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 Maintaining Your Hydroponic System
Provided by Agro Dynamics
Keep It Clean
Always cut off dead leaves and remove them form the grow room. Decaying organic matter attracts fungus gnats. You should also remove diseased plants, so the infection does not spread. Clean the plant box well with a 10% bleach solution before putting it back in the grow room. When you change water in your stock tank, wash the tank well with a 10% bleach solution. If you use big trays for your blocks and slabs consider washing these too, especially if you have had a problem with root rot.
Drippers
If you use a drip system buy a few extra drippers, so you can change drippers if any are clogged up. Have a bucket with vinegar in your grow room and throw the clogged drippers in, so they will be clean and ready to use next time you need to change a dripper.
Ebb/Flood Systems
We recommend that you spend an extra couple of dollars and get a timer that can be set at 5 minutes intervals, so a full cycle will only soak the rockwool for 10 minutes. To avoid salt built up we suggest that you top water your plants once per week. Also, be sure to have a tray with deep enough grooves so that water drains away from the Grodan cubes/slabs.
EC and PH
The EC level (Nutrient concentration) varies depending on the plant stage or how fast your plant is growing. Generally speaking you need to use less fertilizer for Grodan plants than you would use for soil. This is because when you use Grodan all the nutrients are readily available to the plant. Soil/Peat has a buffer and not all you put in is available to the plant.
1-2 hours before planting, don't forget to saturate the stone wool with pH 5.5 water. Never go below pH 5 or the rockwool may be damaged! Below pH 5 and higher than pH 7 the plant cannot readily take up nutrient. Immediately before planting flush the Grodan with your nutrient solution. Drain to waste! And then put the Grodan in your system. Once the plant starts growing the pH in the tank and in the Grodan will go up. - it is a natural response - it means your plant is growing!
Stock Tank Solution
We recommend that you completely change the solution once a week. Yes, you can top up the tank and adjust EC/pH, but your solution may be out of vital micro nutrients or be infected with Phythium (root rot). If your stock tank contains ready to use (diluted) nutrient solution, please use phosphoric acid (or lemon juice) as pH down'er. If you have a fertilizer injector connected to a tank with concentrated solution, it is better to use sulphuric acid as pH down'er.
Learn from Yourself
Consider keeping a journal that lists: the EC, pH, temperature, CO2 & light level each day. This way you can learn from your own mistakes & successes. Records like this also make it a lot easier for the shop to answer your questions when you have a problem.
Check the Basics
Before you blame your plant food for unhappy plants, check your journal. Everything must be in balance. Change one parameter at a time and look for the effect. A common problem is stock water that is too cold. Consider putting a heating element in the tank (to 70 F.) or put heating mats under the Grodan. If you have trouble getting the plant to set flowers/fruit try to make a greater difference between night and day temperature. If that is not enough, increase CO2 injection during daytime.
A Common Problem:
Calcium Deficit
If the youngest leaves are curled downward, more than likely it indicates a calcium deficiency. If old leaves are curled; something is probably wrong in the root zone (which also reduces the calcium uptake)
Calcium deficiency is the result of insufficient water movement through the plant. Remember, calcium only travels in the water stream of the plant, not in the nutrient stream. Therefore, calcium deficiency is usually (90% of the time) related to the climate in the growing area. High humidity will prevent calcium uptake even if there is sufficient Ca in the feed solution. Also, large day/night fluctuations in humidity will disrupt the Ca flow within the plant and lead to blossom-end rot (BER).
Another cause of BER or obvious Ca deficiency in the leaves is poor root development. This is a result of low substrate temperatures or the presence of a root pathogen such as Pythium or Phytophthora. Calcium is taken up by the area of the root immediately behind the root-tip. If the roots are not actively growing, new root tips will not be formed and consequently, Ca uptake will be reduced.
Check the Plant!
Make a habit of taking a close look at your plants every day. Do they look perky? Look for leaf color, leaf shape and bugs, then update your journal. If you catch a problem early it can be fixed!
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