Noob to hydro, first attempt at NFT system

[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,
The reason I asked whether the nutrients were translucent or clowdy is because that's often a sign something is growing in it. Most nutrients are translucent, but I'm not familiar with what your using, so I don't know what's normal with those. Also, I can't give any advice about the nutrients because I don't know their website. So I cant tell if their a complete nutrient, designed specifically for hydroponic plants, how they should be mixed, etc. etc..


As long as the roots have access to water. You would be surprised how many people build a NFT system, put plants in it and forget the roots actually need to be able to reach the water. I just wanted to make sure you weren't having that problem. You'll want to lower the water level as the roots get longer, strawberry plants don't like wet feet.


P.S.
I forgot to mention, I would probably lower the pH a little to 6.0

[brandonbelew]

We had a RO system installed yesterday, so now I have nice clean water for my plants!

That said it's time for a nutrient change. You had asked awhile back about the nutrients, and unfortunately it doesn't say whats in it on the bag. It does say it has the required calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate though.

The mixing instructions are:

Seedlings: 24 grams per 5 gallons, adjust pH to 6.5-6.8, conductivity 800+source water.

Mature: 29 grams per 5 gallons, adjust pH to 6.5-6.8, conductivity 1200+source water.

Now the question is, what would you consider seedling, and what would you consider mature?

The attached picture is from a day or so ago.

Thanks!

[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,

You had asked awhile back about the nutrients, and unfortunately it doesn't say whats in it on the bag. It does say it has the required calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate though.

The package should have a label that states the "guaranteed analysis," but I didn't ask for a link to the nutrient manufactures website and mixing chart to determine what is in it. I have specific questions about them that you wouldn't be able to answer withough't a lot of back and forth, so it's much easier if I can just go to their website directly myself. Bottom line I don't know anything about those nutrients. I don't even know if their a complete nutrient, I don't know if they are actually designed specifically for hydroponically grown plants, I don't know if they are supposed to be organic, I don't know if their designed for vegetative growth, fruiting growth, or continuously fruiting plants, I don't know if they require additives, etc. etc..

Since you are having a problem, one of the first things to look at are the nutrients your using and how your using them. If I can't do that I can't rule possible problems related to nutrients out, or even give any advice. All I know is that you say 29 grams per 5 gallons is supposed to be full strength. That's not telling me much at all.

Now the question is, what would you consider seedling, and what would you consider mature?

That's like saying when is the point a person goes from being an infant, to being an adult. Theirs a big range in-between. And if 29 grams per 5 gallons is full strength, then 24 grams per 5 gallons is about 83% strength. Would you feed 83% of a full meal for an adult to an infant?

P.S.
6.5-6.8 pH is not only to small of a range, it's also to high for 80% of the plants. If you were growing hot peppers the pH would be OK being that high. But your growing strawberry's. Plants can't absorb and metabolize nutrients/mineral salts properly unless the pH is in range, when the pH is on the far end of the range the plants can't absorb and metabolize the nutrients they need to grow and be healthy very well. 6.5 is the top end of the pH range for strawberries, 6.0 is right in the middle of the pH range for strawberries. 6.8 is outside the pH range for strawberries. If you want them to be healthy, you should try for a pH right in the middle of the pH range for strawberries (6.0). That gives the pH room to fluctuate either way and still be in range.

[brandonbelew]

The bag doesn't have any detailed information, or a link. It just has the mixing instructions and the purchase from amazon link, and an email address.

Since my plants are flowering and purchased as bare root instead of seed, i'll consider these mature and mix full strength for this go around. They don't appear to be showing any signs of over feeding.

I think one of the issues I had with my first couple weeks was the nutrients didn't fully dissolve. I just dumped them into the reservoir as powder and expected them to dissolve. This time i'm dissolving them in a gallon of water, shaking occasionally.

Is there an affordable strawberry nutrient that you recommend?

