Is this nute burn or a combination of things?
- Thread starter PoDunk
- Start date
PoDunk
Active Member
I picked up a Milwaukee PH-600 meter today. Calibrated it with 7.01 buffer solution. I checked my water jugs and sure as shit it is reading 7.7! That damn cheap $10 probe always read around 7 no matter what I stuck it in. Going to water my plants in a little while. I will test the runoff and let everyone know what I get. Maybe it has been nute lockout all along.
I should be shooting for around 6.5 in my soil runoff right?
I should be shooting for around 6.5 in my soil runoff right?
I would get some PH down in the water your gonna water with. I would be shooting for around 6.5, then see what the intial runoff is, in the 8's I bet. Then water untill runoff is 6.5. Mix up some nutes(if it's time), ph it to 6.5, then water with it. I'm pretty new to this but thats exactly what I'm going to do when my meter shows up...DAMN SNAIL MAIL.
I feel your pain though, I've been using one of those shitty meters the whole time(always a hair over 7) and I'm 3 weeks into flower.
Edit: I would go easy on the first feeding, since the nutes that were locked out will now be more readily available because of proper Ph.
BTW how long are you into flowering? Soil? And is that a 400w HPS?
PoDunk
Active Member
I am about 5 weeks or so into flower. I am using Sun Gro Sunshine Grow Mix 1 for soil. Yeah it is a 400 watt HPS (well 360w MH to HPS conversion bulb.) good eye. I made the reflector myself. Using a high bay light (well at least the ballast and socket). I have a socket on the other side with a 400W MH in it. Only using the HPS right now. It was getting too hot with both bulbs when I am not running the AC in the house.
Have not got a chance to water yet. Thanks for the advice. That is exactly what I am going to do. Will update after.
BTW What meter did you decide to go with?
PoDunk
Active Member
Did some watering last night and sure as shit my runoff was 5.4 - 5.6 on the four plants that I watered. I am assuming I am getting lockout at these levels. My tap water that I let sit for a day or two with air stones in it was testing 7.4 - 7.8. I lowered it to 6.5 with aquarium drops before watering (takes quite a few drops more than the 2 drops per gallon it says in the instructions). That is when I tested the runoff. So 6.5 in and 5.4 out. I also think that I am under watering. I was watering twice a week but I don't think I was running enough water through. 5 Gallon bags were only getting a gallon or so water each.
I found another thread where a couple of guys were adding lime pellets from Home Depot to their water to stabilize the PH. They were also using FoxFarm Trio in soil and were getting the same low PH problems. The Sunshine Grow Mix 1 is supposed to have lime in it I thought???
Should I add lime to my ph 7.5 water and try and bring it up? Or should I ph my water down to 6.5 and then add the lime? Also what nutes lock out with low PH? (will do a search on that one)
I found another thread where a couple of guys were adding lime pellets from Home Depot to their water to stabilize the PH. They were also using FoxFarm Trio in soil and were getting the same low PH problems. The Sunshine Grow Mix 1 is supposed to have lime in it I thought???
Should I add lime to my ph 7.5 water and try and bring it up? Or should I ph my water down to 6.5 and then add the lime? Also what nutes lock out with low PH? (will do a search on that one)
Strange I would of thought your soil would have been more on the base side. I know SM#4 uses dolomite lime to balance ph, maybe look into that. Either way I would flush untill you have a 6.5 runoff, then give some nutes to replace everything you flushed out.
Atleast you found your problem, now you just gotta fix it.
Found this on another thread.http://www.growersunderground.com/pH_Manifesto.pdf
Atleast you found your problem, now you just gotta fix it.
Found this on another thread.http://www.growersunderground.com/pH_Manifesto.pdf
PoDunk
Active Member
I picked up some hydrated lime last night. The stuff is pretty powerful. It changes your PH dramatically. It changed a gallon of 7.4 PH to 11.5. I mixed that in with some black strap molasses and started watering. I was able to get my PH up into the 6's. I am going to run a high 6 PH water through toinight and test the runoff again.
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PoDunk
Active Member
My runoff PH was down in the 5's again. So I watered again with 11.5 ph water got into the 6's and then hit them again with some 6.5 water with molasses.Well how you making out? My freaking meter didn't come with ph buffer. Ahhh, another week of waiting
If I would have bought that PH meter over a month ago I could have caught the problem before it ever happened. Whenever I mix the foxfarm trio nutes into the water it would drop the ph into the 5's. A small amount of hydrated lime could have brought it back up to 6.5
Anyone see a problem with using hydrated lime as my ph up? I know it make it skyrocket, but with my ph-600 meter I should be able to keep it in line. Or would I be better off buying the PH+ from the hydro shop?
PoDunk
Active Member
Yeah all the small leaves look really good. All the large fan leaves that were damaged are still yellow/brown with some green on them. Should I leave those fan leaves on or trim them off? I trimmed some of the fan leaves off of one of them last night. I clipped four or five of them off. I did it to the worse looking one as a test. It sure does look a lot better but I am not sure if that is the right thing to do?
Personally, if there's a decent amount of green I would let them buck. But one thing I've noticed with any plants, once the leaf is damged it doesn't go back, but if the new growth looks good then the plant is doing good/ in proper conditions currently. I'm still waiting on buffer haha. Need some pics
PoDunk
Active Member
Would you trim off some of the burnt leaves? I took a few of them off last week. Some have a little green in them so I left those ones. I am thinking about trimming all the bad leaves off of one just to see what the new growth does without the burnt fan leaves. I only have about two weeks to go so I am not sure if it will do much of anything? The plant is a runt compared to the others anyways. Might be a worthwhile experiment.
No where local to get buffer? I guess it is a little easier in Michigan now a days. Seems like a new hydro shop is popping up all the time.
No where local to get buffer? I guess it is a little easier in Michigan now a days. Seems like a new hydro shop is popping up all the time.
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Sorry but that is not lockout. Overdose plain and simple. Also looks like you may have foliar fed in the past. And you flushed a few days ago and then followed right up with more food. And trying raise your soils ph with alkaline water is just going to cause your plant more stress. And actual lockout. I would try and ph my drence between 6.5-6.8 And runoff water is a poor indicator of the soils actual ph. Go to Homedepot or the like and get a kit just for soil. I think you be surprised at the outcome.
PoDunk
Active Member
I did flush the shit out of them and then fed with a half or less nutes. I thought I had lockout because my soil runoff was 5.4 to 5.6. So maybe it is a combination of things. They were mixed bag seeds anyways. So two of the plants did not take to the nutes very well at all. The two largest plants only one burnt a little at the top and the other had no burn at all. They appeared to be the same strain. I am getting new growth that is green.
From here out I am watering with no nutes just molasses and a little hydrated lime to keep my PH up for the last couple of weeks. I do have a bottle of Clearex that I have not used yet. I think I have about 2 weeks left before I start to harvest. Do you think I should flush now? Then just use the molasses and ph'ed water till the end? What about the foxfarm big bloom? That is organic. Should I stop using that too after the flush? I also have the cha ching.
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
If you only have a few weeks to go. Just use the Cha Ching. Shot rocks on its own the last few weeks. If your tap water is 7.7 then I bet your ppm are pretty high also. So the lime may be adding insult to injury.