what ppm's should i be feeding my plants???

litljohn

litljohn

Well-Known Member
hey everyone,ive been growing for a little while now and ive been eyeballing all my nutes and having trouble reading my plants,so i decided to go out and get a tds pen so i know what im feeding my girls.i keep my ph at 5.5-6.0(usually 5.7-5.9)what ppm should i be feeding my plants on weeks 1,2,3 and so on.i know this will vary a little due to strain requirements,im just looking for a good baseline,thanks for the help.
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
Some nute companies will state the recommended PPM's or EC. Try to have an EC of 1.8 or so in full veg and 1.8 to 2.1 in bloom. the 2.1 is when bloom boosters are added. All just a ballpark figure though, you still need to read your plants. Do you know the conversion factor of your meter?
 
glassblower209

glassblower209

Active Member
It's a personal pref. Your ppm will range depending on the nutes you are useing. Some people say ideal is about 1200-1400. Personally my ppm folowing my nutrient regiment is only about 900 and i get amazing growth in both veg and bloom. Figure out what you like as far as nutrients go and run with it if it is a little low to your liking add somthing but if your folowing a line then low or not its not that serious, they run that number for a reason.
 
Col. kif

Col. kif

Member
Its hard to go wrong with Simple original Lucas formulae...

5 ml Flora Micro and 10 ml Bloom per us gallon for veg
8 ml Flora Micro and 16 ml Bloom for Flower
I also add Cal/Mag plus to this.

If you are not sure as to what PPM your plants can handle start at around 800-900 PPM and if you decide to go over 1100, use a wetting agent such as drip clean. Other additives or bloom boosters can also be used, such as Flora Nova. Don't go too crazy and once you zero in on one thing use it for a while and see how your plants react THEN make adjustments.
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
Colonel: Did you know that the 5ml-10ml Lucas dosage is if you are growing under floro's? He recommends full 8ml-16ml under halides, veg or bloom. Also, the 2:1 Bloom-micro ratio was deemed inadequate for vegging. It was agreed to go with the labeled ratio of 3-2-1 G-M-B. Finally, I don't see why you would use a cal-mag sup when the bloom is 1.5% Mg and Micro is 5% calcium, that is the whole idea behind using bloom instead of the grow:more cal/mag. I can see where you would need it though if you vegged with the 5:10 ml in VEG since many cal-mag sups have 2% Nitrogen on average (cuz of the cal nitrate) . Flora Nova is not a supplement, it is a base nute.
 
Col. kif

Col. kif

Member
Well I grow under flouro and with hard but de-chlorinated water. I recommended the 5-10 / 8-16 because it won't overfeed his plants as he sets into a comfortable low baseline.

As far as it being determined inadequate for Veg.... its always worked for me... even with heavy feeders such as Bubba. Flora Nova is part of a base nutrient line, true but it can be used as a bloom booster, upping the P & K and bringing some Humic to the game.

I really didn't want to overload the person asking for advice because they asked the question in such a way, it seemed they wanted a simple answer.
 
Concord Dawn

Concord Dawn

Well-Known Member
heres a baseline i found a little while ago.


Seedlings, Early Sprouts 100 to 250

Early Vegging 300 to 400

Full Vegetation 450 to 700

Early Blooming 750 to 950

Full Mature Blooms 1000 to 1600
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
Col. kif said:
Well I grow under flouro and with hard but de-chlorinated water. I recommended the 5-10 / 8-16 because it won't overfeed his plants as he sets into a comfortable low baseline.

As far as it being determined inadequate for Veg.... its always worked for me... even with heavy feeders such as Bubba. Flora Nova is part of a base nutrient line, true but it can be used as a bloom booster, upping the P & K and bringing some Humic to the game.

