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I’m new to using PON, and have just transferred one of my plants to… | Hydroponics & Semi-hydroponics | Comunità di Planta

Lynda

I’m new to using PON, and have just transferred one of my plants to this new substrate! I’ve watched lots of videos, and have noticed some speakers will talk about using a pH monitor. Can you tell me about your experience with pH monitors… how you use them, how often you use them, etc? I’m just waiting on some info from you, in case I need to purchase one of these monitors. Also, do you use any pH additives to adjust the pH in your pot? TIA for any help you can give me! PS. Notice the little water window at the bottom of the pot; should I be seeing the waterline, or should it be higher than the top of the window, or what? I guess I’m saying, I don’t know how much water to put in this hydroponic pot! Again, TIA!

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  1. Bb

    Hi there, the LECA queen has some fabulous videos about semi-hydro. She grows in LECA but the same applies in pon really. To answer your questions, yes I test the ph of my nutrient solution before using it with my plants. To simplify things, semi hydro substrates are inorganic/inert and the only thing your plant is receiving in terms of nutrients has to come from the nutrient solution you make. In a soil environment you have all these microorganisms that interact with soil and each other to feed nutrients to your plant’s roots. The environment in soil is what makes the nutrients bioavailable to the plant. But none of that is happening in semi-hydro so we need to help the plant out. We do this by feeding it nutrients within a ph range that the plant requires for nutrient uptake. We also use synthetic hydroponic fertilisers because they are formulated for plants to be grown in this environment. Organic fertilisers require the soil microbes to basically convert the components of an organic fertiliser into a form that the plant can uptake. Hope that makes sense! So I make up my nutrient solution in a plastic bottle and test the ph at the end. After testing I usually have to add ph down solution because my ph is normally between 7.2-7.6. In the last town I lived in, the ph was around 8.5. It will vary and it can take some trial and error to get it to the range you need. So I add the ph, shake the bottle well. Let it sit for a minute or 2 and re-measure, repeating the process until I’m in the range of 5.5-6.5. This range will allow uptake of nutrients by the roots. For reference, at the moment when I make 5 litres of nutrient solution, I add in about 1.2 ml of PH down (ph up and ph down are acids and bases so take care with your skin). I prefer the liquid because I can measure it out accurately using a 1ml syringe or science pipette. The ph up and down powder is cheaper but is hard to work with in my experience. My ph meter is a digital one I bought on eBay. It’s not very expensive and is a multifunction one that has about 7 or 8 different functions. Hopefully that’s a good place to start but please feel free to ask any questions :)

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    • Lynda

      TXS for your lengthy post; I really appreciate the time you took to help me! I do have a couple of questions, though, can you tell me which PH meters you think would be useful for me? I also have questions about fertilizer. I currently use Plant Juice by Elm Dirt; I understand it’s useful for plants in PON, but I’m not sure at what strength. Any answers would be greatly appreciated… TIA!

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    • Bb

      Ok I looked up the fertiliser you have and it’s probably great for plants in soil as it appears to have added mycorrhizae but I wouldn’t use it for semi-hydro. If you need to water while you find a suitable hydroponic fertiliser you can just fill the reservoir with water, that won’t hurt your plant. I like the Growth Technology ones because they are just a single product you can use right away. There are lots of hydroponic fertilisers which are “systems” with several parts and you may need to add one nutrient to the water then wait and then add the others with waiting in between. I found that when starting out with semi-hydro, that was a bit too much for me to deal with. Now that I’ve been doing it for a while I add add several ingredients into my nutrient solution 😂😂😂 but the plant doesn’t *need* them, they are additives. Don’t hesitate to ask any more questions! I spent many many hours trying to figure stuff out and experiment on my own so I’m happy to share what’s worked for me.

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  2. Bb

    As for your pot, have you got wicks in there? These are meant to be used with wicks. The fabric wick will pull water into your inner pot and the pon, wicking up to the plant’s roots. Eventually the roots will also grow into the water reservoir and take up the nutrients from there themselves. Those roots will be accustomed to the hydro environment so you just need to keep the water level consistent. I suggest letting go down to almost (but not quite) empty and then topping up with fresh nutrient solution. I fill those pots up so that I can see the waterline in the window, so like almost to the top but just so the water line is visible. And in case you’re not already doing this - it shouldn’t be just water, it needs to have hydroponic fertiliser in there because the plant isn’t receiving anything from soil microorganisms any more.

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    • Lynda

      To answer your question, yes, I am using wicks with my hydroponic pots. I noticed you mentioned you do test your nutrient solution, so can you recommend a good pH meter? Also, regarding your fertilizer, can you tell me what you use for your plants in PON? As I mentioned in the above post, I don’t know what fertilizer to use, and what strength to use it for plants that are in this particular substrate. TIA!

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    • Bb

      Great - if you have wicks then fill up the nutrient solution until almost the top of the window and let the wicks do the rest. As for the fertiliser brand, I use Growth Technology Clonex Clone Solution for cuttings and when starting transitions. When the plant is established (in semi-hydro for a month at least) I switch to Growth Technology Foliage Focus. The amounts are on the bottles. They are formulated for hydroponics so you can follow the amounts they suggest. So you’d add the amount to your water, then shake, then test the ph. If it needs to be adjusted to sit in the 5.5-6.5 range, you add ph down or ph up as needed. Shake again and it’s ready. As for ph meter, there are tons out there that are pretty much the same. I’ve attached a pic of the one I bought online

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