One of my apprentices I had set them up with an excellent grow. Almost a mirror of my grow. After a couple of rounds this guy shows up he’s like hey your grow is all about managing the ph. OK so then the apprentice goes nuts with the ph down…ph up…etc he’s always ph-ing the thing. His plants did super shitty. Then he gave up growing. WTF? It’s like the things I said were straight up heresy to other growers, meanwhile what the fuck do they know about how it works? Of course buddy also had to add “super magic formula ingredient” who knows what that shit was either. Probably nuked the ph buffering and led to deformed plants. One day I opened up his reservoir and the vapors stung my face I was like yo, it’s not supposed to be like that.
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hah hah then of course who the fuck am I? A cannabis expert or the king of some country? no, I’m just the guy producing so much weed he can’t smoke it all. I mean who wants to listen to an idiot like that??
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Yeah I was watching a doco and this guy couldnt figure out why their clones were not surviving. Till he saw his worker setting up the res and put in ph down, trest, ph up, test, ph down, test, ph up, test … and on it went. Problem solved. I also work on minimising ph adjustment chemicals. So i set my res low level, so that i find the ph slowly goes down by 2 points during lights off and then up 2 points lights on. slowly over many days it might get a little low on ph (about 5.5) so i just add a little RO to bring the ph back up and there is plenty of room in the res for the extra RO. Even adding nutes while adding the RO I hardly ever add ph adjusters. I have tried to boost the EC up and control the hell out of the ph using adjusters and I have fried the crap out of my plants but boy have I still had some serious quality weed. Still better than anything else i have tried from elsewhere in the last few years. Sitting down 1.2EC is an issue for me though as I can not quite give the plants enough of what they want because my water here is so hard. Out the tap it is 0.9EC. I am having to make tap/RO mixes to bring it down to 0.4. If i can get the EC up to above 2 like you then the 0.9 tap water will not be so much of an issue and i can stop filtering it.
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yah ironicle but they teach you ph 5.5 EC 1.4 using chemical ferts in hydro even in the agriculture dept.
ok so here’s the deal… I boiled it down to almost no work. Like, listen to this shit. I never change the water in the reservoir. I never check or adjust the ph. I go down there and water every couple days, and I check the EC once in a while. You can see why I call it coma mode. I wonder if people would have an easier time in water culture with higher ph levels? I’m not going to pretend I don’t know how it supposed to work, got all the digits here writeups out my ass. But I mean… Things improved…since those days, when I was following all the rules… it definitely made things easier. Probably improved productivity as well.
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This is very informative, in the past running larger rooms, coco, aero, dwc, I never had much luck with higher EC, although, like you say, I was always adjusting ph. Probably messed up coco buffering and many other things along the way so my biases may be totally off.
Always had a nagging doubt something was wrong and I should be using more nutes, even now, going above 500ppm/1EC tend to give troubles.
Currently dialing in my little dwc cab, seems to be doing fine at 230ppm flora, ph ~6(yellow), tap water is 26ppm here.
Will start being a little more “brave”, let it drift up.
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ok! Now here’s the observation that says the plants are doing great.
See how the EC has already dropped to 1.8 from 2.0? I “believe” the plant is doing that
eventually it will absorb all the EC. I’m sure if it was nutrient locked, that wouldn’t happen. It basically gnarled down that .2 EC in 24 hours.
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I cut most of the old leaves off this plant now. Anything that had physical damage I tried to cut off. New growths are looking good! No signs of plant stress.
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Here’s the…three stoodges? musketeers… I dunno, something about three. Probably another day before they go into hydro! I’m getting excited for this project!!! It’ll be radical for sure!
ha hhah I’ve never seen anyone sprout seeds like this, where you’re waiting for them to be hydro-size before they go in.
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I always wonder when people read this if they are “whooooot whoooot here we go on the insane-train!”? ROTFL
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Many things are done the way they are because it sorta kinda works, no one said it was the best way.
Well, except the people who haven’t tried anything else.
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I spent time…shaving off every corner in the operation. “If you cut every corner, you’ll have more time for play, it’s the American way!” - sherry bobbins
I don’t make any claims about it being the “best” method, but people can judge for themselves whether it works or not. I’ve seen lots of people struggle with the complexity of managing the plants universe, and I am suggesting there is an “easier” way to water culture. Some might just call it laziness.
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This has been my experience with hydro as well. In fact, you should also notice the pH rise as they chow down on the nutrients too.
I find your online presence amusing and charming.
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hey thanks @ReikoX, my friends have said I’m like a real-life cartoon character. Yah, the cycle is definitely increase EC/decrease ph, followed by the plant decreases the EC and the ph rises. Rinse and repeat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen the other way, unless the plants are dying.
I have got the bucket scrubbed, have a light ready and an air pump on standby! I also have a U shaped neoprene and a disc shaped one. The neoprene is going to form a closed cup shape once I put them together. This way, even small seedlings can get a bit of moisture without exposing nutrient solution to the light. The warning is explicit when exposing nutrient to light - don’t do it. Black is your friend. Opaque is everything. Pathogens…thrive in the light. whispers stick to the dark.
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ok ok ready for a super shocker. Or not. I’m actually following the instructions that came with my jugs of nutrient. gets the paper it says “in veg give it 15ml boost and 7.5ml grow per 4 liters which will give you EC 2.0 and ph 6.08 if not adjust to ph 6.2”
So… In case you thought I was a rebel… I’m actually just doing what it says.
wait a second! I just said I read and followed the instructions! Shit, I AM a rebel!!!
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Hehe, now I am confused, you defied the rules by following them?
Thats some next lvl stuff.
yah yah here’s the thing. When I printed out the instructions and gave them to buddy, he still insisted on trying to maintain a ph of 5.5, although the instructions were explicit in that regard. I’m not sure what he thought was happening after the plants got deformed from huge ph swings. So, yah, at this point I would say I’m definitely a rebel for reading and following the instructions. They tell you what ph to expect and also what the EC level should be. That’s why I’m usually not testing and adjusting things - I know what they should be if I follow the instructions. I never look at that paper any more though, the numbers have merged with my being.
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well I sprayed a bit more water into the dome, I’ll try the seedlings in the water culture tomorrow, for size.
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Nailed it! 
its great.
ooo now we’re talkin’, I got that fusion project underway. Ever wondered…how you could trial three different kinds of weed all at once?
I would call it mad science…but how about insane science? Any future predictions on what is going to happen? I put a dash of nutrient in there, enough to get them to a full grown seedling stage. I have to monitor them for a bit, make sure I actually got the root in the solution. I’m pretty sure but I’ll go back and check in a while to see if they are all feeding/surviving.
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