HELP! Ppm question

[bboyfromwayback]

Obi-Wan....I’ve followed a few of your grows and you seem to be on point so I’m tagging you on his one lol hope you don’t mind.

Although I’ve been completely satisfied with my grows over the years, I’ve been trying different things to up my game since discovering this site. My latest venture is going to be checking ppm which is something I’ve never done but after reading some articles and different members posts I’m wondering if I’ve been leaving some THC in my tent over the years. Opened my new ppm tester yesterday before watering a beautiful, lush green Banana Kush that’s going into the flower tent within the next week or so. I’ve always used the FF trio schedule at 1/2 strength so after mixing up a batch I measured the ppm at 354. Now according to a few different charts I’ve found online I should be feeding her around 700-900ppm depending on which chart you go by (she’s been vegging 7wks) I was reluctant to increase the strength, afraid I’d cause a issue right before switching to flower so I left it alone. My question is for experienced growers who check their ppm, what dosage do you all go by? I’d like to see if I can grow better bud without frying my plants

[9fingerleafs]

dont worry about other peoples numbers, its all about the water to nutrients ratio, in very hot dry grows or using small pots you need more water. in a humid colder /bigger container you need less. all the while the nutrients needed are the same. so if you have success with 350 ppm dont change anything, the moment you have an issue you can use this metric to make adjustments. for example if you need more of one nutrient you can see how much ppm rises to have a better understanding and control. if winter comes and the plants start to drink less water you may have to increase the dose a bit. its useful for you but not for comparing to other climates/grows

[bboyfromwayback]

That makes sense. I wasn’t too concerned with ppm during veg but as wondering if I should possibly consider stronger dosages during flower. The ppm of our tap water tested at 44

[9fingerleafs]

thats just perfect, mine comes out at 700 ppm because its deep well water, i dilute with ro water 50-50 to get a 350 starting water and then add around 600 of nutes, same recipe/dose for veg and flower. its not the best for small seedlings and delicate plants lock out magnesium but its easier for me to run everything the same in the water department

[Obi-Wan]

First off, thanks for following my grows!!!! I suffer from bad grows too, sometimes it’s genetics and sometimes it’s just me being too stubborn to change my methods. My methods work for most of the strains I grow but every once in awhile Mother Nature reminds me that I can’t control everything!!!

9fingerleafs I agree, if what you’re doing is working there’s no need to mess with it.

Measuring ppm/EC is a good tool to have in your grow bag, knowledge is power after all. I prefer using the EC measurement because it eliminates the confusion of whether a grower is using the 500 or 700 conversion scale. I think it’s important to look at ppm/EC within the context of other variables. Deficiencies are the only reason to raise ppm/EC in my opinion but even then you have to rule out pH as a cause first. My tap ranges from 170-200ppm(.4 EC) and I try to keep my reservoir at 700ppm(1.4 EC), but when you subtract my 200ppm starting point, I’m only adding 500ppm of nutrients. If it drifts up, I add water. If it drifts down, I add nutrients but I’ve come to realize that 1.4EC/700ppm works best with my environment.

If your looking to maximize THC, I would focus on the following in order:
1.Genetics
2. Harvest time
3. Humidity & Temperature in flower

[bboyfromwayback]

Thanks for the advice! I’m finishing up my first ever grow from photo seeds I’ve ordered online, until recently I’ve only grown from bag seed and the mother plants I have that also came from bag seed. I’m also growing one plant from clone that I’ve grown many times before and it’s taught me a few things as well. I started it along with some autos (they were my 1st auto grow) and at the time I only had one tent which forced me to veg that plant longer than I usually do. Normally I do a 4wk veg then switch but a couple of the autos went 11wks. The buds are bigger and frostier than any of the previous times I’ve flowered that strain which tells me the age of the plant effects how it produces.