A customer has a question and I hope we can get some opinions on it, thanks
Hello, I’m very confused on when I should flush my plants with normal water. I have read your ILGM bible a few times but I’ve also read a bunch more on the internet and watched a bunch. You don’t talk much about flushing except when the PH is too low or high. I will be using “Roots Organic Original Soil” and “Flora grow, blom and micro” for nutrients. I know to use 1/4 of the recommended nutrients after two weeks of normal water and then to start with the 1/4 then 1/2 and then full nutrient recommendations further on. I just don’t know if I should be flushing once there’s 2 weeks left of flowering, one week left or a few days left or not to flush at all. I would like to know what YOU think is best because I’m trying to learn from you as much as possible. People say that if you don’t flush it now and then with normal water then your grow wont be as good so I don’t know what to do. Also, one more question, I am going to transplant into 3gal pots and use SCROG with a custom screen I made after a lot of research. I’ll be doing it in an area that’s 4.5’ x 3’, do you think they’ll come out good? Trying to get as much yield as possible with my White Widow and was thinking 4 wouldn’t have been enough to cover that area since I only want to top the first and then once more after that split for each plant. A little worried how many tops would be too many for my area so that was the plan. Sorry if anything sounds silly, but the perfectionist in me likes to always do things right and the best way possible for the best outcomes and I like to learn first hand from people that are very good. Using a 54wT5/seedling then 600w MH/veg&HPS/flower. I’ll take as much info as you’d like to toss to me. I love how you have this help center for growing on your site. Thank you so much, Nathan R.
Welcome to the forum! I suggest you join and ask questions as you grow.
The soil you chose is excellent. I would NOT use any nutrients for the first 3 to 4 weeks. The soil you chose has plenty of high quality nutrients which would carry the plant through veg entirely.
To do a SCROG effectively, veg time needs to be long enough to develop a canopy to fill. Your grow space will handle two SCROG’ED plants and you have enough light.
If you haven’t already: purchase a good ph meter along with calibration solution and ph up and down. The majority of problems occur around ph.
Flushing is dependent on many factors and is done for prevention as well as recovery. Most growers adopt a schedule based on the published grow schedule for a particular nutrient line. GH is good stuff with a lot of support online. Flushing is necessary on a regular basis when using some nutrient lines to remove salts built up over time. It’s also done late in the grow to remove all residual salts, thus improving the smokeability of the finished product: you’re not smoking nutrients.
Build your SCROG for each plant and in a way to be able to move it. Trust me on this. I SCROG and it is a great technique. A 3 gallon pot is small for a photo period plant. I use 10 or 15 in soil and 7 in media.
It appears as though you have enough light for the space.
I just finished my WW grow. My first attempt at scrogging. Excellent strain that’s easy to grow. I do hydroponic and only flushed at the end of my grow, but being a newbie myself, I don’t know if I should have more often. The people on here are very knowledgeable and friendly.
I try not to treat flushing as a set schedule I tend to do flushes more as clean slate or reset but this is based on ppm changes of run off through grow cycles. Each plant can respond differently to nutrient levels so tracking is important but most flushes can be avoided by proper watering and monitoring practices even finishing flush
@Myfriendis410 Hello, I’m the original person/ticket maker of that question. Thank you for your help. I already have 6 seeds in their starter pots at the moment so I’ll have to stick with 6 unless some don’t pop up or don’t make it. I have 3 gallon pots because I read online that 3-5 gal is plenty fine. I know people use 7+ gallon pots that are great, but I’m not trying to get massive scrog’d plants. I’m just trying to top once or twice because I’m too new for massive plants. I figured I’d start with more of a smaller scrog then after a few harvests I can switch to less but bigger plants. I planned on clipping them down in snake-like patterns to take up the least amount of room as possible. Let me know how this sounds to you since you’re experienced. Regarding the PH reading, I bought a PH up/down kit that came with a mix for reading PH. Is that not good enough? I was going to get a meter but I read that you have to keep fixing them with some neutral solution and that sounded like a pain in the butt so I was just going to do it this way, but if you recommend that, then I’ll buy one. If you know a super good one that’s preferably no more than 50-150 USD, I’d be up for it since this sounds like a very good investment. Is there one that reads PH and PPM all in one that’s super good and you recommend? I hear the bluelab pens are terrible.
Welcome! It sounds like you have a good plan! Be aware that plans rarely survive first contact but that’s part of the fun!
