Optimizing Electrical Conductivity (EC) in hemp Cultivation
Nutrients Matter but exactly how does the plant use the nutrients you feed ?
BELOW WE ARE GOING TO BE COVERING: How solution and substrate EC can be used to enhance hemp growth
SITE CREDIT GOES TO: Brian Whipker, James T. Smith, Paul Cockson, and Hunter Landis who contributed this information via hemp business times VLOG, but edited by Cody Oebel to reflect sciences and discoveries of 2021 from actual soil PH and EC tests in inert mediums regarding PourThru testing not being accurate by todays standards
For controlled-environment-grown crops, substrate pH and electrical conductivity (EC) are two main factors that can easily be monitored to make sure your crop is on track for success. This monitoring principle has been used by the commercial floriculture industry for the past 40 years, and it can be adopted by the hemp (hemp sativa) industry, too. Monitoring and managing the substrate pH and EC could help to avoid up to 80 percent of the plant nutrition problems that occur with controlled environment crops.
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What is EC for growing hemp ?
Electrical conductivity is the electrical charge that moves through a solution. The higher the salt concentration, the greater the electrical reading. This principle is applied to controlled environment production because the higher the concentration of fertilizer salts in the solution or in the substrate, the higher the EC reading will be. We can then monitor the EC level to ensure that fertility levels are where they need to be.
What EC Does (and Doesn’t) Measure
The EC is a measurement of the total amount of fertilizer salts in the solution. It does not provide specific information about each individual element or that individual element’s concentration in solution.
The good news is that with controlled environment production, the primary nutrients we provide are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Therefore, with most cases in both theory and practice, the EC reflects the relative concentration of those elements. You can apply this concept to hemp to confirm the accuracy of the fertilizer concentration you apply in the solution and to monitor the crop’s nutritional status.
Lower-than-optimal EC readings typically indicate a nutrient deficiency, especially low levels of N (Fig. 1). High EC levels can indicate you are supplying too much fertilizer or that your plants are not absorbing the nutrients, both of which can lead to a salt toxicity leaf burn.
Measuring the Fertilizer EC
WANT TO STOP HAVING YELLOWING PROBLEMS THEN YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE YOUR MEASURING SOIL PH ( BUY OUR SOIL PH METER HERE )
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Accuracy Check
Your fertilizer solution EC value can be used to check for fertilizer delivery accuracy. If it is not within 5 percent, then you need to double-check the mixing math, the accuracy of measuring out the fertilizer salts, or if the injector is malfunctioning. The EC values will be significantly lower as the injector begins to fail, which in turn will slow growth for plants grown in soilless substrates and, under prolonged conditions, cause lower-leaf yellowing due to inadequate fertility.
Hydroponic/Rockwool System
If you are growing a hemp crop hydroponically or in an inert substrate such as rockwool, you can monitor the fertilizer EC value to ensure you are providing the correct fertilizer concentration.
Measuring the Substrate EC
If you are utilizing a soilless substrate containing sphagnum peat moss or pine bark, you can use another aspect of EC monitoring to make sure your fertilization program is on track.
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Begin an In-House Nutrient Monitoring Program
A wide assortment of pH and EC meters is available on the market. At NCSU, we recommend combination pH and EC meters. The majority of growers we work with purchase a unit that costs less than $200.
Monitoring and managing the substrate pH and EC could help to avoid up to 80 percent of the plant nutrition problems that occur with controlled environment crops.
After purchasing a combination pH and EC meter, you need to start using it! The majority of the commercial floriculture greenhouse industry relies upon the non-destructive PourThru monitoring method to test EC and pH. However here at NukeHeads we have proven in videos with tests of instruments that measuring RUN OFF ( also called PourThru ) can be very inaccurate to the point of being dangerous for your plants. It depends on the medium even inert mediums maintain a static relationship with things you pour through it building up hot spots . It is best to not test PourThru or to test Run OFF do that only if you cannot afford an expensive high quality SOIL EC METER like the one we sale HERE . Weekly or biweekly sampling is the key to ensuring your EC and pH levels are on track. While hemp-specific recommendations based on scientific research have not been published, sampling procedures. The PourThru method while provides a decent accuracy some mediums such as rockwool .. rockwool is where it ends for us from tests we have done. Here at NukeHeads we teach to directly measure the soil itself using a tool for the job such as the NukeHeads EC METER YOU CAN BUY FROM HERE. We find that testing ” RUN OFF ” or also known as a ” POURTHRU ” is not the most accurate way to measure ESPECIALLY when testing PH. The exception might be rockwool. While CoCo Coir produces a decent PourThru reading it still not highly accuarate because we have put it to the test. When you measure PH or EC in a RUN OFF / POUR THROUGH it never accurately reflects what the level is inside the medium itself. We deem it almost necessary that you actually measure the grow medium itself to get an accurate measurement.
We advise that you combine the JEDI FEEDING SCHEDULE with this EC meter knowledge.
CLICK HERE TO BUY AN EC METER TO BEGIN ACCURATELY MEASURING HOW MUCH NUTRIENTS YOUR PLANT IS EATING AND HOW MUCH TO FEED THEM
Target Fertilization Rates and EC Levels for Stages of Plant Development
The nutrient demands of plants change over the course of development. Young transplants focus energy on establishing roots and add little leaf growth; as such, they require less fertilizer. As plants grow and bulk up, fertilizer needs increase. The number of leaf and flower nodes on each plant sets when the photoperiod changes and flower formation begins. This terminal inflorescence (flower production) establishes how much more growth will occur. At this stage, the amount of vegetative mass the plant adds is less, yet energy and resources are still required for flower/bud development. With this shift from vegetative growth to flower growth, the nutrient demand lessens. Given how a plant grows and adds mass, and how nutrient demands vary over time, it comes as no surprise that nutrient delivery needs to be customized to meet the changing demands of the crop throughout its different growth stages.
Your fertilizer solution EC value can be used to check for fertilizer delivery accuracy.
The EC is an indirect measure of the fertilizer salts contained in the substrate, so those target levels will also vary at different growth stages. By starting an in-house nutrient monitoring program and measuring the EC, you can make sure that sufficient levels of fertilizer are available to the plants. Recommended fertility levels and target EC levels based on the stage of hemp plant development are listed in Fig. 2, as measured by the PourThru method.
Ammoniacal-Nitrogen, Urea and Organic Fertilizer Adjustments
Though measuring the EC is an excellent tool when utilizing water-soluble controlled environment fertilizers, there are limitations to this measurement. When it comes to measuring the contribution of N to the EC, nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) can be measured; however, the other two common forms of nitrogen included in fertilizers—ammoniacal-nitrogen (NH4-N) and urea—cannot be measured by EC. The EC charts on the fertilizer bag, or provided by the manufacturer, will reflect those lower target EC values. Likewise, most organic fertilizers rely upon ammoniacal-nitrogen (NH4-N) and urea for their derived sources of N. Be aware of this fact when you are mixing the fertilizer solution. In addition, you must then adjust down the target EC ranges accordingly when testing the substrate EC.
The Bottom Line
Optimizing fertility management is a strategy of supplying the appropriate level of nutrients to hemp to meet the demands for plant growth. If the supply is too low, then the genetic potential of the plant is hindered because of the deficiency, and the plant will flower less. Elevated fertilizer levels can lead to excessive leaf and shoot development at the expense of flower growth. Excessively high levels of fertilizer in the substrate can also lead to stunted growth.
