Blackish leafs

Omo

Member
1) PICTURE OF PLANT *** VERY IMPORTANT ***
2) Growing indoor or outdoors
3) Watering schedule
4) Growing Medium
5) What stage of growth

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2) Growing indoor
3) Barely started (When the pot feels light and dry)
4) Soil
5) 7 days,


Hi.
Would need the help of an expert who could help me.

Upon closer inspection of the plant, it was discovered that it has very dark areas in the middle of the leaf. (the one I tried to mark in red)
So it is on all leaves.
Is this something not to worry about or is it something I need to change?
fpr1.jpgfleaf1.jpgfleaf22.jpgI keep a temperature of around 77 in the middle of the tent. 73.4 at the bottom and about 84.3 at the top of the tent and around 50% RH.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Your pH is off at the rootzone, it will get worse without correction. Right now it's mild.
 

Omo

Member
Your pH is off at the rootzone, it will get worse without correction. Right now it's mild.
Ok. if i have some of the roots are sticking out from the bottom? can that be the origin of the problem? would repotting the plant fix it?
 
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Renfro

Well-Known Member
Ok. can it be that the some of the roots are sticking out from the bottom?
No. It's the pH of the medium. Right now it is very, very mild, you caught it early. It will turn into a stripey burn pattern if not corrected. You want a reliable pH tester for soil (not the cheap analog pieces of crap) like bluelab or apera.


Runoff testing only gives you an idea that you are off but it's not accurate. Slurry testing can be very accurate if done with distilled or RO water. Figure out that the pH is and use corrective feeds. https://www.rollitup.org/t/medium-ph-correction-soil-and-coco.1000514/
 
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Omo

Member
No. It's the pH of the medium. Right now it is very, very mild, you caught it early. It will turn into a stripey burn pattern if not corrected. You want a reliable pH tester for soil (not the cheap analog pieces of crap) like bluelab or apera.


Runoff testing only gives you an idea that you are off but it's not accurate. Slurry testing can be very accurate if done with distilled or RO water. Figure out that the pH is and use corrective feeds. https://www.rollitup.org/t/medium-ph-correction-soil-and-coco.1000514/
Ok. thank you for the answer and for pointing to the right direction. (:
 

Omo

Member
Bummer is the price of the bluelab went up about 60 bucks since COVID.
ouh, well they have to make a living to. :P
Thank you for the pH correction link and for the help. Have to try to find me a decent soil pH-meter that doesnt cost to much.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Have to try to find me a decent soil pH-meter that doesnt cost to much.
That bluelab is the cheapest one I have found that you can rely on. It will test liquids as well so it's the best for soil/coco grows. The Apera PH60S (Spear probe) is more like $250. The bluelab gets a little deeper reading and the Apera has more precision and is faster to stabilize.
 

Omo

Member
That bluelab is the cheapest one I have found that you can rely on. It will test liquids as well so it's the best for soil/coco grows. The Apera PH60S (Spear probe) is more like $250. The bluelab gets a little deeper reading and the Apera has more precision and is faster to stabilize.
Ok. ill check out the pen that you linked.
Huh, it is alot to keep on track o_O if you want cultivate succesfully.(:
Thank you for the help.
 
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Renfro

Well-Known Member
Ok. ill check out the pen that you linked.
A few tips for using that pH pen.

1) To poke the hole in the soil use the probe cover, then you can easily slide the probe into the hole without resistance. If you force the probe into a tough medium packed tightly with roots, the odds of breaking the probe are pretty high.

2) Always store the probe rinsed clean and in it's cap with the KCl (Potassium Chloride) storage solution. This is critical for longevity. Don't store it in distilled or RO water, thats the worst thing you could do. The KCl solution is the way to go.

3) I find that when the probe is in the soil it can take a minute or so for the reading to stabilize. If you gently twist the probe back and forth in the hole it speeds up the process a little.

You can make your own KCl storage solution on the cheap with distilled or RO H2O and some Potassium Chloride. I recommend the Greenway brand, the Alpha brand never totally dissolved for me. You could use it but you should allow the solids to settle out of the solution and draw off the top using a syringe to fill the probe cover. You can make up a brown glass mason jar full of KCl solution for pennies on the dollar compared to the premixed stuff and then set it on the shelf, grab some whenever you need it.

The reason for the KCl storage solution is the probe contains a tiny amount of KCl reference solution. If that reference solution gets contaminated or diluted then the probe starts to lose calibration quickly and eventually won't calibrate or function reliably at all anymore.

As with any pH pen you will want to calibrate it. I found that mine stays pretty stable and I don't have to do it that often, once every week is probably more than required although without a second decimal place of precision it's hard to say lol. Thats one thing I like about the Apera PH60S, with the two digits after the decimal you can tell when the reading has stabilized. With just one digit you might wait 30 seconds and then see it change one point, with the extra digit you can see the number slowly drifting every 5 seconds or so. Actually it's a big time saver if you have a lot of plants to check, they can and often will be a little different regardless of all things being the same.

Happy growing!
 
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