Drops for measuring ph are too imprecise for us so a digital ph meter is a good idea. The Apera ph20 is very popular and yes: you need to calibrate and check it but it’s WAY easier than drops. Case in point I calibrated mine (took 5 minutes) and have not needed it again in 8 months. Standard Reference Solution 7.0 ph is all you need. Remember that a difference of 0.1 ph is 10 times more or less acidic.
The schedule you want is for soil. That is a hydro schedule or for coco.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions. I’m happy to help.
soil is also drain to waste hydro is recirculating all soil is watered until saturated and nutrients and water never recirculates rather it drains and is wasted by the simplest definition or absorbed and not reused
Okay, I will look into that meter. That chart I have there says it’s for soil, soiless, coco or hydro so I thought it was right. Whoops…
How does this one look? Right? I have no idea which to choose from this selection: https://generalhydroponics.com/feedcharts/
I’m so worried about the feeding because I can already see myself burning my plants and somehow messing everything up and not knowing what to do even though I’m following all the rules and such. I’m a bit confused how feeding works too. That counts as the watering process right until 15% runoff, right? I thought you only do it once every few days but I was doing some more research and a guy was saying he will feed/water a little bit to prep them and then feed them fully the next day before letting them dry out and repeating the cycle.
Do I need the combo kit? I doubt it, it looks like it comes with the buffers needed. Should I buy more or is that plenty for a while?
Also, should I even worry about getting a PPM meter or just forget that for now and just hope for the best? So lost on how to even fix PPM and how to know what you need and what don’t you need for it…
I tried PH’ing my tap water with the liquid drop kit and you’re right, it’s absolutely terrible. I THINK my tap is at 7.5 which is a bit high and I don’t even know how much down to put into a gallon, there’s nothing to tell you how much… I guess this is where an electric meter comes in helpful so you can just keep probing the water until you see the number you want, haha.
@Xnate13X A ppm meter will help and decent one can be found for less then $20. As you learn you will see how reading your nute level in the soil helps so definitely get one. If we know the numbers we can all help with fixing your problems. And welcome to the forum. Quality people here
and a 1k ppm calibration liquid. I also bought that PH meter I said above, yay, so excited. I’ve spent over $1k on everything so far, ahh! Hopefully everything goes smoothly with my growing, I’d hate to not have this work out. I’m giving it my all! I’ve always loved gardening. I normally do corn, watermelon, pumpkins, or other veggies and in 2013 I did a ton of Virginia Gold tobacco plants in an outdoors grow after indoor germination/1’ or so in height. Cannabis just became legal in my state last year but only getting time now to start, so here we go. I will probably use this forum post for all my questions and updates of how my plants are doing if it’s okay to do so, if not, I’ll make my own.
(I ran out of replies yesterday for the 24hr period so I’m replying now.) Okay, I have the PH up/down liquid. Thanks for the tips on other things I could use though, that’s good to know. I am buying some PH storage solution now too. There’s a 16oz for $17 or an 8oz for $11… I think the 8oz is plenty.
Should I be watering my seedlings with distilled water until the PH meter comes in the mail since I don’t know how basic my water is? I know it’s somewhere around 7.5 or is that fine for now? If it will matter, then it’s worth the $1 at the store for a gallon of distilled.
-The “Eight steps to germinate” by ILGM says to keep soil moist and spray twice a day. I’ve been spraying twice a day and keeping the soil (so I think) moist? How moist do I keep it? Am I supposed to have runoff atm because I have only been watering a little without runoff so I don’t drown them.
Thanks!
A combination tester is an option for you. I use the Extech EC500 meter and below is the combination kit which includes the EC500. It is a bit expensive (nearly $150 US) but a very good product.
@Myfriendis410 Question… my seedlings’ starter leaves are curling or curled on some. I think it’s from too much water (even though they’ve barely had much at all.) The soil is still moist too. What do you think? Here’s two pics. A couple are okay, other’s look curled.
I’m giving it my all! I’ve always loved gardening. I normally do corn, watermelon, pumpkins, or other veggies and in 2013 I did a ton of Virginia Gold tobacco plants in an outdoors grow after indoor germination/1’ or so in height. Cannabis just became legal in my state last year but only getting time now to start, so here we go. I will probably use this forum post for all my questions and updates of how my plants are doing if it’s okay to do so, if not, I’ll make my own.
