Grow Mediums Autoflower Feeding Schedule

[UniqueFem]

Hello fellow hydroponic growers. Is there a definite or solid Feeding schedule for auto flowers? I've been growing for some time now but I'm still a newbie. I've had some great grows and some not so great grows. Can someone please help or at least point me in the right direction? Thanks

 

[briman]

what nute line are you using? It always a good idea to start out at 1/4 strength and slowly work you way up, just until you see a bit of tip burn in flower. Its better to underfeed just a bit in veg.

 

[CoviklaFlaire]

Can I ask something? my girls need water every 5 days, last time I gave them 2/3 of AN ferts..My biggest concern is how often to feed? Every watering or every other watering..

 

[briman]

You can ask me anything you need mate! I am here to help. I feed every watering. I use less volume of a feed and feed them more often. doing that will give you hydro type yields. So if you feed every 5 days, feed them less, more often. So give them less feed water and water them every 2 days. If you can, try and get it down to daily feedings. Cannabis love daily feedings. Really your watering schedule will boil down to your life/work schedule. If you can feed them every day, cut your schedule down too. I used to run 5- 5gallon containers and mix feed every day and each plant would get 1liter of feed a day and grew some real big monsters. Also, if you are hand watering, dont just water them and be done with it, try a slow pour to get all the medium wet on top and picture getting all the medium in the pot wet with how much you feed them with.

 

[CoviklaFlaire]

Thank you a lot, im using AN ph perfect line , and I Don't know how efficent it is in lowering ph at 1/4 if strenth, my tap water is hard as rock, and ph is 8.6, till now when i gave them pure water I was adding full dose of carbo load.. I'm growing photo.p now, but next run is autos again.. And yes i have 15l air pots, so i must water them slowly,and its my first air pot grow so Im still at learning curve.. thank you a lot for ansvering

 

[MedGrower]

Regardless of the nutrient line and what dosages the manufacturer recommends I think when it comes to hydroponics, it is useful to talk about the feed strength with right names. Let's talk it in terms like EC (electrical conductivity) or PPM (parts per million as in TDS, total dissolved solids).

I used to ponder that same issue about what is the right dosage generally and have found this hold pretty much a good rule of thumb:

Week 1 : Water + 0.3 EC (Hanna ppm 150ppm)
Week 2 : Water + 0.5 EC (Hanna ppm 250ppm
Week 3 : Water + 0.7 EC (Hanna ppm 350ppm)
Week 4 : Water + 0.9 EC (Hanna ppm 450ppm)

(for "water", add the EC/PPM value of your own water source you use as a solvent)

By the week 4 your plants might be developed enough to make an impact to the reservoir. At that point, simply keep measuring your EC / PPM and see if it goes up or down. If the value goes down, this means you have to increase nutrients. If the value goes up, you need to tone the solution down by adding more water. What you want is a solution that stays at the same EC / PPM level because then you have isotonic solution and the plant will have optimal amount of dissolved nutrients that will be transferred to the plant cells.

I think it is generally useless to try to make any other rules of thumb since the needs for a individual plant varies depending on a whole host of factors starting from genetics to enviromental factors, like humidity and temperature, amount of light and type of light received. Invest in a good EC / PPM -meter and take daily readings and make adjustments based on that. Oh, and remember to take good care of that precious instrument and calibrate it regularry.