Nutrient lockout Q

[Riptidedd]

Hi everyone,
If you saw my last post called something like more mephisto problems or something like that, it seems people thought my yellowing and browning leaves on my samsquanch og auto were caused by nutrient lockout

I'm following up with a new thread because I have data on this and questions. I used phd (6.4) rainwater today and flushed the 20 gallons of soil (coco loco , oceanforest , pearlite , equal parts) in my smart pot to produce a decent level of runoff. The runoff started around 800 or so ppm abd then by the end up to 1400 ppm. The ph was exactly the same in and out .

I think my issue is from not regularly producing enough runoff with my nute feedings since the pots at thay size just need soooo much water to runoff enough (considering 10 gal next time) , and my scrog makes it hard to water (all this was done due to med grow restrictions I aim to follow but I wanted size lol) .

Anyhow knowing the ec variance here is so great between input and drain /output, should I just water with plain pHd water for a couple times until runoff is lower ? Or should I be watering like 40 gallons at once till it is coming out clean? I read sk.ewhere that too much at once is problematic to the plant so I just drained it a decent amount and stopped. I can wait for it to dry and repeat though?

I also read that you shouldn't do too much pure water and instead feed but make sure that it drains out some too at this point.

So given that my leaves show issues and the ec data coming out, wat would you do ? Let dry and clean water to runoff again? And if so for how long?

My other plants in rhe tent aren't looking as bad but have slight yellow tips , I assume I should do the same for them as they likely have salt accumulation too?

Appreciate your help for best practice nutrient lockout flushing/balancing. Thanks!!

 

[MotaZona]

I grow stuff organically, so I’m a little out of my comfort zone here. Having said that, if you use a wetting agent, it will help prevent the accumulation of salts. I’m not sure what the frequency/dose should be, but others here use yucca & other types & may have a strategy.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Hi everyone,
If you saw my last post called something like more mephisto problems or something like that, it seems people thought my yellowing and browning leaves on my samsquanch og auto were caused by nutrient lockout

I'm following up with a new thread because I have data on this and questions. I used phd (6.4) rainwater today and flushed the 20 gallons of soil (coco loco , oceanforest , pearlite , equal parts) in my smart pot to produce a decent level of runoff. The runoff started around 800 or so ppm abd then by the end up to 1400 ppm. The ph was exactly the same in and out .

I think my issue is from not regularly producing enough runoff with my nute feedings since the pots at thay size just need soooo much water to runoff enough (considering 10 gal next time) , and my scrog makes it hard to water (all this was done due to med grow restrictions I aim to follow but I wanted size lol) .

Anyhow knowing the ec variance here is so great between input and drain /output, should I just water with plain pHd water for a couple times until runoff is lower ? Or should I be watering like 40 gallons at once till it is coming out clean? I read sk.ewhere that too much at once is problematic to the plant so I just drained it a decent amount and stopped. I can wait for it to dry and repeat though?

I also read that you shouldn't do too much pure water and instead feed but make sure that it drains out some too at this point.

So given that my leaves show issues and the ec data coming out, wat would you do ? Let dry and clean water to runoff again? And if so for how long?

My other plants in rhe tent aren't looking as bad but have slight yellow tips , I assume I should do the same for them as they likely have salt accumulation too?

Appreciate your help for best practice nutrient lockout flushing/balancing. Thanks!!

Never ever flush with just plain water. It messes up the values inside the coco and your roots will endure stress.
The advise I got and ever since used whenever growing in coco is the following. Water your plants with nutrients added and pH'ed until you have 20% runoff.
If you have issues like you had with nutrient lockout and you need to flush, do this with the same nutrient solution you would normally give, but run it through slowly and until the runoff measures the same as it went in. This can mean giving two or even three times the volume of the coco of nutrient solution. So prepare yourself for that amount. Don't look at the pH, as this will always be out of whack when it comes out, but the EC value should be what you've put in. Then you know all the excess salts are gone. But again, run it through slowly so the nutrient solution get's time to uptake the excess salts and drain away.

 

[tronN00dles]

Bob Im not sure coco rules apply here. OP is using a blend of two potting mixes and perlite. The coco loco does contain coco, but it also has compost and earth worm castings and organic stuff. Mixed with the ocean forest, this is a straight up soil blend and I don’t think it should be subject to hydroponic growing styles, so plain water should be fine, shouldn’t it? Having said that, I agree that pure coco/perlite shouldn’t get plain water.

OP, I think trying to use soil like a soilless might be a contributing factor here. With blended potting mixes and organic amendments, I wouldn’t bother with EC runoff measurements or anything like that. I’ve never had any luck with interpreting soil run-off, only hydro/soilless runoff. And even then, I feel like the input is the more important measurement.

Now that it has been flushed with plain water, all you can really do is start feeding at proper doses with appropriately balanced nutes. Check out https://www.autoflower.org/threads/a-word-on-nutrients.82004/

Since you seem to be into this whole pH/EC measuring stuff, I’d highly recommend proper soilless or semi-soilless mixes going forward, such as straight coco/perlite or peat/perlite like Pro-Mix HP.

Having said all that, I didn’t see your first post. What are you feeding exactly?

 

[Cannaficionado]

Its strange to me that with an amended soil blend your water runoff isnt becoming any more acidic. Im running ffhf with a 30% of blend because I had leftovers, my input is 6.4 my runoff is usually alway 5.9 to 6.0 when and if I measure. Very strange indeed. Especially with coco in there, coco usually runs acidic.

Im guessing maybe you have stored up calcium in your soil. If you flush again try using sledgehammer from fox farm, it will lock out any nutes and rinse them out of your soil and and yucca.

It also is worth mentioning that a ph either too high or too low will lock out nutrients, and its not far from neutral on either side.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

I have to wonder why you'd use a mix like that in the first place....either by themselves ( coco or soil )can be problematic by themselves and have different requirements for use. Is this a mix you've used before with good results?

 

[Riptidedd]

Hey thanks everyone! To answer the questions , I picked this mix just because I was familiar with it from cacti growing. I was concerned pure ocean forest might be too hot for seedlings and I wanted to combine the best of both worlds , but perhaps that wasn't wise ? Mayne I should just use ocean forest and pearlite next time ? I wanted to go with soil because I read that it improved taste ? Dunoo...what's the highest end money isn't an object blend you all would reccomend for next time?

To answer another question I'm using prescription blend nutrients a sponsor here (not liking them so far) . I may use biocanna next time.

Also on the advice of a commercial grower I used a 400 ppm solution to flush until rhe numbers dropped to about 600-700 ppm runoff...they were at like 1600 before at the max.

It's been flushed for over a week now but honestly looks worse now than it did before lol. That said the flowers are like 2 -3 weeks from finishing trichs starting to get cloudy maybe 30% orange pistols so I guess it'll survive even I'd stressed. Next grow I'll do watering to runoff more , but something tells me there are deeper issues either with rhe spill blend or prescription blend nutrient mix. Thoughts ?

Thanks yall! Also I have a weird white bleaching on northern lights leaves only I'll start a new thread for thoughts !

 

[Weedname]

Hi @Riptidedd

Up with some photos, let us have a look at the plants.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

I just get the HF when I buy fresh....