FoxFarm Tiger Bloom and pH HELP please +rep

Hey RIU,
I'm looking for some help on a little nutrient problem I'm having. I just bought some Tiger Bloom from FF and it says that it's manufactured with a low pH to help keep it fresh and active but my question is should I raise the pH after I add it? I pH my water before I add all the nutes and then after it always ends up being 5 or lower from the Tiger Bloom. Is this going to fuck up my plants? It hasnt yet but I would love some input on the situation. Anyone who could help my out gets +rep and a virtual BJ...lol. Thanks guys and gals.kiss-ass

Hey WIFM,
IMHO, you should wait until after you add your nutes to ph the water. I use reverse osmosis water that can range anywhere from in the 4s to 8s in ph before i add nutes. The nutes i use always lower my ph so i know that it will be thrown off if i PH before. Add nutes first, then PH your water up to 5.8 for hydro (5.0 is too low!) You should be rockin after that, Best of Luck.

First, never pH your water in the res. Mix your nutes in a gallon of water that is pH balanced. Let it sit awhile the check and adjust pH there. Then add that to your res, and subtract a gallon to bring the level right. Don't get on the pH rollercoaster checking and adjusting too often. Let it vary.

Thanks guys for the help. Anything else?

So right now until I get some pH up I've decided to lessen the amount of Tiger Bloom I use. I do 1/2 a tablespoon in 2.5 gallons of water and that pretty much balances the pH of the tap water between 5.8 and 6.5. I did increase the amount of BigBloom a little and added an extra 1/2 tsp of the GrowBig. This is my first flowering test with this type of nutrient mix so we'll see how she likes it. I'm still looking to pickup the soluble tri pack from FF but havent had the money. Is it worth it in gettin fat heavy lucious buds? will I see that much of a difference?

WeedIsForMe said:

So right now until I get some pH up I've decided to lessen the amount of Tiger Bloom I use. I do 1/2 a tablespoon in 2.5 gallons of water and that pretty much balances the pH of the tap water between 5.8 and 6.5. I did increase the amount of BigBloom a little and added an extra 1/2 tsp of the GrowBig. This is my first flowering test with this type of nutrient mix so we'll see how she likes it. I'm still looking to pickup the soluble tri pack from FF but havent had the money. Is it worth it in gettin fat heavy lucious buds? will I see that much of a difference?

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Until you get some? Its $5! Go get some and save your self later problems. $15 gives you the whole kit by general hydroponics, comes with ph up, down, and tester. and as far as the trio pack goes check my journal to see if its worth it. Get your ph adjusted, too acidic is no good brawh.

303 said:

Until you get some? Its $5! Go get some and save your self later problems. $15 gives you the whole kit by general hydroponics, comes with ph up, down, and tester. and as far as the trio pack goes check my journal to see if its worth it. Get your ph adjusted, too acidic is no good brawh.

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I know but no local hardware stores in my area carry anything for hydro...only soil. My hydro store is a little far to be driving to every day so this is just for now, I've lessened the amount of the TB and it puts the pH where is should be for my hydro setup. This weekend I'll grab the pH up so that I can go full strength on the TigerBloom. And if anyone has any opinions on the results using the FF tri-pack I am very interested to hear about it.

you want to mix your nutes and water then ph the whole combo. phing the water and then adding nutes that change ph ranges defeats the purpose

Illegal Smile said:

First, never pH your water in the res. Mix your nutes in a gallon of water that is pH balanced. Let it sit awhile the check and adjust pH there. Then add that to your res, and subtract a gallon to bring the level right. Don't get on the pH rollercoaster checking and adjusting too often. Let it vary.

