GH Flora - Lucas - RDWC...

Here in a month or so my current plants will be finished and I will be putting my current culture RDWC hydro system into the room.

Being completely inexperienced with either the lucas formula, or RDWC growing, was hoping someone out there with some personal experience could chime in on a few things, most notably, where I want my PPM levels at what stages. Planning to grow from seed, 4 plants, in 8gal containers. (the system http://cch2o.com/products/hydroponic-systems/uc4/ ) ((Yes I know it could be built @ a fraction of the cost... but I didn't pay a penny for it, was a raffle prize @ local hydro shop) Open to suggestions on strain to order. Have my own RO filter, so PPMs will need to reflect CaMg being added.

Got a 5g dwc bubble bucket running now, as a reminder of how to grow hydro (Been in soil now for years) Other than the claw from my way too high PPMs @ res fill once or twice, shes lookin damn good. That grow however has been on AN conn. nutes, and I dont really wanna run that in the big system...

I say you're better off searching this forum for those answers. Try googling "lucas formula RIU" and you'll get a lot of results.

Do you have a pH pen or monitor?

lucas is simple and very self explanatory. what is your question.
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General Hydroponics Flora Series Feeding Strategy - Lucas Formula

G-M-B (Grow-Micro-Bloom)
0-5-10 - For Vegetative cycle (18/6)
0-8-16 - For Flowering cycle (12/12)

The numbers above indicate the number of milliliters (ml) of Flora Grow, Micro or Bloom formulas that I use in one gallon (US Liquid) of nutrients.

You will notice I dont use any of the Flora “Grow” formula, do not need to, the Flora "Micro" provides plenty of Nitrogen.

There are two ways to work with this formula:

1. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected water solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. After adding back an amount of water equal to the amount of your reservoir capacity you should change the reservoir and put in fresh solution.

2. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected 100% strength nutrient solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. Continue to use this nutrient solution without dumping the tank unless the PPM rises above acceptable levels.

Between vegetative and flowering cycles you should dump your nutrients, then flush (possibly with Clearex) to remove salt buildups, then change to the other feeding program. Always shake your GH nutrient bottles before using them!

For young plants, just transplanted into the hydro setup, give them 50% strength nutrient mix to prevent overfeeding them while their young. Gradually bring up the mix to full strength as they grow over the next few weeks or so.

The lucas formula is normally intended for use with RO or near 0 PPM water.

NOTE: The Lucas formula eliminates the need for Epsom salts to correct (Magnesium) Mg deficiencies in most normal feeding programs recommended by manufacturers. Cannabis needs a lot of Magnesium to thrive.

The Flora Micro is providing the Nitrogen and the Magnesium in the proper balance, thus there is no need for the Grow formula and little or no room under the maximum acceptable ppm limit of 1600 @ 0.7 conversion.

Calculated EC/TDS levels:

EC microsiemen:
0-4-8: 946 µS
0-5-10: 1184 µS
0-8-16: 1894 µS

TDS @ 0.5 conversion:
0-4-8 = 473 ppm
0-5-10 = 592 ppm
0-8-16 = 947 ppm

TDS @ 0.7 conversion:
0-4-8 = 663 ppm
0-5-10 = 829 ppm
0-8-16 = 1326 ppm

Addback Calculator - (For Advanced Users)

Say you were running the 0-8-16 formula, at 0.7 conversion with a 22 gallon res. When you first fill it up, your ppm will be around 1330.

Now you have been growing for a week, and some of the water has been taken up by the plants, some has evaporated, and now your res is at 947 ppm. You need to get your ppm from 947 to 1330. Here is the equation:

((target - current) / target) * 8 ml per gallon * res gallons = Flora Micro (ml) double this figure to get Flora Bloom (ml)

Example:

((1330 - 947) / 1330) * 8 * 22
(383 / 1330) * 8 * 22
0.3 * 8 * 22 = 53 ml Flora Micro

53 ml Flora Micro, double that and you get 106 ml Flora Bloom. So 53 ml Flora Micro and 106 ml Flora Bloom to add back to your 22 gallon res to get you from 947 to 1330.

Using Hard Water GH Micro

I had been experimenting with using the Hard water Micro as a substitute for the normal Flora Micro, this to account for my hard 350 PPM water and the lack of a large enough RO filter at the time. It has worked well for me. I just kept my reservoir below 1150 PPM @ .5 conversion and its all good.

One tip - do not pH down this stuff, the hard water micro will drop pH gradually over the next 24 hours, for example I mix up a batch, it is at like 6.2, the next day, its at 5.6-5.8 after running in the system for a while. If I pH downed that to 5.7 before putting it in the system, it ended up as low as 4.8-5.2 by the next day.

My conclusion, the hard water micro was buffering the alkaline crud in my water, it just does not do it ASAP fast like the phosphoric acid."

There's no answer for the correct ppm. You have to watch your plants. Check the ppm daily. If it's rising then you have it too high. If its dropping rapidly then its too low. Really easy. I found that mine like it near 250 - 300 and flourish.

Take my advice, this is what fixed all of my issues. Good luck

I built an undercurrent system and run Lucas Formula. I'm harvesting in 7 days. Shit is unreal. Just run 16ml/gal of bloom and 8ml/gal of micro. Add micro first, and stir, maybe wait a minute, then add bloom. My ppm comes out to about 1000 and ph is at 5.6-5.8. I also run hydroguard at 3ml/gal and Calmag at 5ml/gal (ro water) and that's it. Ooh and it's run through a chiller at 65 deg and is topped off with straight ro water via float valve and rez. Good Luck!
https://www.rollitup.org/t/rdwc-build-so-far-so-good.852489/