I really didn't want to overload the person asking for advice because they asked the question in such a way, it seemed they wanted a simple answer.
Click to expand...
Cool, I see your points. It just seemed strange to me to reference the Lucas Formula, which was derived as a formula to specifically exclude the need for any sups, yet you use Cal/Mag and Nova. What is so Lucas about your regimen? It seems redundant to use cal/mag, but even with hard water? Seems your overloading in the cal/mag department. Not hatein', just a conversation.
 
Col. kif

Col. kif

Member
Notice how he didn't mention if he's in soil and the Ph ranges he gives are good for both soil, soiless and Hydro?

If you have suggestions that fit all three possibilities I'd like to hear them. I bet he would too.

Its been my experience that with anything that eats or grows faster than say, Headband.... you have to suppliment Lucas with Cal Mag or pick up deficiencies.

Adding Flora Nova & Bud Candy/Sweeteners Simple boost to the P-K, some humic for root zone health. Is it my premier choice for growing? far from but again... simple solution to the stated problem without doing a full technical analysis of his grow. If you want to discuss my reasoning further lets take it to PM so we don't Hijack the thread....
 
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bigelo13

Member
I agree 880-900 ppm is good with ph at5.5 Week 3 Flower 60 Gal resevoire A&B 600ml,Cal-Mag 100ml,BudCandy320ml,Liquid Karma 100ml,Beastie Bloomz 6tblspn. Ph5.5 ppm 890 flood & drain...Hydro 6"rockwool medium
 
F

Fatrider

Member
For all you guys talking PPM, what scale are you using? If you dont know then you might as well be telling the guy to just throw some nutes in until it looks right. I dont mean to sound harsh but the scale used to take EC to PPM can vary wildly.
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
Col. kif said:
Notice how he didn't mention if he's in soil and the Ph ranges he gives are good for both soil, soiless and Hydro?

If you have suggestions that fit all three possibilities I'd like to hear them. I bet he would too.

Its been my experience that with anything that eats or grows faster than say, Headband.... you have to suppliment Lucas with Cal Mag or pick up deficiencies.

Adding Flora Nova & Bud Candy/Sweeteners Simple boost to the P-K, some humic for root zone health. Is it my premier choice for growing? far from but again... simple solution to the stated problem without doing a full technical analysis of his grow. If you want to discuss my reasoning further lets take it to PM so we don't Hijack the thread....
Click to expand...
Well since he posted in the hydro section I went out on a limb and assumed he was not in soil. I based my recommendation on him running inert/ebb and flow since that is what he used in his grow journals so the fulvic/humics and carbs are useless. In my experience, I have not needed to use any sups with Lucas when running either drip or flood. I also gave EC levels instead of PPM values to avoid confusion which just so happens to be close to Lucas values anyways (950 PPM @.5 = EC 1.9). I didn't recommend a specific nute because he didn't ask what type of nute, he asked for feed levels. But your right, it is a little off topic, so I'll stop.


 
litljohn

litljohn

Well-Known Member
thanks for all the help guys,i think i got a pretty good baseline to work with with all the help.ill just have to watch my plants to see what they want,but the tds pen helps alot,plus rep to everyone.
 
S

SnugenZ

Well-Known Member
As a basic rule of thumb, for every 1" of plant matter that undergoes photosynthesis, 100PPM of nutes. So, lets say that you have a 7" tall plant in veg, the MAX I would feed it would be 700PPM. But as everyone else says, read your plants.
 
P

pizzapuffer

Active Member
really depends on the strain. one of my more sensitive strains will show signs of burn at even over 1000ppms. also i noticed when vaping you really can tell the flavor so much more than smoking. if you at any time feed too much and have burning, your stuff will probably taste like shit in a vape. it dont matter how much you flush, you burned it then you burned it forever. that part of the plant will not recover. of coarse new future growth on the plant can get better. i had this spray stuff that claimed to repair bad leaves. bunch of bullshit, it did nothing. keep your ppms very low at the end of growth and you dont even need to flush that much. hell some people go so low they dont need to flush at all.
 
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