Originally Posted by
acenicho
First of hello to everyone, Im a relatively new grower and found the board the other day completely by accident.
My question, is I've just been out and purchased a new wilma 4 pot to go into my grow tent (600w HPS, 6" out, 5" in, growing in coco). Im just not sure what cycle to put it on as I've never had, or know anyone, who has experience with a drip kit.
I'm getting clones off a friend so I was going to start with 2 15min drip cycles at first one in morning and one at evening. Is this the best way to start.
Also, how would I increase as the plants gets older, I know everyone says you'll be able to tell by the plant and Im hoping Ill pick up on this, Im just after a ballpark figure to work around at first.
Second question is regarding how I work out how much nutrient to put in the resevoir. I've read the post on Ec/PPM and feel Ive got a rough idea of that... But if Im aiming for an EC of .7 then do i just do a mix and aim for that and ignore the concentration my nutrient says to use on the back?
Finally, do I have to take in to account for hard and soft water when doing Ec/PPM as we live in a relatively hard water area.
Thanks in advance for the advice
~acenicho
Hi Acenicho,
Welcome to the forum mate and congratulations on taking your first step to independance.
I use a flood and drain system so I can;t help on the dripper much to be honest. Again I,m using clay pebbles as opposed to Coco so you are probably better off waiting for someone else re: those questions.
Re; The nutrient pack instructions. To a degree ignore what it says on the packet. They want you to use as much as possible so that you buy more but rarely do you need to go to the full strength that they say on the packet. Stick with your .7 see how the plants go and take it from there. If you get nute burn (tips of leaves browning and crispin) then drop the level down. If the plants are looking slightly yellow in colour from the bottom up then you want to up the nutes slightly. If they are looking lush and green then keep doing exactly what you are doing. Rule of thumb is to start low and work your way up. No-one has ever killed a plant by under feeding it, yes it slows growth etc and all that but does,nt kill it. Over feeding or over watering WILL kill so be warned. Less is more as they say and work your way up from there.
RE; EC/PPM in hard water, take the reading for your water prior to adding any nutes. i.e. your water (without anything added) may be .1 or .2 for example. Take that figure away from your calculations. i.e If you are aiming for 0.7 and your base water reading is 0.2, then you aim for 0.9.
Hope it all makes sense. Sorry I could,nt help on everything.
Good luck
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