Nutrient /Help

Newbie here first hydro grow ,I have 3 +wk old seedlings that I am learnig with ,at wk 2 I started feeding them with 100 ppm (meter scale .5)of nutes my water is 16 ppm,ph 5.9 ,2 day ago I up the nutes to about 180 ppm, I check the ppm about 12 hrs later and it went up to 192 ppm now 24 hrs later the ppm is 204, So does this mean the seedlings are taking in water only and my nutes are to stong and I am on my way to a over nute situation ,and or nute lockout, this is only a 2 plant grow so I can educate myself on the learning curve of hydro growing, Am I on the rite track here or way off with my Newbie stupidity.

You are BANG ON TRACK!!!!

If your ppm increases it means the nutrient mix is too strong for them. Decrease ppm by adding water.

Are you pH'ing your res too?

What pH are you using?



J

Sorry just seen you're running 5.9ph.

That's ok.

Monitor your pH as well.

If your ppm's increase generally your pH will alter. Stronger ppm lower pH. Lower ppm higher pH.



J

thanks for setting me Straight, yea will def keep a eye on PH as well , So I did added water brang PPM down to 110 and yes PH downed a touch to 5.8, hope I did not set them back to much ,I feel I already stressed them to much,but on the other side I am being educated for the next grow .thanx

Don't worry. That drift of 24ppm from 180-204 isn't detrimental.

Just keep your eye on it.

If it climbs over 150ppm in 24hours then this can cause stress.

As you progress with your testing, try to test at the same time each day. You only need to adjust if your ppm increases too much or if pH changes outside of 5.2-6.2. Naturally depending on stages of growth your pH can alter due to buffers present in your water and in your nutes. Each different element effects pH differently.

Once you get the hang of testing and adjusting (you're nearly there already) then you can start looking at what pH ranges certain elements are better or worse uptaken by the plant.

For instance if you find you have a slight N deficiency you can increase your pH to 6.2 to allow N to be taken in more readily. If you have N toxicity starting you can lower your pH nearer to 5.2 to slow the uptake of nitrogen without reducing your ppm's.

PH nutrient availability table is handy to have.



J

Great info thanks for the insight , my tap water ph is 6.2,so after nutes one adjustment (down) 5.8 or 9 and its been very stable ,checkin 2x a day along with ppm , and yes have I have a GH Nute availabilty chart that I been using. So then when reading small drifts in ppm readings that are going down (example) ppm reading 225 ,24hrs later reading 200 ppm = does not mean nutes need to added ,Same as rise in ppm reading , Ive really had a lot of issues the first week with over watering because I could not get a handle on the rapid rooters intence water uptake and holding of h2o and def where drowning them ,So I transplanted them in to net cups with hydroton ,so they have been through some stress , but it saved them and they seem to be doing well rite now , stunted with short growth between noids but looking much happier and growing.