It holds 40lish, but I put 20l in at watering (make nutes for 16l) and if the EC climbs or the pump runs out I’ll add some fresh water during the week

Was lazy last grow and didn’t change my reservoir every week, that caused issues, but I wanted to see for myself.

I also think I figured my issue out, my PH pen is punched, they apparently last about 18 months and mine is 3 years old (whoops). It gave me 3 different readings on my tap water yesterday morning. So I have a new one on order.

[–] Dasus 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Mine would take about 30 each (basically dripfeed and reservoir directly below a mesh pot) to reach the underside of the pot. Usually I'd say I fill it up until the underside of the pot and just let it drink. Haven't even followed my EC or for years. I just err on the side of too little and if it starts looking too heavy I'll change the water.

Actually I've not had pumps for a few grows for thinking my neighbour hears the dripping, so they've been passive.

Anyway my point is I don't think you need to worry about evaporation. However if you've been giving them the "max dose" recommended, they might not be up taking nutes, bur drinking water, thus raising the EC themselves.

Have you ever tried a grow where you approach feeding from a more "less is more" attitude? Not trying to advice or anything, just asking, because I sort of did that because I've been too lazy to try to optimise. So I give just a bit less than the recommended average, and sometimes if they look pale, which they rarely do, up the dosage, and it's been good for me.

But again, gardening has a million ways and none are "correct". Just making conversation.

[–] SchmidtGenetics 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sounds pretty similar to the “kratky” method. I’ve seen interesting results with cannabis, but at the same time it’s pretty hard to go the whole grow without adding water or atleast changing it at flip.

I think it’s semi transpiration, my VPD isn’t totally dialed in, but definitely could be evaporation, especially before the canopy fills out, but the lung room stays pretty cold, the wife likes the house at 19c… so combination of it taking water up to transpirate, and if I have PH issues yeah, there could be some lockout and they would both exacerbate other issues and each other.

My last grow at flip.

In a round about way, I do kinda, I check the ph and ec every morning and adjust as needed. So even if I feed it heavy, a day or two later it’s gonna be dropped back under 2.0. It basically cycles and this helps vary the ph as well to get uptake across 6-7ph.

The conversation is appreciated, and I like your attitude. Yeah there’s a million ways to grow, and there’s not one “right” way, just because hydro works for you, doesn’t mean I may be able to do it the same. People need to find what works for them, not try to do what people peddle as the best.

I used to be in soil until last year, so this is my 4th grow with the aero and light. First was dialing system in, second was trying figure out flip time, third is turning out fantastic and being chopped this weekend.

I’m also gonna be going through some growing pains here, switching nutrient lines, so gonna have to figure out the nuances of that line. Gonna be mixing it 50:50 with the old line till I run out of the base nutrients.

[–] Dasus 1 points 4 months ago

Oh I add new solution all the time, the plants drink obviously. It's just you only have to do that a few times in veg and then either change water or just add more in most cases, if there's no need to care for algae or some shit. In flower I refill the tank a couple of times a week. Then the last weeks I just give water.

Oh, I don't know about mixing nutes. They might have crazy chemistry and different balances and whatnot. Or do you mean mixing the solutions, right? Probably better, but I've never done it though. I'm not saying there's a risk. I'm just not aware and there might be, because I don't know since I've not looked into that. Depends on the complexity of your nute line I guess. Some have all kinds of crazy chems to buffer PH and whatnot.

oh remember to try and cover any holes going down to the where nutes rune so you keep algae off as long as possible. i have h2o2 that I use to countermand it but it was a problem this grow and has been a few grows for me.

But it's a weed, just don't be too rough and it'll be fine