[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,
1. If the nutrient maker doesn't have a website and/or online mixing chart, and the only place they sell them is on amazon. I wouldn't consider them reliable nutrients. Their most likely made by some guy in his basement and he sells them on amazon (probably e-bay as well). Amazon is not a manufacture, their a collection of independent sellers like e-bay, the only difference is Amazon doesn't do auctions, and amazon has warehouses they store and ship the sellers products from. Amazon doesn't buy the products like stores do, they only store them in their warehouse, and when one sells amazon pays the seller for that one (less amazons commission of coarse). While legitimate company's sell products on amazon and e-bay, anyone can as well. The difference is legitimate company's sell their products in regular stores as well and have websites.

2. Those plants aren't mature yet. Their not seedlings, but their not mature. Like I already stated there is a big range between seedling and mature. If you expect plants to fall into either one category (seedling) or the other (mature), your sadly mistaken. Just like with my infant/adult analogy, you wouldn't go from feeding a growing person baby food one day to a stake dinner with all the trimmings the next. Nor would you feed the infant a stake dinner from day one and skip the whole baby food steep. You gradually increase the food as they grow. You do the same thing with plants.

3.

i'll consider these mature and mix full strength for this go around.

First, not only is mixing nutrients full strength for small plants a waste of nutrients, but mixing them full strength even for mature plants should only be done under certain circumstances and for certain plants. Only mature, heavy feeders in cool conditions need full strength. For mature, mid range feeders 70-80% strength is better than full strength. Mature light feeders, 50-60% strength. With a PPM range of between 1260-1540 for mature strawberry plants (that assumes a mild climate), I would consider strawberry's on the low end of mid range.

Here is a direct quote
Nutrients - Over and Under Use, by Dr. Lynette Morgan

"When the EC is being run to high for a particular plant, this will show as visible symptoms within the crop. A high EC, effectively puts the plants under `water stress' since the plant cells begin to lose water, back into the more concentrated nutrient solution surrounding the roots. As a result the first sign of nutrient `overuse' is plant wilting, even when supplied with sufficient nutrient solution. If the high EC conditions re not too severe, the plants will adjust to these conditions and you may see growth which is `hard' in appearance - often a darker green then usually, with shorter plants and smaller leaves."

4. You do have to fully dissolve the nutrients. But you cant dissolve 5+ gallons worth of nutrients in one gallon of water then add it to the rest of the water. Doing so makes a super concentrated solution before you dilute it to it's normal concentration. When the nutrients are super concentrated they molecules tend to bond with each other, once they bond they become useless to the plants because the plants can't absorb them anymore.

5. I would use verti-gro nutrients for strawberry's, specifically the Hydroponic Plant Nutrient Combo (also known as Fcombo).

[brandonbelew]

Thank you for your help. I ordered the vertigrow nutrients and will change them out once they come in.

I think i'll also slightly dilute my nutrients until the new nutrients come in. I do have darker green leaves and shorter plants, well at least on some of them. The plant that was basically dead a week or so ago is the one doing the best and gets larger each day.

Last night I changed the layout of my setup, I converted it to a table top instead of a lean-to style. I need to adjust the lights some more but I do see more coverage this way than the previous.

I also added a heater to my nutrients to keep them at 68 degrees and added a 12" air stone.

I've been having a hell of a time getting the water level right on my second tube. I had it at the perfect level last night and it seemed to be staying then I heard a gurgling sound and checked and it was empty. Tweaked it for an hour or so until it maintained it's level. I think the issue was I had the water turned off to my unused tube and the pressure was maybe erratic.

[GpsFrontier]

Hello brandonbelew,

Any drain/overflow line needs to have air coming in from above the water line. I attached some examples. Air pockets can form in the overflow line causing all kinds of weird things to happen. If there is a air intake in the overflow line above the water level, it allows the water to flow down freely.

Have you ever stuck a straw in a drink and put your thumb over the top opening, then pulled the straw out of the drink. The liquid stays in the straw, as soon as you take your thumb off the top allowing air in the tube, the liquid flows freely out the bottom. By adding an air intake in the overflow line you accomplish the same effect.

P.S.
So what was the temperature of the water before you added the heater? You never did say, you just said you weren't monitoring it and didn't know.