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 Kies uw taal


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 stonewool 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.

Go to: Grodan leaflets for download for more information.

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 stonewool 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 Phytium (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.



To be continued on next page.