Here is an Indica I want to share in UB's honor... I just defoliated all secondary fan leaves from my Pineapple Express. I FIMed it about 8 days ago and I took off a couple leaves at the time to get some light in. I now have about 9-10 good looking branch stems, all getting light. I LST'ed some of the branches today to allow more light in, after cutting off most of the fan leaves. I do not remove any growth near the tips, only on the second node on back. I'm in a DR120 and using a 600W MH bulb, 24/7. PPM's were increased to 500 yesterday, and some slight tip burning was evident today. I backed off the ppm to the previous 400 and the plant seems happy. This is my first Pineapple grow, but i have read she is an aggressive feeder. I just jumped from 400 to 500 ppm a bit too soon. My plan is to monitor the ppm level closer and adjust depending on what the plant tells me.... Tying this all back in to the topic of the thread, see below for a plant reading tip for hydro growers...
I'm hoping to pull at least 10 ounces of dry bud from this plant when she is done. I got 14 from my last two combined. Not bad for an indoor plant that had it's leaves molested... LOL...
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The clips work great on a Waterfarm's edge. They make great tie off anchors and are easily adjustable. The knot on the other end is a slip knot.
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This photo depicts the tips... All fan leaves were removed, except the ones on the growth nodes or tips. This allows ALL of the nodes to receive as equal light as possible. If I were growing outdoors, i would only remove the inner fan leaves to allow air to pass through easily.
Hydro tip: Determining when to raise and lower the dissolved solids, or PPMs, can be like rocket science. When you adjust up, the plant burns, adjust too far down, and you have different problems all together. Wouldn't it be neat to never have to guess? Well guess what? If you learn to read what your plant is trying to tell you, it's actually quite easy! Once you master this concept, you'll rarely burn or kill a plant again.
As a plant encounters through various stages of growth in it's life cycle, it's needs for nutrients also may change. It goes without saying, a mature plant will drink up a lot more nutrients than a seedling. As the plant takes in nutrients, one of two things happen to the level of solids in the reservoir; they either go up, resulting in higher ppms because more water than nutrients were used, or the ppms go down, because the plant is taking in more nutrients than water.
The third possible outcome is the level, or ratio of nutrients to water doesn't change. This happens when the plant has found a perfect balance of nutrients and water. It is this perfect balance that we should all strive for.
How do I read my plants and determine the proper ratio of nutrients and water? Herein lies the answer, memory or good records. You see, in order to determine what the plant is trying to tell us today, we need to know where we set the ppm level from the day before. We can determine whether the plant took in more food or more water by comparing today's PPM reading with yesterday's reading.
Let's use an example. Our hypothetical plant is 3 weeks into flower and we are getting excited. Anticipation is setting in as we witness the first developments of flowers. Yesterday, after topping the reservoir with fresh water and nutrients, the PPMs were 1100. Today, the water level is down some, as expected, because the plant's using water. Today's reading indicates that the ppm level is at 1300! What happened? How did it jump 200 points overnight?
If the plant is taking in more water than nutrients, it indicates that the nute level is too high and the roots and leaves could be damaged. Imagine a glass of salt water placed on the table in front of you. You can't see the salt, but you can taste it. Now imagine that very same glass of water after about half of it evaporated. The salt won't evaporate, as it is a dissolved solid, therefore the water will seem saltier, but in reality, it's just not as diluted; the same level of salt exists today that was in the glass yesterday.
Getting back to our hypothetical situation, overnight, we lost enough water to increase the 'saltiness' of our plant's water. In this case, we want to add fresh water and dilute the ppms down a level. Since we gained 200 ppm overnight, I want to get it down to about 950-1000 ppm and see what she does the following day. If I wake up and read a PPM reading of 1000, I hit my magic number for now, and can keep the ppms at 1000 until my plant tells me otherwise.
To imagine the opposite reaction, imagine that same glass of salt water mysteriously gaining an inch or two of fresh water. The water will be less salty, meaning lower PPMs. That would indicate the plant can use more food. this is the opportunity to increase yields and growth, if done correctly. Learn to read what your plant is trying to tell you, and you'll both benefit greatly.
(I did not proof read this, please feel free to point out any error or needed clarification)
this is the plant that I brought home from the dispensary. Thanks to the advice of Riddle, I have learned to tune in to my plants. after only 2 1/2 weeks, I have learned to read this one, and this is what I have now:
