|
Aeroponic Nutrient Levels
Hi All!
Long time no post and I hope the regulars are still around!!
I'm in the process of shifting to aeroponic/nft systems and I'm running into start-up trouble on the veg system. What I basically built is the system described in the June HT with improvements, including adjustable channel drains to maintain a bit of water in the event of a pump failure or power outage.
My veg system has 2 channels (5" vinyl fence posts) with 6 - 3" plant sites each (on 7" centers), fed from a 10 gal (actually 18, filled to 10) reservoir, using a 396 Gph pump, with 14 total sprayers.. Basically emulated an Aero Flo system, except my sprayers point up from the bottom. To prevent spray hitting the leaves I'm using neoprene inserts on the net pots..
For nutes, I'm using AN Sensi Grow.. plus 35% H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) as a prophylaxis for root rot and other bad fungus.
So I packed this baby with rooted Silver Haze clones (typically a bit sensitive to nute levels), juiced the reservoir to 850 ppm, set ph to 5.8, and added 12 tbsp H2O2 (a bit over 1 tbsp per gal). Cycle timer was set to 1 min. on, 4 min. off. Changed the reservoir 9 days later, went up to 950 ppm, ph 5.6, still using H2O2. Gave them one application of B-52 (1/4 tsp per qt.) sprayed. Plants are looking like shit!! Lower leaves are yellowing (from edges) and droopy, growth stunted, with a little bit of leaf twisting..
My opinion is the nute levels are WAY too high.. especially with direct application to the roots. So, I swapped in a fresh reservoir today at 675 ppm with a ph of 5.6 and left the H2O2 out of the mix... I've also changed the cycle time to 45 sec. on, 6 min. off... I guess we'll see in a couple of days..
Does anyone have any suggestions for appropriate nutrient levels for aeroponics from veg through flowering? The HT article I used for reference, this dude was suposedly juicing his plants to 3000 ppm during flower. I say BS!
Peace,
Farmer Rich
|