New Grower Nutrient mixing and EC Question

[Catcohern]

Hey guys. I have a couple of questions regarding nutrient mixing and my EC and I would appreciate it if anyone could help me out?

I am currently on day 43 of my second grow, growing in a 70/30 coco/perlite mix. On my last grow I used normal tap water Ph'd to around 6.5 before adding any nutrients. This time around I am using a Britta filter after it was recommended to me by a chap in the grow shop.

After filtering, my water has a PH of 6.4 with an EC of 0.2. I then start to make my 10 litre mix by adding the following:

20ml Sensi Bloom A+B
15ml Big Bud
15ml Bud Candy
20ml Canna Boost
5ml Roots Bloom
10ml Cal/Mag
10ml Humate

Is this the correct way of adding nutrients? With this mix I'm finding my EC to be 1.9 which I think could be slightly high for the age of my plants? I'm only thinking that with a fairly high EC already when I want to up my Sensi A+B and Big Bud, there won't be much to play with.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys

 

[NEimmaculates]

The way I was taught was to add the extras first then add you base, eg your A+B.

 

[Muddy]

Base nutrients first, then your supplements. Is that the ph Perfect Canna?

 

[Catcohern]

Base nutrients first, then your supplements. Is that the ph Perfect Canna?

Yeah I'm using the normal pH perfect sensi bloom A + B, not the coco specific one as I don't think it's available in this country yet.
Is my EC ok then at this stage? I would like to give full strength big bud and bud candy but it will push the EC over 2. I'm just a bit confused as I know when I increase the base nutrients to 3/4 strength the EC is going to rise even further. Is there anything you'd change in my feeding schedule?

Thanks guys

 

[Muddy]

You may find it hard to get your pH low enough using the soil pH Perfect. I'm using it with RO water and it generally pHs to around 6.4. The recommended pH for coco is 5.8. AN recommends that the base ppm of your water be between 100 - 125 before adding any nutrients. So at .2 EC you are spot on there. So don't add the extra cal/mag as it will only raise the base EC and throw it out of their recommended range. As to the supplements, you should be using about half strength right now. You might be able to up that a bit in another week or so but generally speaking most auto strains do not require more than that. Eliminating all that extra cal/mag should bring it down to a more reasonable range for plants that age.

 

[Catcohern]

You may find it hard to get your pH low enough using the soil pH Perfect. I'm using it with RO water and it generally pHs to around 6.4. The recommended pH for coco is 5.8. AN recommends that the base ppm of your water be between 100 - 125 before adding any nutrients. So at .2 EC you are spot on there. So don't add the extra cal/mag as it will only raise the base EC and throw it out of their recommended range. As to the supplements, you should be using about half strength right now. You might be able to up that a bit in another week or so but generally speaking most auto strains do not require more than that. Eliminating all that extra cal/mag should bring it down to a more reasonable range for plants that age.

That's great thanks for that Muddy. I find that the water filter brings it down from 8 to roughly 6.4 and then I pH it down to between 6.2 - 5.8. I have read that in coco it's a good idea to let your pH drift between this range, is this correct? Or can I just stick with 5.8 from start to finish? The only reason I have been adding extra cal/mag was because I thought that filtering it would remove most of the minerals? Is it something that should be used more infrequently as opposed to every watering? Which at the moment is roughly every 48 hours. Taking your advice on board I've wound the supplements back to half strength and got an EC of 1.5 which is far better.

I have noticed than on one of the plants a few of the leaves have a few marks on them which I'm not sure if it's the start of a deficiency? I'll post some pictures later after watering and let you know my pH and EC run off.

Thanks for the support

 

[Muddy]

A Britta filter isn't the same as using a Reverse Osmosis filter, which will remove almost all the minerals from the water. I've never tested water from a Britta filter but judging from your results, is doesn't remove them all. If it were removing them all your EC would be at or close to zero instead of the .2 you are reading. When you say your are pHing it down to 5.8 - 6.2, is that before or after adding the pH Perfect? Growing in coco is more like growing in hydro. Coco has no nutrients so it's up to you to supply everything the plant needs. Letting the pH cycle through that range can be beneficial as some nutrients are more available at certain pH ranges than at others. Yes, please post some pictures of your plant, taken in natural light so we can see the true color of the leaves.

 

[Catcohern]

A Britta filter isn't the same as using a Reverse Osmosis filter, which will remove almost all the minerals from the water. I've never tested water from a Britta filter but judging from your results, is doesn't remove them all. If it were removing them all your EC would be at or close to zero instead of the .2 you are reading. When you say your are pHing it down to 5.8 - 6.2, is that before or after adding the pH Perfect? Growing in coco is more like growing in hydro. Coco has no nutrients so it's up to you to supply everything the plant needs. Letting the pH cycle through that range can be beneficial as some nutrients are more available at certain pH ranges than at others. Yes, please post some pictures of your plant, taken in natural light so we can see the true color of the leaves.

Right okay that makes sense, I guess there must be a little bit of cal/mag within that 0.2 anyway? I add my pH perfect first, followed by my supplements. I then check the pH and adjust as necessary. Nine times out of 10 it's already down to 6.2 so I don't always need to alter it.

Okay so here are some photos of the girls this evening after watering. They are all 46 days old.

This is Jack 47 by Sweet Seeds #1



pH in was 6 and runoff was 5.8. The Ec went in at 1.5 and came out at 1.8

Jack 47 #2



This is the one that I'm concerned about. She stopped growing at 49cms and I have noticed dark marks appearing on some of the leaves. The pH was 6 in and 5.8 out. EC in 1.5 and 2.1 out.

Sweet Special



She looks rather healthy apart from quite a few of her leaves are a little curved upwards.
pH in 6 and 6 out. EC 1.5 and 1.9 out.

Dark Devil



She's definitely by favourite and appears to be lovely and healthy and thriving!
pH 6 and 6 out . EC 1.5 and 1.9 out.

What do you think guys? Any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated

 

[faded187]

them dark marks look like phos def to me but muddy knows best. upward curved leaves look like heat stress or low humidity with slight potassium def.

 

[Catcohern]

them dark marks look like phos def to me but muddy knows best. upward curved leaves look like heat stress or low humidity with slight potassium def.

Thanks for that faded. I was wondering if that was the start of a phos deficiency. The temperatures have been between between 24-26 C and 17-19 C lights off. My humidity was around 60% during veg and is now down to about 45%. Could these values still be responsible for upward curved leaves? I was also wondering whether the EC should be coming out higher than it's going in?