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why is this. i always mix my nutes right in my res and ph it there and i dont have any problems with ph fluctuations

nickfury510 said:

why is this. i always mix my nutes right in my res and ph it there and i dont have any problems with ph fluctuations

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I think he was talkin about systems that use large stagnant rez's. That would be my guess...my rez is only 3.5 gallons so my girls suck through it in about a day or 2

WeedIsForMe said:

I think he was talkin about systems that use large stagnant rez's. That would be my guess...my rez is only 3.5 gallons so my girls suck through it in about a day or 2

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even systems that have large res need to be phd and monitered also

nickfury510 said:

even systems that have large res need to be phd and monitered also

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Yeah but it seemed like he was talking more about adding to a large rez not draining and re-filling...i dunno how to explain wat im trying to say, but say u pHed a gallon and added that to an older stagnant rez...

Who gives a fuck if the guy PHs before or after res. I dump mine in the toilet and PH that shit and pump it out with a kerosene pump. I say this is jest so noone freak out.

Anyway I hear you on availability. You've probably alreayd thought about it but don't forget about all the other ways you can PH up/down. I bet you have some stuff around the house that may do it.

Also, please don't flame me as I've not done this but to the experts: can you use jacuzzi PH up/down?

Hope this helps.

WeedIsForMe said:

Hey RIU,
I'm looking for some help on a little nutrient problem I'm having. I just bought some Tiger Bloom from FF and it says that it's manufactured with a low pH to help keep it fresh and active but my question is should I raise the pH after I add it? I pH my water before I add all the nutes and then after it always ends up being 5 or lower from the Tiger Bloom. Is this going to fuck up my plants? It hasnt yet but I would love some input on the situation. Anyone who could help my out gets +rep and a virtual BJ...lol. Thanks guys and gals.kiss-ass

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Should always check p in water before any nutrients are added i believe ! Im also a little confused also seeing your nutrients change the ph all over, But water should be 6.3 to 6.7 before adding nutrients i believe???

Growingcentral420 said:

Should always check p in water before any nutrients are added i believe ! Im also a little confused also seeing your nutrients change the ph all over, But water should be 6.3 to 6.7 before adding nutrients i believe???

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Always, Add all your nutrients to the water and then adjust the ph just before applying to your plants-just before applying it to your plants one more time for emphasis as the ph of your nutrient mixture will drift as it sits-most likely upward. I'm talking about soil growing here-I mix my nutrients into 5 gallon bucket filled with water filtered from a garden hose line filter you can pick up on Amazon for $30, following the dosages on the foxfarm feed schedule or slightly less i.e. 9 teaspoons of Tiger Bloom rather than the 10 (2 tsp/gallon) per 5 gallons, I then with a large air pump and air stone aggressively aerate the mixture for 24-48 hours after which time I usually find the ph of the mixture has risen to the ideal 5.8-6.5 range and needs little if any adjusting. I then water my plants with this highly aerated, proper ph'd solution and they just love it. I've got a nice PH meter, but I'm impatient waiting for the reading to stabalize and too lazy to calibrate it often enough, so I like using the General Hydroponics dye test kit which only shows a range at best. As long as the final mixture of my nutrients shows up in the 6.0-6.5 range we're golden and a go. If hydro, then 5.5-6.0 and we're good.

My quick routine when I don't have time to aerate for 24 hrs like tonight I have a crop of Seedsman White Widow I'm just about to flip to 12/12 later this week. Tonight I was in a rush, so taking a 2 gallon garden watering can- you know with a handle and spout, filled it halfway with water filtered through the hose line filter, added 1/4 tsp of FF Open Sesame, 2 teaspoons of Grow Big, 2 teaspoons of Tiger Bloom, to the watering can making the dose half the suggested amount on the Feed Schedules I filled the can the rest of the way to help mix, after adding these nutrients the ph was 4.9, added a teaspoon of Botanicare PH Up to bring the ph up to 6.5-perfect I added 4 tablespoons of Big Bloom to the can after that, I only do that because Big Bloom makes it harder to check ph with the dye kit and I know from experience it's ph'd at about 6.5 already itself so doesn't significantly alter the ph of the solution when adding.