ec and n-p-k
- Thread starter cheese
- Start date
jondamon
Well-Known Member
For EC levels you should use your nute bottle to tell you that and the NPK ratio should be printed on your bottles of nutes.
An EC meter reads the level of dissolved salts in your solution by giving it an electrical charge.
Most nutes have EC levels on them ranging from 1.2 up to 2.5 depending on the nutes you are using.
I personally start my plants on a small EC of 0.3 to begin with until they start putting out more foliage. THen i let the plant decide what it likes currently i am running between 1.4 and 1.5 and i use IONIC nutes for COCO.
the strength of nutes will be determined by the plant and not anyone of us. The plant may need more water if you are experiencing high temps or more nutes if they are growing rapidly.
THe trick is to find what works for your environment and your plant.
No one can tell you what is best as they could be using different nutes than you which require higher EC levels or lower EC levels to be effective.
J
An EC meter reads the level of dissolved salts in your solution by giving it an electrical charge.
Most nutes have EC levels on them ranging from 1.2 up to 2.5 depending on the nutes you are using.
I personally start my plants on a small EC of 0.3 to begin with until they start putting out more foliage. THen i let the plant decide what it likes currently i am running between 1.4 and 1.5 and i use IONIC nutes for COCO.
the strength of nutes will be determined by the plant and not anyone of us. The plant may need more water if you are experiencing high temps or more nutes if they are growing rapidly.
THe trick is to find what works for your environment and your plant.
No one can tell you what is best as they could be using different nutes than you which require higher EC levels or lower EC levels to be effective.
J
cheese
Well-Known Member
well im growing easyryder i need to bring my ph below 6 (currently 6.2) this is my first mistake. Im using atami nuts...at the moment im using root stimulator, a and b , booster and ata clean. im also adding silicon, o2 and co2 tablets. Im using ionic ph up and down. so with the autoflowering should i keep my ec between 0.3 and 0.5? what if its higher than this? and what would i progress this to... i can give more details on nut npk levels when i visit my plants.
jondamon
Well-Known Member
They will tell you in their leaves and the way they look, how fast they are growing..etc Havent you read anything on this site in the almost 3 years youve been here?
If they are in ROCKWOOL then you need to get your ph at 5.5 Are you running this all from a resovoir in a full hydro system?
If so then the main header tank will tell you what they doing. If you check the resovoir and the EC of the nutes is higher than it was when you mixed it then the plants are using more water than nutes.
IF the EC is lower then they are using more nutes.
If the EC is Higher you only need to add water to the system then PH it and check the EC again to make sure it is where it was before or slightly lower than it was before.
If the EC is lower then you need to top it up with water and add more nutes to a higher EC level than you did before.
You should be checking this anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your PH is your problem i would say.
You probably should be upping your EC strength now to around 0.8 but then if you're not testing your tank to know what to do then you need to start reading how to run a hydro system my friend.
J
If they are in ROCKWOOL then you need to get your ph at 5.5 Are you running this all from a resovoir in a full hydro system?
If so then the main header tank will tell you what they doing. If you check the resovoir and the EC of the nutes is higher than it was when you mixed it then the plants are using more water than nutes.
IF the EC is lower then they are using more nutes.
If the EC is Higher you only need to add water to the system then PH it and check the EC again to make sure it is where it was before or slightly lower than it was before.
If the EC is lower then you need to top it up with water and add more nutes to a higher EC level than you did before.
You should be checking this anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your PH is your problem i would say.
You probably should be upping your EC strength now to around 0.8 but then if you're not testing your tank to know what to do then you need to start reading how to run a hydro system my friend.
J
jondamon
Well-Known Member
The trick is to get the balance where the plants are using the same amount of nutes and water and the EC comes back to the tank with roughly the same EC level then you know you are spot on. But you shouldnt be complaicent at this point because it will always change at different periods of the growing cycle.
YOU SHOULD BE CHECKING YOUR TANK REGULARLY as in Every few days
J
YOU SHOULD BE CHECKING YOUR TANK REGULARLY as in Every few days
J
cheese
Well-Known Member
long story i started 3yrs ago hoping to grow but stopped due to commitments now im bk and its become clear i dont know as much as i thought. at the moment my rockwool cubes are just in there tray im transplanting them into a propergation unit that will spray the roots. what you have just told me would answer why some are stunted and some are growing well i think i go check my ec levels now! lol and bring my ph down. thanks for your help. are you used to growing using hydro systems?
kingme
Active Member
im going to use ebb and flow, rockwool to start then going to drop in baskets with hydroton. what should the water temp be through out my grow, 8-4-8 <---- does that represent teaspoons per gallon ? I think im going to use foxfarm, but am unsure if its the best thing to go with. im ordering northen lights,white widow, and chrystal all feminized.