Nitrates- an over abundance

forgottenleg

New Member
Hi the purpose of this post is to hopefully shed some light on the issue of NITROGEN TOXICITY- specifically in flower.

Coco grow
I am using UK tap water sourced from primarily the lake district and multitude of surrounding reservoirs. The water hardness is classed as ‘soft’. I do not have a EC pen currently. I ph at 5.5-6 and water every 2/3 days as the plant needs. Watering with A&B every time at much smaller dosages of around 0.5-1ml per litre. Full drain to waste, plenty of run off every watering.
The issues that keep popping up are red/purple stems, slightly reduced growth rate, and of course THE CLAW which is a clear indicator of a nitrogen abundance.

Currently in at around week 4 VEG- using A&B and no additional calmag products (except some dolomite lime) due to them being high in nitrates. Plants are showing first signs of nitrogen abundance even with my sparse feeds (maybe still not sparse enough) but I still need to make sure the plants are getting everything else they need.

-Nutrients used- GHE Flora series, currently using Canna A & B
-medium is 100% canna coco
-hps and led lights
Humidity and temps are good at around 50% and 25c. Night temps around 19c.

Nitrates are recorded as being at 1.42mg/l average and 2.0mg/l max.
Is this high? I would think not seeing as though the legal limit is 50mg/l.
Even a sparse feed of any nitrate bearing nutrient seems to be too much N for the plants... and in late flower, as the plants’ need for N decreases to almost zero, my plants start to suffer and this affects the end result of course in terms of taste and smell.

Below is a screenshot of my water composition. If anyone has any suggestions to keep my nitrates low especially in flower then please comment. Until I have access to RO water I wonder whether I should keep using tap water or use rain water?
Thanks any advice greatly appreciated.
J


961B988D-08CE-4350-A0BF-C868FAB0C882.png6586C409-4860-4DB1-8DE4-722DDAA97D97.png
 
At your next watering you could do a water only flush and watch your starting ppm and ppm after flush. If your rainwater is lower ppm go with that for flushing.
 
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