Good info from SkyBound on ppm,ph & Silica

Skybound;2297310 said:

Hey snypr, just wanted to say DAMN! That scrog plant is a monster. Shanker's suggestion of adding a silica product is a very good suggestion. There is even some debate whether silica should be considered a macro nutrient as all plants use it to grow, plus it also help to deal with various types of stress and is a great PH up supplement. I use it from the very beginning of veg till near end of flower. My branches get much thicker than they normally would which translates into much more efficient nutrient transporting in the plant.

I also think you'd be better served to not do so many pure RO flushes. Doing so is an extreme and extreme environmental changes are stressful in and of themselves. If PPM spikes, add water till you hit your desired PPM. If PH swings down, add silica to bring it back up (if there is room in PPM to accommodate). If PH swings up, Flora Blend should be able to get it down. Use PH up and down when absolutely needed, but that's a last resort for me.

As rock wool is naturally closer to PH neutral, of course it will pull the PH to the base side of the scale. But we soak our cubes in our veg or bloom nutrients for 15 or so minutes prior to transplant. This aids to manipulate the cubes into the range we desire. PH will tend to walk away, but just make minor adjustments as you can so nothing adds up to any extremes.

Also, Capn told you to get beneficials involved. I cannot stress this enough. Everyone that grows Capn style knows the bennies are a major part of the success in this grow style. Vigorous roots translate to vigorous growth up top, plus the bennies will eat at some of the salts in the media and break them down into usable nutrients. Not to mention, when the tea is made with Ancient Forest, Heisenberg himself said the bennies cling to the AF and break it down into usable N which might aid in N deficiency.

Edit - Forgot to mention that if your meters are too close to the ballast, there might be an excess of electrical noise (EMI) in the vicinity of your meter causing irregular readings. If they are close in proximity, try to get them farther apart and see if that helps.

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