It's A Fuct World

Greetings and hallucinations. Got a bit of a break from the usual grind, so I thought I'd check in.

Have taken a bit of a stroll around the hydro forum. While there's some brilliant people doing brilliant things, a few folks have been drinking FarkingClueless™ by the megalitre.

While I DO have a little bit of free time at this moment, I don't have time to visit every thread and comment. I'll proffer these general observations, though:

* Laundry bleach (sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl) in hydroponics: Just Don't Do It. PLEASE. Use H2O2, 50% grade at 1ml/L of nute soln, applied every 3-4 days. Controls all pathogens and oxygenates roots when H2O2 breaks down. NaOCl is toxic to cannabis plants, as are its breakdown components, inclusive of NaCl (sodium chloride eg table salt).

* Molasses/sugar in hydroponics: LAST TIME- plants can't eat complex carbohydrates, but many pathogens CAN. You're growing cannabis in your hydroponic system- not anything else.

* Chlorinated municipal tap water is fine for hydroponics. Fancy water filtration systems are completely unnecessary. Chlorine, in the amounts applied by muni water treatment plants, is completely harmless to plants and people. High TDS readings from 'hard' water are caused primarily by dissolved minerals like Ca and Mg, both of which are necessary micronutrients. Any water suitable for drinking is excellent for hydroponics. The only reason one would ever have to ever use expensive RO or filtration systems is if one is sourcing water from a local bore/well, where water may contain high levels of salinity or sulfur. In 25 years of growing dope, I've never once seen tapwater from a municipal system cause problems in a hydroponic grow op.

* Organic hydroponics: Is complete nonsense. The 'organic' buzzword is overused and largely misunderstood by the general public. 'Organic' doesn't mean 'good' or 'better.' It means that the material in question is sourced from a biological system. Organic nutrients are, in actual fact, mostly shit. Compost and manures themselves are not assimilable by plants; it's the breakdown components, N, P & K, which plants eat. There's no difference between the N, P & K obtained via organic matter breaking down and that obtained from "chemical" aka inorganic fertilisers. However, inorganic nutes allow you to precisely and CONSISTENTLY control the amount of N, P & K presented to the plants. With 'organic' nutes, you never really know what the precise amounts and ratios of N, P & K your plants will actually get. Moreover, inorganic nutes are not affected by the use of H2O2 in hydroponic nute solns. Inorganic based hydro systems are clean, tanks are clear and such systems are much easier to maintain, especially for the newbish. Now, before some holy organic evangelist upbraids me for not knowing what I'm talking about, know ye this: my veg patch out back is run on organic principles; my cannabis plant waste, lawn clips and kitchen veg cuttings are composted and incorporated into the garden soil after spending about a year breaking down in the compost bins. It works pretty well- outdoors, where I don't give a damn how many bugs & microbes are hanging about. In my indoor hydroponic grow-op, I want to have only ONE living organism: cannabis plants.

So, wut up, dawg?

While I'm here, I've got to comment on 'magic sauces.' I was in my local hydro shop the other day and noticed they've expanded the range of magical rubbish by a factor of 2, at least. If you're using a good quality inorganic nutrient (I use Canna nutes), you simply will have no need for anything else beyond H2O2 and perhaps some phosphoric acid based pH Down. You'll find that good nutes already include pH buffers that will set the pH of most tapwater to 5.8-6.0 when you mix for 1000-1100ppm. However, when you top up tanks (always with plain tapwater), the pH may wander upward somewhat. Correct it carefully with pH Down- and don't overshoot. Too low is as bad as too high.

Dump your tanks every 2 weeks and mix entirely new solution. Don't try to add nute concentrates to a half-eaten tank of nutes. You'll have no way of knowing if the NPK ratios are correct- but I can guarantee you that they won't be.