Still struggling. Been measuring runoffs, and now I’m stumped.

Hey guys, some of you may remember me from my destroying crops since 2017 thread from not too long ago. Well, I’m still struggling epically, and ruining my last 3 plants which are at weeks 4 and 8.

Quick background.
600 w HPS
Coco with Perlite, House and Garden brand
House and Farden nutrient regiment that has been dialed back to half recommendation throughout life cycle.
I have been battling the PM, it’s a motherfucker.
I’m finishing up these last plants so that I can shit it down, and disinfect everything’s so that I can start from scratch.
The hydro shop I use recommended checking my runoff PPMs which I did, and found that my plants had up to 8000+ PPMs for runoff. Since then, I have been feeding Base nutrients with CalMag and watering with ph balanced water every non-feeding day. I’ve been doing it for a few weeks now, and I’m all fucked up and unable to interpret what’s going on.

My belief is that House and Garden is garbage, and I don’t intend to ever use their stuff again, coco and nutrients. That is all that I can figure. Please help.

Here is the data.

12/20 (feed base and CalMag)
Pour:
6.3 ph, 636 PPMs
Runoff:
5.7 ph, 855 PPMs
6.1 ph, 1021 PPMs

12/21 (just watered)
P: 6.2, 262
R: 5.8, 662 and 6.1, 851

12/22
P: 6.1, 608
R: 5.7, 851 and 6.1, 1027

12/23
Nothing

12/24
P: 6.1, 992
R: 5.8, 1298 and 6.1, 1434

12/25
P: 6.1, 236
R: 5.7, 927 and 6.2, 915

12/26
Nothing

12/27
P: 5.9, 235
R: 5.9, 851 and 6.1, 891

12/28
P: 6.1, 1534
R: 6.0, 1539 and 6.1, 1758

12/29
P: 6.1, 244
R: 5.8, 1061 and 6.0, 1345

12/30
P: 6.0, 260
R: 5.9, 874 and 6.0, 1096

12/31 Week 8 Flower
P: 6.0, 1534 (all nutes, not just Base)
R: 5.8, 1477 and 5.9, 1610

1/1
Nothing

1/2
P: 6.1, 1334
R: 5.7, 1700 and 6.0, 1840

1/3
P: 6.2, 205
R: 5.8, 1360 and 6.0, 1264

Use soil

mr sunshine said:

Use soil

Click to expand...

Indoors in tents? Am I opening myself to even more problems?

Daveindiego said:

Indoors in tents? Am I opening myself to even more problems?

Click to expand...

I've grown indoor in soil, less work. You can ammendment it and not have to feed so often..

Mr. S isn't being facetious. Soil is much more forgiving. It will buffer pH and slow down the grow so you have time to react.

I grow indoors exclusively with super soil. I don't even have to add nutes. I don't bother pH'ing. As long as I don't put plants in it too young, it's pretty much cruise control with the exception of teas and some additives/supplements.

Soil is very forgiving. Gives you better time to react to changes in your plant.


.... dang it greg.. you beat me to it.

Soil gives good green.
Soil makes plant happy.

What see4 said.

Everything I have been told in the short time I’ve been involved is that coco is a simpler and more forgiving medium.

I’m still tripping on giving these plants water nearly everyday. That too goes against what I had been taught about the medium.

Daveindiego said:

Everything I have been told in the short time I’ve been involved is that coco is a simpler and more forgiving medium.

I’m still tripping on giving these plants water nearly everyday. That too goes against what I had been taught about the medium.

Click to expand...

Yes you have more control over coco, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Think of it like driving a standard car, you can choose when you want to get into those gears. But if you don't know how to drive stick you won't be able to take advantage of any of it.

I think that makes sense, it does in my head...


Soil is an automatic medium

Does soil lead to possible infestation that coco wouldn’t?

Daveindiego said:

Does soil lead to possible infestation that coco wouldn’t?

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Grown in soil for years and had no infestation caused by soil.
Other than a few gnats.

Mites and other problems i have had were not soil related

yeah, gnats love the stuff, but they are easy to control.

Daveindiego said:

Does soil lead to possible infestation that coco wouldn’t?

Click to expand...

Bugs do prefer soil.

Daveindiego said:

Everything I have been told in the short time I’ve been involved is that coco is a simpler and more forgiving medium.

I’m still tripping on giving these plants water nearly everyday. That too goes against what I had been taught about the medium.

Click to expand...

You're not growing in soil - it's drain to waste hydroponics. If you continue growing in coco the way you do - you will fail again. It's not your nutes - it's your method. You should never use plain water in coco, you should feed every day to substantial run off, pH'd to around 6.0. If you feed every day you will replenish the nutes, pull in fresh oxygen to the roots, and eliminate any salt build up. Good luck.

Daveindiego said:

Everything I have been told in the short time I’ve been involved is that coco is a simpler and more forgiving medium.

I’m still tripping on giving these plants water nearly everyday. That too goes against what I had been taught about the medium.

Click to expand...

The problems you are having are some of the reasons I switched to soil. Now I just water my plants and get on with my life. Cheap nutrients are garbage; let the soil do the work.
Go get yourself a big bag of decent organic garden soil. Add in some extra perlite and worm castings. Maybe some cow/chicken manure; I layer a small handful of Charlie's chicken compost in the bottom of each container. For a boost in late veg or early flower use neptunes harvest liquid fish at 1 tsp per gal every 2 weeks or so if needed. Use a clean water source. Sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on the mulch layer of your pots to control gnats. Easy breezy