Barney86
Well-Known Member
Right folks time for another how to thread for my sig.
So how do we feed a reservoir then?
Lots of people get put off hydro growing when they see the dramas people go through faffing about with pH levels and obsessing over ppms.
The truth is if you set the Res right you don't need to do much at all.
If the pH goes out of range within 5 days you're doing it wrong and it should need a top up by then so that will fix it anyway.
A little trick that only reservoir growers have up their sleeve is that the ppm e/c meter actually tells you how strong to make the feed.
If the ppm is rising then the feed is getting stronger.
If the ppm drops then it's getting weaker.
Easiest way to keep it perfect is to start at 200ppm + your water. Once the ppm starts to drop by 10-20 per day you go up by 50%.
Then in a couple weeks time once that starts dropping by 10-20 per day again you go up by 50% again.
Always up the nutes by 50% once the drop comes .
That pretty much garuntees to keep it at the right strength.
Saves you about 75% on the nutes bill too
You go in at ph5.5-5.7 for veg then 6.3-6.5 for bloom.
Only pH adjust it once it hits iether end.
That pH swing lets the plants absorb everything as best they can.
And as your feeding pretty much exactly what the plant is taking in the pH will rise slowly in veg then drop a bit quicker in bloom as the plant is bigger.
You'll be topping it up more regularly then anyway so it doesn't cause any drama.
The pH swing is partly caused by root secretions which change when they flip to bloom. Hence the rise and fall. But the effects will happen faster if the feed is too strong or too week.
By feeding this way you really shouldn't ever have to pH adjust it out with top up and Res change day.
What you feed it is upto you.
Personally I start off with
100ppm veg nutes, 30ppm scillica, 30ppm root boost and take it from there. They'll be more than happy with just veg nutes though if that's all you've got.
Scillica must be used exactly as stated on the bottle.
Root boost it's upto you. I use roughly quarter strength the full grow. Sometimes I don't use it
If you're using r/o water you'll definately need calmag to start with aswell. 50ppm of that then just gotta judge it from there.
Also it's best to use some sort of product to keep the Res clean.
Sm-90 is my personal favourite. Runs the Res sterile. Stopped making it just now but it's still on eBay. It should be back for sale soon.
Other top choice is hydroguard which is beneficial bacteria that kill any bad bacteria. The opposite of sm-90 but same result.
When feeding this way you pretty much eliminate 90% of possible dramas.
The only things you should need to watch for are...
The bottoms going yellow.
That's nitrogen deficiency. Up the veg nutes by 50%
Mids lose colour and go blotchy or rusty spots appear that magnesium and calcium deficiency so up the calmag by 50%
Tops going yellow, once you know it's not the lights being too close, is iron deficiency.
You can find that in a bottle of micro boost or do what I do and buy calmag with added iron.
For bloom you need bloom nutes and a pk booster.
Bloom nutes go in at the same strength the veg nutes were at.
3 weeks into bloom, ramp it up a little if they need it and start the pk booster at quarter of whatever it says.
If the tips don't burn after a few days then try 50%. If you see any burnt tips appearing anywhere then back off.
A few weeks later youll notice the ppm starts rising really quickly. That's the plant finishing herself off.
People think you need to flush them but they do it themselves anyway if you let them.
Half all the nutes.
Next week half them again.
Next week half it again and you should be nearly done.
She's stopped feeding now anyway which you'll see in the ppm.
That rise in ppm towards the end is also your cue to start using bud hardners or ripening agents if you want to use them. Not something I bother with though so have to ask someone else about that one lol.
Bear in mind indicas will finish massively faster than most sativas so adjust timings accordingly.
That'll do for now I'm off out for a bit
So how do we feed a reservoir then?
Lots of people get put off hydro growing when they see the dramas people go through faffing about with pH levels and obsessing over ppms.
The truth is if you set the Res right you don't need to do much at all.
If the pH goes out of range within 5 days you're doing it wrong and it should need a top up by then so that will fix it anyway.
A little trick that only reservoir growers have up their sleeve is that the ppm e/c meter actually tells you how strong to make the feed.
If the ppm is rising then the feed is getting stronger.
If the ppm drops then it's getting weaker.
Easiest way to keep it perfect is to start at 200ppm + your water. Once the ppm starts to drop by 10-20 per day you go up by 50%.
Then in a couple weeks time once that starts dropping by 10-20 per day again you go up by 50% again.
Always up the nutes by 50% once the drop comes .
That pretty much garuntees to keep it at the right strength.
Saves you about 75% on the nutes bill too
You go in at ph5.5-5.7 for veg then 6.3-6.5 for bloom.
Only pH adjust it once it hits iether end.
That pH swing lets the plants absorb everything as best they can.
And as your feeding pretty much exactly what the plant is taking in the pH will rise slowly in veg then drop a bit quicker in bloom as the plant is bigger.
You'll be topping it up more regularly then anyway so it doesn't cause any drama.
The pH swing is partly caused by root secretions which change when they flip to bloom. Hence the rise and fall. But the effects will happen faster if the feed is too strong or too week.
By feeding this way you really shouldn't ever have to pH adjust it out with top up and Res change day.
What you feed it is upto you.
Personally I start off with
100ppm veg nutes, 30ppm scillica, 30ppm root boost and take it from there. They'll be more than happy with just veg nutes though if that's all you've got.
Scillica must be used exactly as stated on the bottle.
Root boost it's upto you. I use roughly quarter strength the full grow. Sometimes I don't use it
If you're using r/o water you'll definately need calmag to start with aswell. 50ppm of that then just gotta judge it from there.
Also it's best to use some sort of product to keep the Res clean.
Sm-90 is my personal favourite. Runs the Res sterile. Stopped making it just now but it's still on eBay. It should be back for sale soon.
Other top choice is hydroguard which is beneficial bacteria that kill any bad bacteria. The opposite of sm-90 but same result.
When feeding this way you pretty much eliminate 90% of possible dramas.
The only things you should need to watch for are...
The bottoms going yellow.
That's nitrogen deficiency. Up the veg nutes by 50%
Mids lose colour and go blotchy or rusty spots appear that magnesium and calcium deficiency so up the calmag by 50%
Tops going yellow, once you know it's not the lights being too close, is iron deficiency.
You can find that in a bottle of micro boost or do what I do and buy calmag with added iron.
For bloom you need bloom nutes and a pk booster.
Bloom nutes go in at the same strength the veg nutes were at.
3 weeks into bloom, ramp it up a little if they need it and start the pk booster at quarter of whatever it says.
If the tips don't burn after a few days then try 50%. If you see any burnt tips appearing anywhere then back off.
A few weeks later youll notice the ppm starts rising really quickly. That's the plant finishing herself off.
People think you need to flush them but they do it themselves anyway if you let them.
Half all the nutes.
Next week half them again.
Next week half it again and you should be nearly done.
She's stopped feeding now anyway which you'll see in the ppm.
That rise in ppm towards the end is also your cue to start using bud hardners or ripening agents if you want to use them. Not something I bother with though so have to ask someone else about that one lol.
Bear in mind indicas will finish massively faster than most sativas so adjust timings accordingly.
That'll do for now I'm off out for a bit
