Documenting My Feeding Regime
So, since Sensimilla13 is running his Angel Heart on the Dutch Master Gold formula, I decided to keep track of the stats on a Mango Haze/DM grow since I suspect that he is probably dealing with some MH pheno's. The pheno in the re-veg project is an 8 week incense pheno. The capacity of my hydro is 8 gallons under a 150 watt HPS. My tap water accounts for about 70 ppm of my stats.
I've simplified the DM mix into a dosage system:
-A dose is 2 TBSP ADD.27 and 1 TBSP each of parts A&B. Zone and Silica always go in at 1/2 TSP/gallon. I do res changes every 2 weeks.
The first pic was fed at 1.4 EC, pH 5.6 of DM Gold. (2 doses in 8 gallons of water and I didn't even need to add any pH down)
7 days later EC was at 1.1 and pH at 5.9.
Fed her last night with 1.8 EC and pH 5.5. (add-back of 2 more doses and 2 gallons of water + 2ml/gallon of POTASH+)
(Multiply EC by 500 to get PPM (Hanna))
If I had fed her stronger at the time of the first pic, the pH would have been 5.7-5.8 but for regular maintenance, the formula worked perfectly last week. When you nail the formula, DM will go 2 weeks before the pH jumps out of range if you have good res volume. Use it like they say, always set/adjust the pH at 5.5 and wait for it to climb to 5.9 before you drop it back down. DM is more stable at higher strengths so most pH crashes are due to underfeeding. In the case of MH, the EC will skyrocket towards the end of flowering because they shift into "water only mode". I would anticipate AH to do the same thing since it is true with both of my MH pheno's.
Earlier I mentioned Potash+ (0-4-9). I picked it up so that I could treat N sensitivity and K deficiency. I don't as of yet have anything conclusive to tell about it other than the sats gobble it up. I miss fed this plant in the last round because I didn't think it was gonna be done in 8 weeks and I was late on all of my feeding transitions. Now that I know to expect the EC spike, I think I'm going to pull the A&B and replace them with P+ in my dosage towards the end of flowering which is also advice from the DM rep. Interesting to note is that the P+ requires 1/2 it's own volume in pH Down to balance out.
So for my feeding transitions, she is starting her first week of flowering and I have her on a moderate EC of 1.8:
Predictions:
Next week it looks like I ought to bump her up to 2.0 EC.
In week 3 I'll need to double up the P+ in my doses.
Week 4 looks like a major jump in consumption. Week 3 data will determine how hot I can feed her but I think she could take as much as 3.2 EC, no joke. It's very difficult to overfeed with DM. I've used it beyond 4.0 EC (Hanna meter tops at 2000 ppm).
And just like the experience I'm having, the plant shifts gears in week 5 from feeding aggressively to not feeding at all, practically overnight. Now how confusing would that be to a grower if you didn't have the chart?
Why do I trust these charts? Because they determined that Dutch Master Gold was the best line of nutrients to fit the same criteria as the regime and it works exactly as I predicted it should if NPK ratios were relative to the plant's uptake which was revealed through tissue analysis at each week of flowering.
I want to add that I've used the DM program where you feed 'em the same for 6 weeks with great results until the Mango Haze gave me some challenges so these formulas are specific to this family of plants.
Oh, and feel free to post your stuff here, Sensimilla13. I don't mind you couch surfing while your threadless.
Peace.
