Question about PPM measurement.

I'm new to hydroponics and I'm on my second grow. I have a plant that has leafs that are "ram horning". I think that it is either a magnesium deficiency or the addition of too many nutes. I am ten days into flowering. The plant is about 18 inches tall. It is nice and green. My EC is at 1.8 or 1260 ppm. Is that too much? I know I should top out at about 2.0 EC or 1400 ppm but how long into flowering should I take to get to that measurement? I'd post pictures but the plant is in its dark period right now. I'll take some tonight when the lights come back on. But, other than the "ram horning" leafs the plant is growing great and looks really good. The plant's roots show no signs of root rot. Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

1260 is a bit high.

If you can take a picture that would be great.

What would be a good ppm measurement for my situation; 10 days into flowering and 18 inches tall?

i dunno 600-800 then 1000

you should be in the 6-800 range roughly.

i have had to buy a ppm meter for my new passive hydro so i have been looking around and found this...

Roseman said:

PPM for Hanna Chart PPM


Seedlings, Early Sprouts 100 to 250

Early Vegging 300 to 400

Full Vegetation 450 to 700

Early Blooming 750 to 950

Full Mature Blooms 1000 to 1600



Remember to discount the ppm of your water.

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Looks about right.

Just curious, if you're using DWC or a system with a res, does the water smell bad at all? Also, is your ppm's going down and pH going up over time? Or staying level? Or ppm's going up and pH going down?

Those are good questions. I am using a DWC. The water doesn't smell bad. The pH goes up over time. I don't know about the PPMs. I have only been checking those when I change my nutrients. Should I check those once a day as well?

I just checked the EC/PPM (I use an EC meter and do the math) and the EC/PPM is now 1.7/1190 so the PPM has dropped by 70 in 48 hours. Maybe I should flush for 24 hours and start a new reservoir with a PPM of around 800?

i never go above 600 in dwc. its a waste above that.

I know people flowering with 2200 ppm. More on what plants want then an average number. If the plant shows no sign of stressing at 1200 ppm then feed it more until you see it hurting an not handling it and cut back until you dial in your strains nute use... but hey im still a noob.

when the leaves are curling as you described, it sounds like your PH is way off.

ricky6991 said:

I know people flowering with 2200 ppm. More on what plants want then an average number. If the plant shows no sign of stressing at 1200 ppm then feed it more until you see it hurting an not handling it and cut back until you dial in your strains nute use... but hey im still a noob.

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well ive done it for a while and had time to test. i have gone from 500-2500 in aero using same strains in same controlled environment and found that although most of my strains can easily handle higher numbers, i got heathier looking plants, higher yields, and much less work on keeping res balanced when i stayed below 1100 in late flower and below 900 in early flower. they only need so much and in hydro it is so readily available.

Im doing my first hydro grow and after many ups and downs I am keeping it around the 1000 tds range and that is were it stays pretty much constant and could probably go a bit lower as it does climb slowly. I do change out res every 7 days just to be safe. Also I can tell if PH is high by leaves curling at the tips usually means my PH is above 6.5 in my setup. Maybe somthing to look at!

What did you change before the leaves started to curl?

As the plant eats nutes , the ph goes up , as the plant eats water ph goes down ?Very informing thread Thanks

What did you change before the leaves started to curl?

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I changed the water in rez. I had always contributed ram horn with nute issues not PH. Ph is an issue for my setup as I use well water with out RO (christmas present I hope LOL). And also I never had issues with PH getting that high in my soil setups but never let it get higher than that in the runnoff. Also I have to add the down slowly because my hydro store changed brands and havent got the mixture down yet to add on res refill so add slowly over a few days. As I have kept nutes pretty constant through out grow it had to be PH so lowered it to 6 and all good.View attachment 2419521 It's White Russian BTW!!!

the well water will do it every time.

superstoner1 said:

the well water will do it every time.

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it will make the leaves curl?? i dunno man, mine were doing it because my PH was off.

They will bow, twist, ends of leaf tips will start rounding off, yellowing at tips, blackened tips on new growth, and they will do this weird arching also if its nute burn. But I also had this from PH being off as well.