I'm growing 4 Bhut Jolokia in a hydro setup and was wondering how high other people are pushing their nutrient concentration? Last year I kept it around 400 - 450ppm and seemed to work fine. My plants are in buckets and the nutrient is being pumped at a high rate of flow, about 300gph. The drains are about 1.5" from the bottom of the bucket so there is always that much water in the bottom. To help prevent root rot I have a 6" air stone in the bottom of each bucket. Anyhow, with the roots being partially submerged I don't think pushing the nutrient level to high would be wise. Any comments?
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Hydro Bhuts - Max PPM?
- Thread starter pwmcustom
- Start date
You can push them safely to 750-800ppm for a mature plant... less for younger/ smaller plants.
In outside hydro I push an eC of up to 2.2 uS with my superhots. I think this is around 1,300 ppm. Inside, under a minimum 20 Watts/Sq Ft of HID lighting or minimum 8 Watts/Sq Ft of LED's, I can generally push them to 1.7 uS which is ~950 ppm without any issues. I tend to err on the side of underfertilization.
By comparison, some of the tomatoes I have grown in outdoor hydro have seen an eC of 3.8 uS - practically nutrient sludge at that point.
For the record, the majority of micronutrients are chelated, so I've found I can get away with a higher eC using this method.
This year the superhots are 99% organically raised (still use FeEDTA and CaEDTA in tiny amounts) and no pesticides. Hottest peppers I've ever grown.
The key to nutrients and hydro is that you can generally train plants to take outrageous amounts of nutrients but you need to slowly work them up to it. Focus more on watching how plants react rather than what some manual says - the plants will communicate more about how they're doing than any other factor. Especially in hydro where yo ucan adjust something and see a difference less than two hours later.
Good luck!
By comparison, some of the tomatoes I have grown in outdoor hydro have seen an eC of 3.8 uS - practically nutrient sludge at that point.
For the record, the majority of micronutrients are chelated, so I've found I can get away with a higher eC using this method.
This year the superhots are 99% organically raised (still use FeEDTA and CaEDTA in tiny amounts) and no pesticides. Hottest peppers I've ever grown.
The key to nutrients and hydro is that you can generally train plants to take outrageous amounts of nutrients but you need to slowly work them up to it. Focus more on watching how plants react rather than what some manual says - the plants will communicate more about how they're doing than any other factor. Especially in hydro where yo ucan adjust something and see a difference less than two hours later.
Good luck!
Wait a sec...if your in a tent with hps, you don't actually have a " growing season " or is your tent outside ?
I run my Bhuts and Morugas at about 1100 ppm in drip buckets with airstones in the resivoirs and the plants just seem to be exploding with growth and flowers/pods now no matter how I decide to mix...being more npk towards growth or bloom.. same thing. Blooms everywhere and growth like crazy!
Like said above, I did start out at 1/4 of that and worked up to it.
I run my Bhuts and Morugas at about 1100 ppm in drip buckets with airstones in the resivoirs and the plants just seem to be exploding with growth and flowers/pods now no matter how I decide to mix...being more npk towards growth or bloom.. same thing. Blooms everywhere and growth like crazy!
Like said above, I did start out at 1/4 of that and worked up to it.