That’s pretty much what I’m saying. I have the time to sometimes times feed 3xs a day on my outdoor in coco. I like to use the heat and sun when feeding multiple times in a day. I can push the limit of pot PPMS.
5 Likes
About how much runoff are you getting after you water, but no 800-1000 depending on the plan size should be cool. But on stage your at they can take that no problem
.update on pic?
a lot. like 20 to 40%.
The difference between input EC and actual root zone EC is going to be drastically different depending on grow methodology and numerous other factors, so I wouldn’t put too much stock into someone else’s numbers unless their system is very similar to your own.
I have had similar issues to what you are seeing, where everything felt really sensitive and here is my $.02:
If you really want to be able to push high EC and intense light: it’s much easier to do with some CEC in the root zone.
80% of my grows have used some media with little to no CEC (rockwool, hydroton, perlite) and it was always difficult to get frequency/strength dialed in, even when using the same system a few times.
When the plant drinks the rez to half, the EC is double what you put in. With virtually no buffer, swings in EC like that can have all kinds of negative effects (e.g. burn, lockout etc.). This is partly why you have better luck with a larger hempy as the EC is more stable and more predictable because the swings are slower with a larger starting amount.
IMO tap doesn’t have much to do with your issue at 230ppm. I have chloramine in my water and I’ve actually had better luck with tap over 0ppm RO.
My advice is to cut your perlite with coco. 50% coco or even 30% would likely help give you some flexibility in fertigation frequency and strength.
I have done my past few grows in coco and the only reason I will ever do rockwool again is that I happen to have a ton of it on hand.
4 Likes
this makes sense. it had crossed my mind. it is perlite, so while i do think it keeps moisture well and better than people think, i can imagine that i get a dry spot occasionally. between a dehydrating reservoir and some drying in the medium ppm can go up…especially if some of the nutes are not getting used up. maybe i need to flush or feed just water more often.
i have avoided coco as i don’t like watering so often. i need to be able to water every 3 days or so while also being able to water the moment before i go out of town. the way it works now i can’t overwater and watering every 3 days never underwaters. it’s super flexible, but i guess I am having 40% or so ugly plants. can coco manage?
2 Likes
In general coco holds more water than perlite so if you keep everything else the same I don’t think you’d need to water more frequently.
Holding more water will also help keep EC stable and coco + perlite together holds plenty of air.
This is literally the exact problem I was having when I switched from 6 inch rockwool cubes to little 4 inchers:
I continued to have the problem until I switched to flood and drain where I could keep the cubes at a stable moisture content by flooding super frequently.
I still had some issues with that, and eventually switched to flood and drain with coco/perlite and that was easy sailing.
All of this played out over the course of 1-2 years in my journal.
I would think a 2 gallon hempy that is 50% coco would ultimately be a pretty solid way to grow if you want to wait up to 3 full days between watering.
I’d be interested to hear what @vernal thinks you should use for your medium and at what ratio if you are planning to water every 3 days in a 2 gallon hempy. He is an expert hempy bucket grower and I believe he uses 100% perlite with more frequent watering.
4 Likes
Very true. They may not be the same pair of shoes.
3 Likes
I have a watering system. Not sure if you’re soil.
I run 3 gallon containers. I have to feed like crazy my last few weeks. I try and have plants done in 90 days.
1 Like
close, it’s a hempy in perlite. top fed, but sort of bottom fed too.
2 Likes
Guide to Hempy Buckets - Soft Secrets.
Is this what you’re talking about? Good stuff. I’m looking for a change. My friend @MumenRyder i seen was posting. Didn’t mean to jump in off the rails. I have seen some great growing methods. I’m down for some learning
2 Likes
I don’t know much. What I’m reading is your ppm problem. If you’re growing this method you doing great. Sometimes just one thing could be causing it. I run ph perfect. I never run full numbers. My ppm my be heavy at times but I know which nutrients causes the problem. Silica, if it in anything you use mix it first. I stay away from it. Are you using hard water? Lights too bright? Or not far enough away. Fan burn can cause damage. Humidity could happen on the the tips form lights out. If you have air conditioning without a dehumidifier your plants could sweat. They could have a moisture buildup. When your lights come on burn time.
