalMag whores) and maybe a pit of added P|K nutes as flowering gets under way you don't need more. The Batmix is high in N so takes care of all the start and it has most of the micronutes added too. Expensive but worth it IMO.
Sometimes I think we get tooo Scientific...which is fine for Hydroplebs - but for us soilies we should embrace the spiders and the thrips.
Stay Green
ONERY...Shirley... ?Since hydroponic systems are designed to deliver 'just enough' nutes at the right pH continuously it makes little sense to torch 'burn' plants in soil with a 'weekly feed'. (my thought).
Personally, I use a diluted feed throughout (roughly based on how many litres it consumes per week spread out). I don't see the +/-ion thing working differently at different dilutions, but I may be wrong << there is either a potential for a reaction or not. Adding concentration doesn't 'force' that reaction if there isn't a reagent. So the roots ability to absorb nutes is the most limiting factor (not the concentration of the feed) << I will accept some Osmotic potential there but uptake does not mean a nute is used, one of the reasons people flush plants to get rid of unwanted nutes and salt deposits.
I grow in 11L Airpots with Plagron Batmix << really apart from some CalMag (I concur with the view that LEDs make the plants CalMag whores) and maybe a pit of added P|K nutes as flowering gets under way you don't need more. The Batmix is high in N so takes care of all the start and it has most of the micronutes added too. Expensive but worth it IMO.
Sometimes I think we get tooo Scientific...which is fine for Hydroplebs - but for us soilies we should embrace the spiders and the thrips.
Stay Green
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