My guess is you smoked some killer dro and now you want more,
or you think you can make a fast buck.
Well, there is a reason why the stuff sells for the price it does.
Growing Da Dro is expensive Bro.
Meters. nutes. lights. all cost $$$$
Here are a couple of things to think about.
You can grow hydro without paying attention to the rules,
but your yield will greatly suffer,
and you will have better results if you throw some seeds in a pot of dirt.
So don't buy those expensive hydro nutes
unless you are going to go all the way.(at least get a meter)
One of the most imprtant things for a hydro grower to do,
is to maitain the pH of the solution within the proper range.
Your pH should
not be moving up
and down.
It should move up.
You should
adjust it down.
You are using tap water.
(I am sure you are, since you won't spend money on the correct additives)
Because of the tapwater,
you already have too much Calcium in your nutrient solution,
and when you use baking soda,
you are just increasing the Ca content of your nutrient solution
to a level that is unhealthy for your plants.
This is a problem.
Ca and Mg(magnesium) are molecules that will bond.
If you have too much Ca it will "lock out" the Mg,
and your plant will become Mg deficient.
Mg is essential for THC production.
You must stay away from baking soda (Calcium Carbonate).
Only use a Potassium molecules for adjusting the pH up.
Since you are using tapwater,
you need to understand and follow the
pH rule
Following the pH rule is going to be very difficult to apply
without a pH meter,
and since you don't have a meter........
I am hoping you can use this rule,
to understand what is happening in your nutrient solution.
Calcium is very alkaline and therefore it will absorb a lot of acid.
Tap water is full of Calcium.
Calcium,
and other chemicals that are alkaline,
can absorb acids.
This is called buffering.
Better buffers for growing are:
Potassium Carbonate
Potassium Hydroxide
Potassium Sillicate
(These will not bond with Mg.)
Here are the rules for tapwater,
or water over 50ppm and/or initial pH of near 8.
After you add nutes to your water*,
the pH should be close to 5.6.
*(I am assuming you are at least using hydro nutes,
and not some miracle grow type "dirt formula")
If your water is very hard, over 50ppm Ca,
then you will need to use an acid,
like Phosphoric acid,
or Nitric acid,
to achieve the desired pH of 5.6.
(impossible to gauge without a digital pH meter, $30 ebay)
There is no way to guess how much acid
you need to hit the target pH of 5.6.
It could be as much as 5ml/gl, or as little as .5ml/gl(5 drops per gl.)
You should always use an eye dropper to deliver adjustments
so that you don't over shoot.
An Eye dropper from the dollar store
that is graduated in milliliters is perfect.
Start with a small amount
and measure the pH, then add more.
DO NOT OVER SHOOT THE PH ADJUSTMENT.
Not adding any adjustment, will be better than too much.
If you get it right,
in a few hours,
as the buffers(Ca) absorbs the acids, the pH will move up,
and hopefully you will catch it before it gets too high,
and re-adjust it back to near 5.6.
You will need to continue to add very small amounts of pH down,
at least twice a day, to re-establish the pH back at 5.6
After doing this for a couple of days,
depending on how well you keep the pH adjusted,
the pH will become stable for a few hours,
maybe even for a day or so,
and
then the pH will fall below 5.6 without adding any pH down.
When the pH falls without you adding pH down,
you have met the pH rule,
and this is when it is time to change out the nutes,
even if you have not met the "Add Back Rule"
For almost all hydro nutes,
it is best if you
always let the pH move from low to high.
Ideally you will maintain the pH at 5.6,
but in reality it will probably drift between 5.2 and 6.2
The time that this sequence takes will vary,
1with the plant size,
2the amount of water the plant is consuming/transpiring,
3the concentrtation( nute load) of the nute solution (ppm).
If you are growing with tapwater,
the pH rule is the
best method to determine
when it is time to change the nutes.
Change outs can be as long as 10 days,
and as often as 4 days.
If you must use tapwater,
It is highly recommended to use a "Hard Water" nutrient.
Using a 50% nute load,
will give increased yield,
if you are using tap water.
Your rez volume per plant,
the phase of your grow,
and the brand of nutes you have,
will determine how often you need to adjust the pH.
Your job is to maintain the pH,
and change out the nutes at the appropriate time.
If you are really determined to have a cheap grow,
you can save a little money by using Nitric Acid for Ph down.
Nitric is just plain old battery acid,
you can buy very cheap or get free, from your local auto parts store.
Be very careful using this!
It can permantly damage your skin, or eyes!
N acid should be diluted in distilled water.
N acid is still dangerous if not handled by laboratory standards.
................................................................................
If you would like to understand more about growing hydro,
please read this.
CC Hydro 101 by Earl - Cannabis Culture Forums
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