Again I’m sorry if I got off the ride.
4 Likes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ @splinter7
3 Likes
i know its not really checkable at the moment, im not familiar with hempy buckets but perlite is good for drainage. one thing i have seen this issue with is root zones that do not fill in, due to water flowing through the medium and not distributing evenly in the pots. have you noticed when you harvest that the roots are only in the very bottom 2-4" and dont fillout the medium? with hempy do you water by hand or irrigation system? hope you get it figured out. finally hand watered some rockwool and pretty sure that is the issue i was having with an irrigation system. wouldnt happen with coco since coco can soak up the water easily from itself. just my $.02
2 Likes
Yes, this is the same hempy you referenced. I tried it about 10 years ago as joke with some real deal shoreline bagseed (I realize I should not have taken it as a joke now). i’ve been using it since. first in 5 gallon, now in 2 gallon.
i here ya. i don’t think i am doing any of the things you mention as issues though…i can’t ID it at least.
Silica always first, then calmag or bloom booster. i don’t really run calmag and bloom booster at the same time. then i top off with normal bloom nutes to the 500 to 550 ppm range. it might be worth mentioning i don’t have issues in veg, just flower in the 2 to 4 week range. Lights are at like 25inches or more away. the ppfd is a lot lower than most poeple i see. i run 550 to 650 or so. Water is just 225ppm. hard, but not too bad. i have dual inline exhaust fans that control temp and humidity at all time. only AC is my house at 68f (it’s expensive). hot air is vented. i actually have pretty low humidity a lot. 45 to 55 percent anyway without exhaust. I am not getting dew anywhere, drain trays are always vacuumed. i doubt the water droplets are an issue, but maybe i am missing something.
1 Like
most of the time the roots fill the entire bucket up, more than 4 inches for sure. it comes out in a cake…one solid chunk. occasionally, like with blueberry muffin, the roots are a little behind the others and more conical…well, it yields consistently half the weight per plant. i also wondered if it could just be less developed roots having feeding issues.
I water by hand. i have this watering tool with a funnel on it connected to a pvc (proboscis) that i manually use later in flower since i don’t want to pull out plants to water. i was worried it wasn’t watering evenly, but some plants are just fine. this time, i watered directly each plant without the tool for almost the entire flower cycle.
2 Likes
Really depends on how big the plants are going to be (and to a degree the humidity). Growing in 15-20% humidity needed a lot more water than my usual 50-60%. I’ve had medium sized plants in 5gal perlite hempies that only needed water every 3-4 days. I’ve had large 1/2lb plants in 5 gal perlite hempies that need a full gallon every day especially early and mid flower.
If you want to water far less frequently I’d suggest something like pro-mix. Peat holds water like crazy. Even the high porosity “hp” formula is wetter than coco.
50/50 coco/perlite is a good starting point though. But yeah I’m in 100% fine perlite now. I just find it easier and it solves a lot of problems. Easier to correct pH, fungus gnat resistant, clean and sterile, impossible to overwater, zero CEC, cheap.
7 Likes
how do you like the fine vs. the medium coarse…like GrowIt #3? not the super chunky stuff, like half to a quarter of a tic tac i started on very find perlite, #2 off amazon, but every so often i had a drainage issue or the start of root rot.
1 Like
I make it easy.
1/3 Loose buffered Coco Coir
1/3 Organic container mix “Performance Organics”
1/3 Perlite with about 10% Vermiculite
2 Likes
I often use Growit #3 but nothing larger than that. Prefer #2 but #3 is usually available at the hydro store.
2 Likes
did you see the shortage this summer? i went for 2 or 3 months and couldn’t find any…anywhere. they were taking down numbers for when it came in again at the local shop. even amazon was out. it made start saving and reusing it…
2 Likes